You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown!

It’s hard not to be a little nervous when cherished franchises of old are repurposed for a new generation. As movie fans – and parents – we take a deep breath and wince a bit, hoping to be spared another Garfield or Alvin and the Chipmunks trip to the dentist.

 

Thank goodness The Peanuts Movie exceeds expectations in nearly every way. It’s a delightful rendering of Charles Schulz’s classic characters and is clearly made by people with tremendous affection for the look and feel of the original, determined to introduce it to a modern audience in a way that preserves the spirit of what makes Peanuts so beloved.

 

Written by Charles Schulz’s son and grandson, and directed by Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who!, Ice Age: Continental Drift), while the technique of The Peanuts Movie may be 3-D Computer Animation, great care has been taken to maintain the look and feel of the old animated specials and comic strips. Background objects like trees remain stationary, and the characters move with a slight flutter, evoking the hand-drawn quality of the old shows. It gives the movie a real warmth and charm that might seem intangible, but which really comes across. Small nods of affection are peppered throughout – a moving truck bears the name “Mendelson & Melendez,” after the original producers of the animated specials. 

 

You get the feeling that rather than set the stage for a massive new franchise, the folks at Blue Sky Studios (along with Paul Feig) had the attitude that “…if we're only ever going to make one Peanuts movie, let’s make it the best that we possibly can,” and that really shines through. The music of Vince Guaraldi, the voices of the kids (and the always unseen “wahh wahh wahh” adults), the Bill Melendez recordings of Snoopy and Woodstock – everything is comfortingly familiar, while seeming fresh and vibrant all at the same time. Charlie Brown just wants the Little Red-Haired Girl to like him and be noticed. And no matter how many setbacks he endures, he never seems to let failure stop him. He perseveres and tries again, which is incredibly endearing and a wonderful lesson in character for smaller audiences. The film gets the tiniest bit over-inflated when Snoopy’s imagined dogfight with the Red Baron threatens to escalate into a full blown retelling of The Blue Max, but The Peanuts Movie is overwhelmingly the most charming family film since Paddington. Very highly recommended.