‘The Peanuts Movie’ Honors Legacy of Charlie Brown

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CHICAGO – They didn’t screw it up, and that is good. Eschewing modern conventions or typical animation pop culture jokes, “The Peanuts Movie” honors its source (Charlie Brown and the gang) and its creator, Charles M. Schultz, in a joyous and nostalgic celebration.

The filmmakers – director Steve Martino (“Horton Hears a Who”) and writers Craig Schultz (Charles’s son), Bryan Schultz (grandson) and Cornelius Uliano – kept a philosophy of “WWCSD” (What would Charles Schultz do?), and produced a animated feature that contains the best of what made “Peanuts” great. The look is as if the comic strip has sprung to life, especially in optional 3D, and the character voices and feel have the same warmth as the familiar TV specials (there are several references along the way to those treats as well). The story was incidental to the subplots that played like mini comic strips, featuring Good Ol’ Charlie Brown, his fantasy-loving dog Snoopy, the fussbudget Lucy, the blanket toting Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Woodstock, Schroeder and even some of the older, more ancillary characters.

The Peanuts gang live their lives in the bucolic suburbs of the American Dream. The center of their togetherness is Charlie Brown (voice of Noah Schnapp), and features his loyal dog Snoopy (Bill Melendez), his neighbors Lucy (Hadley Belle Miller), Linus (Alexander Garfin), Peppermint Patty (Venus Schultheis) and Marcie (Rebecca Bloom), among many others.

Peanuts Movie
A Boy Named Charlie Brown and His Dog Snoopy in ‘The Peanuts Movie’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

Their adventures surround the heart of a love story. Charlie Brown has a crush on the Little Red-Haired Girl (Francesca Capaldi), and tries to get over his shyness to approach her. Meanwhile, Snoopy fights the Red Baron in his dreams, in pursuit of his puppy love Fifi (Kristin Chenoweth). The kids – and trombone sounding adults – rally around it all in the Peanuts universe.

For older fans of the comic strip, this will be a trip back into childhood heaven. All of the child voice actors are matched to their predecessors on the TV specials, so both the look and voice remains the same. All of the conventions of the old Peanuts comic strips are intact as well, including gags on Snoopy’s rich fantasy life, “Chuck,” “My Sweet Babboo,” five cent psychiatry and the “talking fence” (the characters often lean against it while contemplating life). Charles Schultz revolutionized the comic strip character, and with his son and grandson guiding the film, the authenticity of what he did is virtually intact.

The story is another story. I question going back to the well of Charlie Brown’s longtime crush, The Little Red-Haired Girl. For past fans, it will seem redundant, and the younger audience (less familiar with the comic strip) might wonder about this weird obsession, except maybe for its universality. The story is there merely to hang a bunch of comic bits on it, and the film delivers those as well. But at 96 minutes, much of the film did seem stretched to fill that slot.

The animation is as special as The Peanuts legend. It brilliantly brought back the linear roundness of Schultz’s unique pen style, and mixes it was some 2D comic art to complete the imagery. Seeing Snoopy’s battles with the Red Baron come to life was a highlight (including a World War reference – Schultz was a WWII veteran – that has a team of Woodstock birds as his plane crew), and the familiarity of the Peanuts world familiarity brought to life was as comforting as hot chocolate in front of a “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Peanuts Movie Gang
The Gang’s All Here in ‘The Peanuts Movie’
Photo credit: 20th Century Fox

The story is also very kid-centric, sometimes to a fault. Charlie Brown is a lovable loser, but in this story they make him especially lovable. The genius of Charles Schultz was his ability to manifest the dreads of adulthood through his child comic strip stars. Given the purgatory that Charlie Brown has perpetually lived in, he probably deserves his time in movie heaven, but Schultz probably might not have thought so – he was that manic about the character.

Earlier this year, I interviewed one of the producers of the film, Paul (“Bridemaids”) Feig. He assured me that the film would be true to its source, and he was absolutely right. “The Peanuts Movie” is a gift to its longtime fans, and a deliverance of humor and hope to a new generation of childhood.

”The Peanuts Movie” opens everywhere on November 6th, in regular screenings and 3D. See local listings for 3D theaters and show times. Featuring the voices of Kristin Chenoweth, Bill Melendez, Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller and Alexander Garfin. Written by Craig Schultz, Bryan Schultz and Cornelius Uliano, based on “Peanuts” by Charles M. Schultz. Directed by Steve Maritino. Rated “G”

HollywoodChicago.com senior staff writer Patrick McDonald

By PATRICK McDONALD
Writer, Editorial Coordinator
HollywoodChicago.com
pat@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2015 Patrick McDonald, HollywoodChicago.com

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