The Peanuts Movie

I think it's safe to say that The Peanuts Movie is the sweetest and warmest movie to hit the big screen in a very long time.  Not the funniest, and certainly not the smartest, but easily the most innocent movie.  It's the kind of movie you almost want to hug if you could.  It's warm, nostalgic, kind, and not all that technically advanced, despite the use of CG and 3D animation.  In other words, it's the movie that Charles M. Schulz would have wanted.  When the film's title pops up on the screen, and we see Schulz' hand-written signature underneath it, it feels right.

Hollywood has a long recent history of failed attempts at cashing in on animated nostalgia.  They've tried reviving everything from Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Yogi Bear, to even 80s kitsch like Transformers or Jem and the Holograms.  All of these have ended in some kind of disaster, either by trying to modernize the characters or add "edginess" to them, or by simply just not understanding the characters or the franchise itself.  In making Peanuts, Blue Sky Animation (the Ice Age and Rio films) play it smart by playing exactly by tradition.  Everything feels right, and everything looks the way it should.  The movie even sounds right.  The kids playing Charlie Brown and his friends have never played these characters before, but they sound like they're supposed to.  The music uses some select pieces by the legendary composer Vince Guaraldi, but is smart enough to throw in some new music as well.  Even when the soundtrack throws in an occasional pop song, it doesn't offend or seem too out of place.  The filmmakers have not made a single wrong move in honoring the source material.  For once, Hollywood has gotten it right.

There isn't much of a plot here, and there are no big celebrity names in the cast or fast-paced gags.  It's just good ol' Charlie Brown (voiced perfectly by Noah Schnapp, who was recently seen as Tom Hanks' son in Bridge of Spies), and his continued quest to get some respect.  He's still trying to get that kite up in the air, still trying to kick that football, and is still trying to impress that Little Red-Haired Girl (Francesca Capaldi).  Through all of his failures and blockhead ways, he remains true of spirit and heart, just as we remember him.  Not much has changed in Chuck's world.  There are no cell phones or computers, and the neighborhood he lives in looks like a nostalgic time warp to the 1950s.  His friends are all as we remember them, too.  Lucy (Hadley Belle Miller) is still dispensing 5-cent psychiatric help, Linus (Alexander Garfin) still has his blanket and the occasional wise word to say to Charlie Brown when he's feeling blue, and Schroeder (Noah Johnston) still practices Beethoven on his little piano.  In a nice touch, the filmmakers let the child musical prodigy perform the Fox fanfare music during the studio logo at the opening of the film.

And then of course there is Snoopy, the original scene-stealing beagle.  In another nice touch on the part of the filmmakers, all of his yelps, barks and whines are taken from past cartoons, so that is the original voice of Snoopy, Bill Melendez (who passed away in 2008), that we are hearing.  Snoopy is there mainly to offer support or inspiration to Charlie Brown.  He also gets a couple side plots of his own, such as trying to pass himself off as a kid so that he can go to school.  But his main plot revolves around him finding a discarded typewriter, and working on a love story for the ages where he is a World War I flying ace, who must rescue a high flying dog named Fifi (Kristin Chenoweth) from the cursed Red Baron.  These imaginary war scenes are cute for a while, but the later part of the movie does tend to rely on them a bit too much.  They mainly exist to show off some 3D animation during the aerial dogfight scenes, and while they're fun to watch, a little bit of them goes a long way.

Even with the very rare misstep, I can't imagine anyone who grew up on these characters feeling angry or betrayed.  The Peanuts Movie is everything it needs to be, and nothing more.  It's about as uncomplicated as a movie can get, and it just has this genuine heart to it that is very rare in films today, even ones aimed at children.  The only question I have is how will today's kids react to it?  This is not a fast-paced film.  Even when Snoopy is flying around on his dog house after the Baron, it has a certain simplicity to it.  It's laid back and is more concerned with being sweet, rather than funny. (Although there are plenty of laughs to be had.) I like to think that these characters can still have a connection with today's kids.  The movie feels intentionally quaint and a bit dated, but I think the every day worries that Charlie Brown faces can still be related to by the youngest audience members.  I really hope I'm right on this.

Even so, I can report that I myself greatly enjoyed this from beginning to end.  The modern CG animation doesn't take long to get used to, and still looks like it's in the style of the traditional animation.  It's hi-tech, but not so much that it feels wrong for the material.  As for the film itself, it should feel instantly familiar to fans of these characters.  It doesn't hold any surprises, and it's not supposed to.  It's a warm, loving tribute to these childhood icons, and that's really all that should be asked of it.

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