Review: ‘The Peanuts Movie’: pleasant surprise and a worthy addition to the franchise

Posted on November 20, 2015

By MARK VIOLA

Charles Schulz’ “Peanuts” is one of the most iconic comic strips of all time and just as well known as the strip itself are its characters, including the perpetually unlucky Charlie Brown, his trusty dog Snoopy, the blanket dragging Linus, the opinionated Lucy, the younger sister Sally, the tomboy Peppermint Patty and her ever-suffering friend Marcie, the piano playing Schroeder, the always dirty Pig-Pen, the little bird Woodstock and, of course, the Little Red-Haired Girl.

I bet I didn’t even need to put the descriptions, because I’m sure most of you know the characters by name, either from the comic strips or the many television specials which even decades after their productions are still staples of network TV to this day. Like the comic strip itself, the cartoons have their own memorable trademarks, from the animation style to the voice work and music.

Now, exactly 50 years since the first cartoon aired in 1965, we have “The Peanutes Movie,” the franchise’s first theatrical film in 35 years and the first to utilize computer animation. This latter fact put a sizeable bit of trepidation in fans of the traditional works, but I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by this movie, which managed to capture the look and feel of the hand-drawn animation in its own way.

After so many films which took a beloved product and chewed it up, spitting out something at best vaguely familiar, “The Peanuts Movie” is one which takes care to honor the past. This was probably helped by the fact that Schulz’ son and grandson–Craig and Bryan Schulz–co-wrote the screenplay and co-produced the movie.
Did it have be computer animated? No. (And it certainly didn’t need to be in 3D, so save your money there.) But if there was going to be a computer generated “Peanuts” movie, I’m not sure it could have turned out better than this one did.

“The Peanuts Movie” is perhaps one of the most pleasant surprises of 2015, if only for how well it paid homage to the decades of memories it was joining by being a worthy addition on its own.

The film is rated G.

(This is a abbreviated version of the full review available in our printed or e-edition papers.)

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