Hello and welcome. It’s time for the blog. I’m going to get right to it.
The Peanuts Movie came out on Friday. As a lifelong fan of the strip and animated specials, whose own style is greatly influenced by the works of Charles Schulz, there was little question that I was going to see it on opening weekend. In fact, I saw it on opening night.
Before I go into my thoughts, I’m going to put a few things into context. First of all, I was dog tired when I saw the movie. On Thursday night I stayed up well past midnight watching Critical Role and I was up the next morning at 6am. I went to work until 1pm and then spent the afternoon with my mom as I do every Friday. We had lunch and played board games until 6pm then it was off to the theatre to see the movie at 7. I do believe that my fatigue kept me from enjoying the movie as much as I possibly could have.
Second, as a lifelong fan, I was obviously bringing in a lot of past experience with the franchise with me into the theatre room. I *KNOW* Peanuts (like how Charle Schulz HATED that name). I will do well in most Peanuts trivia quizzes. That brings a certain amount of expectation to the movie. Some is fair, some probably isn’t. Regardless, I was a little apprehensive when I went in. I wanted very much to like the movie, but I wasn’t sure I would be able to.
With that said, I will say that I liked the movie for what it was. Was it the Peanuts experience I was hoping it would be? No, but then it really had no chance of being so. It did a very good job of trying though.
I think Schulz was a genius of his medium with a unique voice. His son has tried to carry on the Peanuts legacy with comic books (Schulz stated in his will that he did not want the newspaper strip to continue without him), but to my mind, the voice of his work has been just off. The same holds true for his son’s efforts with the movie.
In reading Peanuts, I never got the impression that Charles Schulz was writing for kids. He was writing a strip that was about kids that kids could enjoy but with a sensitivity that could appeal to adults. The movie, I feel, was aimed squarely at kids which is the same criticism I have for the comic books. I accept that the creators of the movie felt it was necessary to reinvigorate the franchise and it doesn’t bother me. They just went a little too slapstick as an easy laugh for my tastes (particularly how the school dance sequence ends).
I’m not going to delve to deeply into the story. For the most part, they get it right. Charlie Brown just wants to win at something so he can impress the Little Red-Haired Girl who moved in across the street. You root for him the whole time as you should. A slight criticism is that we spend too little time with the other characters. Except for Lucy, who sort of serves as the movie’s antagonist (I say sort of because it felt to me like part of Lucy’s role was cut from the final film), everybody else pretty much comes in for a trademark gag and then they’re gone. I get that it’s Charlie Brown’s movie, but I love these characters so much. I would have liked to see more of them.
The animation is wonderful. I loved the thought balloon flashbacks that were presented in traditional 2D animation style and I would have gladly sat through a movie done in that style but the crew did an amazing job rendering the characters so that they were all faithful to their original designs (Linus’s hair is the most iffy thing I could nitpick about). To be honest, the Peanuts animated specials (and to a lesser extent the movies) were never landmarks of animation. This is probably the most loving adaptation to be brought to the screen.
I applaud the creators for not trying to modernize Charlie Brown’s world. Other than a scene where Charlie Brown brings out a blue recycling bin to the curb which belies today’s ecological sensitivities, the rest of the movie feels like it takes place in that timeless world of yesteryear. Everybody still uses corded phones, flying kites is still a thing kids do and Snoopy types his story on an old-fashioned typewriter.
If there was one thing I did NOT like, it was the songs they included in the movie. Not the musical score mind. I loved that. I hated the songs. A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Snoopy Come Home and, to a lesser extent, Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown all featured original songs that were written specifically to fit the movie. Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back) used classic WWII songs to great effect. For The Peanuts Movie, I feel they just got lazy. When I saw the scene in the trailer where Snoopy dances the flamenco to Bamboléo by the Gypsy Kings, I thought it might have just been a musical cue for the trailer. The song is actually in the movie and it bugs me because it feels out of place. And no disrespect to Meghan Trainor, I think she’s a fine artist and Better When I’m Dancing is even a nice catchy song, but in no way do I think it fit the movie because it felt so generic. But then outside of Disney, that seems to be the way of things when it comes to animated movies in general. I just wish they’d aspired to doing something special.
In the end, I think The Peanuts Movie was a nice attempt in capturing the essence of what made Peanuts so great. I hope it does well enough to warrant sequels as despite its flaws I loved my time revisiting my old friends. I would gladly watch it again (in the theatre even) and it will be added to my collection as soon as it comes out on BluRay.
So that’s all for this week. Have a good seven and we’ll do this all again next Monday. Carja V.