Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The PEANUTS Movie – movie review

It was October 2nd, 1950 when Charles M. Schulz introduced the characters of Charlie Brown, Shermy and Patty in just seven newspapers. That was the start of a 50-year journey for the cartoonist that forever changed the landscape of popular culture and humour. Schulz’s comic strip was hailed as one of the greatest of the twentieth century and his characters launched a bona-fide industry, while providing a much-needed voice for the underdog via Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown himself has the distinction of being the only PEANUTS character to appear in both the first last episodes (the latter on February 13th, 2000). Incidentally, Snoopy did not make an appearance until October 4th, 1950.

Through all of life’s trials and tribulations – including a kite-eating tree, a losing baseball streak or the blunt advice of Lucy Van Pelt – Charlie Brown persevered. His eternal optimism gave ordinary doofuses hope, which made him relatable to readers the world over. “Charlie Brown gets referred to as a loser all the time,” laments Craig Schulz, the son of Charles M. Schulz and one of Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie’s writers and producers. “But, in reality, Charlie Brown is a winner because he never gives up. We all lose a lot more than we win and who better than Charlie Brown to teach us that?”

With a knack for social commentary, Charles M. Schulz created characters and storylines rich with wit, sarcasm, humour and heart. The universal appeal of all PEANUTS characters is the reason the strip and its characters have remained relevant. I’m taking here about Charlie Brown’s eternal downtrodden status, Linus’ heart, Franklin’s philosophy, Marcie’s introspection, Lucy’s crabbiness, Sally’s unrequited affection and Snoopy’s many personas.

When PEANUTS completed its run in the year 2000, it had an estimated readership of more than 350 million and appeared in 2,600 newspapers in 21 countries. Over the years, many studios had pursued a big screen version of PEANUTS, but the Schulz family resisted. Their thinking began to change when director Steve Martino expressed his passion and ideas for a cinematic project.

Moreover, Craig Schulz had admired Martino’s work, including the way his film Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! was true to the style of Dr. Seuss. The resultant Snoopy and Charlie Brown movie script follows two storylines. The first concerns Charlie Brown’s head having been turned by the new girl in class and him trying to impress her. The second focuses upon Snoopy taking to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis, the Red Baron.

Now, I grew up as an unashamed fan of PEANUTS. Loved it. Couldn’t wait to read it. I had PEANUTS toys too … so I was really looking forward to seeing how it would be treated as a movie. Unfortunately, I walked away disappointed.

While Charlie Brown’s story was sweet, it was very basic and hardly all that inventive. Animation has seen remarkable leaps forward in recent years (decades in fact) and this appeared very old school to me. There were a handful of amusing scenes, but that is how I saw it, a series of scenes banged together with a not altogether convincing narrative.

As for Snoopy’s tale, there was only so much chasing of the Red Baron in the skies that I could take. In fact, put simply, I was quickly bored by it. Around Charlie Brown and Snoopy a few of the other main players in the PEANUTS cartoons feature, but hardly all that prominently. Perhaps littlies, like I was when I was first introduced to PEANUTS, will enjoy it more than I did now, but I really struggled to make it through to the end … and it’s running time was just one and a half hours. As it turned out, even an hour would have been too long for me.

Rated G, Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The PEANUTS Movie scores a 4 out of 10.

Director: Steve Martino
Cast: (Voices of) Francesca Capaldi, Madisyn Shipman, Noah Schnapp
Release Date: 1 January 2016
Rating: G

Alex First