8/10
A cheeky and surreal but ultimately solid exhibition of our favorite beagle
31 December 2020
Warning: Spoilers
It started as a plain old winter day with Charlie Brown being Charlie Brown and Snoopy being Snoopy. Ever the optimist, Charlie Brown thinks he can treat Snoopy as an ordinary dog. Ever the Walter Mitty, Snoopy refuses to act like a dog and pull the sled. So not surprisingly an attempt by Charlie Brown to demonstrate turns the roles around: Charlie ends up the victim and Snoopy, the triumphant blowhard.

Snoopy has long tended to be slightly different on screen from in print. In the comics his manlike antics are largely fantastical (and usually pulled back down to Earth pretty fast), only occasionally and with more than a little ambiguity crossing the line into the surreal. On TV and in the movies he seems to get away somewhat more often with acting like a literal playboy, and that's what happens here:

To celebrate his victory and to restore himself after a day in the snow, Snoopy whips up five pizzas, a chocolate milkshake and a large salad, polishing everything off in a matter of minutes. A nasty bout of indigestion combined with Charlie Brown's bitter comparisons of Snoopy's to the austerity of life as an arctic sled dog leads to twenty minutes of nightmare: Snoopy now IS a sled dog in the Arctic!

Like Buck in Jack London's 'Call of the Wild,' Snoopy is too civilized and too soft for his new role, only exaggeratedly so. But ever the able one, Snoopy finds his footing and manages to become the "Alpha Dog" of the pack.

Some disliked this one because it didn't fit Snoopy's personality. On the contrary I thought it perfect. Snoopy is a loyal dog to Charlie Brown but he won't be a squish: witness the numerous occasions on which Charlie Brown tries to put him in his place and Snoopy shuts Charlie Brown up by pretending to "hand in his collar."

Others disliked the idea of Snoopy being punished. Let's face it: he's kind of a cocky glutton sometimes (he certainly is here) and he's definitely got it made under the Browns' mostly patient ownership. A couple days in the real world to prove what he's really got? Well, he did! Well, almost.

Still one of my favorites. The animation is simple as any 'Peanuts' offering is but is highly expressive and there are a few hilarious/absurd sequences to punctuate the torturous horror. It ends on a positive, if cheeky, note. It isn't pure 'Hallmark' fluff but 'Peanuts' never is (the existence of Lucy Van Pelt should attest to that much). If you're the type to enjoy roller coasters and/or slightly offbeat humor, this is for you. Cheers!
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