The building blocks of this 3-D animated 'Peanuts' world are pretty good. The CGI models breathe new visual life into the characters and scenery without destroying their simple, linear essence that was Schulz's characteristic style. Most of the characters are their usual selves as we grew up knowing and loving, with Snoopy and Woodstock stealing the show with their usual charm. However, the "kids across the town" - Peppermint Patty, Marcie, etc. - are watered down to the point where the film would have been stronger without them. And by making Lucy and Linus the same age, as another reviewer pointed out, the animators did take a bit of her authoritative "edge" off and decredibilize her towering over Linus and his friend Charlie Brown (though the latter be her age).
But the real problem with 'The Peanuts Movie' is the story. The plot is thin and unoriginal: 'You're in Love, Charlie Brown' told *exactly* the same story forty-eight years earlier, in just twenty-five minutes, and yet managed to flesh out most of the lead characters much better *and* adhere more closely to classical ideals of unity of time, place and action. 'The Peanuts Movie' lingers on the silliest iterations of Charlie Brown's attempts to get the attention of his beloved red-haired girl. When even this is not enough to fill screen time, the film resorts to silly distractions in the form of shamelessly ad hoc rehashes of memorable scenes from previous 'Peanuts' specials.
Even Snoopy's antics get tiresome, as his fantastical dogfights against the Red Baron descend into a protracted and unironic secondary story-in-a-story which, though improbable and dumb, is neither absurd (as the comic-strip Snoopy's fantasies were) nor shamelessly stupid (as the comic strip Snoopy's attempts at creative writing were) enough to truly entertain us.
The film does put a decidedly more upbeat note on both Charlie Brown's real life and Snoopy's fantasy life than the strip ever did. While this isn't necessarily an unwelcome change of pace in itself, for a movie that seems predicated on "reminders of what was" it does take the edge off of the 'Peanuts' world overall. The end product feels a bit sugary and unsatisfactory as a result.
All-in-all this seems to have been a quick cash grab on the part of the Schulz estate, cleverly designed to tap stoked appetites for nostalgia during Advent when everyone is watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. Stick with the old specials if you want to honor the memory of 'Peanuts' and its creator. This one's a waste of time and neurons.
But the real problem with 'The Peanuts Movie' is the story. The plot is thin and unoriginal: 'You're in Love, Charlie Brown' told *exactly* the same story forty-eight years earlier, in just twenty-five minutes, and yet managed to flesh out most of the lead characters much better *and* adhere more closely to classical ideals of unity of time, place and action. 'The Peanuts Movie' lingers on the silliest iterations of Charlie Brown's attempts to get the attention of his beloved red-haired girl. When even this is not enough to fill screen time, the film resorts to silly distractions in the form of shamelessly ad hoc rehashes of memorable scenes from previous 'Peanuts' specials.
Even Snoopy's antics get tiresome, as his fantastical dogfights against the Red Baron descend into a protracted and unironic secondary story-in-a-story which, though improbable and dumb, is neither absurd (as the comic-strip Snoopy's fantasies were) nor shamelessly stupid (as the comic strip Snoopy's attempts at creative writing were) enough to truly entertain us.
The film does put a decidedly more upbeat note on both Charlie Brown's real life and Snoopy's fantasy life than the strip ever did. While this isn't necessarily an unwelcome change of pace in itself, for a movie that seems predicated on "reminders of what was" it does take the edge off of the 'Peanuts' world overall. The end product feels a bit sugary and unsatisfactory as a result.
All-in-all this seems to have been a quick cash grab on the part of the Schulz estate, cleverly designed to tap stoked appetites for nostalgia during Advent when everyone is watching 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'. Stick with the old specials if you want to honor the memory of 'Peanuts' and its creator. This one's a waste of time and neurons.