The Peanuts Movie 2015
I heard good things about this movie when it came out and eventually got the blu-ray on sale. I was happy to see the digital copy redeemed in UHD on iTunes and all of the sudden there was an Apple TV app on Roku, so I could actually watch it at that resolution.
I grew up reading anthologies of Peanuts comic strips, plus reading the Sunday comics every week. For a while I think I may have actually cut out the Peanuts strips from the daily newspaper to make my own anthology. Also as a kid they had the Charlie Brown holiday specials which were low budget but had their own iconic touches like the Vince Guaraldi music and the voices of the kids, and, maybe more memorably, of the parents and teachers. So there is a long history of Peanuts in print and the screen. Would a movie be able to hold up, especially in the era of CGI animation? Charles M. Schulz used pretty simple line drawings for his characters and it is impressive to see the blend of those simple drawings combined with 3D computer animated hair and objects, making it look a little like claymation (in ultra high definition!).
The other thing they have done well is combine all of these different Peanuts storylines into a cohesive feature length movie. There isn’t much new here so most of the interest comes from seeing how they have re-made those stories for today (although fountain pens?). In the end, it is cute but a little boring. Not particularly funny (though it definitely has a few moments) or that different from the original (though Charlie Brown is allowed at least a little success) this won’t knock your socks off like a line drive when Charlie Brown pitches. It is fine to watch, especially if you are a fan, but we all know about Charlie Brown’s anxieties and challenges, and we have followed his pursuit of the little red-haired girl and kite flying for a long time along with Snoopy writing novels and flying his dog house in combat against the Red Baron. The classic music gets not much more than a cameo with some new pop songs thrown in that aren’t bad. It is hard not to be positive about this, but I feel a little more disappointed than satisfied, so it earns a low B.Written: 26 Oct 2019
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital