W INTER 2016
P AGE 9
“The Peanuts Movie” Celebrates 50 Years of Charlie Brown on Screen
Schulz's beloved characters rock the big screen
Neil MacLeod
Contributor
On December 9, 1965, the world
received “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” a soon-to-be beloved holiday
classic starring the characters in
Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic
strip. Fifty years later, everyone’s
favorite beagle returns in “The Peanuts Movie,” a film by Blue Sky
Studios, the makers of “Ice Age” and
“Rio,” and directed by Steve Martino
(“Horton Hears a Who”).
The plot is simple: Charlie Brown
(voiced by Noah Schnapp), falls in
love with The Little Red-Haired
Girl (Francesca Capaldi of “Dog with
a Blog” fame), but is beginning to
get frustrated with his bad luck (who
could blame him after 65 years of
falling on his back trying to kick a
football?) Determined to impress the
girl of his dreams, Charlie Brown
sets out to become a winner. Meanwhile, Snoopy (Bill Melendez,
through archival recordings), attempts to write a book about his
famed “World War I Flying Ace”
persona, in which he must defeat the
Red Baron to save a poodle named
Fifi (Kristen Chenoweth). Other
familiar characters include Linus
(Alex Garfin), Lucy (Hadley Belle
Miller), Sally (Mariel Sheets), Peppermint Patty (Venus Omega Schul-
theis), Marcie (Rebecca Bloom), Pig
-Pen (AJ Teece), Woodstock (also
Melendez), and Schroeder (Noah
Johnston).
The film’s animation fits the classic
style of the comic strip and specials
well, but the extra third dimension,
courtesy of CGI (computer generated imagery), makes everything look
like clay. The film also has many
references to the classic Peanuts
specials. Early in the film, Snoopy
grabs Linus’s signature blanket,
leading to an ice-skating line similar
to the one from the opening of “A
Charlie Brown Christmas.” And
later, during one of Snoopy’s fantasies, he attempts to infiltrate a choir
of kids singing the opening song
from the special. The references to
classic Peanuts are all quite nostalgic, from Lucy’s 5-cent psychiatrist
stand to the classic scenes of Charlie
Brown falling on his back after a
failed football kick, and losing his
clothes after a successful bat.
The film has no new characters, but
there are quite a lot of existing ones.
Its ensemble even features many of
the minor characters, from trombone talking Miss Othmar (Troy
“Trombone Shorty” Andrews) to
Shermy (William “Alex” Wunsch),
who appeared in early strips, had the
first line of dialogue ever in the
franchise, and eventually disappeared (he doesn’t do much in the
movie either, poor guy). The fact
that such lesser known characters
are used shows the depth of the
franchise and the movie’s love affair
with the classic characters.
The film’s World War I Flying Ace
sequences are quite epic compared
to the famed scenes from “It’s the
Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.” The
backgrounds are grand in scale and
style, and Snoopy’s brief encounters
with reality are hilarious. The movie
also contains other moments that
will make you laugh until you can’t
breathe; the 20th Century Fox
20th Century Fox and Peanuts
theme is played by none other than
Schroeder; Charlie Brown tries to
fl HH