(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from The Peanuts Movie)
Doug (vo): So while I don't think I've talked a ton about it, I actually am kind of a big Peanuts fan. Okay, I don't resonate with it quite as much as other comic strips I grew up with, but I do acknowledge not only is it brilliant, but it's important. It in so many ways reflects childhood and different philosophies and understanding life, sometimes in an obvious way, sometimes in a subtle way. Sometimes, I don't even think they know the way that they're doing it, it just kind of reflects that abstract thought a lot of us have, both understanding the world and not understanding it at the same time. There's a really good YouTuber named ToonrificTariq that actually goes through a lot of the Peanuts specials and talks in much better detail than I can about why they're so special, so check that out. He pretty much sums up everything that I'm thinking in a much better way. I mention all this to emphasize what a huge undertaking making Peanuts: The Movie is. I mean, this isn't a Peanuts movie like Snoopy, Come Home or Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown or something like that. This is The Peanuts Movie. That's almost like saying, "Make a film called Just Life, All of Life". Like, is that even possible? Can you do it? It's just too much to squeeze in an hour-and-a-half flick. With that said, for a movie I haven't seen since it came out back in 2015, the film is both a little better and...I don't want to say a little worse, but just as underwhelming as I remember. But here's the thing, for trying to make Peanuts: The Movie in 2015 from Blue Sky Studios, it's kind of amazing we got the film we did.
Story[]
Doug (vo): Charlie Brown is, once again, the blockhead failure that never seems to catch a break. While he and his friends are enjoying the two greatest words ever said in childhood, “Snow Day!”, they notice a new kid moving in. This is the famous little redhead girl, who Charlie Brown immediately gets a crush on. Most of the film is just him trying to figure out how to talk to her, approach her, even just get closer to her...most of the film, he's very far away...while all his friends and even his dog, Snoopy, embark on their own small adventures.
Review[]
Doug (vo): Okay, so first off, I really give this film credit that it does not try to have a beginning, middle and end story. There is kind of a story, like I said, Charlie Brown wants to talk to this girl, but the rest of it kind of works like a slice of life movie like A Christmas Story or Sandlot or one of those flicks. A bunch of small vignettes sewn together that kind of remind you of moments when you were growing up and maybe you can relate to. All the other Peanuts movies that have come out have had a very clear story, some a little looser than others, but most of them, there's a beginning, middle and end, there's a goal to get towards that consumes most of the movie. I really give them credit that the story is really loose in this. For something called Peanuts: The Movie, it should be.
(Footage focusing on the animation style is shown)
Doug (vo): The animation style, for Blue Sky in 2015, is a very surprising and welcome departure. I'm really impressed with how they combine the 2D drawings with 3D animation, and it never feels like it's cheating. They know where to put in drawn lines, but they also know what kind of textures to give the skin and Snoopy's fur. It both kind of looks three-dimensional, but flat at the same time.
(Footage focusing on the main characters is shown)
Doug (vo): The characters all seem on point, too. You can tell the people who made this really have an understanding of the source material. I have to keep reminding myself this came from the same studio as Lorax*. Good God, this could have gone really bad. But I give both the people who made this and the studio credit for allowing them to make something that, again, at the time, was a little different. But yes, admittedly, it is trying to capture something that's very hard to capture because it's hard to even describe what it is.
- The Lorax was animated by Illumination Entertainment, not Blue Sky Studios. Doug immediately acknowledged his error on his Facebook page.
(Various footage is shown)
Doug (vo): There is both kind of an obviousness and subtlety to Peanuts that's hard to explain. And the funny thing is, when I think back to the Christmas special, I think of this very low budget animation trying to capture the magic and majesty of Christmas. There is an immense charm to what they capture and what they miss about the holiday. Now, you have something that's kind of in reverse. You have this multi-million dollar animation that's trying to capture the low budget magic and majesty of these original specials. And again, there is a charm to what they capture and what they miss. But it probably goes without saying, we're going to admire something that has less, but achieves more, and that is the original specials.
(Footage focusing on the backgrounds is shown)
Doug (vo): For me, looking back years later...I mean, I literally haven't watched this since it came out...there's three things that stop this from being a great Peanuts movie. One is the backgrounds. These backgrounds are way too safe. It's not even that they look bad, they just look like any animated film background, and Peanuts, while not always having the best backgrounds, would experiment, would play with the blank space, try new things with watercolors and different techniques. And sometimes, they would play with techniques here, but not nearly enough, not in a way that kind of reminds you of the memories of childhood where they are kind of fuzzy, but also kind of beautiful at the same time. If they played with the backgrounds in different styles the same way Across the Spider-Verse played with different backgrounds and different styles, I think this could have been possibly an amazing movie in evolving what Peanuts was. But again, these are the people who made The Lorax, completely missing the point of these simple stories. I really have to give credit of what they got right.
(Footage focusing on the song numbers is shown)
Doug (vo): Issue two, that is admittedly a nitpick, but it does get in the way sometimes, is the pop songs. Music plays a big part in Peanuts, and these songs and musical numbers in all these specials are usually really timeless. And just watching it again eight years later, these songs already seem dated and out of place. But they don't use them that often, so I can't complain too much.
(Footage focusing on the ending is shown)
Doug (vo): The other thing is the ending. I'll try not to go into too much detail, but when Charlie Brown and the little redhead girl do eventually talk, her dialogue just feels so phony. I'm not going to say Peanuts dialogue doesn't always sound scripted, but there is a genuineness to it, both a tough harshness, but also a simple beauty. And this dialogue feels like...well, what you'd usually hear out of a Blue Sky Studios film. This whole ending is so freaking safe, I kept expecting Charlie Brown to wake up from a dream, like, the bubble pops and we see reality, like, that would be Peanuts to me. And instead of this overwhelming feeling of happiness and success, we would get something that's a little bit more bittersweet, like, yeah, that's not entirely happy, but it's not entirely sad either. Again, I know it's only a few minutes in an hour-and-a-half movie, but it is the last few minutes, and it does hurt the film greatly.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): But like I said before, The Peanuts Movie in 2015 from Blue Sky Studios. I am legitimately impressed we got what we got. Is it what I would expect from something called The Peanuts Movie that's supposed to encompass everything that the specials and the comic strip is? No. But it's not a betrayal of it, either. It does understand the characters and the struggles they go through and tries its best to bring just a little slice of life to us, and I think it does a good job. If you're a Peanuts fan, I do recommend it. I think there's enough tributes to the original source material, but also a few additions that make it stand out a little bit, not a ton, but a little bit. I think in order for this movie to be great, we really did need them to take a lot more chances, but I think for the time period this came out, they did take a few, while still capturing the voice of what made these characters so special. It's definitely nothing phenomenal, but sometimes, Peanuts does need to be just a small story. And I think this is just a big enough small story to be worth your time.
(The infamous scene of Lucy taking the football away from Charlie Brown as he runs to kick it and him flipping on his back is shown)