The Peanuts Movie may be an absolute delight for those who grew up with Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, but it’s an enjoyable ride for even those who have no prior knowledge of these beloved characters. This is one of the missions of adaptations, especially of media that is not globally famous enough, to introduce these characters to a wide range of audiences who’ve never heard of them before.
The least an adaptation could do is to present people with an enjoyable take on the revered source material, and the most an adaptation could do is to leave one with the same impact that the source material did, and hook one into the franchise. The Peanuts movie succeeds at doing a little bit beyond the least. It’s not really a great adaptation, but it’s a sweet and appreciable one.
How to Stream or Download The Peanuts Movie
You can stream it or you can download the film from a digital store or watch it on a streaming platform such as Disney+. Click on the Download button at the end of this review.
The Movie Review
The film surrounds the little Charlie Brown, who’s fallen in love with his new neighbor Little Red-Haired Girl from the moment he first saw her. His concern of being a little too socially clumsy is what holds him back from attempting any interaction with her, especially since he’s had failed attempts in the past too.
The character Lucy encourages him to let go of doubt and enhances his confidence, which results in him going out to try a series of new, never-before-tried activities with the hope that at least one of them would catch the attention of the Little Red-Haired Girl. He starts with a magic show for the school’s talent show, in which he’s assisted by Snoopy and Woodstock, but is required to drop his own pursuit to assist his sister Sally with her own instead. He then tries to impress her with his dance skills by participating in the school dance, where the teaching of Snoopy comes in handy for him.
Though despite all the skills he garners, he still remains socially clumsy, which results in some failures during or after his dance performances, and makes things socially difficult for him.
Then suddenly Charlie Brown is assigned to write a book report alongside the Little Red-Haired Girl, but luck runs out of him again as she takes a week’s leave due to a case of family illness. To Charlie Brown’s surprise, his popularity begins to grow due to him scoring greatly on tests, as he’s the only one with a perfect score in the test.
But for someone with Charlie Brown’s luck, all of that is short-lasting. The little positive attention that he gains always turns into something embarrassing one or the other way.
This is what’s always made him such a relatable character for many kids and adults alike, and the film manages to portray the troubles of this character quite nicely. His journey from being an awkward yet persistent kid who’s followed by trouble anywhere he goes to being his best self and admired by the Little Red-Haired Girl is very well told by this adaptation.
The screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano has definitely the right kind of dialogue and scenarios to reflect the nature of both Charlie Brown and the entire comic strip. The direction of Steve Martino is also a very good fit for the source material’s style, and he really knows how to modernize these worlds. The film feels as if the comic strip was brought to life, with beautifully classic animation. Christophe Beck’s original score is only the icing on the cake.
The Bottom Line
The Peanuts Movie is one of the better recent animated films and a worthy adaptation of the Peanuts comic strip. It definitely deserves to be recommended to anyone looking for some nice and modern animated films. It checks most of the right boxes despite not being very original in terms of storytelling.
