Within the first ten minutes of
Steve Martino’s The Peanuts Movie, we are re-introduced to all of the key
characters in Charles Schulz’s universe, Charlie Brown has been upended on the
pitcher’s mound – his clothes scattered to the four winds- after his best
fastball has been rocketed back to him, Snoopy has stolen Linus’ blanket, Lucy
reminds us that she’s an irritating know-it-all and the Little Red-Headed Girl
has moved in with the sole purpose of putting out hero’s heart through the
ringer.
In other words, its business as
usual in the small Minnesota town where the Peanuts gang resides, which proves
to be both the film’s strength and weakness.
Playing like a “Greatest Hits album” for the older crowd and an
introduction to this animated universe for a new generation, Martino plays it
safe with the legacy he’s been handed, making sure not to alienate any viewers,
young or old, by upsetting the apple cart.
While nothing new happens in regards to plot,
the visual make-up of the film is intriguing.
At times, old school animation like that used in Schulz’s comic strip or
the classic TV specials are used to denote a memory characters are having. This
is a nice nod to the past, while the characters in the movie are rendered in a
manner that suggests depth and a degree of roundness, skirting a 3-D effect
without ever really achieving it. The
result is a film that is at times fun to watch but is nothing more than a trip
down memory lane for those old enough to remember using the phrase “Sweet Baboo”
to describe a sweetheart and a primer for youngsters of a time when animation
and the sensibility behind it was more innocent.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2015.
