When the idea of comic strips pop into people’s heads, there’s usually some famous icons that come to mind, with the likes of Garfield, Calvin and Hobbs, Dick Tracy and other names like that. However, one of the crowing kings of the strip was a comic called Peanuts created by Charles M. Schulz. With an atmosphere that was blunt, direct and even slightly cynical, but also full of charm and simplicity, Peanuts was a popular comic strip which quickly led it to becoming a tv show in 1950 which would continue on up until the year 2000, continuing on with reruns. With such a long-lasting and timeless appeal, a cinematic movie version of the cartoon would be tricky but possible, until it was discovered that it was being made by Blue Sky Studios, a company that is known for making films with pretty visuals and nothing else of value. But miraculously with proper handling and clever direction, The Peanuts Movie turns out to be a pretty solid outing for the cartoon. A young boy named Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) always seems to fail in everything that life throws at him, with even his schoolmates treating him as the fall guy at every occasion. Things seem to change when a new girl arrives at their school, and Charlie Brown develops a bit of a crush on her. The rest of the movie is mainly just watching Charlie Brown’s schooling life, the pros and cons that come with it, and trying to find the courage to speak to the red-haired girl, all the while Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez) takes to the skies in his greatest mission yet, to stop his nemesis the Red Baron. Already owning a lot of specials that warmed people’s heart’s, this movie coming out so late after the franchise wasn’t as popular as it was previously, could have easily led to a huge disaster. However, the film proved to capture the spirit of the original show while updating in a way that it could function as a modern cinema movie.

Since the stories of Peanuts were often so straightforward and bare-bones, focusing more on general real-life activities rather than anything that dramatic, it seemed like the new era of film where things get super dramatic and over explained, wouldn’t gel with this type of format, especially for something intended for younger audiences. But the movie had both sons of the then deceased Charles Schulz, Craig and Bryan Schulz, work as the writers on the movie, enabling the movie to perfectly capturing the atmosphere of the show rather well; it was extremely mellow and laid-back, but mirrored real-life in the emotions felt within every moment. The movie doesn’t have any twists, turns, or even much of a plot, it just focused on Charlie Brown’s school life for about a year and that’s strangely all it needed to focus on. Each event is completely different from the last and in a smaller format, each could have worked in their own little stories, but the way the movie is structured, it never feels out of nowhere or clumsy. With that said, the movie isn’t quite as emotionally connectable and deep as the original series was; the classic peanuts would often hit people with serious emotions and with hard questions that wouldn’t always get a happy or clear answer, it was meant for kids but was still very adult. Here everything is a bit squeaky clean and even ends on a happy note, which isn’t necessarily bad, but it does keep it from the levels of the original series.

All the characters themselves fit the mold of the simplistic schooling experience life and each has some pretty memorable designs straight from the page itself. They work in the moments that each are given within the movie, the side characters are mostly given the appropriate times and never steal the spotlight away from the main focus. Charlie Brown is pretty connectable; he’s always been a character that so many wished would get some form of happiness yet was never given it. It was a surprisingly sick concept in that the universe just seem to hate this child for no good reason and it always was about him just continuing on through all the harshness. This movie does give that bit of a happiness that fans would want, even calling back to a lot of the activities he’s failed in the past. While it is a bit fan-servicey, it still leads to a pretty nice ending, and it does still keep the constant beating down throughout that matches the comics tone and formula. Snoopy still allows for the comedy relief throughout half the movie, and his portion does maybe get a bit too much screen-time, but it does lead to some radially different situations and visuals compared to the low-action little risks section featuring Charlie Brown, they do balance out well enough. All the actors are good in the parts and each capturing the trope that each kid is assigned with. The better acting does feel drastically different from the show, where the children were pretty stilted but in the charming way, but this movie doesn’t feel hampered by that issue.

The film’s art style is one that actually benefits from BlueSky inclusion. Ignoring the other aspects, their films are very appealing to look at, and this one is no different. The style has that simplistic style in how the lines are sketchy and how the movements are framed, but the facial expressions blend together with a simple design, but flowing movements. The backgrounds are all very colorful and feature nice detail, and the moments with Snoopy are almost too good looking with how dynamic some of the angles are and how colorful everything is. The movie even takes that extra level of detail in that despite all the high-flying action and sharp movements his doghouse is taking in the sky, the bottom is never shown in any angle, that is a very impressive detail to remember to add in. The comedy in the movie can be a little too much in moments; its understand that a kids movie would need some form of jokey antics to go with the more sombre quiet tone the movie has, but particularly in the slapstick department, it doesn’t feel like Peanuts when it gets too heavy on every character experience some form of it, that department was usually kept to Snoopy’s end much like how his story is more action-oriented compared to the others.

The Peanuts Movie allows two sons of a famous comic strip artists the chance to see their famous emotionally touching cartoon up on the big screen for any children in the new age to see, and even better it would prove to be a good movie as well. The fact that they were able to make the film work at all with everything seemingly going against them on the way up to it, but it worked out in the end. The film doesn’t reach the levels of any of the big-time animated movies by any means, but it doesn’t feel like it was even trying to be, it went through with the show’s original tone and atmosphere so much that it stayed at a pretty mellow middle ground. With charming visuals, simple but likeable characters, and a more relaxed down to earth compared to other kids’ movie, especially by Blue Sky, definitely their best work. It’s not a perfect recreation, but still a pretty effective one, check it out and see the story of a boy named Charlie Brown.