Although, technically, it's not the first movie ever based on Charles M. Schulz' beloved Peanuts characters, Blue Sky's THE PEANUTS MOVIE BY SCHULZ is, without question, the very best. For the first time ever, Charlie Brown, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, Linus, and, of course, Snoopy, run, dance, tumble, and fly over motion picture screens around the world in beautiful CGI animation. Other critics complain this movie is so loyal to the original Peanuts strip it loses touch with the modern world. To be honest, THIS critic wouldn't have it any other way.
As the movie begins, our hero has bungled, bumbled, and generally messed up for, what he hopes will be the last time when a moving van pulls up across the street, and out comes The Little Red-Haired Girl, voiced to perfection by Francesca Capaldi. Speaking of which, the charm of the Peanuts TV specials has always been that the characters have always been voiced by actual kids as opposed to adults trying to sound like kids, such as Janet Waldo as Pebbles Flintstone or Julie McWhirter Dees as Sassette, Smurfette's "kid sister." The only voice that has been around since the beginning has been producer Bill Melendez as Snoopy, the star of a movie-within-a-movie in which he battles his perennial nemesis, the bloody Red Baron, and this time, he has a love interest, a cute poodle named Fifi, with vocal effects provided by the Wicked cute Kristin Chenoweth. Of course, it wouldn't be a Peanuts movie without the classic Vince Garuldaldi score made even better by new music from Christophe Beck and a new song ("Better While I'm Dancing") from Meghan Trainor.
Will Charlie Brown finally kick the football to the moon? Will he finally fly a kite? Will he finally pitch a winning game? Will he win the heart of the Red-Haired Girl? Will Marcie stop calling Peppermint Patty "Sir?" Will you see THE PEANUTS MOVIE to find out the answer to these and many other burning questions? Good grief, I hope so! (Also worth the admisssion: an original short starring Scrat from ICE AGE.)
If I was down to my last money and I had to choose between a ticket between THE PEANUTS MOVIE and a sandwich, I'd take PEANUTS. It's WAAAAAAAAY butter!
Over in our new blog, Welcome to Steve Country, celebrate our great country and the accomplishments of our veterans with a countdown of the Top 11 Patriotic Country Songs.
Steve out!
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