The Peanuts Movie Review

The Peanuts Movie

They really want you to know that this is from the same studio who made the Ice Age movies. Not only has a lot of the advertising included a “from the makers of” tagline but the movie itself opens with another one of those obnoxious Ice Age squirrel shorts. With the movie also being preceded by several trailers for other cookie-cutter 3D kids’ movies, I was really worried when The Peanuts Movie finally started. Fortunately, this won’t ruin your childhood like a Transformers or Ninja Turtles movie will. Blue Sky Studios did a great job in capturing the atmosphere and heart of the Peanuts property. The animation in particular is fantastic. That’s really what drew me to go see the movie in the first place. The style is great in a modern/classic way and often feels like you’re watching stop-motion animation. It’s the most enjoyable eye candy since The LEGO Movie.

Unfortunately, the story isn’t of the same quality. It tends to meander a lot. I’d heard that the ending in particular was a sticking point for some, going for more of a traditional Hollywood landing. But I felt like that was okay here. This could have easily turned into a huge battle of good vs evil like so many other small-to-big movie adaptations. Rather, The Peanuts Movie is a series of tiny victories and, this being Charlie Brown and all, plenty of failures. Charlie Brown faithfully maintains the role of the underdog, and all of the other characters feel just as spot on. However, I really didn’t like how much screen time was dedicated to Snoopy’s Red Baron fantasies. Snoopy already plays a big part in the main plot, so giving him an extra story felt overly superfluous. Every Red Baron scene had me thinking, “Can this please be the last one?” If they had made that the short at the beginning instead of the dumb Ice Age one, the movie would have felt more complete overall.

Reviewer

Clark
I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.

Published by

Clark

I love gaming so much, I wrote a book about it.