Peanuts

[Ben]

Visually, I've always been impressed with Blue Sky, and I think the design and images saved Horton from being *too* off the page in terms of voices and diversions, even if I do agree with a lot said above.

From the first teasers I loved the look of Peanuts, too, so it's great yo hear the screenwriting lives up to the strips. It may be the same director, but clearly here the strength is in who's writing for him...

[Dacey]

Why the heck did the voices of Linus and Lucy get Annie Award nominations? If they were going to nominate a child, the least they could've done is pick the girl who voiced Riley...

http://annieawards.org/nominees/

[Jpcase]

Well...I would be disappointed that this didn't get an Oscar nomination, but after last year's fiasco, it's pretty hard for me to take the Academy's choices seriously anymore.

I only just now got to seeing this and am very impressed - all the more so for it coming from Blue Sky. I'd like to think that this could start the studio off on a better track record, but my guess is that the majority of the film's appeal can be attributed to Schulz's son and grandson being behind the script. With Ice Age 5 on the way, we'll probably be back to mediocrity soon. It's nice to know that the studio is at least capable of this kind of quality though.

And I have to say - I don't see the episodic nature of the storyline as a negative at all; rather it was a big part of what endeared the film to me. I guess that I can see why some people aren't able to get entirely behind this approach; perhaps a more traditional narrative would have carried bigger emotional payoffs. But in my view, a great story doesn't necessarily have to have much of a plot, and often times, the best ones don't. One of my biggest frustrations with movies like Inside Out and How to Train Your Dragon 2 is that the pacing has felt incredibly rushed to me. They throw all kinds of great ideas up onto the screen, but don't offer enough breathing room for anything to really sink in. Peanuts may not have the dramatic heft of those movies, but I actually felt more connected with the proceedings. By the time the film was over, I felt genuinely moved, simply because I felt like I had gone on a journey with the characters over the course of their school year - something that I'm not sure the film could have accomplished as well with a tighter narrative focus.

[Randall]

Wow, I was in tears after finally watching The Peanuts Movie tonight. As a longtime admirer of the comic strip, and having written numerous articles on the specials and Charles Schulz, I have to say that I found the film near perfect. Blue Sky astounded me. It's the first film of theirs that I have truly loved.

The special CGI that they developed is impressive enough. But the tone was also handled well, and the script was mostly great too, particularly how the film ended. Though Charles M Schulz might not have approved of an ending that broke so many rules of the strip, I thought it was a PERFECT coda to the whole Charlie Brown story, an ending for the fans who endured with him for so long. The two end credits scenes were perfect, too!

I understand the notion that the ending was TOO happy. I totally get that. Schulz would agree, I'm pretty sure. The ending would be certainly wrong if Peanuts was an ongoing concern, but the thing is - Peanuts is over. The strip ended over a decade ago, and no more specials or movies are forthcoming at this time. The Peanuts Movie gave us a true ending for the character whose struggles we have followed for so long, and it felt really good. We finally got to see CB get the ending he deserved, the ending we always wanted for him. Just as they can kill off the Joker in a Batman movie but not the comics (at least, never with a body in evidence), CB can be allowed a happy ending in his final film appearance. At least, I think so, and his son the screenwriter agreed.

Also, I didn't find the film too episodic, really. Many of the TV specials by comparison were extremely episodic, with one scene having nothing to do with any of the others. Some of the specials had no true plot at all, in fact. This film has a solid plot about CB building himself up for the LRG. True, you could jumble those scenes in various sequences without harming the film, so the plot perhaps didn't "build" as much as it could have; but the scenes did at least service the plot. I really thought it all held together well (even if the Red Baron storyline was a whole separate thing, of course). I was okay with it.

[droosan]

The Peanuts Movie was my favorite of last year .. edging ahead of Inside Out, in my book.

It should have at least been nominated for BAF.

The extras on the Blu-ray are a bit light on 'behind-the-scenes' looks at the innovative CG devised for the film .. but, happily, The Art and Making of The Peanuts Movie book does offer a deeper look at the process than most 'art of' books seem to.

[Ben]

Okay, I've had this for a couple of weeks now - and of course the next two nights are filled with Zootopia and BatSoup - but this has shot to the top of the "watch next" pile. I knew Droo liked the movie a lot but didn't realise he placed it *so* highly, while any endorsement from Rand always means something is high in the list and will likely appeal.

Also, placed in the context mentioned, it sounds like the film does indeed wrap up the gang's adventures in a good way, though without having seen it yet I'm kind of hoping it now doesn't get a sequel or spin-off, as it sounds quite perfect as is, again in that "one last time" context.

I did catch Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown again a little while back and was hoping to watch the other Peanuts movies before this one - not that, I know, they are sequential or even the best of all the Peanuts screen material, but it's a shame that Paramount's (through WB) new four-film collection only made it to DVD and not Blu, despite having new widescreen transfers made.

[James]

I don't think any studio could have done any better than Blue Sky did with this film. I was expecting a train wreck no matter who did it, but did not have high hopes coming especially from them. But they proved the doubters wrong! Not perfect, but based on expectations going in, much better than anyone hoped.

[Randall]

Absolutely. I was soooooo pleased with the result, both visually and story-wise. Honestly, I don't know if Blue Sky has it in them to top this in the near future.

And I vote NO to a sequel. This film already is the perfect swan song for Chuck and the gang. I really felt like Craig Schulz's goal was to give Peanuts (especially Charlie Brown) a final send-off with this film.

I watched the BD bonus features last night, and was quite pleased with the Making Of, though I do plan to get the Art and Making of Peanuts book. The limited edition is very tempting!

http://stuartngbooks.com/the-art-and-ma ... ition.html

[Dacey]

Very happy to know that Rand (our unofficial "Peanuts Nut") liked the film.