An Entertainment Weekly review gave this movie a C+, citing entirely graphical reasons. Not only is this an unprofessionally shallow approach to criticism; we already know enough about the visual style from trailers. Viewers can decide for themselves whether it deviates too uncomfortably much from the 2D animated specials on which Charles Schulz worked. For me, it doesn't, but there are far more important factors at work.
The main plot involves Charlie Brown beginning his famous crush on the rarely heard-from "little red-haired girl" when she enters his class. He hopes that her overall impression of him will not be the usual one. In a rare lucky break, he gets distinguished for the highest score on a test -- making him suddenly popular with the entire school. (Hey, Schulz wrote some equally unworldly scenarios.) But popularity has its price....
The secondary plot reminds me of Wishbone: Snoopy -- the highlight as always -- takes inspiration from the lives of humans around him, especially his master, to imagine himself in the lead role of a story. Of course, he's writing the story himself, about the World War I flying ace.
In spite of the aerial dogfight (heh) sequence, TPM is the most firmly G-rated film I've seen in years. Even so, there are a couple of moments that might have been slightly too risque for Schulz's taste, such as a fleeting glimpse of Charlie Brown's underwear.
That said, I think his biggest beef would be with the pacing. It's not on par with The LEGO Movie, but it moves faster than most animated features to this day. I think the makers wanted to cram as many "Peanuts" tropes into less than 90 minutes as possible. After all, the comprehensive cast is large enough to afford few of the kids much attention.
Apart from that, the makers vastly succeed in capturing the feel of the original. The tradeoff, alas, is that many of the gags are lifted directly from previous works. Lucy's "Get some hot water; get some disinfectant; get some iodine!" returns verbatim, for instance. Then again, Schulz himself wasn't above recycling his own humor, sometimes within the same week.
Disclaimer: I haven't been more than a mild fan of anything related to Peanuts since I was about six years old. Having grown up when the comic was past its prime, I've considered it overrated. Even the early fare was only fitfully clever, and the lack of visible adults led to awkwardness. Nevertheless, I can't deny it as a considerable piece of my childhood, and a faithful reproduction inevitably stirs some nostalgia.
TPM is not a must-see unless the last 16 years have done nothing to abate your hunger for more Peanuts (hmm, sounds like I'm talking about the food), but it is basically well done. It might be the best movie from Blue Sky Studios, with Rio the prime competition in my mind.
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