The Peanuts Movie: A Blue Sky Production

Ever wondered how you'd look if you were a Peanuts character? Well, wonder no more!

"Pardon me, that extremely loud and extremely deep voice you may have just heard. It was me. Oh, it is such a long story..."

A ton of my friends have done that already. :D

If only it was in 2D....

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

BTW the movie novelization is released tomorrow. As usual with [animated] films I'm looking forward to, I'll be posting my thoughts on it in a review.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

Final trailer:

Lol, was just literally going to post that.

The only thing I'm wary about is the film's music. Hoping the modern pop music is only for the trailers (and maybe stretching it, a very brief gag or credits sequence), because it seems it will greatly clash with the film's tone and setting (especially so, it looks like it's evoking the 50s-60s setting of the strip).

Otherwise, if Blue Sky have played their cards right with this film, I think it will be their best film since Ice Age 1, if not their best film overall.

edited 22nd Sep '15 7:11:27 AM by Yeow95

has a clue, but it's usually not the correct one 0.55% of the time

Still nothing is upsetting me! I am digging the hand-drawn expressive eyes.

So I just finished reading "The Peanuts Movie: Junior Movie Novelization". As usual with me, I will post my spoiler free review on the film's plot and later post a more in-depth view of the plot itself.

Admittedly, it's hard for me to review this book without first acknowledging this frequent inconsistency when I see this film marketed.

Um.....Flat "What"? Ignoring the fact that this also isn't their first foray into 3D animation this clearly isn't the first time anyone's had the idea to put Charlie Brown and company on the big screen (try 1969, 1972, 1977, 1980). This inconsistency becomes even more apparent to me as a Peanuts fan, when I see all of those featurettes discussing how much the filmmakers love the original Charle Schulz work, the decision to use archival recordings of Bill Melendez for Snoopy and Woodstock, and using the comic strip for key frame animation reference material. For a film that claims to be in love with the original work, this oblivious statement become largely erroneous.

This is where I came from last night when I first started reading the novel adaptation of the film’s script. And now having finished The Peanuts Movie: Novelization, I can say this: While this certainly isn’t the gang’s “big-screen debut”, the plot does exactly what it promises. It does ‘’feel’’ like the most definitive “Peanuts” movie ever. What I mean by this is that so much care has been taken in ensuring that the story stays exactly true to the spirit of the Schulz work that you’d swear this is a lost script done by Charles in the 1960s. Everyone in this feels exactly like you remember them- Charlie Brown is the hopeful, good hearted determinator, Linus is the empathetic philosopher, Lucy is a crabby bitch and Snoopy is the “why can’t every dog be as awesome as this” creative master.

Without giving anything anyway, the plot feels like an old Peanuts special. It’s very Slice of Life an over-exuding in youthful innocence with sympathetic undertones thrown in. The novel essentially has two plots: Charlie Brown is introduced to The Little Red Headed Girl and tries to win her affections and Snoopy imagines himself as the Flying Ace on a daring rescue mission. While these two plots may seem incoherent, the plot does a relatively decent job weaving in the two (although more on that later).

Its also important to note that while this plot isn’t necessarily a prequel, it does serve as a clever background to a lot of the Peanuts staples that everyone instantly recognizes. In addition to The World War Flying Ace and the Red Headed Girl, War and Peace makes an introduction as does Snoopy’s Typewriter (with “A Dark And Stormy Night”, as per the norm), Ice Skating, and Charlie Brown’s baseball team. Kite Flying plays a large part into the story’s plot and this might be the most ‘’heroic’’ version of The Kite Eating Tree I’ve seen.

That being said, there are a few nitpicking issues I wish the screenwriters could have improved upon. The story is being titled “The Peanuts Movie” when really it should have been called “The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Movie”. The ensemble cast isn’t really utilized except in support of the two leads (which is disappointing as I would have loved more Linus). Secondly, the film could have been more philosophical- it’s very much a “family film” and sadly lacks any philosophical scenes like the iconic Christmas Special’s discussion on the commercialism of the holiday. Finally, too much focus was dedicated to Snoopy’s Flying Ace. Like many fans, I regularly enjoyed seeing him take off on his doghouse and fight against an imaginary Manfred von Richthofen but literally half the film is dedicated to this. I understand they had to make it more cinematic but there were points in the book where I wish it would just go back to Charlie Brown and crew. I imagine when the film comes out, these scenes will be the highlight of the movie but in novel form it just seems as an overlong gag.

All in all, I regularly enjoyed this story. It’s a return to force for Schulz’ creations and does its job well in reminding the world about still being a die-hard determinator in the face of abject failure.

edited 22nd Sep '15 10:47:32 AM by Mattonymy

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

It's possible they mean their debut in 3-D, but that could have been worded better.

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.

Yeah I'm glad they at least added the 3D animation part, but even so it still seems like they're advertising the film as CB's First Move Ever.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

I hate 3-D. The effect doesn't work on me and I'm expected to shell out extra for something I'm not getting.

And now that it's the "new big thing" almost every showing of movies I want to see is in 3-D, because fuck people with astigmatism.

Your momma's so dumb she thinks oral sex means talking dirty.

Ah, yes, I took the marketing as a statement of intersection, that this is the first Peanuts production in 3D and in theaters.

Yeah, saying that this is their debut in theaters is wrong because we had 4 movies prior to that! 2 of those four came out the same years Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back came out.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

Owl City, Flo Rida & Meghan Trainor are on the soundtrack.

Peace is the only battle worth waging.

I fear for the state of this movie.

"We be we baby!"

.... hell....

I'm sure those songs are only in the soundtrack and not the movie itself.

I mean, look at the Transformers movie soundtracks. Sure, they've got a lot of songs, but how many of them actually show up in the movies themselves?

If anything, those songs are probably just inspired by the movie and not made for the movie.

We shouldn't have anything to worry about.

edited 17th Oct '15 8:13:52 AM by TargetmasterJoe

Please be good...

I read the film's plot. It is good.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

I honestly do have faith that this will be good. It does a some obstacle coming out within a couple of weeks of Toy Story turning 20.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

Why should that serve as an obstacle? I don't recall any sort of Milestone Celebration intentions on Disney's part in the works, let alone a re-release (especially since it and TS2 already got the 3D re-release treatment in the run-up to the release of TS3).

If anything, I think Fox/Blue Sky should be more wary of Disney/Pixar's The Good Dinosaur potentially stealing their thunder when that film sees release.

has a clue, but it's usually not the correct one 0.55% of the time

Not really a Milestone Celebration, but it has big shoes to fill being released in that timeframe. I'm more talking about the movie's possible quality rather than it's potential box office results.

You know, I have to wonder why Pit is obsessed with this site. It’s gonna ruin his life!

Final Peanuts Trailer

Note: It's great to see a lot of what I read in the novelization fully realized, although like everyone else I wish it was set to classical music.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

You don't know yet until the movie comes out that they won't use piano jazz music.

There's a part of me that wonders, if it's actually in the movie, why they wouldn't use any classic-style Peanuts Jazz in any of the trailers.