Good grief! It’s Charlie Brown’s worst nightmare - MILLIONS of people watching him!
Good thing Snoopy loves an audience!
You’re watching Beyond The Trailer’s review of The Peanuts Movie....
The comic strip used to be an American staple. Both kids and adults would fight over who
got to read the funny pages first. And Peanuts was one of its biggest stars. In fact, with
over three hundred and fifty million readers in its heyday, Peanuts is a billion dollar
empire - first for creator Charles M Schultz and now, after his death, his children and
grandchildren. And Schultz’s descendants are incredibly protective of his legacy - not
only writing and producing this film themselves along with Blue Sky Studios, but when I reviewed
one of the first trailers for The Peanuts Movie, Schultz’s daughter Amy actually logged
onto YouTube and commented on my review to defend some of the changes that have been
made for the movie! Changes...?! Well one of the most obvious is that while Charlie
Brown and company have always been drawn by hand, and then animated by hand for four movies
and over forty television specials, this is the first time they’ll be computer animated.
And yes, you heard me right, four movies and over forty television specials! Yet today,
most people are familiar with Peanuts from It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and
A Charlie Brown Christmas, plus a slew of adorable merchandise that can be found largely
at Hallmark. I’ve bought some, have you...?! But while Peanuts is definitely a part of
our lives, or at least on the periphery of our lives, is it something we’d be willing
to pay to see at the movies - in 3D? That’s a particularly tough question these days as
the animation field gets increasingly crowded, and competitive. Blue Sky, the animation studio
making Peanuts, has managed to survive thanks to tremendous overseas appeal. See, while
only Rio 2 has been able to hit the century mark stateside, all their movies have made
hundreds of millions of dollars thank to strong foreign box office. And whadya know, the Peanuts
strip has been translated into twenty-one languages. So, just as Blue Sky Studios has
had to adapt, so must Peanuts if it wants to stay competitive in a world where brands
have toys, merchandise, TV specials and MOVIES. And if you’re worried about the Schultz’s
lack of movie experience, Paul Feig is a producer on the film plus the Schultz’s picked Steve
Martino to direct because they felt his Horton Hears a Who was faithful to Dr Seuss’s vision.
Too bad Dr Seuss’s widow didn’t agree, as she took her husband’s books over to
competitor Illumination Entertainment. But hey, if the Schultz’s score here with The
Peanuts Movie, maybe Bill Watterson will finally agree to a Calvin and Hobbes movie if he gets
the same creative control?! Watterson has already said an animated version is a little
intriguing... And then, because this is Hollywood,
BAM, CROSSOVER! No, no - sorry, Watterson, didn’t mean to scare you!
Come back, come back...Let's just both watch The Peanuts Movie and keep an open mind, okay?