{"id":2406,"date":"2015-12-20T12:34:48","date_gmt":"2015-12-20T17:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2406"},"modified":"2026-10-23T09:48:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T13:48:08","slug":"the-peanuts-movie-2015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/?p=2406","title":{"rendered":"The Peanuts Movie-2015"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Peanuts Movie-2015<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Steve Martino<\/strong><\/p>\n

Starring Noah Schnapp<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott’s Review #304<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"80057058\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Reviewed December 20, 2015<\/p>\n

Grade: B-<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having adored the Peanuts comic strips in the “funnies” papers every Sunday as a wee child, and the wonderful classic A Charlie Brown Christmas special (1965) that aired every holiday season, I was eager to see a full-length film in theaters.<\/p>\n

The Peanuts Movie commemorates the Christmas special’s fiftieth anniversary.\u00a0 The Peanuts gang is so All-American and ingrained in our culture that I could not resist seeing it.<\/p>\n

I expected “cute,” and that is exactly what I received. The film is nice but quite safe and predictable.<\/p>\n

The Peanuts gang is much more than just the antics of Charlie Brown and his faithful dog Snoopy, who take center stage in the film.<\/p>\n

The entire beloved gang is featured. Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Linus, Lucy, Frieda, Pig-Pen, and others, albeit in supporting roles.<\/p>\n

The film features two main stories.<\/p>\n

The long-suffering and (in his mind) friendless (despite actually being loved by the gang), Charlie Brown is enamored with his new neighbor, the Little Red-Haired Girl, well-known from the original comic strips as Charlie Brown’s schoolyard crush-yet never seen.<\/p>\n

The other is Snoopy’s writing of a book about the Flying Ace, in which he saves his crush, Fifi, also a pilot, from the dangerous Red Baron and his army.<\/p>\n

As usual, the film is really about Charlie Brown’s endless insecurities, prompted by bad luck and his habit of screwing things up, even though his intentions are noble.<\/p>\n

When the Little Red-Haired Girl moves in across the street from Charlie Brown, he is immediately smitten and does numerous things to impress her and get her attention, but things go wrong.<\/p>\n

A talent show in which he plays a magician goes wrong.<\/p>\n

To his delight, he is partnered with the Little Red-Haired Girl on a book report, but when she is called out of town, he is forced to write the report himself, thereby foiling his attempts at getting close to her.<\/p>\n

As usual, all parents remain unseen and speak garbled as the story is about the kids.<\/p>\n

An interesting element is that while we see the Little Red-Haired Girl and she does speak, most of it happens toward the end.<\/p>\n

For most of the film, we see her only from behind, which adds an element of mystery.<\/p>\n

It would have been interesting to explore some of the supporting characters more: is Peppermint Patty gay, and is Marcie her love interest? How about a love interest or background for some of the others? A side story explored is a growing romance between Pig-Pen and Patti.<\/p>\n

The film does a nice job of featuring the familiar settings of the original comic strip, Lucy’s psychiatrist’s booth, the wall, and the skating pond, which is a treat for longtime fans.<\/p>\n

The Peanuts Movie (2015) is a nice film. I would have preferred a bit more of an edge or more creativity, as the original creator, Charles Schulz, had, but it is nice to be reminded of a simple time in life, and this film is a good time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Peanuts Movie-2015 Director Steve Martino Starring Noah Schnapp Scott’s Review #304 Reviewed December 20, 2015 Grade: B- Having adored the Peanuts comic strips in the “funnies” papers every Sunday as a wee child, and the wonderful classic A Charlie Brown Christmas special (1965) that aired every holiday season, I was eager to see a … Continue reading The Peanuts Movie-2015<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[240,37,49,199],"tags":[12954,12953,5522,3114,5521,5520],"class_list":["post-2406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2015-movie-reviews","category-animatedfilms","category-comedies","category-childrensfilms","tag-alex-garfin","tag-bill-melendez","tag-francesca-capaldi","tag-kristin-chenoweth","tag-noah-schnapp","tag-steve-martino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2406"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24906,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2406\/revisions\/24906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottsfilmreviews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}