CHARLIE BROWN AND SNOOPY: THE PEANUTS MOVIE
When I was just a baby, my dad painted me a huge, skipping beagle across the wall of my nursery. Perhaps because he was black and white and I loved the contrast, perhaps just because it was meant to be, I fell in love with a little dog named Snoopy.
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Fast forward some *cough* 40 years *cough* and although I haven’t got my ragged old Joe Cool Snoopy that I physically loved to pieces, I’m still the same. I still cry at the song in the Snoopy cartoon when the little girl waves goodbye to him – and I remember my childhood dog, Copper, as he used to go on the run for days at a time. He was a bit of an escape artist and in those days, those way-back-then days, it was acceptable for your licensed dog to have a bit of a wander.
Mumsnet asked if we would like to review the New Charlie Brown and Peanuts movie and as I missed it at the cinema, and my boys have now been introduced to my favourite cartoon canine by watching Snoopy Come Home themselves [thank you, supermarket DVD offers], I thought it would make the perfect movie night for us all.
Popcorn in buckets, pyjamas on….what did we think?
For me, Snoopy will always have my heart, with his expressions, cries, disguises and love for Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty and Linus [sweet Baboo!] whose hair is very similar to Baby Hero’s at the moment I love too, but the beagle is my favourite. Woodstock is Jensen’s, he repeatedly tells me!
This is the best rainy day movie ever for the unpredictable weather of half term [note the raindrops on the window in our photo!]. I smiled as soon as Schroeder appeared on screen tinkering on his little piano whilst the 20th Century Fox fanfare sounded, and I don’t think I stopped grinning until the end. There aren’t enough Snoopy cartoons in my life – and I adored watching the skating scenes with the boys – and thinking that we could pull this movie out again at Christmastime and how perfect it would be!
The CGI animation is beautiful and modern, yet still keeps the hand drawn feeling of the old Snoopy and Peanuts cartoons as the smiles dance across the characters’ faces. I loved the true to life texture of Snoopy’s nose each time there was a close up, and I only wish I’d seen it at the cinema in 3d because with every scene I couldn’t help feeling that it would have been amazing to watch there.
Hands down, the favourite part of the movie for our boys was Snoopy and his arch nemesis, The Red Baron, World War One Flying Ace – and we had to watch it three times over to see this again and again – but I adored the interaction between Snoopy and Woodstock at the typewriter, and watching Charlie Brown slope off home after kite failures, and crushingly embarrassing moments in his life as usual.
Snoopy and Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie is directed by Steve Martino and produced and written by Bryan Schulz, Craig Schulx and Cornelius Uliano – and is available to buy from today!
