Fox The Peanuts Movie
Last updated: August 6, 2023
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Product Details
In our analysis of 57 expert reviews, the Fox The Peanuts Movie placed 7th when we looked at the top 8 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.Expert Reviews
What reviewers liked
The unlikely beauty of Charlie Brown is that no matter how many times he flails and fails, he keeps trying. Whether he’s humiliated in front of his classmates, tangled up in kite string or knocked on his butt on the pitcher’s mound or football field, he gets back up, dusts himself off and gives it another go. He isn’t content to let the blockhead nickname define him. He consistently strives to improve—to surprise us all and even himself. As antithetical as it may seem to his insecure, underdog persona, Charlie Brown is actually a pretty ballsy dude.
Indeed, the Peanuts Movie plays as something like a “greatest hits” of the franchise in all its incarnations, from the beloved holiday television specials to those cute-but-not-hilarious greeting cards that seem to arrive with regularity from an infantilising family member. All the classic moments are there, crammed in as if we might not get another shot at this. It’s all very sweet and charming, and we should be thankful this isn’t a childhood-ruining disaster.
The Peanuts Movie nails the look of the old Charlie Brown cartoons and comic strips even though it's CG-animated. While there are a few hand-drawn touches peppered throughout, it's remarkable that such cutting edge animation technology has been used to make a modern movie look so vintage. The overall melancholy tone is also in line with the original toons, capturing the angst and almost divine mockery poor Charlie Brown faces on a daily basis.
- IGN
Charlie Brown's stick-to-itiveness and integrity are two huge plusses here. He may stumble and bumble and be labeled a "blockhead," but he never gives up and he always makes the right moral choice. Even with an almost impossible book report assignment on his plate, Charlie pushes himself to finish what he starts. He tells the truth and refuses to take credit for a perfect score at school when he knows it's not really his work. We even see him put his own hard-sought plans aside for a time to help out his sister, Sally.
Devotees will appreciate the faithful detail, how the lush 3D animation exactingly reproduces Charles Schulz’s 2D artwork. As Schulz worked in three-panel strips, so the plot is an assembly of witty skits depicting Brown’s personal hell when a new girl arrives to melt his heart and social standing. To add some Pixar-pep, we get Snoopy’s loop-the-loop daydreams, dogfighting his nemesis, the Red Baron. It’s slight, but sweet.
- Empire
Charlie remains the lovable, sensitive sad-sack, just as his companions have emerged on the big-screen exactly as one remembered them.
“The Peanuts Movie” is a delightful and charming film that the whole family can enjoy. It is clever, funny, and remains true to the original characters created by the late Charles Schulz. Right from the start, when Schroeder plays the 20th Century Fox fanfare on his piano, you know you are in for a good time. The movie is a nice balance of new scenes and old familiar ones. Charlie Brown still has problems flying that kite, and Snoopy still takes on the Red Baron as he flies atop his dog house. A few nice surprises include finally seeing a clean Pigpen (just for a moment) and a delightful conclusion involving that “little red-haired girl.”
- Dove
What reviewers didn't like
“The Peanuts Movie,” by contrast, is all about playing it safe. It’s all about repackaging and regurgitating what we’ve already seen and what we already know. It takes ideas, images, plot points and even verbatim bits of dialogue from previous “Peanuts” incarnations and projects them onto the big screen for a new generation without breathing much new life into them. It’s disappointing and actually kind of cynical in its unwillingness to try anything even vaguely innovative with these beloved characters.
But it’s still a 93-minute movie that somehow feels a half-hour too long.
This movie may ultimately be too mellow and conventional for those growing up with far more (and livelier) animation options.
- IGN
Bouncy, trouble-free song snippets from Meghan Trainor and Flo Rida might leave kids wanting to explore other songs by those artists, some of which aren't quite so clean.
The movie doesn’t feature the rambunctious shenanigans of those other franchises
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