The Peanuts Movie


The Peanuts Movie is a 2015 American animated comedy film based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. Directed by Steve Martino from a screenplay by Cornelius Uliano and Craig and Bryan Schulz, the film stars the voices of Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown and, via archival recordings, Bill Melendez as Snoopy and Woodstock. It was produced by 20th Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios, and distributed by 20th Century Fox. The film sees Charlie trying to improve his odds with his love interest, the Little Red-Haired Girl, while Snoopy writes a book where he is a World War I Flying Ace trying to save his fellow pilot and love interest, Fifi, from the Red Baron and his flying circus. It was the fifth full-length Peanuts film and the first in 35 years, following Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown .
Development of the film began in 2006, six years after the death of Charles Schulz and the final release of the last Peanuts comic strip. Craig Schulz, a son of Charles, pitched a film idea to his son, Bryan Schulz. 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios announced development of a computer-animated film in October 2012, a year after Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, with Martino directing, due to his faithfulness to the style of Dr. Seuss in the film, Horton Hears a Who!, also produced by Blue Sky. Numerous elements from the comic strip were featured in the film, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, as well as the Snoopy and Woodstock voice tracks from Bill Melendez. The score was composed by Christophe Beck, with additional soundtrack contributions by Meghan Trainor and David Benoit.
The Peanuts Movie premiered in New York City on November 1, 2015, and was released in the United States five days later on November 6. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $246 million worldwide against a $99 million budget to become the 7th highest-grossing animated film of 2015. It received nominations for the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, the Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Animated Feature and was the first Blue Sky Studios film to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

Plot

, a clumsy and socially awkward young boy, is often looked down on by his peers, especially Lucy Van Pelt, who views him as a failure; his only means of emotional support are his anthropomorphic dog, Snoopy and Lucy's younger brother, Linus. One day, Charlie Brown is smitten with a new red-haired girl in his class. Viewing this as an opportunity for a fresh start, Charlie Brown decides to change himself in order to get the Little Red-Haired Girl to notice him.
Charlie Brown enters a talent show at his school, planning to perform a magic show act. On the day of the show, however, Charlie Brown decides to sacrifice his act in order to help his sister Sally with hers, causing him to be humiliated in front of the entire school. Later, Charlie Brown practices for a school dance, hoping that he can impress the Little Red-Haired Girl with his moves. At the dance, Charlie Brown attracts praise for his skills until he accidentally causes a sprinkler to be set off, causing the dance to be cut short.
The next day, Charlie Brown is partnered with the Little Red-Haired Girl to write a book report. When she is called away for a week to deal with a family illness, Charlie Brown decides to write the report alone, on the collegiate-level novel War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy, to which he writes a comprehensive report. At the same time, Charlie Brown finds he is the only student to get a perfect score on a standardized test taken earlier that school year. His friends and the other students congratulate him, and his popularity begins to climb.
However, when he goes to accept a medal at a school assembly, Charlie Brown learns that his test papers were accidentally mixed up with Peppermint Patty's, prompting him to reveal the mistake and decline the medal, thus becoming unpopular again. Subsequently, his book report is accidentally shredded by Linus' model Red Baron triplane, causing Charlie Brown and the Little Red-Haired Girl to fail the assignment and making the former give up on his attempts to improve himself.
Meanwhile, Snoopy writes a novel about his World War I Flying Ace persona trying to save his girlfriend Fifi from the Red Baron with help from his bird friend Woodstock, using the key events and situations surrounding Charlie Brown as inspiration to develop his story. Snoopy, in the end, manages to defeat the Red Baron and save Fifi.
On the last day of school, Charlie Brown is surprised when the Little Red-Haired Girl chooses him for a pen pal. Linus encourages Charlie Brown to tell the Little Red-Haired Girl how he feels about her before she leaves for the summer. Working up his courage, Charlie Brown meets the Little Red-Haired Girl just as she is about to leave on the bus for summer camp and asks her why she has chosen him in spite of his previous failed attempts to try and impress her. The Little Red-Haired Girl explains to him that she admires his compassion, honesty, and bravery. This causes the other kids, including Lucy, to congratulate Charlie Brown, finally accepting him as a true friend.
In a post-credits scene, the Red Baron runs out of energy and fuel and falls into the pond.

Cast

  • Noah Schnapp as Charlie Brown
  • Hadley Belle Miller as Lucy
  • Mariel Sheets as Sally
  • Alex Garfin as Linus
  • Francesca Angelucci Capaldi as the Little Red-Haired Girl and Frieda. Describing the Little Red-Haired Girl, Capaldi says: "She's very nice and kind and has a great heart. She really does like Charlie Brown, but he has no idea, because he's shy and awkward."
  • Venus Omega Schultheis as Peppermint Patty
  • Rebecca Bloom as Marcie
  • Marelik "Mar Mar" Walker as Franklin
  • Noah Johnston as Schroeder
  • Anastasia Bredikhina as Patty
  • Madisyn Shipman as Violet
  • AJ Tecce as Pig-Pen
  • Micah Revelli as Little Kid
  • William "Alex" Wunsch as Shermy
  • Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews as Miss Othmar and the Little Red-Haired Girl's mother. Andrews' trombone provided their "wah-wah" voices, along with the voices for other adult characters in the film.
  • Kristin Chenoweth as Fifi, Snoopy's love interest. Chenoweth created "a series of conversational-like sounds" to create Fifi's language, using Melendez's Snoopy recordings as a guide, and making his sounds more feminine. Chenoweth previously starred as Sally in a 1999 Broadway version of the Peanuts musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, for which she earned a Drama Desk Awards and a Tony Award.
  • Bill Melendez as Snoopy, Snoopy's Siblings and Woodstock. Woodstock and his bird friends are part of Snoopy's Beagle Scouts, who serve as the World War I Flying Ace's repair crew.

    Production

Development

In 2006, six years after the release of the last original Peanuts strip, as well as the death of creator Charles M. Schulz, his son Craig Schulz came up with an idea for a new Peanuts film, which he showed to his screenwriter son Bryan Schulz. "I was happy to show my son," Craig said. "He showed me how to make it bigger—how to blow it up more—and he helped me put in structure." When presenting their film to studios, Craig stipulated that the film remain under Schulz control, saying, "We need to have absolute quality control and keep it under Dad's legacy... You can't bring people in from the outside and expect them to understand Peanuts." On October 9, 2012, it was announced that 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios were developing an animated feature film based on the strip, with Steve Martino directing from the screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, and Cornelius Uliano. Craig, Bryan, and Uliano also produced. Craig, stating there is no one "more protective of the comic strip than myself," chose Martino as director because he showed faithfulness to literature in his adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!.
On the film's plot, Martino said: "Here's where I lean thematically. I want to go through this journey... Charlie Brown is that guy who, in the face of repeated failure, picks himself back up and tries again. That's no small task. I have kids who aspire to be something big and great... a star football player or on Broadway. I think what Charlie Brown is—what I hope to show in this film—is the everyday qualities of perseverance... to pick yourself back up with a positive attitude—that's every bit as heroic... as having a star on the Walk of Fame or being a star on Broadway. That's the core. This is a feature film story that has a strong dramatic drive, and takes its core ideas from the strip." In addition to receiving the rights to use Bill Melendez's voice for Snoopy and Woodstock, Martino was also able to get the rights to archive music from previous Peanuts specials. Classic locations are featured, such as Charlie Brown's skating pond, his house, "the wall" and Lucy's psychiatrist booth, each retaining the "eternal look of the strip." Additionally, despite being outdated technology, rotary phones and typewriters are seen, as well as Lucy's psychiatrist booth still costing a nickel. Adult characters' "wah-wah" voices are represented by a trombone with a plunger mute, as in previous Peanuts media, courtesy of New Orleans jazz musician Trombone Shorty. Because of the robust number of existing Peanuts characters, the film does not introduce any new characters.
On January 8, 2013, Leigh Anne Brodsky became the managing director of Peanuts Worldwide and was set to control all the global deals for the film. In April 2013, Fox announced that the film would be released in 3D. In October 2013, it was announced that Paul Feig would also produce. By April 2015, 75% of the animation was complete, with some footage scheduled to debut at CinemaCon in Las Vegas.