The Peanuts Movie: Collector's Edition (2015)

Details: By Loron Hays; 22 March 2016

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The Peanuts Movie - Blu-ray Review

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Let’s go back. Let’s go way back.

It’s hard to imagine now, but once upon a time ago there was no such thing as "digital noise". The Internet was not around, iPads were still only on Star Trek, and cell phones were the size of bazookas. Those were days free from distractions. Children used to play outside and fly kites or kick the football around. School – free of standardized testing procedures – was still a fun place to be and Saturday morning cartoons reigned supreme. To put it bluntly, people of all ages had patience and enjoyed things at a languid place.

Sounds dull, right? Well, it wasn't. It was a time when Charles M. Schultz’s “Peanuts” comic strip ruled the funny pages. I fondly remember tearing into the Sunday paper only to read his strip. What was that old blockhead up to today?! Good times. Good times. Well, the Peanuts gang is THANKFULLY back! In my opinion, defying the odds against it, The Peanuts Movie is the feel-good release of last year.

To even think about reintroducing the uncomplicated world of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock, and Pig Pen in this day and age is a gamble. So many things can go wrong with a well-intentioned project like this. Thankfully, Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox Animation, and the film’s director Steve Martino don’t screw it up. With much love and respect, their take on the beloved Peanuts world is a gigantic success.

With bright and zippy state of the art 3D animation, the creators of the film combine the classic look of the old animated TV specials with Schultz’s original ink illustrations and produce a stylized homage to what came before. Unique to this feature alone, they also provide a solid foundation for more films to follow with a look that is both nostalgic and fresh. It is an exciting film to watch unfold and perfectly captures what is great about the Peanuts mythos.

It is no stretch of the imagination to suggest that The Peanuts Movie is bound for cinematic cartoon glory. In a script by Craig and Bryan Schulz (Schulz's son and grandson) and Cornelius Uliano, Snoopy (voiced once again by Bill Melendez through archival recordings), typing like mad on the roof of his dog house, faces his nemesis the Red Baron while Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) fulfills his own epic journey to talk to The Little Red-Haired Girl (voiced by Francesca Angelucci Capaldi) by reading Tolstoy’s War and Peace and impressing her with his collegiate stride. He tries oh so hard to be so many things that, quite often, the reality surrounding him proves daunting.

All our favorite characters are featured in the film, too: Franklin, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, Sally, Schroeder, Marcie, and Violet Gray, the gang is all back in many different seasons. Featuring run-ins with Snoopy’s family and Fifi, his love interest, the film manages to pack them all in without missing a beat. The swager this film swings is impressive and, when you consider all the ways this project could have failed, is no small feat. We are at once familiar with the ebb and flow of the film. This is indeed a familiar town with a very safe feel to it and, complete with the wah-wah-wah trombone sound from all of the mouths of the teachers and adults, it’s probably the best American town put to paper with pen known to popular culture.

Never been there, but thanks to Peanuts, Hennepin County in Minnesota is a place that I still long to call home.

Charming to the end, this is a beautiful (and fun) film that – seeing as how its been 35 years since the last feature-length Peanuts movie – goes above and beyond the call of duty in reintroducing these characters.

Dream big indeed.

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MPAA Rating: G for general audiences.
Runtime: 88 mins
Director: Steve Martino
Writer: Bryan Schulz, Craig Schulz
Cast: Noah Schnapp, Bill Melendez, Hadley Belle Miller
Genre: Family | Animated
Tagline: Snoopy: Lights. Camera. Beagle.
Memorable Movie Quote: "Because I just came down with a serious case of inadequacy."
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Official Site: http://www.peanutsmovie.com/
Release Date: April 26, 2004
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date: March 8, 2016.
Synopsis: For the first time ever, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the gang we know and love from Charles Schulz's timeless Peanuts comic strip will be making their big-screen debut; like they've never been seen before in a CG-Animated Feature film in 3D.

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The Peanuts Movie - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray Details:

Collector's Edition

Available on Blu-ray - March 8, 2016
Screen Formats: 1.85:1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1; Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1; French: Dolby Digital 5.1; Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD); UV digital copy; iTunes digital copy; Google Play digital copy; DVD copy
Region Encoding: Locked to region A and B

This is one to own, folks. Universal’s 1080p/AVC-encoded presentation is a striking release; full of vibrant colors and dark tones that simply rock the blu-ray experience. This transfer is up to the usual animated standards but goes further into its detailed expression of colorful enviros. Every bit of detail is here. In a word: AMAZING. The audio is also a powerful experience for the auditory senses. Presented in a clear DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround track, the jazz-laced score is a thing of beauty.

Supplements:

Commentary:

None

Special Features:

If the supplemental item, Snoopy’s Playlist – featuring all the jazzy tunes in the movie – doesn’t get you hopping around with excitement then surely the fact that this release comes with the Blu-ray, the DVD, the Digital HD copy, and the UltraViolet version will. The supplemental items are great and are filled with valuable information about the making of the movie, how to draw the characters, and fan favorite moments. While there are several music videos, the best featurette is the 30-minute making of, You Never Grow Up, Charlie Brown because, ya know, it’s true.