The Peanuts Movie captures the very essence of Charles M. Schulz's legendary comic strip, including the characters as well as his wit, style and tenderness. It also serves as a perfect introduction to Charlie Brown, Snoopy and friends for younger children who may not have been exposed yet to the comic strip or classic television specials such as It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

All Charlie Brown (voiced by Noah Schnapp) has ever wanted was to succeed at something -- anything really. He fails miserably academically and isn't at all athletic. He makes constant inadvertent social gaffes. The result? He’s unable to gain the elusive respect of his peers, who seem to view him as a born loser.

Charlie becomes ecstatic when learning that a new classmate known to us only as the Little-Red-Haired Girl (voiced by Francesca Capaldi) has moved in directly across from him. She’s the only person unaware of Charlie's reputation and his peer's contempt for him.  That’s why she represents a chance to wipe his record clean and have an opportunity to make a solid first impression on someone -- if only he could muster up the courage to actually talk to her after gradually becoming quite smitten. Unfortunately, Charlie’s lack of confidence -- or something else --  always gets in the way every time he tries to approach her.

Charlie Brown receives conflicting advice from pseudo-psychiatrist Lucy (voiced by Hadley Belle Miller) who gives him a book with steps to becoming someone else. Lucy tells him to follow these steps to the letter.

Meanwhile, Snoopy, Charlie Brown's, eccentric beagle has embarked on an exciting simultaneous quest of his own. Fi Fi (voiced by Kristin Chenoweth), an imaginary character in a romance novel Snoopy is  busy writing, becomes the object of his desire. He fantasizes that he is an ace fighter pilot locked in a fierce aerial assault from atop his own dog house with German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen (a.k.a. the Red Barron.) He must defeat him to gain Fi Fi’s total devotion.

During the past 35 years Charles M. Schulz and his family kept turning down multiple offers from screenwriters and studios desiring to make another Peanuts feature-length film. While the filmmakers all admired Schulz's work, the family felt that they lacked the ability to see what made the characters, especially Charlie Brown, really tick and what endeared them to millions.

In 2012, Schulz's son Craig learned that director Steve Martino desired to make a film featuring the Peanuts characters. Schulz had enjoyed Martino's animated adaptation of Dr. Suess's Horton Hears A Who. It left him feeling the director had captured the essence of Dr. Suess. This led to Schulz drafting a script with screenwriter Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano, and the director came aboard.

The Peanuts Movie succeeds due to its clever script and the screenwriter's intimate knowledge of the late Charles M. Schulz's body of work. In addition, it contains strong voice-work from Capaldi, Miller, Garfin, Schnapp, Chenowith, an ensemble who bring these iconic characters to life. I appreciate director Martino's skillful direction and attention to detail. The film benefits from his decision to bring in acclaimed artist Tom Everhart whose portraits of Peanuts characters hang in the Louvre Museum to instruct over 100 artists how to mimic Schulz's style, drawings, facial expressions of each character and the overall feel of the comic strip. In the process, they learned how to make sure their 3D CGI renderings and effects were subtle and not overwhelming. It’s  almost as though Schulz did it all himself. The intense boot camp Martino put them all through prior to filming really paid off.  

(Released by 20th Century Fox and rated "G" by MPAA.)