1196. The Peanuts Movie (2015)

Starring: Noah Schapp, Bill Melendez, Hadley Belle Miller

Director: Steve Martino

Running Time: 88 mins

The Peanuts Movie is an American film following Charlie Brown as he attempts to win the heart of the new girl in town, and Snoopy as he tries to do the same in the skies in an epic dogfight with his arch-nemesis.

First things first, I’ve never seen an episode of Peanuts. It’s never been a part of my childhood, and although I’ve always heard of it, and seen clips, I wasn’t expecting much going into this film.

Oh, how wrong I was, because The Peanuts Movie is not just a massively adorable kids’ movie, but one of the best films of 2015. With a delightfully pleasant and still hilarious sense of humour, a real traditional feel that stays true to what I know of the original, and a hugely entertaining story, there was not a moment that I didn’t love The Peanuts Movie.

By far the most outstanding part of the whole film is how it manages to pull off the cutesy kids’ film vibe so well. It’s full of cheesy stuff about kids falling in love and putting across the message of how important it is to be yourself, but what makes it all work in this movie is the fact that it has a heart of gold.

You can tell that everything that the film is trying to do is genuine and kind-hearted. The cheese feels so appropriate as you root for Charlie Brown to succeed against the tide of his low self-esteem, the romances are sweet and fun, and it’s just such a pleasantly light and enjoyable atmosphere that had me grinning ear to ear from start to finish.

What’s more is that it’s really, really funny. Not just cutesy chuckles, but big laughs right the way through. From Charlie Brown’s nervous antics to Snoopy’s shenanigans and everything in between, I was having a riot watching this movie, and laughing way more than I have in some of the major comedies of this year, making it an even more entertaining watch.

Beyond that, credit has to go to the story team for keeping this as a traditional and sweet story about childhood. They could have updated the film to have Charlie Brown playing on his iPad, but they didn’t, and instead, we get to see all these kids having the time of their lives while playing outside and being kind to each other, whilst the animation, although it seems like it’s a bit more 3D, which it definitely is, still has the same classic vibe as the originals.

Watching this film is an experience that’s unfortunately pretty rare nowadays. The Peanuts Movie is a film with so much genuine heart to it that it’s impossible not to adore every moment, and because of the excellent humour, adults can easily get into this just as much as kids, so overall, I’ll give this an 8.4.