Critics rating :  2.5 Stars

Cast :  Noah Schnapp, Hadley Belle Miller, Mariel Sheets, Alex Garfin

Direction: Steve Martino

Produced: Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, Paul Feig, Michael J. Travers

Written: Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz,CorneliusUliano

Genre: Animations

Duration: 93 Mins

The Reuben award winning Charles M Schulz’s iconic comic strip, Peanuts (a name he opposed until his final breath), finds frenetic energy and a hark back to a nostalgic time for its ardent fans.

Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp) is having a boring winter, attempting to fly his kite for the umpteenth time and losing it to the Kite-Eating Tree, a recurring feature in the comic strips. He also bungles around on the icy playground with his dog Snoopy (Billy Melendez) until he and his friends discover that there is a new girl on the block. She is a little red-haired girl (Francesca Angelucci Capaldi) and Charlie is smitten.

Somewhere between blundering through a test, a talent show and a book report, Charlie does his best to attract her attention where his own insecurity and perceived deficiencies keep him from approaching her directly (aah, youth!). Snoopy is wingmanning Charlie when he is not taking literal flights of fancy in his head, where his kennel doubles up as a fighter plane and his feathered friend Woodstock, who serves as his “plane’s” repair crew in the film.

The Peanuts universe will work for long-time readers of the strip while also serving as a good introduction for those new to this world. Most of the proceedings feature an abundant amount of silliness, but the characters are always in a state of frenzy and constant motion, so the pace never drops.
It may have less appeal for adults who have never read the comics. However, in its own way it is a cutesy reminder of the tween years – the carefree childhood years, the first crush, the little things that seemed enormous obstacles back then.

The Peanuts Movie is overall underwhelming, though. Unless you are a die-hard member of the fandom, sit this one out until the DVD release.