I really like the peanuts movies. There was one summer when I was a kid, I think it was 1984, they kept showing "A boy named charlie brown" and "snoopy come home" over and over again. And I loved em. I couldn't stop watching them. I like how in "a boy named charlie brown", there is that real down to earth feel combined with humor and good fun. Charlie brown gets constantly teased by Lucy and her friends for his lack of achievements. They even taunted poor Chuck with the song " failure face". That's when charlie enters the spelling bees. He wins the class and local bees, but then he goes to NY for the national bee. The ride along the way is such innocence and good fun. The antics of Snoopy. Linus trying to give up the blanket. I've also always liked the imaginative sequences in these films. Schroeder plays Beethoven (one of his sonatas, I forget which movement) on his little piano and they then show him (Shroeder's imagination) playing on a large concert grand piano with candles and classic decor surrounding him, him looking so small againced it all. This is all part of Schroeder's dreams of someday becoming a concert pianist. And Linus's dreams of never needing the ol blanket again, and Charlie's dreams of being successful. That's another thing that I like about the peanuts, each character's dreams and wishes. Then we see Snoopy ice skating to that one famous piano tune ( I forget the name of it but I've also heard them play that same song on the local forecast segment on the weather channel). Then we see Charlie struggling to spell those last words right at the national spelling bee. Lucy and friends are watching the bee on TV back home. There's the famous peanuts whah-whah voice conducting the bee, the same voice that's always the teacher's voice at school. Spoiler alert: Charlie brown does not win the spelling bee. That's another good thing about this film, instead of the normal Hollywood ending of most movies where the main character always wins, here we get a scoop of real life. In real life, you don't always come in first place.

In 1969, Charles M. Schulz's beloved comic strip "Peanuts" had become so popular, as had the first six half-hour animated television specials based on it, that Schulz and animation director Bill Melendez decided it was time to bring Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, and all of their pals to the big screen for their first feature-length movie. The result was the most delightful and wonderful masterpiece "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", which to my mind is not only the best animated special based on Schulz's comic strip, but maybe even the best animated film ever made.The story borrows elements from some of the strips Schulz had previously published, but also introduces a fresh new storyline. Charlie Brown, the classic American un-success story, is still struggling to prove himself to the world, or at least to himself. Yet despite his greatest efforts, he cannot fly a kite, kick a football, or win a baseball game and is deemed a failure by his peers. But when Charlie Brown discovers he has a talent in a spelling bee and soon becomes selected to take place in a national contest, he finds his peers not only supporting him, but depending on him to succeed and he warily wanders in, determined to win for the first time in his life.I guess the most powerful element for me about "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" is that it contained the greatest message in Schulz's strip and the truest emotion in every young child in America or the world for that matter: the strive to prove oneself and facing the daunting possibility that one might not succeed and wondering how the world will respond to a failure.But Schulz, who wrote the screenplay, wisely decides not to let it become an all-out serious drama, for that would lose the spirit of his classic tale, which would run for nearly half a decade. Incorporated into the story is Schulz's more than imaginative and effective sense of humor. Also incorporated is all of the classic elements of "Peanuts." All of the unforgettable characters and traits that people today, almost ten years after Schulz's death, are still in love with. Charlie Brown's inability to kick a football from under Lucy's hand, his failure to fly a kite or win a baseball game, Linus' dependence on his security blanket, Lucy's lovable fuss-budget attitude, her "psychiatric treatment" for poor Charlie Brown and her unrequited love for Schroeder, Sally's for Linus, and of course, the ubiquitous and enigmatic beagle Snoopy performing one awesome performance after another amongst the characters. Although the film is telling a new story for the characters, it does not depart from the never-ending subplots that we love and cherish. Like in the comics, all adults are hidden from view. Their voices are dubbed by a trombone being played with a hand in the horn. The story is about the children, so it focuses on the children.What's more, for one of the few times, the voice casting is absolutely perfect! Sometimes in previous and following specials, Lucy's voice would be too strident, Linus' would be lacking a lisp, Charlie Brown's would be too high, and so forth. But here, every character, every single character, is matched to the child actor perfectly! Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown in "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965) takes the role for the last time and…well, who else could have done it so well? One of the few complaints about the "Peanuts" specials is that the animation is primitive. And yes, it is. Everything is hand-drawn frame-by-frame save for a few rotoscoping shots such as during one of Snoopy's whimsical adventures. But the animation, while primitive, is more than passable, absolutely convincing, it matches Schulz's drawing style so well, and it works. But like with all movies, the strength is not in the look of the picture, but in the story. And "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" scores with both. Every now and again, we see a movie that is so delightful and so wonderful that it leaves a good feeling in your soul that never goes away. And for me at least, "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" was one of them and one of the strongest yet. We follow Charlie Brown so well, because a lot of us can personally identify with him, so that when he's in the national spelling bee, we are rooting for him all the way, hoping that once—just once—he can win and not be a failure in the eyes of his friends.This is the best of the animated "Peanuts" specials. And again, I would even go as far as to say it's the most heart-warming and delightful animated film I've ever seen in my time. And remember, I've seen quite a few.

I would say that in parts of this movie, this is possibly the ultimate showcasing of Charlie Brown's loser persona in animation. The first part of the movie, as well as the last part, were the best. It was fabulous up until the introduction of the spelling bee storyline. It then flagged, being moderately enjoyable, but rather bland, slow-moving, and not quite in its element. The songs, I have to admit, are really, really boring. There were a few good parts, like Schroeder's Beethoven Fantasia and Snoopy's skating sequence, but overall the main story section was mediocre. However, the quality leaped hugely the moment Charlie Brown lost the spelling bee. The silent, unaddressed, but cruelly obvious dejection and failure in Charlie Brown's trip back home, and the getting ready for bed was painful in its realism and depressiveness. Even though the Peanuts specials were so much more kid-friendly than the comic strip, they still never broke the golden rule that things don't ever, ever turn out right, unless there's a very, very good reason (i.e. "A Charlie Brown Christmas"), and they stayed faithful to that concept in the movie.I think that the very beginning and very ending of the movie were the best. I loved the beginning sequence. To the viciously saccharine lyrics of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", Charlie Brown happily makes a kite, pats it fondly and goes outside. It is immediately pulverized by the wind. Silent and dogged, he goes back inside and makes another kite, the reused animation here doing much, much more here than being a shortcut. He then goes out, is taunted by the Kite-Eating tree, and in a fit of bravado, tries to fly the kite. It fails so pathetically that you laugh despite your sympathy. It then goes on to Charlie Brown's woes, Lucy's cruelty, etc., which flows beautifully until the spelling bee.The very end, after Charlie Brown's aforementioned silent misery, Linus, the only one who cares about Charlie Brown, of course comes by. Charlie Brown is apathetic, limp, and uncaring. No anger or self-pity here, he has simply been quietly crushed under this final defeat. And here, Linus utters one of the most simple yet deep pieces of philosophy he has ever uttered, in true Schulz language: "Well, I can understand how you feel. You worked hard, studying for the spelling bee, and I suppose you feel you let everyone down, and you made a fool of yourself and everything." He goes to the door and pauses."But did you notice something, Charlie Brown?" Charlie Brown: "What's that?" "The world didn't come to an end." And with that, he leaves, dragging his blanket behind him.And slowly, rather painfully, but without a word, Charlie Brown sits up, dresses, and goes outside, where "A Boy Named Charlie Brown" strikes up again to mirror the beginning. Charlie Brown has gone nowhere, he has failed, he's stuck in the same position as he was before. But as Linus said, the world didn't come to an end. Just like in "A Charlie Brown Christmas", Linus comes unobtrusively to the rescue, without any proper acknowledgment of his role. Linus is the kind of person everyone in the whole world probably wishes they knew. The song is right, "We're all a boy named Charlie." We all fail, get let down for no good reason, wallow in self-pity, and never understand. There are many Charlie Browns in this world, and very few Linuses. No one relates to him, but everyone recognizes and thanks him with awed respect. And in spite of all this meaningless and unwarranted failure, Charlie Brown goes on like a real person. In most fiction, good people win, hard work is paid off, and somehow, sometime, everyone gets what they deserve and all loose ends are tied up. Not so in Peanuts. Charles Schulz's world is cruel and illogical. There is no real ending, only dull reality and a resigned step back into square one. But Charlie Brown, unlike most real people, has Linus.And that, despite the movie's awful blah-ness throughout the middle, makes this movie get a great 9/10.

This is another of the few Charlie Brown specials/movies that still sticks around in my mind. In fact, there are some scenes that, for one reason or another, still seem as fresh as ever. It's not the best of the specials, but it is a very good way to introduce one not terribly familiar to the Peanuts world because it makes use of almost all of the main characters and their trials, tribulations, quirks, and gifts. Like Charlie Brown's inadequacy with flying a kite, or Lucy's imperative to mess with the kid's head at most turns, or Linus's compulsive need for his blue blanket, or even Schroder's knack at the piano. Some of these revelations of character are charming and funny. The animators also bring some interest and imagination to otherwise unnecessary (story-wise) scenes, like Schroder's piano sequence (as a kid I was a little perplexed but not now) and Snoopy's wonderful ice skating scene in the city. The plot is more for the kids than adults as Charlie Brown competes at the one thing that looks like his knack, the spelling bee, reaching to the highest competition and a chance to make himself no longer an outsider. Some of the songs accompanying the film are less than great and hamper on the amusing scenes. However this doesn't exclude how entertaining the special can be, with every spelling-bee scene worth the watch. And the conclusion is wholly satisfying for anyone in the audience, not a happy one but not compromised either.