Did you see it? Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the beloved Peanuts Gang made their big-screen debut in theaters this weekend! Even better? The Peanuts Movie is in 3D! 
Holding true to their comic strip roots, Snoopy, the world’s most lovable beagle – and world-renowned flying ace – embarks upon his greatest mission as he takes to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis The Red Baron and to save his love interest Fifi, while his best pal, Charlie Brown, begins an epic quest to meet his own love interest, the Little Red Haired Girl.
As a lifelong Peanuts fan, I had ridiculously high expectations for The Peanuts Movie…and honestly I wasn’t sure if this movie (or any Peanuts movie ever made) could reach them. Because for me, Snoopy isn’t just a character, he’s the character that filled my nursery before I was even born, the figure that graced the clothes I wore growing up, and the majority of the toys that still fill my old childhood room to this day. Snoopy was my childhood. And I haven’t given up my love of Snoopy just because I’m an adult. For me, Snoopy embodies a spirit and originality that just doesn’t exist anymore. But after getting a sneak peek at this movie one week ago, I can sincerely tell you that this movie met and surpassed every one of my high expectations. I have done nothing but rave about The Peanuts Movie since the minute I left the theater.
Why? It’s simple. Director Steve Martino did the almost impossible by improving on the original, while preserving everything that we love about the often down and out Charlie Brown and his extraordinary beagle, Snoopy. The graphics in this movie are simply amazing, the music will get you up and dancing, and the story lines stay true to what the Peanuts Gang was all about from the very beginning (they even included Shermy!). While there’s a beauty in the older, classic Charlie Brown specials that we see on television around the holidays, make no mistake, The Peanuts Movie is a full length feature film made for today’s audience.
Because for me, the best part of this movie was watching it with my daughter and seeing her get excited over Snoopy and the Peanuts Gang, just the way that I did as a kid. Unlike so many movies that I’ve taken her to in the past, The Peanuts Movie was one that she was able to enjoy without asking questions or getting confused. She didn’t squirm in her seat or beg for extra snacks halfway through the film. Instead, she sat, she laughed, and she smiled all the way through the 85 minute film. At 4 years old, that’s huge. In fact, she’s even asked to see the movie again!
https://instagram.com/p/9jOirTJkRS/
We were both able to enjoy our time at the theater, making The Peanuts Movie is the very epitome of a family movie that definitely spans the ages. But more importantly, The Peanuts Movie brought a little bit of my childhood into her world, and hopefully will continue to build on her love of Snoopy that, with any luck, one day she’ll introduce to her own kids. I’m so very glad that the Schultz family agreed that now was the time for Snoopy to make a come back.
But that’s not all! In addition to getting a sneak peek at the movie, I also got a chance to sit in on a roundtable interview with director Steve Martino and the Little Red Haired Girl, Francesca Capaldi. I can assure you, my inner Snoopy fan was screaming with excitement when I got the invitation…although, luckily, I was able to hold it together during the press day.
The whole thing was such an amazing experience and I’m so glad that I was able to be a part of it! If you haven’t seen The Peanuts Movie yet, go see it! The Peanuts Movie is in theaters everywhere right now – Buy your tickets today!
To get your daily dose of Snoopy and stay up to date with all the Peanuts news, follow the Peanuts Movie on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!
And for those interested in the roundtable interview that I participated in, I’m going to attach the entire transcript below. You really couldn’t ask for nicer people than Director Steve Martino and Actress Francesca Capaldi. They were both so gracious and down to Earth! You can tell that they both had a lot of fun making the film.
Interview
Cruelty Free Lucy/ Outersparkle: So, I’ll jump right in…This was really exciting to watch! I loved the movie. I think my favorite part about it was how authentic it stood next to going back and looking at the old movies, and I can totally envision sitting at home with a bowl of popcorn on a family night and watching it again over and over, along with the classics. How easy or difficult was it to stay authentic to the original?
Steve Martino: Well to do what I wanted to do with the film, which was making a feature film in 2015, so for me that is a big canvas. I wanted it to be a theatrical event, and something worth going to see on the big screen, because I wanted to bring a certain richness and color and vibrancy and lighting and that’s why I worked in computer animation. That’s the tool that I work at Blue Sky Studios, but it was the most technically challenging movie that I’ve ever worked on to make something look so deceptively simple. We animated in a totally different way, because I wanted the characters to look and feel, as you said, like the characters have always been.
Kids First: You mentioned that you work with computer graphics, is it true that you went to The Ohio State University?
Steve Martino: I did! I’m very proud to be a Buckeye!
Kids First: You studied computer graphics there correct?
Steve Martino: I did.
Kids First: So how does it feel to, or how would you describe going from simple graphics from stuff like Pac-Man to making a full length movie all in animation?
Steve Martino: When I was in graduate school, and this was in the early 80’s doing computer animation, I had no concept that we would ever be able to make feature film using that technology. Back then, it took forever to make five seconds. I couldn’t imagine back then making 85 minutes of feature film quality footage, but the technology has grown so rapidly in the time that I’ve been in the business that I couldn’t be happier to be able to tell stories, and to me computer animation is the paintbrush that I use.
Diary of a Working Mom: You talk about making a feature film in 2015, and how that might be different from in the years past when you look at the specials, like The Great Pumpkin and the Christmas specials. What I noticed when I looked at the older specials…I happened to watch The Great Pumpkin several times this year with my daughter…that they are a little slower, a little slower in transitions or a little slower in dialogue. I noticed this film was faster paced. Was that intentionally done?
Steve Martino: It was, and it was a balance. If you compare this movie to the last movie I directed Ice Age: Continental Drift, and Peanuts appears slow compared to that. If you were to compare a live action movie from 1965 to a live action movie today, you would have the same observation. Things are cut faster, we move at a faster pace, we absorb information at a much faster rate than when I was growing up in the 60’s, so I wanted this film to meet a new generation where they live today, and so we found this right balance of pacing that feels unique for Peanuts, say compared to any other animated film today, it may seem even a little a slower, but much faster pace than any of the original specials. That’s a valid feature film storytelling in 2015.
Diary of a Working Mom: Attentions spans in 2015?
Steve Martino: Maybe a little bit! I totally…it’s that pace. I sat in screenings with kids and that’s the most fun for me actually, to watch them react to the movie, but yes, attention spans are much shorter than when I was growing up. It’s not bad or good, it’s just kind of what it is.
The Social Commerce Mom: I realized that too when you talk about attention span, my daughter and my son came in and they sat through and I actually commented about the fact that they didn’t leave like five times to go to the bathroom. They stayed throughout the entire thing and watched it!
Steve Martino: That’s the biggest compliment ever!
Diary of a Working Mom: It really is a great length for that movie. I have a four-year-old; she sat with me through the whole movie and she only asked me a question once and that’s a record!
The Social Commerce Mom: My husband couldn’t come and we shared a little bit of the movie, and he was like, “Oh wow that was always like that,” and he could see without even seeing, because it stayed so true to the characters and the theme, but also brought it something relatable to them (kids).
Steve Martino: That was the objective. Working with Craig Schulz and Brian Schulz as writers/producers on the film, and that’s the son and grandson, we worked very carefully together and they were great protectors of the fans. They live in that world where they want the legacy of their father’s work to continue to maintain that quality that it always has. As a film maker, I’ve made several animated films and I feel like I do understand an audience today, and our audience isn’t just kids. I went into this movie really feeling like it was a movie that I wanted to make for adults…grandparents, parents, and kids. It could be a film you take the whole family to and everyone would get some fun and enjoyment out of it.
Cruelty Free Lucy/ Outersparkle: I agree, because sometimes a kids’ movie will come out and we as parents are ughhhh. They want to see it and I don’t really want to go see it.
Steve Martino: Yeah I’ve been there!
The Social Commerce Mom: In other movies, sometimes they throw in stuff that is almost a little bit inappropriate for kids to try to keep the adults’ attention, and with The Peanuts Movie is it purely simple and we appreciate it, because we grew up with it. We like to expose our kids to stuff that’s classic. We actually have one of those Charlie Brown Christmas trees; we’ve had it for about 5 or 6 years, and every year we put up the Charlie Brown Christmas tree with a little red ornament on the table. So they were already familiar with Charlie Brown and the movies, so they were excited to see it.
Steve Martino: So now they will have something that they can own; this feature film will be theirs to say this is my tradition and my history.
Cruelty Free Lucy/ Outersparkle: It really did span the generations!
Diary of a Working Mom: People have asked me if there was overlying tone that adults will get, like the humor that’s too much for kids, and I’ve said no there’s not that…It just holds everyone’s attention.
Steve Martino: Well you know there are little things….. Charles Schulz always wrote the comic strip for adults. It’s not really adult, it’s about the human condition. He is writing about things that we as human beings whether you’re five-years-old or whether you’re 95, deal with…those little insecurities that you might have….. do people like me? Will I be remembered? Will I ever succeed? That is trans-generational; it doesn’t matter what age you are. That’s the beauty of what he created, and what we tried to bring into the film. That’s why I think anyone can watch it and feel like they connect to it.
Kids First: I’d like to ask a question to Francesca. What was it like working on an animation film, as opposed to a live action tv show like Dog With A Blog?
Francesca Capaldi: Well, it’s a lot different, because you don’t really have to worry about what you look like, you just go in and you just talk to the microphone and read the page. It was really fun to be able to, and Steven helped me a lot, to be able to create her voice. I just think it was really fun to know that my voice is going to be on the big screen.
Cruelty Free Lucy/ Outersparkle: How hard was it to not have the movie in front of you or did you have anything that you could look at in front of you?
Francesca Capaldi: No we actually did not! It was just four walls and a microphone, and that was it!
Steven Martino: I want their imaginations. This is the key! I’ve worked with actors of all ages and wonderfully talented adult actors. In the animation process, you have no costume, you have no set…some people really feed off of that and they find their character by being in that space. What I found with Francesca and all the kids in our cast, they have imagination, so we would talk about being we’re on the playground, you’re at school and this is happening, and they’re like OK I can picture that. They may not say it but I can tell in what they were delivering in their lines that they could put themselves in that place…without props, without costumes, without anything else, then we animate to that. There is no footage, no animation that’s been created. Their voice is kind of a guide for us.
Kids First: I wanted to ask you about that, because you directed Ice Age- Continental Drift, which had a lot of stars. What was the difference directing that movie and directing this movie, where you have child actors?
Steve Martino: You know…this was so much more fun! I loved working with the wide array of talent that I worked with in Ice Age, wonderful people, talented in their own right, funny, but we got to play. Somehow it reminded me…I coached soccer as my daughters were growing up, and I felt like I was back on the soccer field, where we would just keep it fun and loose. There were short little things that we would do, and it was just us! There were no agents and managers and other people worried about saying the wrong thing. It was just, we created, and it was great fun.
Diary of a Working Mom: We talked about Dog With A Blog…I am a big fan of your work, as our my six and 4-year-old…huge fans! Which do you like better?
Francesca Capaldi: I like them both, because they are both so different. When you’re with a cast or you’re working by yourself…I think they are both equally fun. Like I said they are different in so many ways. I guess it depends what mood you’re in! They both are so much fun to think you’re going to be on a tv or your voice is coming out of someone else’s body…when you think about it it’s so weird, but it was really fun to be able to create the little red-haired girl’s voice.
The best part of the entire interview? As we were getting up from our round table interview, we happened to notice that Mr. Martino sketching. In a matter of seconds, he had created this:
Which lead to a lesson from the director of the Peanuts Movie on how to draw Charlie Brown, and even how to get him to move his head when drawing him (Hint: It’s all in the placement of the right ear.)! I was in Peanuts fan heaven!
Pingback: Near or Far, Send Cheer for the Holidays to Loved Ones