A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969)

I'm an adult seeing this for the first time, and I have an adult viewpoint. Simply not good. Animation is primitive, music is bad and tedious, not funny at all, and the weak climax does not make up for two hours of painful situations. Charlie, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, and Schroeder are decently colorful characters. The rest don't even make it to cartoon quality. I did grow up reading Charlie Brown comic strips in paperback form, and I liked it. But it loses its charm in this format.2 hours is way too long, forcing time killing extended sequences. Overuse of the "Linus and Lucy" theme gets tedious and shows a lack of diligence. Overuse of the minor key "Linus and Lucy" theme got annoying. It's not funny at all. There is one funny opening joke, and then Snoopy gets just a few funny bits, and that's it. You're in severe pain for 90+% of the movie. That's not entertainment.Way too mean with name calling and ridicule. Personally I find name calling and ridicule very offensive in any situation, even more so when it's this extensive. I just don't see the payoff in this movie. CB is a loser, a dumb, dull, unliked, untalented kid that ends up losing and "the world doesn't end." I don't see how that's a worthwhile lesson to anyone. The lesson is: no matter how much people call you names, ridicule you, no matter how much you lose in life or no matter that you can't seem to do anything right, somehow it's OK. There may be a nugget of truth in there, but basically having the movie makers essentially preach to me for two hours that I share those qualities - that's a little condescending, isn't it? But anyway, even if the message were worthwhile, the ending message is so weak and watered down that it doesn't give me a good feeling and erase all the misery I've experienced in the last two hours.It always felt like they were killing time with extended animation exercises. Extended segments: spelling rules, Linus looks for blanket, Snoopy ice-skating, and the Beethoven segment. Except for the spelling rules segment, the other extended segments did not move the story along, with Snoopy and Beethoven completely superfluous. These segments also came across like animation experiments, "Let's see how realistically we can make Snoopy appear to glide over the ice." "Let's make an extended high art collage set to Beethoven's music." That said: The Beethoven segment was very good and was the highlight of the movie. In fact, it's the only portion I saved for repeated viewing. As a short animation segment it's great, but as far as moving the story of a 2 hour movie along, especially for kids, no.I can't see anyone learning spelling rules from this movie - so educational value is not much. Show this movie to any kid and then see if he can recite even the I before E rule, I don't think so. Music was no good - the spelling bee song was not good.I know it's apples to oranges, but this 1969 movie compared to the work and storytelling that Disney was doing as far back as 1937 (Snow White)? Like Rembrandt vs. kids with crayons.Climax did not even come close to paying off, or making up for all the setup. The climax is two lines: "The World didn't end," and "Welcome home Charlie Brown." That simply doesn't cut it.

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 one of the best animated films I've had the pleasure of seeing. I do remember seeing this film when I was young, and some of the best parts from it. But when I watched it again on DVD, it was like revisiting my childhood.This film, although may not go on my top 5 all-time favourite animated films, has some of the best music done brilliantly in an orchestra way, which I think was great. The title song, sung by Rod McKuen, is wonderful.While it is funny at times, it's beautifully animated and done to the true spirit of the comics. A truly great animated film.

As a kid, I loved this film when I saw it in the theater and when I saw it years later as an adult, I found it still had a lot to offer. You can't say that about MOST kids' movies! Charlie Brown is, as usual, an outcast and nothing goes right for him when the movie begins. However, when he decides to enter a spelling bee and he wins, he is thrilled because he finally is good at something and the other kids treat him better. He doesn't realize that because he won he will be going to the state competition, and when he does, he's a nervous wreck. However, in the state competition, he comes in second. The kids reward this performance by once again demeaning him by calling him a block-head! Despite the very simple outline I gave above, the film actually has a lot more depth and character development. Plus, being the funky 1960s, the visuals at times are pretty indicative of the era (i.e., splashy and loud).I know he never would have been allowed to do it, but when Charlie Brown came home after having come in second, I really wanted to see him administer a well-deserved butt-kicking to Lucy and the other nasty kids!