Peanuts Summer Musical Yes? No?
Skip to comments
Last weekend saw the release of “the first Peanuts musical in 35 years” on Apple TV+.
Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical centers on siblings Charlie Brown and Sally, who are heading to summer camp; Charlie Brown is a fan, but Sally isn’t so sure. However, they learn that their camp is going to be shut down due to low attendance, and together with Snoopy, Woodstock, and a treasure map, the group puts on a concert to help save their beloved camp.
“A Summer Musical is rooted in the idea that when you find something special, you leave it better than you found it,” director Erik Wiese tells Parents.
Executive producer Craig Schulz (Charles Schulz son) says that summer camp is a “universal experience,” and … that the film’s message will inspire conversations between parents and kids about how “nothing lasts unless we nurture it.”
“Music is a cornerstone of the Peanuts universe and I’m blown away by how beautifully our songwriters—Ben Folds, Alan Zachary, and Michael Weiner—have carried forward that legacy,” Wiese says. “Their songs are a perfect modern take on what a Peanuts song should be.
But getting away from the Parents PR article – is it worthy of being a part of the Peanuts legacy?
From Laurel Greaber’s review at The New York Times (or here):
One of the special’s deeper subjects is the passage of time. During “When We Were Light,” Charlie thinks back on himself as a tiny boy and Snoopy as a puppy. As he does, viewers see old “Peanuts” images, including Charles Schulz’s depictions of the characters from the 1950s. The sequence, which Bryan Schulz proposed, captures “the lightness of being a child and, of course, the heaviness of having to say goodbye and growing up,” Uliano said.
The scene also underscores the special’s fundamental message: “When things disappear or get taken away, they never come back, and it’s up to us as a generation to not let that happen,” Craig Schulz said.
Laurel notes:
Charlie Brown isn’t known for his successes. One of Charles M. Schulz’s most memorable creations, Charlie is the ultimate clueless kid, never able to kick a football, ace a test or approach his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl.
But in “Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical,” a new “Peanuts” animated special, Charlie scores a major triumph.
Which is disappointing to Jesse Hassenger at The Daily Beast:
Is Charlie Brown, of all people, a purveyor of toxic positivity?
That certainly wasn’t the case for decades of comic strips and (to a lesser extent) TV specials and feature films, where Charles M. Schulz’s iconic everykid lost every baseball game, missed every chance to talk to his red-haired crush, and was continually upstaged by his ill-behaved beagle, Snoopy. (Fittingly, it’s Snoopy whose name “presents” the newest generation of Peanuts animated specials.)
Maybe it was only a matter of time before just trying your best wouldn’t be considered enough of a win for a young audience. Because the Charlie Brown of the new Apple TV+ animated special A Summer Musical—er, excuse me, Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, out Aug. 15—isn’t just trying his best and muddling through his self-doubt and neuroses. No, old Chuck spends most of these 40 minutes as a tireless booster for the wistful and timeless magic of summer camp and the great outdoors.
That’s really the main problem with this special, even more than the mutation of melancholy to sentiment: It’s not all that funny. For long stretches, it barely even tries to be funny.
So what does our Peanuts turn-to guy have to say? Nat Gertler gets into the weeds but of the special:
I’ll leave it to others to judge the special (which I found quite watchable) and its music (there’s some good songs in there, particularly the first and last.)
Comments 3
Comments are closed.