Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown

This is the only Charlie Brown full length motion picture I have ever watched, but I believe I have seen it at least 20 times by now. I caught it on Thanksgiving Day afternoon on channel 7 in Washington DC around 1983 or so, and have been compelled to stop and watch it every time I see it, ever since.

The plot centers around the Peanuts gang going to a summer camp, where a group of punk kids and a nasty, mangy cat are intent on humiliating the other kids, and winning the raft race. The Peanuts gang competes in the race, with the guys (Charlie Brown, Schroeder, Linus, and Franklin) sharing one raft, the girls (Lucy, Sally, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie) sharing another raft, and Snoopy and Woodstock having their own raft. Of course, mishaps ensue and the gang ends up working together to defeat the bullies.

This movie really has what a lot of real life movies don't have. Perfect comic timing. There's so many hilarious scenes... Snoopy rides in the abandoned tire, the debate over cold cereal for breakfast, Charlie Brown is promoted to leader of the gang but can't get a word in edgewise due to Peppermint Patty ("That's IT CHUCK!!! You're LEADING!!! BOY WHAT A LEADER!!!!! LEAD ON CHUCK!!!!"), Lucy's insistence on doing things democratically ("The question before the group is... Do we have the boys join us? Marcie! Prepare the secret ballots!!!").

Highly entertaining. Charles Schultz has done his characters proud.

Charlie Brown and the gang head to summer camp, where they run into a group of nasty bullies and their cat (which is the size of a bulldog). They all compete in a big river raft race where our favorites run into lots of obstacles, including sabotage from the bullies. The third Peanuts film is enjoyable enough, but not one of the best. For one thing, the great Vince Guaraldi had passed away before this so this was scored by Ed Bogas. His music choices are uninspired and forgettable. There are a lot of physical gags in this one, especially once the race starts (and it takes up the majority of the film). There are also some funny character bits, such as Peppermint Patty's pushing for a vote for everything. Sally also has a number of cute lines ("I wasn't even born in 1800!"). Snoopy and Woodstock also get some amusing stuff to do but the boy characters, like Charlie Brown and Linus, have few memorable funny moments. Charlie Brown does get to step up and be the hero in the end, and the scene where he stands up to pushy Patty was very awesome, but he doesn't get much in the humor department. Also, the bully villains are pretty one-note. They're very obnoxious and easy to root against but it would've been nice to see them have a sliver of character. They don't even have names. The voice work is decent. The animation is solid with nice colors and well-done action scenes. It's not one of my favorite Peanuts cartoons, full-length or short, because there's really not a lot of meat on the bone here. But it is fun and the characters are quirky and colorful as ever. It's definitely better than most of the Peanuts cartoons put out from the '80s onward, but just not up there with the very best earlier stuff.

This is a positive, enlightening film that, until recently I almost forgot about. It's significantly less static than most other Charlie Brown films and programs such as The Great Pumpkin, even though it has been edited and is less static now. Charlie Brown is actually now a kid who has a solid ego. It is after he discovers the cabin and spends the night is where he develops his most significant leadership qualities. This is not a commonly shown movie and other movies maintain the stereotype that Charlie Brown is a sorry sucker. This is a great movie for kids to watch because of it's character and originality. The movie doesn't a bad soundtrack, either. The songs are lively and pompous. In short I think this is one of the best family/kids movie I have ever seen and I'd recommend it to any fan of Charlie Brown movies.

Says, THE ENDING MAN

The Peanuts gang go away for summer camp and are split into tents to compete against one another. However one tent has won every year and cheap in every event. When the raft race comes each tent is out to win no matter what.

I like Peanuts the strip even if it is more melancholy than funny at times. However the animated films often lose much of what makes Charlie Brown Charlie Brown. The plot is quite simple and doesn't matter or make sense (why does the motorised raft seem to struggle to catch the others? Where's the supervision? Etc) but that is only to be expected.

What is important is that the Peanuts characters are true to form and most are just as you imagine them to be. The humour is a little more visual and slapstick than the comic strip and this takes some of the familiarity out of the film. However the themes of Charlie Brown being forever the loser is one that's well held to. The voices are pretty much as you'd expect them to be but the animation seems very basic at times and doesn't seem too large a step away from the strip.

Laughs are few but the overall feel of the film is similar to the feel of the strip. Overall this will please kids but maybe not those who are fans of the strip. Snoopy has plenty of good bits and the characters are all there but they have nothing out of the ordinary to do.

Regardless of all the cartoons appearing on television and video in the 1980s, I was always stuck on this delightful Peanuts feature. Wonderful animation and a great story make for the best Peanuts feature ever produced. 10/10