Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)

The PEANUTS are at their best when they are celebrating a holiday or going to camp. Unlike the great PEANUTS classics RACE FOR YOUR LIFE CHARLIE BROWN and SNOOPY COME HOME, this PEANUTS outing is a little on the murky side. Due to a student exchange program Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy, stow-away Woodstock, peppermint Patty and Marcy are sent to Europe to go to school in France. Coincidentally, Charlie gets a letter from a little French girl who invites him to visit her familys château there. When the PEANUTS land in London and venture to France there would be plenty of observations that could be made on the cultural differences....however the big find here is "Hey...they eat French bread in France!". This special also shocks by breaking a PEANTUS cardinal rule: grown ups talk! And they don't just say "Mwah mwah mwah"...they actually speak in English and address the children! When Charlie and Linus head off to the château a little French boy named Pierre tells Marcy and Peppermint that a horrible Baron lives there who hates everyone, would never allow guests, and that if they attempt to stay there harm will come to them. (The "harm" is not explained...although there are two references to getting "mugged" in the film). when the boys get to the château and aren't allowed in they sleep on the cold wet ground instead of re-tracking back to the nice warm house Marcy and Patty are staying in. Snoopy spends most of his visit in a bar drinking root beer and crying over American show tunes. I've seen this film more than once and my mind just doesn't grasp WHY they were invited to a place they weren't allowed to go in and who exactly the baron was, why he was such a bastard and if he WAS such a bastard why he Doesn't actually hurt them. I think the plan was to get PEANTUS to Europe and have them have an adventure...but the storyline here is a little on the murky side. Also worth noting is that key characters such as Lucy, Sally and Schroeder remain in America and are sorely missed. This is not a Must Own PEANUTS collector (neither is the newer adventure ITS THE PIED PIPER CHARLIE BROWN....grown ups speak in that one too!....although my 5 year old actually prefers that one to this one.

Charlie Brown, he was born to lose. This is the best peanuts gang movie. I loved it as a kid and I love it now. Am I the only one who notices that Snoopy flicks people off a lot in this. And why is the dog driving anyways?

In addition to dozens of half-hour television specials, Sparky Schultz made a handful of attempts to translate his comic strip to the big screen. "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown" is the most interesting of these because of its departures from the "Peanuts" formula.

There is no interaction between adversarial couples Linus and Lucy and Charlie Brown and Lucy in this film, because Lucy van Pelt is present only to wave goodbye to the group of exchange students. (Exchange students at the elementary school level?) A number of adults are portrayed and given voices. (No muted trumpets here). Schroeder the piano man and Pigpen the human dust storm are left behind on American soil.

This film was a labor of love for Schultz, who passed through Normandy after D Day and at one point was billetted at a manor house which could have passed for the Chateau of the Bad Neighbor. The geography is completely accurate, down to the villages adjoining the Andelle River.

The more successful Peanuts adaptations are those in which the clever storyline outweighs the limitations of kiddie voice-over acting. This is one such, the cast including students at a French-language school in San Francisco. There is also an unusually large quantity of "dialogue" spoken by Snoopy's voice, director Bill Melendez. The beagle's impressions of a British toff and a crabby French driver are priceless.

Not quite how I remember it, but, really, how many things from childhood are?

It was a fun watch, though nostalgia played a large part. Despite the novelty of the setting, it didn't seem to be as good as other Peanuts specials and movies from the era. One problem was the relatively frequently repetition of the same jokes over and over, presumably to pad out the run-time. And I'm not on board with inserting actual adult representations and adults speaking comprehensibly -- the jokes and plot development could easily have been done with a bit of rewriting to keep the focus on the kids.

One part that did weird me out -- Peppermint Pattie going on and on about giving Pierre "a tumble." Given that the term comes from "a tumble in the hay" i.e. sex, it seemed a little off that a six or seven year old girl is talking about the possibility of giving the kid one. Eeesh.

This is by far the best of the Peanuts movies. The artwork is pitch perfect without some of the characteristic sloppiness built into the other movies; the soundtrack, marvelous; and the plot expertly crafted. It's truly a shame that Paramount has failed to release this gem on DVD. It is a classic that far outperforms the Holiday films and still gives us the imaginative exploits of the Peanuts gang. If you haven't seen this one, go out and find some way to watch it. The storyline adds depth to the characters, with Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Marcy, Linus, and (of course) Snoopy all heading to France for a student exchange program. For some purists the absence of the other characters may seem disappointing, but it offers the viewer a sharp focus on the characters who are in the movie. The cultural comparisons provide some of the drive for this movie, but there are also the Gothic overtones with mystery and a "forbidden secret," as well as romance (of course—they're in France!).

So in short, see this movie, and tell Paramount to release the DVD. Sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/Snoopy/petition.html .