The Peanuts Movie
What happens when a lovable loser doesn’t feel loved? The Peanuts Movie explores this at its fringes, following Charlie Brown along a journey that doesn’t really justify its happy ending. This is the ending we all want Brown to have. He deserves it, particularly in this 2015 incarnation of everyone’s favorite blockhead.
But it just doesn’t feel right. The film’s fixation on his manic pixie dream girl (listen, The Little Redhead Girl doesn’t even have a real name. We know what this is) is disappointing, sure, but forgivable. What’s striking, and really moving, about Peanuts isn’t that you feel bad for Brown (though you do) it’s that you feel his situation is hopeless.
I’m not talking about a loud groan after that same damn tree eats his kite again — I mean in a very real way Peanuts treats Brown as a clinically depressed person. He doesn’t believe in himself, he struggles to complete what are essentially basic tasks because anxiety overwhelms him. He feels that, despite plenty of proof to the contrary, nobody really likes him. That no one would miss him if he was gone.
Never have I felt so personally connected to a cartoon character, for better and for worse. Brown’s ability to distort his own reality, to believe what his depression wants him to believe, is heartbreaking. He doesn’t believe he can talk to his MPDG because he’s self aware about his inadequacies (except the one that causes him to fixate on a girl he knows nothing about, I guess).
His best friend, Linus, is unable to get through to him. Sally, his little sister, loves him but doesn’t understand him. Lucy is mean to him without truly realizing what her words (and actions) do to him. The entire school revels in teasing him, despite them rooting him on when he finally succeeds. So Brown feels hopelessly alone in a world that truly is conspiring against him (something he notes during the film).
Of course, he’s not alone. Snoopy plays a key role in moving the plot along and, as always, as the most fun character in the film. But even Snoopy is only recognized by Brown as an ally at times — never as an enemy, mind you, but a distance is kept between Brown and everyone around him. His depression keeps him in a bubble, and only occasionally can someone burst their way in.
As a family movie, Peanuts is delightfully fun and will reintroduce these great characters to a generation that’s only seen choppily animated TV specials. But if you look deep enough, you’ll see Peanuts is about a sad, lonely kid that deserves better than the seemingly solitary midwestern life he’s been given. It’s impossible to avoid rooting for Brown, even though it seems inevitable his story is one that ends in heart break.
