By Joseph Burch – Staff Writer
As a kid, I grew up watching every Peanuts special and I even read the comic strips from time to time. The Peanuts dominated my holidays with television specials like “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

I would be lying if I said I didn’t go into “The Peanuts Movie” without some biased excitement for the film.

I knew I was in for something special as soon as the film started. A blank white screen came to life as a border and snowflakes were drawn in with pencil markings.

“The Peanuts Movie” is a film that does justice to the amazing memory of creator Charles M. Schulz.

As the first theatrical Peanuts film in over 35 years, Steve Martino, the director, had a lot of pressure to make something worthy of the Peanuts title. Luckily, with a fantastic script, written by the creator’s son, Craig Schulz, and grandson, Bryan Schulz, “The Peanuts Movie” is able to capture the essence of what makes “Peanuts” timeless.

The film follows Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp) as he continues to be the lovable underdog that can never catch a break. Soon after making a fool of himself, Charlie Brown sees that a little red-haired girl named Frieda (Francesca Capaldi) is moving in right across from his house. This is Charlie Brown’s chance to reinvent himself and finally become a winner that can get the girl.

The story is truly heartfelt and has genuine emotion throughout while continuing to be lighthearted and fun.

One of the greatest parts of the movie was that director Steve Martino and writers Craig and Bryan Schulz did not attempt to modernize the Peanuts in order to appeal to today’s audience. The characters use rotary telephones, Lucy is still charging nickels for her therapy sessions and they all actually play outside.

I was relieved when instead of reading tweets about Charlie Brown’s embarrassing talent show presence, the children read about it in the school newspaper. The story is a strong one that doesn’t need to fall back on modernization to make it relevant to today’s standards.

Another strong aspect of “The Peanuts Movie” was its animation style. Blue Sky Studios was able to recreate the world and the characters of the Peanuts franchise in beautiful 3-D animation that looks both hand-drawn and computer-generated at the same time. It is a brilliant blend of old and new that is fantastic to watch.

Another great part of this film is its voice acting. The film is carried by the voices of young child actors, most of whom are very new to acting. Each voice actor does an amazing job, especially Schnapp as Charlie Brown, who carries the film with his accurate portrayal of the beloved character.

One of the only returning voices is that of Bill Melendez, who has been the longtime actor for both Snoopy and Woodstock.

However, Melendez died in 2008 so all Snoopy and Woodstock noises are recycled recordings, but that still goes to show the level of authenticity and love put into this film.

Snoopy is a great source of laughs and action, but his Red Baron storyline was the only part of “The Peanuts Movie” that I felt was unnecessary. These portions were out of place and felt like they were purely there to make the film more action-packed. While the action was gorgeously animated and fun to watch, I just wanted it to go back to the main Charlie Brown storyline that I was enjoying so much.

In the end, “The Peanuts Movie” does justice to the legacy that was created by Charles M. Schulz. It is a film that thoroughly entertains audiences who are both familiar with and new to the iconic characters. It is one of the best animated films of this year and only time will tell if it becomes a classic like all the Peanuts specials before it.