There’s enough dancing and silliness with Snoopy to keep younger kids engaged and enough nostalgia for adults.

And with his knack for falling into the worst imaginable luck, unfortunate choices, and ridicule by his peers, Charlie Brown is the embodiment of the feelings of anxiety and self-doubt we all carry within us.

For those familiar with the cartoon strip and the characters, there is a lot to cheer. But young or old, everyone will take a liking to Charlie Brown who is as lovable as he always was. The animation is reminiscent of Schulz’ and keeping in mind the changing times, the colourful backdrops are eye catching.

The film does that successfully creating a wondrous, immersive world with round-headed kid characters. It’s a cheery, old-fashioned cartoon film. Adapted from the original comics that appeared in a gag-a-day format in the newspapers, it’s refreshing to see gags on the big screen. But for the adult audience, is it engaging enough?

It’s like opening the newspaper to find a small four-panel comic, chuckling, being moved, and moving on.

It saddens me to say this, for I love Peanuts and would like anything connected to it to succeed, but The Peanuts Movie doesn’t understand what it was that made Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip special.

In a world full of unwanted sequels, The Peanuts Movie makes you yearn for more movies of its universe. A lot of present adults grew up in the world of Peanuts, it’s about time the torch was handed over to the today’s kids.

The voicing is all done by child artistes and that’s a plus for greater attachment. The colour palette stays largely true to Schulz’s printed vision and Vince Guraldi’s iconic music finds voice in the new background compositions. Missing character summaries and lack of back stories hamper the enjoyment of this flip through of a 50-year-old antiquated Charlie Brown universe. While the computer animation renders faithfully, the 3D seems pointless. And familiarity alone does not generate enough excitement for this so-called fresh run at the cinemas.

The film remains true to Charles Schulz’s drawings and pen strokes — down to the two-dimensional sketches even in 3D — and his characters.

Notwithstanding the breezy run-time, each of the characters get their due. Christophe Beck’s soundtrack also helps in keeping the pace jaunty, even during parts without dialogue, of which there are quite a few. This one will both charm the adults and keep the kids entertained.

At a time when most animated films tend to be loud and noisy, and cheery to a fault, The Peanuts Movie maintains the melancholy spirit of Schulz’s comic strip. While reiterating that kindness and honesty will always matter, it also makes a case for the importance of failure and disappointment in shaping one’s life.

…a fine excuse to get all nostalgic with good ol’ Charlie Brown and the gang. It is also a wonderful way to introduce the uninitiated to what will forever be one of the most lovable comic strips. 

The Peanuts Movie is like many daily cartoon strips stitched into one 88-minute film. It assumes that audiences would either be well acquainted with the idiosyncrasies of the characters or young enough not to question them. However, the former group, of which I am a member, is left feeling nostalgic but underwhelmed. What is heartwarming is the simplicity of the story and the storytelling with a faithful adherence to the original ethos. Lucy charges just five cents for psychiatric counsel, Snoopy uses a typewriter, and flying a kite successfully is considered an achievement.

The Peanuts Movie is like an old fuzzy blanket which you can wrap around yourself on a cold winter morning. It is the film equivalent of comfort food, the feeling of meeting old friends on the first day of a new school session – it is nostalgia and we all know how sweet that can be.