Did the world really want a CGI-animated Peanuts movie? For that matter, was there an appetite for a Peanuts feature-length film? Our culture seemed pretty happy with old reruns of Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas Charlie Brown specials every year on TV.
But we’re getting The Peanuts Movie in 2015, animated through computer graphics instead of traditional hand-drawn animation that emulated the style of cartoonist Charles Schulz. If you were worried that a CGI version of the Peanuts gang might not have the same look or charm of the original TV cartoons, this trailer might set those fears at ease.
http://youtu.be/f7uXX6uU8yM
The prospect of a CGI Peanuts film invoked the same anguish Charlie Brown feels as he’s hurtling through the air after Lucy pulls away that football. But the animation style looks faithful, and as that trailer demonstrates, computer graphics allows them to open up the scope of the story and move “the camera” far more creatively than traditional hand-drawn animation (especially that of the old Peanuts cartoons) would allow.
Though the story is still unknown, the trailer hints at what the movie will feel like. Director Steve Martino (Horton Hears a Who!, Ice Age: Continental Drift) told USA Today that we’ll be seeing things through Snoopy’s eyes as he reacts to what’s happening in Charlie Brown’s life.
The Peanuts Movie is scheduled for a Nov. 6. 2015 release.
