A little over a year and a half ago, it was confirmed that Twentieth Century Fox Animation and Blue Sky Studios were hard at work on a new animated film set for release in 2015 based on Charles Schulz’s classic Peanuts comic strip. Since then, there hasn’t been much news regarding said film, but that’s changed.
This rather adorable trailer is just a quick scene with Snoopy and Charlie Brown, but it says a lot about the kind of movie this is going to be, especially in terms of the animation style. Most modern takes on the strip have worked to maintain the hand-drawn appearance of the characters – similar to the way characters on South Park are still crafted to look like construction paper cutouts. But it seems that style has been stripped for the new film and replaced with a more modern, CGI approach. It’s different, but not unforgivable, and it might be something that helps bring the gang into the modern age.
Peanuts is currently slated for a November 2015 release.
Yes, that’s 12 frames per second (well, 24 animated “on twos”), just like claymation, most hand-drawn animation, and The Lego Movie. It’s beautiful, really give it a classic feel.
What I noticed was that the animation has a slight claymation feel to it, which helps keep the retro vibe. I didn’t know that this was happening, but now I’m not so worried. As long as the story is well done and retains the feeling of the original comic strips/movies this should be a great “re-boot”. The only thing that worries me is that they’ll water down some of the characters to make them more PC-friendly (i.e. making Lucy less of a bitch than she is in the comics just so that she doesn’t come off as a “bully”).
Reminds me of the Peanuts 3-D ViewMaster reels, which I adored (and still do).
I like the mix of 2-d and 3-d. Kept truer to the old comics while introducing a more modern in-depth feel.
And I don’t THINK it’s the internet streaming, but does the animation frame rate seems purposefully reduced to emulate the 15fps, slightly choppier motion we’re used to in the stuff from when I was a kid? If so… brilliant.
OK. My immediate reaction was that I was going to be cranky about this particular “‘re-boot”… but I’m genuinely happy with how it’s looking. I’ll admit, I got a little verklempt seeing these guys alive and well (or chronically depressed) in the 21st Century.
Single damn tear of happiness!! I can’t wait to see this.
You know, I usually don’t like seeing all these old cartoons updated in 3D, but this looks like it might actually be pretty good. This still feels very similar in charm to the old Charlie Brown cartoons and looks really promising. I look forward to seeing the final product! =]