Sometimes the Peanuts cartoons can be a little corny, but I really liked this one. It was actually a little sad, even for Charlie Brown. Poor guy, why can't he ever win anything? In this particular film, Charlie Brown feels like a loser because he can't get his kite to fly, he can't play baseball and can't seem to do anything right. Of course, people like Lucy, Violet and Patty (not to be confused with Peppermint Patty) have to make sure he knows how much of a loser he is, even going as far as to sing a song called "Failure Face" to him. There is another scene of Charlie Brown visiting Lucy for psychiatric help and she reiterates how much of a loser he is. She even shows him a slide show she made to pinpoint every moment that Charlie is a failure.
In an attempt to overcome his inferiority complex and to prove to the other kids that he's not a loser, Charlie Brown decides to enter the school spelling bee. He ends up doing really well wins the school bee (Yay for Charlie Brown!). He is sent to a bigger spelling bee (I'm assuming he's either in a state spelling bee or perhaps a city wide spelling bee?), via the bus and even stays in a hotel. He runs himself ragged trying to study. Linus had given Charlie Brown his blanket as a good luck charm for the bee and then has a nervous breakdown being without the blanket. Snoopy and Linus ride the bus to find Charlie Brown and retrieve Linus' blanket.
There are of course some funny Snoopy scenes: Snoopy plays "The Star Spangled Banner" on a record player to start of the baseball game and later he has a funny ice skating/ice hockey scene. Snoopy also plays the jaw harp to help Charlie Brown write a song to learn all the basic spelling rules ('i' before 'e' except after 'c').
This film had all the delightful trademarks of a 1960s film: montages, bright colors, Simon & Garfunkle-esque maudlin sounding music. It was really fun. One thing that made me laugh was that one of Charlie Brown's words in the spelling bee was "fussbudget." This film also brought up all kinds of questions that I suppose I should ignore, because it's a cartoon and it's Peanuts:
-Why is Charlie Brown, an 8 year old, riding a bus alone to the city and staying in a hotel room alone?
-Why is Linus riding the bus (kind of alone) accompanied by a dog to the city to find Charlie Brown?
-Why aren't any of the Spelling Bee participants' parents in the audience? The audience is entirely children.
-How does Snoopy have such a long extension cord to reach all the way from his doghouse to the baseball field to play his record player?
-Snoopy's doghouse has electricity?
-How does Snoopy's back not hurt sleeping on the top of his doghouse?
Oh well, I guess it's just best to lose yourself in Peanuts' world full of whimsy and absent of all parental supervision.
In an attempt to overcome his inferiority complex and to prove to the other kids that he's not a loser, Charlie Brown decides to enter the school spelling bee. He ends up doing really well wins the school bee (Yay for Charlie Brown!). He is sent to a bigger spelling bee (I'm assuming he's either in a state spelling bee or perhaps a city wide spelling bee?), via the bus and even stays in a hotel. He runs himself ragged trying to study. Linus had given Charlie Brown his blanket as a good luck charm for the bee and then has a nervous breakdown being without the blanket. Snoopy and Linus ride the bus to find Charlie Brown and retrieve Linus' blanket.
There are of course some funny Snoopy scenes: Snoopy plays "The Star Spangled Banner" on a record player to start of the baseball game and later he has a funny ice skating/ice hockey scene. Snoopy also plays the jaw harp to help Charlie Brown write a song to learn all the basic spelling rules ('i' before 'e' except after 'c').
This film had all the delightful trademarks of a 1960s film: montages, bright colors, Simon & Garfunkle-esque maudlin sounding music. It was really fun. One thing that made me laugh was that one of Charlie Brown's words in the spelling bee was "fussbudget." This film also brought up all kinds of questions that I suppose I should ignore, because it's a cartoon and it's Peanuts:
-Why is Charlie Brown, an 8 year old, riding a bus alone to the city and staying in a hotel room alone?
-Why is Linus riding the bus (kind of alone) accompanied by a dog to the city to find Charlie Brown?
-Why aren't any of the Spelling Bee participants' parents in the audience? The audience is entirely children.
-How does Snoopy have such a long extension cord to reach all the way from his doghouse to the baseball field to play his record player?
-Snoopy's doghouse has electricity?
-How does Snoopy's back not hurt sleeping on the top of his doghouse?
Oh well, I guess it's just best to lose yourself in Peanuts' world full of whimsy and absent of all parental supervision.