Peanuts have had an extended and fruitful run within the comics, on TV, and even in movie, however we have seen much less of them in recent times, particularly after the passing, 1 / 4 of a century in the past, of creator Charles Schulz. So when one thing contemporary comes alongside, each Peanuts fan clutches their blue safety blanket tight, questioning if this will likely be what brings again magic.
Peanuts Presents: A Summer time Musical, arriving on Apple TV+ subsequent month, is perhaps that second, and primarily as a result of the trailer goes the place no Peanuts content material in reminiscence has gone earlier than.
Peanuts Presents: A Summer time Musical, arriving on the most effective streaming providers on August 15, is, at the least based mostly on the trailer that dropped this week, a considerably acquainted Peanuts story. The gang is again at Summer time Camp, which is at risk of shutting down, and Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, Franklin, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy should band collectively and discover a method to reserve it. The twist for most individuals is that it is a musical, Peanuts’ first in virtually 40 years.
As animated by Wild Mind, the film hews carefully to Schulz’s unique pen-and-ink model and the appear and feel of a few of Peanuts’ basic TV specials, however with some notable exceptions. The imagery is extra dynamic and, due to shading, all of the characters have just a bit extra dimension. It is by no means CGI-level just like the considerably poorly obtained 2015’s The Peanuts Film (it was good, you simply have to offer it an opportunity), nevertheless it’s nonetheless noticeable. It is a look that was first launched when Apple TV+ launched the “Snoopy Presents” sequence.
“It was to be a bridge between The Peanuts Film full CGI, and the easy 2D model of The Snoopy Present sequence. We created this hybrid that we known as “enhanced 2D” – it was created by lighting results and digital enhancements,” Schulz’s son (and an government producer for the film), Craig, instructed me through electronic mail.
Nonetheless, 44 seconds in, the trailer reveals a choice that was so startling, I caught my breath: there was the briefest on-screen illustration and even slightly animation of Peanuts characters as they appeared in 1950, when Schulz first began penning the long-lasting strip.
You would be forgiven for not noticing. I believe most individuals watching the trailer assumed that animation studio Wild Mind merely made a random resolution to try to depict the characters as they may have appeared after they first began attending their beloved camp. In actuality, all of the characters are precisely as they appeared within the first decade earlier than Charlie Brown adopted his signature spherical head and Snoopy grew from an impish pet into the man-about-town canine he’s at present.
Seems that they had used that model as soon as earlier than in an Apple TV+ Peanuts particular I missed.
“The 1950’s model children had not been used till we did the Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Sort Marcie [2023] particular and launched Carlin and another kindergartners. This was the primary time my father’s unique 1950’s model forged has been put to animation. It was my son Bryan’s thought, and certainly one of my favourite moments within the movie,” Craig Schulz instructed me through electronic mail.
Even so, I used to be so caught off guard by the pictures and, actually, moved, that I barely paid consideration to the remainder of the trailer. I had to return and see how the Peanuts children seem to drag collectively in actions and music.
Peanuts Presents: A Summer time Musical might also convey the magic as a result of, it is also written, partly by Charles Schulz’s son, Craig, and grandson, Bryan, and it contains all of the acquainted tropes like Schroeder enjoying his tiny piano, Sally’s bouts of frustration and anxiousness, Charlie Brown dropping, Snoopy being extremely cool, Pig Pen being soiled, and adults sounding like trombones.
Somewhat facet word right here. After I spoke to unique A Charlie Brown Christmas TV producer Lee Mendelson in 2015 about how they first developed the grownup “voices,” he instructed me:
“We selected to not present the grownup. So I requested our music director, Vince Guaraldi, ‘Would there be some instrument we may use as a sound to emulate what an grownup may sound prefer to a child?’”
Guaraldi, on intuition, drafted a trombone participant.
Everybody who heard the instrument’s “wah wah” sound cherished it, together with Peanuts creator Schulz, who mentioned merely, “That is nice.”
Maybe this new musical particular will even be nice. I’ve excessive hopes, particularly contemplating how even simply the trailer gave me all of the feels.
