“Sir, you’re making too much noise. Can’t you just kiss him goodnight and let it go at that?”

Sitting Duck’s rating: 7 out of 10 security blanket lashings

Sitting Duck’s review: When Justin announced the Mutant Summer Camp theme week, I was overwhelmed with dread. Summer camp movies means kids, which in turn means child actors. And there are few things that raise my hackles more than movies with child protagonists, especially if they’re comedies (or more likely komedies). I seriously considered skipping out on this one. Yet I felt obliged to at least have a glance at some summer camp movie titles on the off chance that there was one that didn’t fill me with feelings of revulsion.

So I clicked on the summer camp movies tag at Wikipedia and glumly scanned through the titles, not really expecting to come across anything worthwhile. Imagine my relief on encountering this movie. I’ve always had a great fondness for the Peanuts comic strip and the TV specials. The problem I have with most kid-centered movies is that the kids are little more than caricatures with the traits I find most annoying in children jacked up to eleven. Peanuts does not indulge in these sorts of gross exaggerations and is better off for it. Another distinguishing trait is the melancholy tone, especially in how Charlie Brown always seems doomed to failure. Even when he does win, there’s always a fly in the ointment that gives the victory a bitter taste. An example of this occurs in the TV special You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown, where he wins a motocross race but the prize ends up being a gift certificate for five free haircuts.

Now granted both the comic strip and the TV specials were running on fumes by the 1990s. However, this movie was made back in the property’s heyday, so there is some promise. And if there’s any franchise well-suited for a summer camp movie, it’s Peanuts. In fact, they kind of sort of had already done one with the 1969 TV special It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown. But there’s nothing inherently wrong with going to the same creative well a second time. The question is whether they’ll pull up a refreshing bucket of pure originality water or a glob of retread mud.

It’s summer and the Peanuts gang is being shipped out to Camp Remote to experience the joys of mosquito bites, rock snake attacks, and the complete absence of indoor climate control. Adding to the fun is a trio of bullies who instantly peg Charlie Brown as an easy mark. They see to it that he knows his place and remind him that any attempts to best them in any of the competitions are doomed to failure. Initially, this is very much the case, in part due to brazen cheating. So their only hope in avoiding complete humiliation is to defy the odds and win the main event river race. But can their slapped together raft really allow them to experience triumph?

Eh, it’s Charlie Brown, so probably not.

The narrative certainly reflects the comic strip origins of the property, as it consists of largely self-contained sketches. Even the main plot of the river race goes off into all sorts of cul-de-sacs that don’t always benefit the overall storyline. This sort of thing can work in a half-hour TV special, but at feature length it can be rather wearing.

Speaking of the race, do not attempt to apply logic to how it unfolds, for that way lies madness. Placements change in an arbitrary fashion that have more to do with the demands of the plot. It also occasionally snows. In the summer. Granted they’re located in mountain country, but it still seems to be a bit of a stretch.

Rather unusual is how the Peanuts gang face more traditional antagonists in the form of the bullies rather than just their own neuroses and the general cruel nature of Fate. There’s no denying that these bullies are one-dimensional in the extreme. But as a movie of this sort isn’t really meant to be a deep character study into the motivations of such adversaries, I’m willing to give it a pass on that count.

Traditionally, adults aren’t featured that prominently in Peanuts. But the nature of the river race brings in a certain degree of absurdity. Sure, it would probably be an amazing experience if you’re into that sort of thing. But it would be more appropriate for a BSA Venture Crew. Having a bunch of six- to eight-year-olds going on a multi-day river trip unsupervised seems to be an invitation for negligence lawsuits. And apparently Camp Remote has held this race for multiple years. It’s a wonder they haven’t been sued into bankruptcy.

Of the character writing, the strongest material involved Sally and Peppermint Patty. Sally is one of those kids who will repeat words and phrases she overhears grown-ups use without really understanding their meaning. Had she been a real person, Sally would have been a gold mine of material for Art Linkletter (there’s a reason why the Kids Say the Darndest Things segment is the best remembered part of House Party). Meanwhile, Peppermint Patty presents the comedic gold of the conviction that’s she’s suited to be team leader while having absolutely no idea what she is doing. I realize that having to work under such an individual in real life is absolutely no fun. But on this side of the Fourth Wall, it’s good for more than a few laughs.

Something that could have been an issue is the voice acting. At the insistence of Schultz, the characters were to always be voiced by real children. While a nice enough sentiment, voice acting isn’t easy. In particular, the more recent TV specials have been marred by some painfully wooden performances. However, this time around the performances are solid with nary a botched read.

Another point of concern involves the music. This was the first Peanuts animated production to come out following Vince Guaraldi’s death. While I’d readily acknowledge that any attempts to ape Guaraldi’s distinctive stylings would have been a bad idea, the productions that followed his death were never quite the same. New guy Ed Bogas manages to put together a decent enough score that is serviceable. The songs however are something I could have done without, with the folk song style being an unpleasant listen.

While overall the material is decent enough, I’m not sure the production really warranted the theatrical release it got. In fact, by trimming some of the more egregious narrative cul-de-sacs, I believe it could have been better served as a double length TV special.

Intermission!

• “I’ll confuse her with a silent but dignified retreat.”
• Charlie Brown always struck me as being a rather ordinary name
• “I was wrong. I haven’t been hijacked. I’ve been drafted!”
• That’s right, city boy. Best get used to roughing it.
• Catch-22 democracy
• This regime is off to a crooked start
• “Here I want to be a good leader, and I see nothing but failure ahead.”
• Dog skin pockets
• Nice that Snoopy got his Class F license
• “We’ve got to get a hold of ourselves. It’s only bears and tigers out there. And they’re as frightened of us as we are of them.”
• Water walking cartoon physics
• Charlie Brown: “Well, I’m the leader. I guess it’s up to me to climb down and free this wheel.” Others: “We’re doomed!!!!!”
• What a way to tempt fate
• Peppermint Patty and Marcie are voiced by boys
• Peanuts characters who make an appearance but have no lines include Violet, Pig-Pen, Frieda, Roy, and 5

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