Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!)

Premiered May 30, 1980.

Summary:
Charlie Brown (Arrin Skelly) and Linus Van Pelt (Daniel Anderson) are selected to be foreign exchange students and attend a school in France. Chuck's friends Peppermint Patty (Patricia Patts) and Marcie (Casey Carlson) are also sent to France to represent their school.  Chuck also invites Snoopy and Woodstock (both voiced by Bill Melendez).

That same day he's selected to be an exchange student, Charlie Brown receives a letter written in a foreign language he cannot read.  

When Marcie translates it for him, they learn it's from a girl named Violette Honfleur (Roseline Reubens), who invites Chuck to stay with her in France at her home in the Château du Mal Voisin, which means "Chateau Of The Bad Neighbor" in English.  Violette says she's known about Chuck for most of her life, but he's never heard of her. 

The gang flies into London, which gives Snoopy an opportunity to play tennis at Wimbledon. 

They travel by train to Dover where they take a hovercraft ride to France.  

The gang rents a car so Snoopy can drive them to their destination. 

Marcie and Peppermint Patty are dropped off at the home their their host Pierre (Pascale de Barolet), while Linus and Chuck head to the chateau.  Pierre worries that the boys will encounter danger at the Chateau of the Bad Neighbor, because no outsiders ever visit the chateau. 

Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock locate the chateau.  It's a very dark and creepy house and no one answers when Chuck knocks on the door.  They're forced to sleep in a stable on a cold, rainy night.  Snoopy and Woodstock sneak off to a nearby pub.

When the boys wake up, they find that someone has left them food and blankets. 

Chuck and friends attend school the next day.  Pierre informs his new friends them that Violette is the ward of a baron (Scott Beach) who never allows guest into his chateau.  Pierre worries that the boys could be in great danger.

Several days pass and Charlie Brown and Linus are still not allowed into the chateau.  When the baron is out, Linus notices a light in a room and decides to investigate.  

He meets Violette, who tells Linus that Chuck's grandfather Silas Brown stayed at the chateau during World War I.  In the middle of Violette's story, the baron suddenly returns and Violette accidently sets the chateau on fire, which endangers her, Linus and everyone nearby!  

Can Linus and Violette be saved?  Will the baron change his un-neighborly ways?  

Review:
First off, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown has a lot of sentimental value to me.  When my family first got cable TV, this movie was shown over and over again on HBO and I watched it many times.  Which means Bon Voyage was a big part of my childhood. 

Snoopy overpacks for the Transatlantic flight!

It's generally a fun movie that gives all the main characters at least one chance to shine.  Snoopy gets to play tennis and drive around Europe, Marcie gets to show off her French language skills, Peppermint Patty flirts with Pierre, and Linus and Charlie Brown get to save the day at the end when disaster strikes. 

There's a scene (taken straight from the Sunday strip) where Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown share a desk at school.  This scene also appears in the first episode of The Charlie Brown And Snoopy Show.

It's worth noting that the look of the Chateau of the Bad Neighbor was based on a chateau Charles Schulz stayed in while he was stationed in France during World War II.  

Lucy (Laura Planting) doesn't get much screen time, since she doesn't travel with the others to France.  But she gets to deliver the movie's signature "don't come back" line.

It's also nice to see how beautifully Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez and company animate European buildings and landscapes. 

Here's how the white cliffs of Dover look in Bon Voyage:

The voice actors are all well-cast and do a nice job portraying their characters.  The actors who play the principal characters also voiced them in You're The Greatest, Charlie Brown and She's A Good Skate, Charlie Brown.  

However, watching this as an adult, I had some problems with Bon Voyage.

Why are there so many adults in this film?  This is something that bothered me when I was a kid.  They don't add anything to the story and as Charles Schulz once said, adults "bring everything back to reality" and take viewers out of the world of the Peanuts characters.  Even the baron, who is always shown in shadow, didn't need to be seen onscreen at all.  In fact, he may have been even more menacing if he was only spoken of.  

Speaking of the baron, the movie never provides any real answers to why he is so hostile.  Why does he want to take "drastic action" to force Linus and Chuck to leave the chateau?  Are we meant to think he is inhospitable to visitors because Charlie Brown's grandfather stopped writing letters?  Are we supposed to forget that Snoopy overhears that the baron plans to do terrible things to Linus and Chuck shortly before events force him to change his wicked ways?  Was he just "born evil?"  

Maybe more detail was cut from the script that would've shown why the baron is a misanthropic recluse.  The film could have devoted more time towards explaining the baron's attitude instead of giving us the Chuck and Peppermint Patty desk scene, which doesn't add a lot.   

Music:
Like most of the animated specials produced around this time, Bon Voyage features music by Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen.  It's solid music, we get a nice combination of funk, jazz and lush orchestral string arrangements.  Chuck and Linus' arrival at the chateau is accompanied by menacing music that's reminiscent of the James Bond theme.  

When Charlie Brown is looking out the window of a train that's travelling across England, we hear a song called "I Want To Remember This."  It's a nice song (performed by the Munsen and Bogas) that expresses the importance of "taking in" your surroundings when visiting new places, something I try to do whenever I travel.  

While Snoopy is drinking root beer at the pub, he plays a selection of WWII-era pop songs on the jukebox, which include "Sentimental Journey" and "I'll Be Seeing You."  I'm guessing these were songs Schulz enjoyed during the war.  

Snoopy dances to popular songs from the 1940s.

Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!) is beautifully animated and has some fun moments, plus it's always interesting to see Charlie Brown and friends in an unusual environment.  I will always enjoy it since it was part of my childhood, and every Peanuts fan should watch it at least once, but the inclusion of adults and weak motivation for the baron prevents me from giving it a higher rating.

Availability:
This movie is available on Blu-Ray and DVD and is available to stream on multiple sites.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5

2 and a half Sparkys.

Next up:Did you know Bon Voyage had a sequel?  Check back tomorrow for my review of What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown!

A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964 documentary)

"Charlie Brown is, I think a little bit like everyone.  We all need reassurance that some people really do like us.  But I guess Charlie Brown is mostly me. That’s why he often has that dumb expression on his face."
-Charles Schulz

This review is a bit of a change from my usual content.  I recently received a DVD of the documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown (not to be confused with the 1969 theatrical film of the same name) and thought it was worth writing up, since it includes early Peanuts animation and was the first time Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez, Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi collaborated.  

This documentary was produced in 1964 but never aired on television.  It's historically important because without it, all the Charlie Brown specials that followed wouldn't have been produced, or would have been very different.  Melendez and Schulz previously worked together on Ford commercials, but the rest were new collaborators.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown shows us "a day in the life of Charles M. Schulz."  Mendelson and company film Schulz drawing his comic strip, going through fan letters and driving his kids to school.

A high point features footage of Schulz' appearance at Charlie Brown Day, held on May 14, 1964 at Candlestick Park.  Schulz threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

I love these old school Peanuts toys!:

Short animated sequences are shown every few minutes during the film.  It opens with Charlie Brown attempting to play a piano, only to be told his playing is "terrible."

Other animation includes:

Snoopy's attempted theft of Linus' blanket.

Charlie Brown tries to fly a kite.

Lucy pulls the football away when Chuck attempts to kick it!

Schroeder plays piano while Lucy tries to attract his attention.

The animation is a slight step down from the TV specials that followed, but it looks pretty good considering their budget was tiny and the creative team was figuring how to translate the characters into a new medium.  As the screencaps above show, the cartoon segments give us some of Peanuts "greatest hits" up to that point.

At this time, this DVD is only available for purchase at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and the museum's online gift shop.

Since A Boy Named Charlie Brown is different from what I normally feature here, I won't use my usual "Sparky" rating.  However, it's highly recommended for any hardcore fans of Peanuts.

What A Nightmare, Charlie Brown

Premiered February 23, 1978.

Summary:

On a snowy day, Charlie Brown (Liam Martin) tries to get Snoopy (Bill Melendez) to pull him on a sled.

When the beagle isn't interested, Chuck tries to explain how sled dogs in the Arctic pull sleds.  Charlie Brown ends up pulling the sled with Snoopy cracking the whip!

That evening, Snoopy makes several pizzas and a milkshake and consumes it all in one sitting.  When Charlie Brown observes this, he tells Snoopy that he's become too civilized.

Since he ate all the food right before bedtime, the huge meal results in a very scary nightmare for Snoopy.

He dreams he's a sled dog in the Arctic, working with six other dogs pulling a sled.  The dogs are ruled by a man with a whip who isn't very nice to any of the dogs.  The other dogs are much bigger and faster than Snoopy and the beagle is in way over his head.

The sled dogs are mean to Snoopy.  When it's time for food and water, they lunge and growl at him when he attempts to grab some food.  It's a miserable life for Snoopy who is freezing in the arctic cold.

Snoopy gets a break from this torturous life when the dogs' owner stops in a small town.  Snoopy hits the local saloon in search of root beer and a meal.  He sits down at a player piano and is mistaken for a piano player.  This gets the beagle a sandwich, a mug of root beer and lots of tip money.

Snoopy decides to gamble the money in a poker game.  When he has a winning hand of four Aces, his poker face gives him away.  This enrages the other gamblers and a brawl breaks out.  Snoopy seeks a hiding place and winds up on a performance stage, dancing the can-can.  The audience doesn't find him entertaining, so Snoopy is thrown out of the saloon and winds up back on the sled.

Will Snoopy awaken from this horrible nightmare?

Review:

According to the (highly-recommended) book The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation, What A Nightmare Charlie Brown was one of Charles Schulz' favorite specials and was equally beloved by director Bill Melendez.  It was inspired by a Schulz family trip to Alaska where they observed sled dogs.

I can't say that I agree with Schulz.  This special features beautiful animation.  The dogs and the Arctic setting look great.  Plus, Snoopy's interactions with Charlie Brown and his trip to the saloon are enjoyable.  Otherwise, What A Nightmare (bad word-play intended) left me cold.

As I've mentioned in earlier reviews, my favorite Peanuts specials are the ones that feature the cast of characters interacting with each other.  In this special, we get only two of the regular characters and they only share a few minutes of screen time.  The rest of it features only dog barks and the trombone voice of the sled dogs' cruel owner.

Since we witness Snoopy fall asleep, it's obvious that he's dreaming and that he'll be okay in the end.

Bill Melendez provides great dog noises for Snoopy.  Liam Martin is good as Charlie Brown.  This is Martin's only outing as Chuck, but he voiced Linus and Schroeder in other specials, which I believe makes him the only actor to play all three of those characters.

Music:
Ed Bogas composed the music for What A Nightmare.  It's similar to the country-themed score Bogas wrote for Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (which was released the previous year).  The music is fine for the most part and suitable for the special's arctic setting.  Larry Finlayson sings a humorous song (written by Bogas) about Snoopy's overly-civilized life. 

Availability:
This special streams on Amazon and has been released on a DVD set called Peanuts 1970s Collection, Vol. 2.

What A Nightmare, Charlie Brown is primarily recommended for die-hard Snoopy and like all Peanuts specials from the 1970s, it's worth watching at least once.  But it's small cast of characters and lack of dialogue prevents me from giving it a higher rating.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5.

2 and a half Sparkys. 

It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown

Premiered February 1, 1974.

Woodstock (Bill Melendez) has built a brand new nest and is very proud of it.

However, disaster soon strikes when his nest disapears!  Woodstock's best friend Snoopy (Melendez again) puts on his detective costume and helps the bird investigate the case of the missing nest.

At the same time, Sally Brown (Lynn Mortensen) is cracking up due to pressures at school.  Her science teacher has assigned Sally to bring in "something from nature" to be used in a science exhibit. Sally vows to show the teacher "the best exhibit she's ever seen!"

Snoopy and Woodstock begin their search for the nest by interrogating Charlie Brown (Todd Barbee).

When that proves fruitless, they visit the homes of Lucy (Melanie Kohn) and Linus (Stephen Shea), Peppermint Patty (Donna Forman), Pigpen (Tom Muller) and Marcy (Jimmy Arens).

Their search comes up empty at every house, and Snoopy is terrorized by Peppermint Patty, who thinks the beagle wants to play "Cops and Robbers."

Their exhaustive investigation leads them to Birchwood School.  They find Woodstock's nest in the science lab.  They learn it was taken by Sally because she needed it for her assignment.

Snoopy rescues the nest and returns it to its proper place.  Woodstock has his nest, but now Sally has nothing for her science class.

Sally decides to sue Woodstock and force him to return the nest.  Woodstock hires Snoopy to represent him as his attorney.  The presiding judge in the case will be none other than Lucy Van Pelt! Lucy converts her psychiatrist booth into a court of law.

How will "Judge Lucy" rule on the case?  Will Woodstock lose his home?  Will Sally flunk her science assignment?

J.A. Morris says:
The plot of It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown is pretty thin, but it's fun and entertaining enough.  This is one of those specials that consists of "Peanuts characters do funny stuff" and that's about it.  But that's okay.

Snoopy's "Sherlock Holmes" costume is amusing.  His interactions with Marcy, Peppermint Patty and the Van Pelt siblings is humorous.  Peppermint Patty is depicted as being a bit crazier than usual and their "Cops and Robbers" game is a high point of the special.

Woodstock gets put through the ringer in the first few minutes.  He loses his nest and is nearly washed away in a rain storm, which might upset some younger viewers.

It's worth noting that Snoopy and Woodstock are the only characters onscreen for the first five minutes.  This means that the only "dialogue" during that time consists of bird and dog noises made by Bill Melendez.  This didn't bother me, but some viewers might find this a bit unnerving.

The animation is excellent, the animators and production team were really hitting their stride when It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown was produced.  The rainstorm that Woodstock encounters is particularly gorgeous.  I love the way storm clouds are drawn to look like they were drawn by a child using the edge of a pencil lead.

The voice actors here are mostly good.  Since Woodstock and Snoopy are the leads, that means Bill Melendez has to do a bit more squawking than usual.  He is more than up to the task.

Music:
It's A Mystery, Charlie Brown was created near the end of  Vince Guaraldi's life, when his music was changing.  The soundtrack features lots of funky, electric guitar and electric keyboard.  Some of it was later re-used in It's the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown. It's not the same music Guaraldi was playing in the early specials, but I love it!

Availability:
This special has been released on the DVD titled Peanuts:The 1970s Collection Vol. 1.  It also streams on Amazon video.

It's a Mystery Charlie Brown is hardly a classic, but it's got enough funny moments and great Guaraldi music to warrant repeated viewings.  Especially recommended for die-hard fans of Woodstock.

J.A. Morris' rating:

.5


3 and a half Sparkys.