Torn… over Peanuts

One of my favorite illustrators and "narrators" is Charles Schulz of Peanuts fame. His artwork as an illustrator has always connected to me, and his story lines manage to speak to me on a sublime level. By borrowing from real life situations and writing in a more or less biographic way, Schulz was able to touch a chord deep inside and to connect the gap between fantasy and humor and some of the darker realities of life.

At the height of it's popularity, Schulz made a decision to allow Peanuts to be produced into film, combining the creativity of three great men: Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez, and Vince Guaraldi. Between the writing, illustration, animation, and musical talent of those three men combined with Schulz at the head, the Animated specials were created (over 50 total) including the famous Christmas Special. Schulz was very particular about the men working with his characters, and the quality of the film clearly reflects those choices.

This week on iTunes they've added the new "Peanuts Motion Comics" series to the free downloads of the week. Being who I am, and considering my love for Schulz's work, I downloaded the free episode to see what it was. Sadly, after downloading and watching it, the new series only retains the imagination and narration of Schulz without the animation vision of Mendelson or the talent of Melendez. The craft has gone from artwork to cheap flash animation, and it feels like an attempt to make an extra dollar from his characters rather than to actually use them well. That may not be the actual intent, but I just wish they had retained the things that were so good about the original animated specials. Once again the focus on design and the cohesive whole is lacking. Like my previous critique on the newer Star Wars movie, I am concerned that the creators of the series simply have forgotten the way the original strips benefitted from the illustrators used, and it's distracting that it's flash (linear) animation.