Tony Mastroianni Review Collection
Snoopy stealing the scenes again
Cleveland Press July 18, 1972
"Snoopy Come home" is playing at local theaters. Animated feature; general audiences. In the cast are Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Linus, Schroeder, Lucy and introducing Woodstock. Running time: 90 minutes.
The Peanuts gang is back in another full-length movie and Snoopy, the scene-stealer from the others, is the star of this one.
"Snoopy Come Home" is the best of the series. Maybe it is because of its star, the greatest Beagle thespian there ever was. Maybe it is because this movie offers more of a unified story.
Snoopy, debonair playboy and man about town, enjoys surfing and going to the local library where he merrily peruses a witty novel. He is kicked off the beach and out of the library because dogs are not allowed.
A LITTLE GIRL, in a hospital far away writes him a letter telling him of her loneliness. With suitcase in hand, dog dish on his head and Woodstock, a little yellow bird as a companion, Snoopy set off without telling his friends.
Who is the mystery girl Where does she figure in Snoopy's past? What of Charlie and his friends who are frantic over Snoopy's disappearance?
Snoopy's odyssey is the bulk of the movie. Not allowed on buses and trains either, he and Woodstock make their way on foot. Woodstock t rot s along, bumping into everything. When he flies it is upside down and he always falls on his head. The pair fall into the hands of a girl who claims to have found them and she takes them for pets. She is representative of every child who has ever mishandled a pet.
"SNOOPY COME HOME" and the other Peanuts' movies have been far superior to other movie cartoons, short or full-length, for several reasons. The sure hand of creator Charles Schulz is present in every one of them. He does the story and the basic drawings and the animators work from those.
AS IN THE comic strip they continue to be little people with grownup problems, inhabiting a world in which adults are never seen but are a presence.
The humor is understated but the picture is all fun, something adults can enjoy as well as kids.
