Stevecorp
Don't listen to the negative reviews
Clarissa Mora
The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.
Quiet Muffin
This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Horst in Translation ([email protected])
"He's a Bully, Charlie Brown" is one of the most recent Peanuts short films and this one features Rerun once again as one of the main characters. It is not even 10 years old and was the last Charlie Brown short film that the legendary Bill Melendez worked on. The story is not too great this time and also slightly predictable. A bully tricks little Rerun and takes all his marbles. Charly gets trained by Snoopy to become a great marbles player and gets them back. Well.. when it initially seems he lost, I expected Snoopy to step in and play against the bully, but Charly turned things round in the end. And there is a little story about jealousy in here too, so the girls get some screen time as well.These Peanuts cartoons are around 50 years old now and there is actually a full feature film coming out this year and judging from early reviews, it seems to be good. But back to this short film: The only known voice actor in here is Taylor Lautner ("Twilight"), who speaks for the Bully. And I liked the goodness that these films have written all over them. One example would be Charlie wanting to give the marbles back to the bully and only keep Rerun's. As a whole, it's nice to see how they are still producing successful entertaining Peanuts short films after all these decades. It's not one of the best, but it's worth the watch. Thumbs up.
Woodyanders
Rerun is cheated out of his marbles at summer camp by cocky and obnoxious bully Joe Aggit. It's up to Charlie Brown to stick up for Rerun and put Aggit in his place. Once again, this special offers the usual winning blend of sweet warmth, gentle humor, and amiable well-defined characters. Directors Larry Leichliter and Bill Melendenz relate the story at a constant brisk pace and maintain a pleasant tone throughout. Snoopy is in fine form here: He gives Charlie Brown lessons on how to play marbles, packs up a ridiculously huge amount of stuff for summer camp (he even brings a bowling ball!), and reprises his supremely hip alter ego Joe Cool from "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown." Moreover, it's a hoot to see Marcie make Peppermint Patty jealous by claiming her and Charlie Brown are getting intimate with each other. Better still, Charlie Brown gets to be a hero and actually wins for once. The big high stakes marbles game between the extremely hateful Aggit and Charlie Brown is a lot of fun. The jaunty'n'jazzy rendition of Vince Guaraldi's catchy and charming classic theme keeps things bubbling along. Worth a watch for Peanuts fans.
Xander Seavy (RiffRaffMcKinley)
From the first appearance of any sights on the screen, I could tell this terrible special would be a new low for everybody's favorite mysteriously bald child. I knew because the animation looked cheap and de-saturated, not to mention robotic and just generally awful. You'd expect animation like that in a spoof-- if "Family Guy" did it in a flashback, it would be great. The problem is, we're actually supposed to think this is ingenious. Instead, it seems that the voices of the Peanuts gang are getting worse with each passing special-- as are the specials themselves. I liked "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown". It was a very endearing film, and, in a bizarre way, a touching tribute to the tragically lost genius of Charles Schulz. But this special is just a waste of time and the energy it took to not change the channel.
