A few days ago, we broke out some new toothbrushes for Erini. Nothing unusual about the soft bristled and brightly coloured brushes featuring cartoon characters, save one small detail. Erini did not recognize the character, which made me question my parenting since it was a Snoopy toothbrush! My daughter did not know about Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown, or anyone else in the Peanuts gang. I somewhat felt like I had failed as a parent and was in danger of losing my 'Daddy' status and be relegated to being a 'Father.' Perish the thought!
I resolved to remedy this and scoured my in-laws movie collection to find some sort of Peanuts feature. Lo and behold, I found 'Race for your Life, Charlie Brown!' If we had got those brushes out last month I would have looked through the TV listings and watched 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' with her. Unfortunately, that program will not be aired on TV for at least ten months, so I made do with what I had on hand.
Erini complained at first, but after she curled up on my lap with some popcorn, we were good to go. This was once again a venture into virgin territory for me, as I had again selected a film that I had not seen before. I am hoping this begins to produce better results, because the results were similar to Asterix Conquers America.
Peanuts characters have always had a special place for me, so this was a fresh taste of nostalgia, if that is such a thing. Every minute Snoopy and Woodstock were on the screen, it was sheer elation at the whimsy and silliness that emanated from those two ingenious, yet silent, characters.
My daughter must have an appetite for mayhem, because her favourite part was when, "Everyone crashed." It was rather comical watching the bullies constantly crash or get their boat stuck during the raft race, and it was all the better when Snoopy gave the bullies' cat what was coming to him at the end of the movie. She was also giggling at Snoopy and Woodstock's antics throughout the show, and she was very happy when Woodstock built his own little raft out of twigs and a leaf to sail across the finish line and win the race.
While this movie could be picked apart with all the inconsistencies and lack of explanations, I did my best to overlook them and enjoy it all. But what irked me was the snow. From what I could gauge, the camp was in the middle of nowhere, and at first it seemed it was a desert, but then they were in the mountains where the river rafting race took place. It would be logical to assume that the camp took place in the summer, and while I have heard of some summer camps experiencing snow, it's extremely rare, and the temperatures don't drop quite that far. Also, is the snow dropped to the point that people started thinking about getting a Christmas tree instead of the race which the entire show is about, you would think more about basic survival against the elements, which was not mentioned very little. When Charlie Brown exclaims his disgust that the girls are thinking about getting a Christmas tree instead of finishing the race they were in, I echoed his sentiments by saying, "Finally, someone said it!"
The plot hole cabin is not explained as to who owns it, or if it was abandoned. I kept expecting the proprietor to show up, but the only character to knock on the door aside from the Peanuts crew was a bear who ran away when Snoopy freaked out at him. Perhaps this cabin was inspiration for Daniel Myrick & Eduardo Sánchez. I was also a little annoyed by the lack on consistency with the layout of the cabin. When Snoopy first enters the dark cabin, his foot goes through a plank in the floor. This made a substantial hole in the floor, but later on during the dance scene, it is completely ignored. Although the hole is still in the background, Snoopy and Peppermint Patty dance right on it, but don't fall in. I was secretly hoping they would and had a chuckle at the top of my throat, but to no avail.
Sometimes I envy my daughter who can just watch the movie and not worry about the parts that make no sense.
I'm going back to something familiar, something peculiar, something for everyone: A Comedy To-(morrow)-night!
NOTE: Although I have both on hand, I'm putting on Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum, not the Muppet Show Season 1.
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