I can enjoy some Peanuts content always. The characters and stories are consistently so heart warming and ‘Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin’ is no different as you follow Franklin Armstrong (no relation to Louis Armstrong) as he discovers the meaning of friendship and finds his seat at the table in his new town.
This film is the origin story for one of Peanuts’ most beloved characters, Franklin. Franklin’s family is always on the move with his dad’s military job, and everywhere he goes Franklin finds support in a notebook filled with his grandfather’s advice on friendship. When he moves into the same town as Charlie Brown (no relation to James Brown), he has a hard time fitting in until he learns about the neighborhood Soap Box Derby race (according to his grandfather, everyone loves a winner!) He’s sure that winning the race will also mean winning over some new friends. All he needs is a partner, which he finds in Charlie Brown. Franklin and Charlie Brown work together to build a car and in the process become good buddies.
The story is simple but leaves it’s impact as you watch a boy who is trying to fit in with a new environment find a friend in a boy who feels like an outsider in his own. The animation is bright and playful, and although only 40 minutes in length it is still stuffed with fun moments with each of the Peanuts and of course some silly Snoopy shenanigans. The references to the comic strips were also a fantastic touch from meeting Charlie Brown at the beach when Charlie Brown’s beach ball washes up next to him like Franklin’s first appearance in the comics on July 31, 1968, to Charlie giving him a seat next to him at the Pizza shop, a mirror to the controversial scene in ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.’ where he sits alone on the opposite side of the table.
There is nothing I can say negatively about this film without being nit picky. This film does it’s job for it’s target audience in showing how although we all have our differences, (anything from a delusional pseudo doctor to a devotee to The Great Pumpkin) we are more alike than anything. And how friendships, although not perfect, can get you through the rough patches in life.
I hope we get more stories from not only Franklin but all the individual members of the Peanuts gang with ‘Snoopy Presents’ and I hope you will go watch Franklin’s perfect first chapter.
Watch ‘Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin’ on AppleTV February 12th 2024.
