Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Cartoon Chronicles: One Shots (Charlie Brown)

The full trailer of the Fantastic 4 movie is now online at Apple.com. CLICK! What little I've seen of Mr. Fantastic looks good enough. I would've been really shocked if they screwed up Invisible Girl's powers, so it's nice to see that they didn't. I agree with many fan complaints that Thing looks a little too small, but there's really no way they could've made him bigger. They refused to use CGI for him, so they did the best I could've expected with prostetics. Better, actually. And what can I say about the Human Torch? They've got him fully flamed on, and shooting through the air like a bat out of hell. That's all I expected of him. Then comes Doom. They changed his origin, not that his original backstory would've fit on the big screen. It looks like the screenwriter took a cue from the Ultimate Fantastic 4 book, with having Dr. Doom actually turn into metal, and sharing his powers' origin with the Fan 4. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad move. Then again, it's not like that decision could possibly make this movie worse than The Hulk. Strap yourself in and feel the G's. It time for a new Cartoon Chronicle! Charlie Brown (aka Peanuts) Good grief. Meet Charlie Brown, a little boy going through the normal trials of a kid his age. He worries about school, crushes, and the well-being on his dog. Joining him are the rest of the Peanuts; kids with their own little quirks. There's the shrewd Lucy; Linus, who has a blanket dependancy; the budding pianist, Schroeder; the tomboy, Peppermint Patty; and Snoopy, the dog that's almost human. There are adults, but we can't really understand them. Looking back, what surprised me about the Peanuts was how incredibly depressing they were. Have you seen the way Charlie handles his problems? He talks to himself, talks to his dog, pays $0.05 to talk to Lucy, and eventually fails anyway. Yes, he failed. He never kicked the football, never got to know the Little Redheaded Girl, and his baseball team lost every time. He wasn't the only one going through issues, either. Linus had so many insecurities that he carried his security blanket everywhere he went. Most little kids use their security blankets to hide them from the "unknowns" of the world, kept it at their bedside, and eventually grew out of that phase in their lives. Linus not only refused to give his up, but he took it out in public, and used it to hide his own personal issues. People usually see Lucy as the kid who took advantage of the other kids. After all, she always pulled the football away from Charlie before he could make a field goal, and she charged hard cash for giving advice. However, let's not forget her unreturned love for Schroeder. Day after day, she sat at the end of his piano, making it very clear that she had feelings for him. More often than not, however, he would knock her off of his piano, turn away from her, and just generally ignore her. If you've ever wondered why we, as a people, are so cynical, it's probably because Charlie Brown depressed the hell out of us at a young age. We cling onto things that make us feel safe, harm others to make us feel better, are deadly afraid of failure, and sometimes bury ourselves in our work. Sadly, this cartoon prepared us for the real world better than any educational show ever did. Ironically, the only Peanut kid who was entirely secure with himself wasn't even a kid. If you look at Snoopy, he was totally fine in his skin. He danced like a complete idiot, slept on the roof of his house, and wrote cliche horror novels-- despite critical feedback. That's probably why Snoopy is such a fan favorite. He was the only character on the show who ever looked happy. Ever. Well, okay, there was also Woodstock. Now... if only someone would explain to me why everyone thought Snoopy (who was clearly a beagle) was "that funny-looking kid." Much Love

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