The defence The Sentimental Softie
“Sincerity is not manipulation.”
The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.
Back to trending 
A Boy Named Charlie Brown
Animation · Comedy · Drama · 1969
Poor Charlie Brown. He can't fly a kite, and he always loses in baseball. Having his faults projected onto a screen by Lucy doesn't help him much either. Against the sage advice and taunting of the girls in his class, he volunteers for the class spelling bee.
Movie details
A Boy Named Charlie Brown
“Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang in their First Movie!”
1969 Animation · Comedy · Drama 1h 26m
Critical arithmetic
One number, for now.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
TMDB
7.0 / 10
Community rating
Poor Charlie Brown. He can't fly a kite, and he always loses in baseball. Having his faults projected onto a screen by Lucy doesn't help him much either. Against the sage advice and taunting of the girls in his class, he volunteers for the class spelling bee.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over A Boy Named Charlie Brown?
For the defence
The Sentimental Softie
“You came to feel something, and you will.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Cool Ironist
“Feeling things is a little embarrassing.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
Snoopy Presents: It's the Small Things, Charlie Brown
Animation · 2022
Charlie Brown is determined to win the big baseball game. But things turn into a fiasco right before the matchup, when Sally bonds with a little flower on the pitcher's mound and vows to protect it at all costs.
Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin
Animation · 2024
Franklin is new to town and hoping to make friends, but his usual tactics don't work on the Peanuts gang. When the Soap Box Derby arrives, he's sure it's a chance to impress new pals and teams up with the only other unpartnered kid: Charlie Brown.
Extreme Makeover: Homer Edition
Animation · 2026
Homer and Marge's fun couples' date night goes off the rails when Marge learns Homer left the kids unsupervised with only the doorbell camera as a babysitter. Frustrated with her imperfect husband, a tipsy Marge stirs up a trilogy of fantasies of a different Homer.
Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe
Family · 2020
Phineas and Ferb travel across the galaxy to rescue their older sister Candace, who has been abducted by aliens and taken to a utopia in a far-off planet, free of her pesky little brothers.
The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
Animation · 2022
The unlikely friendship of a boy, a mole, a fox and a horse traveling together in the boy's search for home.
The Boxtrolls
Animation · 2014
An orphaned boy raised by underground creatures called Boxtrolls comes up from the sewers and out of his box to save his family and the town from the evil exterminator, Archibald Snatcher.
Big City Greens the Movie: Spacecation
Animation · 2024
When thrill-seeker Cricket tricks his family into taking a "road trip" in space, chaos in the cosmos quickly ensues. Despite growing frustrations between Cricket and his dad, Bill, the two must learn to appreciate each other's unique perspectives in order to prevent Big City from being destroyed by an interstellar disaster.
Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness
Animation · 2022
A brave young animal explorer teams up with two trusty friends to find a powerful artifact before his greedy uncle can get his paws on it.
Tom & Jerry
Comedy · 2021
Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse get kicked out of their home and relocate to a fancy New York hotel, where a scrappy employee named Kayla will lose her job if she can’t evict Jerry before a high-class wedding at the hotel. Her solution? Hiring Tom to get rid of the pesky mouse.
Sketch
Adventure · 2025
When a young girl’s sketchbook falls into a strange pond, her drawings come to life—chaotic, real, and on the loose. As the town descends into chaos, her family must reunite and stop the monsters they never meant to unleash.
Where it lives
Watch in your region.
Cinema release signals and current streaming, rental, and purchase options for your region.
Streaming availability data supplied by JustWatch.
Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Bill Melendez
Written by
Charles M. Schulz
Peter Robbins
Charlie Brown (voice)
Pamelyn Ferdin
Lucy Van Pelt (voice)
G
Glenn Gilger
Linus Van Pelt (voice)
A
Andy Pforsich
Schroeder (voice)
S
Sally Dryer
Patty (voice)
Bill Melendez
Snoopy (voice)
Ann Altieri
Violet (voice)
Court is in session
Put A Boy Named Charlie Brown on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Cool Ironist
“The strings are showing.”
Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.