Why So Blu?

Snoopy Collection (Blu-ray Review)

Its interesting to think there are still a lot of very classic things still not on Blu-ray. And within that, there are still a lot of all things Charles Schulz’s Peanuts characters that aren’t on the format. We’ve even had some released on 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray. Paramount has restored and put together a little set featuring Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown, A Boy Named Charlie Brown and Snoopy Come Home. It arrives on May 18th, and you can order a copy using the paid Amazon Associates link following the review if you so kindly choose.

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Films

Paramount’s Snoopy Collection comes with 4 classic films featuring Charles Schulz Peanuts characters.

In Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown (Arrin Skelley) heads to Europe as an exchange student in this animated movie based on the “Peanuts” comic strip. Along for the ride are Snoopy, Woodstock, Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Linus. In London, Snoopy and Woodstock test out their tennis skills at Wimbledon before the gang heads off to France. Charlie has an invitation to stay at the chateau of a mysterious baron. But when they arrive on a dark and stormy night, it soon becomes clear that their adventure has only begun.

Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown sees Charlie Brown (Duncan Watson), Linus (Liam Martin) and the gang head to Camp Remote, located in the Rocky Mountains, where the big event is the annual river rafting race. Competing against Charlie Brown and his friends is a gang of bullies who always win the race, owing to their penchant for dirty tactics and cheating. This time proves no different, and Charlie Brown has to overcome his lack of confidence if his team is to have any hope of winning.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown has Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) entering the school spelling bee, the perpetually crabby Lucy (Pamelyn Ferdin) predicts his humiliation. But with the help of his best friend, Linus (Glenn Gilger), and faithful dog, Snoopy (Bill Melendez), Charlie Brown not only wins the spelling bee, he’s chosen to attend the national spelling bee in New York City, leading to many misadventures in the big city. This is the first animated feature based on Charles Schulz’s comic strip, “Peanuts.”

The last film in the set, Snoopy Come Home, is about Charlie Brown’s (Chad Webber) beloved dog Snoopy (Bill Melendez) receives a letter from his original owner, Lila (Johanna Baer), who has been sick in the hospital. With his bird friend Woodstock, Snoopy goes to visit Lila, making his way across the country despite seeing “no dogs allowed” signs everywhere. When Lila gets better, she asks Snoopy to live with her. After a farewell party, he sets out to live with Lila, leaving Charlie Brown depressed.

Video

Encoding: MPEG-4 AVC

Resolution: 1080p

Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1, 1:33:1

Layers: BD-50

Clarity/Detail: This set features a pretty solid look across the board for these 4 movies. Its quite impressive how much of the constructive details come through. Its a much more spacious an free in appearance, sharper and with brush strokes and such very visible.

Depth:  Though still flat 2D animation, it does carry some depth. With the more detailed grain structure you feel there’s a sort of distancing between that and the animation. Movements are clear and very smooth, with zero distortion.

Black Levels: Blacks are lovely and their saturation really helps to keep the definition looking more detailed and sharper. Shadowing is good and there was no crushing present during my viewing for this write up.

Color Reproduction: Colors are a place you’ll also notice off the bat, especially when you see an interior for the first time. Reds, blues, purples, browns, greens…they all come in many different tints and shade, but they are much more solid, rich and come on more natural than trying to just be bright.

Flesh Tones:  N/A

Noise/Artifacts: Clean.

Audio

Audio Format(s): Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown & Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown: English 2.0 Mono Dolby TrueHD, French Mono Dolby Digital / A Boy Named Charlie Brown & Snoopy Come Home: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English 2.0 Stereo

Subtitles: English, English SDH, French

Dynamics: The first two films in the set feature lovely mono tracks and the latter bolstered by 5.1. All around, both are quite clean and polished up, sounding fresh and crisp. They have great balance and depth to their mix.

Height: N/A

Low Frequency Extension: The subwoofer primarily comes into play with the score in the shows. Some sound effects here and there get a bump, but the programming isn’t demanding it.

Surround Sound Presentation: There is some good sound travel, but nothing really goes crazy around the room. Rear channels mainly contain ambiance. The front has a little bit of fun going back and forth.

Dialogue Reproduction: Dialogue is clear and crisp with a hair its analog sourcing still present.

Extras

Snoopy Collection is a 4-disc set and comes with a redeemable digital code for each movie.

Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown

Travels With Charlie: The Making Of Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (HD, 20:22) – Opening with a bit from an interview with Charles Schulz, this talks about the inspiration for the film with his travels and such which informed the film.

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:22)

Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown

Theatrical Trailer (HD, 2:41)

Summary

Paramount’s Snoopy Collection is a nifty little set that features some really nice restoration on these classic Peanuts adventures. It even comes with a featurette on one of them that is quite interesting in its own right. A nice little pick up for collectors or folks looking to introduce their children to some iconic characters of animation’s yesteryear.

This is a paid Amazon Associates link