It's no wonder this movie didn't do well

"-The movie overall felt very joyless compared to the other ones. I didn't find anything fun in this movie."

I think the boxing scene was fun, many scenes were very atmospheric, the 'farewell scene' is hilarious, and the music in the background of those two mentioned scenes couldn't be more 'fun' if it tried. You just gotta be more observant.

"-I agree Snoopy picking fights were not cool."

Snoopy does this a lot in the comics. What do you want, a diluted, lobotomized, non-Snoopy version of Snoopy?

"-The kidnapping girl. IMO, the worst scene in the whole movie is the girl that kidnaps Snoopy and Woodstock. I found it downright creepy, like a "silly" version of a crazed child kidnapper. She dressed up Snoopy in weird clothes and kept singing a really annoying song constantly."

This also happens in the comics, although in the movie, this is milked a lot and extended a bit much.

However, you can think of it this way; Snoopy is not a kid. So there's no kidnapping. Snoopy is an animal. How does this world treat animals? Look around. There are slaughterhouses so you can stuff systematically, brutally and bloodily murdered, innocent animals' flesh into your body to create health problems. There are pets that people treat completely wrong (People treat animals like people, which distorts and warps the animals' psychology and creates a lot of problems, just watch any episode of 'Dog Whisperer' or 'Cesar 911' to see how little people understand animal psychology, and how people don't even understand how different it is from human psychology), and then have them murdered.

People, without any kind of remorse, guilt or second thought, cut off animals' genitals so they would 'behave better' (bring animal from nature to artificial world, then cut their body to make them fit (behaviourally)). Just because they call this mutilation 'spaying' or 'neutering', doesn't make it right, or less painful.

"-Snoopy farewell party. I understand it was supposed to be sad with Snoopy leaving, but it was plain weird seeing him open presents and cry at the same time. I always thought the scene where the piano is playing with everyone crying in the background looked extremely awkward even when I was a kid."

What? You have to be kidding me! The funniest thing in the whole movie, and you don't like it? Just listen to the funky music in the background, how can you be sad to THAT soundtrack anyway?

I think their over-exaggerated howling and 'crying' is just so funny, and it's delightful to see people expressing emotions in an overtly fashion and then act like nothing happened afterwards. It also shows they care about Snoopy despite what he did (all is forgiven), so it's a touching moment as well.

Plus, it reflects very well a relatable life experience that most of us have probably gone through, where we have to give up our childhood home and go into the world, or leave our previous friends because of a move, etc. It does this perfectly, and the relatability soothes one's soul - "Looks like I am not the only one that went through something like this".

Awkward?? Could you elaborate on this? There's nothing awkward here, these are drawn characters, not real people, so how can awkwardness even exist??

"-Charlie Brown singing about missing Snoopy."

Do you have some kind of comprehension problem? Charlie Brown never sings about 'missing Snoopy'.

The lyrics and the melody traverse through the landscape of a much larger philosophical idea of how 'people leave' and 'would it be good if they didn't, or maybe it's better and inevitable that they do so you can meet new people'?

Did you even watch the same movie?

It's not depressing, it's relatable, it's describing unavoidable eventualities that we have to all learn to accept in life - it's like a life lesson. So you can't keep everyone in your life, people leave, that's just the nature of people. However, that's what life is.

""-When Snoopy realizes she can't stay with Lila at the end, he dumps her out of joy and runs off. That's pretty messed up. Lila also does a face palm which seemed really out of place."

Wow, you are a master of misinterpretation! That's NOT AT ALL what happens!

What really happens, is.. Snoopy is torn, can't you realize that? He is torn between his old friends, his loyalty to everyone, and the old memories, and his ORIGINAL (remember this, by the way) love for Lila. Snoopy has always loved Lila, ever since he was a puppy, and that love isn't going anywhere.

He had to adjust to not having Lila in his life anymore when he was transferred to a new owner and met new people, learned to like them and be friends with them. Haven't you ever had an old memory of a long-lost friend stirring your soul, like re-awakening something that had been sleeping for years inside of you?

Snoopy doesn't know what to do, or what the right answer is, as both memories and loyalty to both loves are equally strong, so it's sad to leave the friends, it would be sad to lose Lila, and he considers it his obligation to go back to Lila, as she has NO ONE ELSE, and he knows the Peanuts gang has each other, and will always survive.

Lila is like his 'first love', in addition to being a delicate flower that can't survive without Snoopy. Snoopy knows he would be very happy with Lila, even though he'd miss the Peanuts gang.

He doesn't 'dump Lila' at all, and it's not 'out of joy' in any case. He realizes that when he CAN'T be with Lila due to circumstances, AND Lila has now some other companion, he's released from any obligation to be with Lila, and the experience had made him realize just how much he would miss the Peanuts gang and want to be with them, and that he doesn't, after all, love Lila as much as he thought.

The happiness comes from the wisdom of realization about which people are more important to him in the end, and that he can't leave the Peanuts gang after all.

"-And the very end, Snoopy is back and demands everyone returns everything to him, and everyone is annoyed at Snoopy. That's supposed to be a happy ending?"

Yes! Extremely.

It shows that Snoopy didn't change, so he's still the same, lovable character we always knew and cherished. People being able to be annoyed about him is what returns and resets things from 'weird and awkward' to 'normal and expected'.

Can you imagine if Snoopy had changed into some angelic being no one knew how to relate or respond to? That would've been a HORRIBLE ending! Can you imagine if Snoopy 'learned a lesson' and now treats everyone with silk gloves? Spineless SJW Snoopy! Is that really what you want to see??

No, the only truly HAPPY ending is resetting everything to the way it was, so we can have new adventures with the expected personalities, the same gang it always was, nothing fundamentally changing. People being annoying with each other is normal, it's a RELIEF there wasn't some 'sugary-syrapy' ending with everyone just being happy and without problems.

Peanuts was above that kind of d*sney nonsense, daring to show world AS IS instead of sugarcroated clichés. You really didn't know how to appreciate the unique and brave aspects of this wonderful movie, you expect to see the same clichés in everything you watch.. that's pretty pathetic and weak, in my opinion.

Also, it's a FUNNY ending, have you ever heard of humor? Dark things can be so funny. When someone falls in a comedy, do you feel angry and depressed about it and lament how something so horrible can happen, when it's not happy at all? Or do you realize someone getting hurt, crying or being mean can be extremely funny and hilarious?

I think it's the _PERFECT_ ending... I am so relieved we didn't have to wallow in the emotional sentimentality more than the story demanded, and that we returned to the 'reality we can understand and relate to' in the end.

To think otherwise is to want things sugarcoated and diluted...

"Children are coddled too much these days. "

True.

However, I can understand why you don't want to have depression and 'harsh realities' pushed to your face when you're going for escapism. I mean, people already have to live in the 'harsh reality', from entertainment, they're allowed to seek escapism.

I still think this movie is brilliant.