This was actually my favorite Peanuts outing.....

A lot of people will probably disagree with me, but of all the Peanuts movies I've seen, this one is my personal favorite. “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” was fun, but being the first of its type, it was way too padded (did we really need to see Schroeder playing the piano for 15 minutes?), plus the plot was largely borrowed from the comic strip, with the misspelled word here being ‘beagle’ instead of ‘mays’. “Snoopy Come Home” I also liked, but again, it was just an adaptation of a storyline from Peanuts about Lila, Snoopy’s first owner. Again, there is nothing really original here.
Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, by contrast, was trying to branch off more from the comic strip and tell a story that hasn't been seen before. Yes, it had moments that were lifted from the strip, but it flushed out Charlie Brown's character by telling more about his family, in Particular, Silas Brown, who was stationed over in France during WWII.
Lots of people dislike the somewhat dark nature of this one, but I liked that aspect of it. It made me feel more like Charles Schultz was trying to relate to us more like adults, and show us some of the more unpleasant realities of life. It was not that dark, anyway. I felt the special “Why Charlie Brown, Why?” was much more upsetting. Plus, the somewhat gloomy first half makes the finale all more satisfying. I've heard some people online talk about the ambiguous plans the Baron had for Linus and Charlie Brown, and how it was too dark. Well, I can see your point, but I don't really think he was doing anything but blowing off steam. The animation in this outing is also a vast improvement from some of the other films: in particular, the backgrounds of the Chateau are very well done. All the rest of the gripes to me are just nitpicking: The adults don't have the "Wah-wah" voice, and you can see the adults, blah, blah, blah. Is it written in stone anywhere that all Peanuts films have to contain those elements in them? The Baron was able to talk, for example, because it contained some plot points. Anyway, without getting on a tirade, Bon Voyage was a fantastic movie for any Peanuts fan. So stop reading this and go out it and watch it. Good Grief!