''Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!)'' is a

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anim ...

adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

produced by

United Feature Syndicate United Feature Syndicate (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media (along wit ...

and distributed by

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

, directed by

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American character animator, voice actor, film director and producer. Melendez is known for working on the Peanuts animated specials, ''Peanuts'' animated specials ...

and

Phil Roman Philip Roman (born December 21, 1930) is an American animator and the director of the ''Peanuts'' and ''Garfield'' animated specials. He is the founder of animation studios Film Roman and Phil Roman Entertainment. Early life Philip Roman was bo ...

. It was the fourth full-length feature film to be based on the ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

. ''Peanuts'' creator

Charles M. Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wid ...

wrote that he came up with the idea for the story while visiting the ''Manoir de Malvoisine'' in Le Héron, where he was stationed briefly as a soldier during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The castle plays a large role in the film.

Paramount Home Entertainment Paramount Home Entertainment (formerly Paramount Home Media Distribution, and originally Paramount Home Video) is the home video distribution arm of Paramount Pictures, a division of Paramount Global. The division oversees PPC's home entertainme ...

released this film on VHS and Laserdisc in 1995 in 4:3 format, and released it to DVD (cropped to widescreen) on October 6, 2015. The film was also released on Blu-ray for the first time on March 15, 2022 in the US.

Plot

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American ar ...

's school, Linus Van Pelt introduces to his class two French students, Babette and Jacques, who will be spending two weeks there in order to get accustomed to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. In exchange, Charlie Brown and Linus are chosen to go to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. Charlie Brown heads home and invites

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

and

Woodstock Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held during August 15–18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, United States, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. ...

to go with him. He gets a call from

Peppermint Patty Peppermint Patty is a fictional character featured in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip ''Peanuts''. Her full name is Patricia Reichardt, which is very rarely used in the strip. She is one of a small group in the strip who live across town from C ...

, who tells him that she and

Marcie Marcie is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated Daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. Marcie is a studious girl who is sometimes depicted as being terrible at sports. ...

were also chosen to go to France as a student exchange. Charlie Brown also gets a letter from France, but cannot read it because it is written in French. He is not very positive about the trip because of the letter he got, but Marcie, who has been studying French, translates the letter, explaining that Charlie Brown has been invited to stay at a fictional French chateau, the ''Château du Mal Voisin'' (''House of the Bad Neighbor''). Charlie Brown cannot understand why someone in France would invite him to their home, let alone know who he is. The group arrive first in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where Snoopy leaves the group temporarily to play tennis at

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

, where the beagle gets in a dispute with the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

for a judgment call about the ball being in or out. He loses his temper, causing him to be kicked out from the grounds. When they arrive across the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

in France via

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

, they pick up a

Citroën 2CV The Citroën 2CV (french: link=no, deux chevaux(-vapeur), , lit. "two steam horse(power)s", meaning "two ''taxable'' horsepower") is an air-cooled front-engine, front-wheel-drive, economy family car, introduced at the 1948 Paris Mondial de l ...

, which is driven by Snoopy (because the kids are too young to drive), although he grinds the gears out of it. Upon their arrival, the four go to their respective homes. Patty and Marcie go to stay at a farm in

Morville-sur-Andelle Morville-sur-Andelle is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography The commune of Morville-sur-Andelle is centred on a small farming village situated by the banks of the river Andelle in the P ...

, where they meet a boy named Pierre, who immediately attracts their attention. It is obvious that Marcie and Pierre have a spark between them - obvious to everyone except Patty, who manages to convince herself that Pierre likes ''her''. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock visit the chateau, which is actually owned by an unfriendly baron while his niece, Violette Honfleur, frequently leaves Charlie Brown and Linus food. Linus enters the chateau's attic and learns from Violette that Charlie Brown's grandfather, Silas Brown, had served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and helped them out during

. The baron returns home and Violette tries hiding Linus, but she inadvertently starts a fire in the chateau's attic. Charlie Brown runs to get Peppermint Patty and Marcie and Pierre calls the fire department while Snoopy and Woodstock get an old fashioned fire hose from a shed. Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and Pierre rescue Linus and Violette, and Snoopy uses the hose to keep the fire under control until the fire department arrives to help. Thankful for the chateau's rescue, the baron has a change of heart and allows the gang inside, and Charlie Brown learns the truth behind the mysterious letter he received from Violette; one of the villagers toured the United States when he got a haircut from Charlie Brown's father, whereupon Violette was able to find Silas' grandson. Charlie Brown later wishes Violette and Pierre goodbye as he, Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus, Patty, and Marcie leave the chateau to see more of the French countryside, and eventually return home to the United States.

Cast

* Arrin Skelley as

* Daniel Anderson as Linus van Pelt * Patricia Patts as

* Casey Carlson as

* Annalisa Bortolin as

Sally Brown Sally Brown is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles Schulz. She is the younger sister of main character Charlie Brown. She was first mentioned in May 1959 and throughout a long series of strips before her first appeara ...

* Laura Planting as Lucy van Pelt *

* Pascale De Barolet as Pierre * Roseline Rubens as Violette Honfleur,

Violet Violet may refer to: Common meanings * Violet (color), a spectral color with wavelengths shorter than blue * One of a list of plants known as violet, particularly: ** ''Viola'' (plant), a genus of flowering plants Places United States * Viol ...

Patty A patty or burger (in British English) is a flattened, usually round, serving of ground meat and/or legumes, grains, vegetables, or meat alternatives. Patties are found in multiple cuisines throughout the world. In British and American Eng ...

, Frieda, Sophie * Debbie Muller as Flight Attendant *

Scott Beach Scott Beach (January 13, 1931 – February 13, 1996) was an American actor, writer and DJ, best known for his performance in the 1960s-themed 1973 film ''American Graffiti''. Life and career Born Alvin Scott Beach, he appeared in numerous m ...

as Waiter, Baron, Driver, Tennis Announcer, English Voice, American Male *

Schroeder __NOTOC__ Schroeder is a North German language, German (from Schröder) occupational name for a cloth cutter or tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Low German , "to cut". The same term was occasionally used to denote a gristmiller as well as ...

Pig-Pen Pig-Pen is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. While amiable, he is a young boy who is, except on rare occasions, extremely dirty and attracts a permanent cloud of dust. History "Pig-Pen" is a nickname. I ...

, Babette, and Jacques appear but had no lines.

Reception

The film had a mostly positive reception.

References

External links

* * * {{Paramount theatrical animated features Peanuts films 1980 films 1980 animated films 1980s American films 1980s American animated films 1980s children's animated films 1980s English-language films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated comedy films Films directed by Bill Melendez Films directed by Phil Roman Films scored by Ed Bogas Animated films set in London Animated films set in Paris Films with screenplays by Charles M. Schulz Paramount Pictures animated films Paramount Pictures films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links