[6] Starring Peter Robbins, Pamelyn Ferdin, Glenn Gilger, and Andy Pforsich, the film follows the titular character as he tries to win the National Spelling Bee, with Snoopy and Linus by his side.
The film was based on a comic strip storyline from February 1966, which ended differently when Charlie Brown lost his local school's spelling bee.
Following a devastating loss in the first league game of the season, Charlie Brown descends into a state of despondency, convinced that he will never achieve success in any endeavor.
As he prepares for the school-wide championship, he and Linus reinforce their learning through a mnemonic device, singing the familiar spelling rule "I Before E" while Snoopy provides musical accompaniment on a Jew's harp.
During the competition, Charlie Brown experiences a moment of anxiety when tasked with spelling “perceive.” However, hearing Snoopy playing their mnemonic tune just outside the classroom window, he regains his composure and secures victory.
Despite this triumph, Lucy, now assuming the self-appointed role of Charlie Brown’s agent, informs him that his victory has qualified him for the National Spelling Bee in New York City, thereby rekindling his ever-present self-doubt.
As he boards the bus bound for the national competition, Linus, in a rare display of sentimentality, reluctantly lends Charlie Brown his cherished security blanket as a token of good luck.
The day of the National Spelling Bee arrives, with Linus and Snoopy present in the audience while the rest of Charlie Brown’s peers watch from home on television.
Linus, ever the voice of reason, visits him and informs him that the other children missed his presence and, more significantly, that they have finally won their first baseball game of the season.
That story had a much different ending: Charlie Brown was eliminated in his class spelling bee right away for misspelling the word maze ("M–A–Y–S" while thinking of baseball legend Willie Mays), thus confirming Violet's prediction that he would make a fool of himself.
The music consisted mostly of uptempo jazz tunes that had been heard since some of the earliest Peanuts television specials aired back in 1965; however, for the film, they were given a more "theatrical" treatment, with lusher horn-filled arrangements.
We focused on Vince for the smaller, more intimate Charlie Brown scenes; for the larger moments, we turned to Trotter's richer, full-score sound.
Only the 3rd Movement (Rondo: Allegro) can be found on A Boy Named Charlie Brown: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and only as a shortened bonus track.
The first all-music version was released on CD by Kritzerland Records as a limited issue of 1,000 copies in 2017, titled A Boy Named Charlie Brown: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
The New York Times' Vincent Canby wrote: "A practically perfect screen equivalent to the quiet joys to be found in almost any of Charles M. Schulz's Peanuts comic strips.
I do have some reservations about the film, but it's difficult—perhaps impossible—to be anything except benign towards a G-rated, animated movie that manages to include references to St. Stephen, Thomas Eakins, Harpers Ferry, baseball, contemporary morality (as it relates to Charlie Brown's use of his 'bean ball'), conservation and kite flying.
"[18] In 2021, Patrick Galvan of Ourculture stated in his article about the film, "As indicated in Canby’s description, it’d successfully preserved what made the comic special to begin with; it was also a triumph cinematically, packed with stunning visuals and supplemented by an outstanding musical score.
After watching Charlie Brown’s silver screen debut, I was convinced I’d seen one of the great American movies about a subject rarely portrayed so honestly and inspiringly in a motion picture.