Director Steve Martino and screenwriters Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz and Cornelius Uliano have brought the Peanuts gang into the 21st century without betraying* the nostalgic* element.

    Technically the fifth feature-length Peanuts outing (the first was 1969’s “A Boy Named Charlie Brown”), the film doesn’t go too far from home despite that larger canvas, once again confining* the action to the neighborhood, save for Snoopy’s fantasy air battles with top enemy the Red Baron.

    A newcomer is the Little Red-Haired Girl with whom Charlie Brown (Noah Schnapp) is quickly and hopelessly smitten*.

    All the touchstones are in play, including Charlie Brown’s kite-flying challenges and Lucy’s counseling sessions, as are all the main characters, voiced, for the most part, by children.

    The only bit of stunt-casting comes from the presence of Kristin Chenoweth as Snoopy’s love interest, a femme-fatale* flyer named Fifi; while the electronically modulated voice recordings of the late Bill Melendez have been used for those Snoopy/Woodstock “line readings.”

    Similar care has been taken with those 3-D character renderings which manage to bring warmth into a technology by keeping Schulz’ seemingly simple, remarkably expressive drawings depicting eyebrows and smiles rather than attempting to go for deeper visual dimension.

    That same respect for the past can be found in the script, credited to Schulz’ son, Craig, and grandson, Bryan, along with the younger Schulz’ writing partner Cornelius Uliano, which still favors rotary telephones* and manual typewriters, although introducing blue recycling boxes into the mix.

    Also wisely retained are Vince Guaraldi’s jazzy themes, performed here by David Benoit, which mix nicely with Christophe Beck’s original score.(SD-Agencies)