Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown is a 1980 American animated film produced by United Feature Syndicate and distributed by Paramount Pictures, directed by Bill Melendez and Phil Roman. It was the fourth full-length feature film to be based on the Peanuts comic strip. Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz wrote that he came up with the idea for the story while visiting the Château Malvoisin, where he was stationed briefly as a soldier during World War II. The castle plays a large role in the film. The movie uses the same voice cast that worked on the 1977 Peanuts television special It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, the 1979 Peanuts television special You're the Greatest, Charlie Brown, and the 1980 Peanuts television special She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown. This film contains a rare occurrence where the adults appear on screen, including having their faces entirely visible, as well as speaking comprehensible lines. Paramount Home Entertainment released this film on VHS and Laserdisc in 1995 in 4:3 format, and released it to DVD on October 6, 2015. This film came three years after Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown and would be the last traditionally animatedPeanuts film from the Bill Melendez studio. The characters would not return to film until 2015's computer-animated The Peanuts Movie. Three years after the film's release, a 1983 television special, What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?, continues the story, bringing the Peanuts gang to memorials and places related to World Wars I and II.
Plot
At Charlie Brown'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. In exchange, Charlie Brown and Linus are chosen to go to France. Charlie Brown heads home and invites Snoopy and Woodstockto go with him. He gets a call from Peppermint Patty, who tells him that she and Marcie were also chosen to go to France as a student exchange. Charlie Brown also gets a letter from France, but can’t read it because it’s written in French. At the airport, Sally tells Charlie Brown to try to do something right to represent the school. As the gang watches him, Linus, Marcie, Peppermint Patty, and Snoopy depart, Sally, PigPen, Violet, and Schroder call, "Bon voyage, Charlie Brown!", before Lucy adds, "And don't come back!!!" However, Charlie Brown is not very positive about the trip because of the letter he got. Marcie, who has been studying French, translates it. The letter says that he’s been invited to stay at a fictional French chateau, the Château du Mal Voisin. They arrive first in London, where Snoopy leaves the group temporarily to play tennis at Wimbledon, where the beagle gets in a dispute with the referee for a judgment call about the ball being in or out. He loses his temper, causing him to be banned from the grounds. When they arrive across the English Channel in France via hovercraft, they pick up a Citroën 2CV, which must be driven by Snoopy as none of the others have a drivers' licence, though Snoopy enjoys grinding the gears out of it. Upon their arrival, the four go to their respective homes. Patty and Marcie go to stay at a farm, 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 go to the chateau, which they find is apparently abandoned, though somebody keeps leaving food for them and making their beds after they leave for school. In reality, the chateau is owned by an unfriendly baron, and the person leaving Charlie Brown and Linus food is the baron's kindly niece, Violette Honfleur. Eventually, Linus manages to track Violette down and demand what is going on. Violette says that although her uncle is irritable, she must remember what a U.S. Army soldier had done for her family by helping them out during World War I. Violette shows Linus a picture of the soldier, and he comments that the soldier looks like Charlie Brown and it is revealed that the soldier is actually Charlie Brown's grandfather, Silas Brown. The baron returns home and Violette attempts to hide Linus, but accidentally drops a candle, engulfing 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 a 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, and he, Snoopy, Linus, Patty, and Marcie leave their new friends to see more of the French countryside, and eventually return home to the United States.
