Yep, that's what I said: this cartoon feature-length film featuring the beloved "Peanuts" gang is, like the comics of Schulz, a very realistic and intimate look inside the human psyche, not just of Charlie Brown, but of the Van Pelt kids.
Charlie Brown believes he's a complete loser. Albeit, 6-8 year olds may not usually consciously form such a concise opinion of themselves, but, like the comic strip, Charlie Brown's voice is not only that of a perceptive adult, but of the inner child left behind. I don't know why people believe childhood is such a wonderful time. It SHOULD be. By rights, it ought to be our most precious, sacred, worry-free time, and adulthood ought to be the bummer. But in reality, childhood, when adults tower over you controlling your life and people your own size pick mercilessly at you for being the least bit different, is a time we look forward to leaving behind us, but unfortunately drag along with us for the rest of our days. I am now in my late 30s, and stressful career and all, health problems and all, I'll gladly move forward. I'd never revisit childhood, not for a million dollars!
Charlie's kite won't fly right, his baseball team is on a 99 game losing streak, and he can't even get his toy boat to sail in the bathtub. He feels miserable, unwanted and depressed. He seeks out the advice of wanna-be psychiatrist Lucy, all the while knowing that Miss Van Pelt is one of his biggest antagonists. She eagerly points out everything wrong with him and how hopelessly dumb and worthless he is, which is what abusive people do when they, deep down, hate themselves worse than they could ever hate you, but need to use you to build up their own meager self esteem. The one trait that spells doom for Charlie every time is his own admission that he believes himself a failure. That only makes Lucy and the other mean girls Violet and Patty, feel more powerful.
Desperately seeking self-worth, Charlie Brown decides to try out for the school spelling bee. First he wins against his home classmates, then he wins Spelling Champion of his school. Is this not a victory? Indeed it is, but instead of finding that self worth, and basking in the victory, Charlie dreads his next task, the National Elimination spelling bee in the big city. He berates himself for "getting himself into this mess," and not only makes himself sick with stress and worry, but exhausts himself studying all night before the competition, refusing even to take a nap, fearful that he will let the kids back home down if he doesn't use every minute for study. So it's no wonder he misspells a simple word like "beagle".
Second place, 1st runner up, the last to be eliminated. Do these things spell "loser"? You would think not, but naturally, poor lovable self-doubting Charlie Brown thinks its worse than if he had just been beaten earlier, or had never even made it out of his school contests. He took a risk, put himself out there, tried something out, and the results were not what he wanted. Now he feels like a failure as usual and is afraid to ever do anything again, because the humiliation he feels is unbearable.
The one "peanut" who seems to genuinely route for Charlie, without any selfish motives, is Linus. If Charlie would open his eyes, he would see that he has at least one true friend in the world, someone who believes in him and doesn't think of him as a total loser just because he didn't win first in the national bee. He even gave Charlie his beloved security blanket for good luck. Somehow, he coaxes Charlie Brown out of his shell of fear and humiliation.
The ending is realistic. Things seem not to have changed much since the spelling bee. Snoopy and Linus are still Charlie's closest frients, Lucy is the same ol' conniving meanie yanking the ball away just as Charlie is about to kick it.
But Charlie IS changed. Even though he didn't win first place, he has returned home someone new, someone who takes risks and tries new things and works very hard toward a goal, and even though you'll never hear Lucy and the mean girls admit it, this is his victory.
Deep down, at some point in our lives, "we're all a boy named Charlie Brown."