In addition to dozens of half-hour television specials, Sparky Schultz made a handful of attempts to translate his comic strip to the big screen. "Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown" is the most interesting of these because of its departures from the "Peanuts" formula.

There is no interaction between adversarial couples Linus and Lucy and Charlie Brown and Lucy in this film, because Lucy van Pelt is present only to wave goodbye to the group of exchange students. (Exchange students at the elementary school level?) A number of adults are portrayed and given voices. (No muted trumpets here). Schroeder the piano man and Pigpen the human dust storm are left behind on American soil.

This film was a labor of love for Schultz, who passed through Normandy after D Day and at one point was billetted at a manor house which could have passed for the Chateau of the Bad Neighbor. The geography is completely accurate, down to the villages adjoining the Andelle River.

The more successful Peanuts adaptations are those in which the clever storyline outweighs the limitations of kiddie voice-over acting. This is one such, the cast including students at a French-language school in San Francisco. There is also an unusually large quantity of "dialogue" spoken by Snoopy's voice, director Bill Melendez. The beagle's impressions of a British toff and a crabby French driver are priceless.