This cute new Peanuts short serves as the origin story of Franklin Armstrong, the first African-American character in the Charlie Brown universe. It’s a perfectly pleasant offering (executive produced by Charles Schulz’s son and grandson) that breezily moves along, telling the tale of how Franklin came to town and struggled to make friends. The entire cast of characters is on board, and the climactic soap box derby race brings it all home nicely.
3/5 stars