Product: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Rating: 5.0
A Timeless Holiday Classic!
As every die hard Peanuts fan knows, when A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS first premiered in 1965, CBS was absolutely certain the show would be a disaster for several reasons. First, unlike other cartoons at the time, there was no laugh track. The characters were all voiced by actual children (save for producer and director Bill Melendez, who voiced Snoopy), and of those children, only two had previous acting experience. The music for the show was a jazz soundtrack, atypical of children's programming at the time. And since TV and music executives were very touchy at the time about having God's name even mentioned, CBS despised the idea of Linus reciting his famous speech of "what Christmas is all about" from the King James Version of the Bible. Also, even though Peanuts was already one of the most popular comic strips in America by 1965, history had shown the success rate of adapting comic strips to the small screen was hit-or-miss. All these aspects, combined with the decidedly choppy animation and poorly enunciated vocal track, prepared CBS for a total flop. Which, of course, A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS was not.The special could be considered an example of a show that succeeds in spite of itself. But then again, as has been pointed out many times before, the shortcomings with the animation and vocal track work to the overall show's benefit, making the overall theme of the true meaning of Christmas resonate even more. This is also due in part to the decision to focus on the plot rather than the characters. While all of the characters stand out in some form or fashion- especially Charlie Brown, the character wrapped around the true meaning of Christmas theme- it's the plot that is the main attraction here, and it's the reason why the show is not just one of the best Christmas shows ever made, it's a timeless classic. The loose plot of the story- which is pretty much several little stories weaved together- as well as Vince Guaraldi's wonderful jazz soundtrack contribute just as much, if not more, to A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS's influence. This was the show that put the Peanuts characters onto the small screen periodically for the next 25 years, and even though a fair share of excellent specials were created, none of them could quite match the innocent charm of this masterpiece.[This 2000 DVD edition marked the first time A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS was released on DVD. Of course, no remastering will change the quality of the animation, but the picture is very good, and the music has never been better presented than it is here. The only bonus feature on the DVD is the 1992 Christmas special IT'S CHRISTMASTIME AGAIN, CHARLIE BROWN, which is a very different beast than A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS. Watching the feature once, it's easy to see why it's often been criticized- true, the several small stories featured are merely thrown into the show, not unlike how A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS was created, but here, the small stories are not tied together at all, making for a very herky-jerky viewing. (If you want more information about the special, see my VHS review of the special.) Nevertheless, this DVD is an excellent way of getting A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, but if you have a little extra money, a better recommendation is the PEANUTS HOLIDAY COLLECTION, which also includes IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN, CHARLIE BROWN and A CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGIVING, two of the better Peanuts specials.]