Product: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Rating: 4.0
A Timeless Classic! Still Relevant After All These Years!
For a 25 min made-for-tv cartoon of the mid-60's, this is truly a timeless classic whose message is still all so relevant more than 40 years later. Both the main feature, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and the bonus "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown" are destined to be viewed at Yuletide for many more decades to come. As one among the very many people in my social circle who bemoan the loss of the true meaning of Christmas and with the wanton commercialisation behind it all, I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of cartoons that address this issue so well and in such simple terms that even a child could understand the distinction. The main feature brings out the message better than the bonus and it's no surprise at all that this is a very worthy winner of both the Emmy and Peabody awards. The only reason this dvd doesn't get all 5 stars from me is that despite the digital remastering, the sound quality isn't perfect and is in mono format and the video quality is affected by transfer from a deteriorating master source. But these are small complaints and do not detract too much from the enjoyment of all but the more picky video and audiophile. I note that they have attempted to do a better remastering for the Grinch and perhaps those concerned may attempt something similar with this dvd as well. In addition, with a total run time of about 50 minutes, you'd expect a lot more special features or documentaries about the main features but these unfortunately are not present here. Overall, despite these limitations of the disc, you would be hard-pressed to find a better way to explain to your kids what the true meaning of Christmas is. Highly recommended!