Saturday, December 21, 2013

12 Days of Christmas Films: A Charlie Brown Christmas {8}

This is not going to be a very long review, but I think that's okay since A Charlie Brown Christmas itself is only about 25 minutes long. :)

While most of my other favorite Christmas movies have only been favorites for several years, or at the most six or seven years, I've been watching this TV special every year for as long as I can remember. I've always been a Peanuts fan.


Even though the animation isn't perfect, especially by today's glossy standards, it's just so charming. Some of the backgrounds are really quite beautiful, like the starry night one, and I love how the snow looks. Another thing that I love are the voices of the different characters...they're so perfect! A few of the voices changed in later Peanuts TV specials, but these are always my favorites.


One of my favorite things about Peanuts is how it can go from being so child-like to adult in just a second. A character will say something that is exactly like a child would say, and then the next minute they'll say something profound. Or maybe not always profound, but something that's so grown-up that it sounds hilarious coming from a child's voice ("What is it that you really want?" "Real estate.").

Also, the soundtrack is one of the most perfect soundtracks ever, right?

One of my favorite scenes is the one with Schroeder and Lucy, when she's leaning against the piano and they're talking about "Beethoven Christmas music." And then Snoopy comes and dances on the piano with reckless abandon. :) Snoopy is so hilarious. Lucy asks if Schroeder can play Jingle Bells, and he plays it in a fancy piano way, then like an organ, until finally he plays a clunky version that sounds like a toy piano. And Lucy shouts, "That's it!!" For some reason, I've always liked that scene and found it funny.

But I guess my favorite scene in the whole special is, of course, Linus reciting part of the Christmas story. After all, "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Is A Charlie Brown Christmas required holiday viewing for you, too?

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