A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

This is How Movies Should Be Made

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

After watching this adorable, animated, feature film (from 1965), yet again, it's so easy to see why it's rated as the second most popular and successful Christmas special, ever, next to Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, of course.Created by cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has the entire Peanuts Gang excitedly preparing themselves for the up-coming Holiday Season.As our story opens we find that onion-headed, little boy named Charlie Brown in a very depressed state of mind all because of the way that Christmas has been so over-commercialized these days.Even good, old Snoopy is getting into the act when he decides to decorate his doghouse, all glitter and glitz.I guarantee you - "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (which is all voiced by children and contains no laugh-track) is one of the sweetest movies that you're ever gonna see, no matter what age that you might happen to be.

This has been part of my annual Christmas viewings since I was eight! And year after year it never stops being touching, funny, off-beat, and wholesome. Also, who among us can't relate to the frustrations of one Mr Charlie Brown? His disillusionment with the Christmas Holiday, was a theme rarely seen in a show in the 1960's, let alone in a kids show. The supporting characters are all so vibrantly different. From the self absorbed Lucy, to the quiet and introspective Linus, to the imaginative and irreverent Snoopy. The voice actors are so young and innocent sounding that it gives the show an innocence that matches up well with the offbeat humor that comes from Charles Schultz. The animation is a bit crude, but the magic of the writing and voice acting somehow makes the crude animation seem charming. And who can forget the amazing musical score by Vince Guaraldi? The songs from this show "Linus and Lucy", and "Christmas Time Is Here" have gone on to be Christmas standards. The Jazz music score gives the show a hip feel that contrasts well with the childish feel of the voice acting and the animation.Also, if you are of a religious nature, you will find that particular spiritual aspect of the show to be moving. But even if you aren't, and just enjoy the Holiday season for it's traditions rather than it's Religious nature, you will still find lots of things about this show that you will like.So keep up the tradition of families watching this show every Christmas by showing it to the young ones in your life, they won't be disappointed.

This was one of my personal favorites of the season. The story is about Charlie trying to do something right for a change when he has always been told he's good for nothing. When told to go buy a tree for a pageant at his church, he picks a small tree that is struggling to survive. He doesn't give up on the tree even when all his friends believe the tree is hopeless until he believes that he has killed it by placing one glass orb on it. The only point that bothers me is that sometimes the story becomes a little slow, and the jokes kind of fall a bit flat.The artwork is actually rather good for when it came out and who it portrays. You can almost never go wrong with the classics most times and this is no exception. It doesn't have to be fancy to get the point across that all people or things need is a little love to become something special. Sure there may be a couple little parts that seemed low end, but when you put it all together, it just works.The voices are done really well, and are actually pretty close to what I thought the characters would sound like from reading the comic strips when I was little. From Lucy's know-it-all attitude to Linus' philosophical quotes, each one makes the characters really stand out. Peter Robbins does a excellent job of giving Charlie Brown that wishy-washy town to his voice up till the point that everything goes wrong and giving him the all to familiar 'UGGGGGG' he's known for.

You might not agree with me on my opinion that this is the best Christmas Movie/Special because you might like Its a Wonderful Life or Arthur Christmas better. But Too me, A Charlie Brown Christmas is perfection.This classic is the first Animated Peanuts Special to ever walk upon this planet. This special was so successful that there were more of these like Its the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (Which I will get to later) and the odd Cancer Special Why Charlie Brown Why? The story begins with some fantastic music, beautiful animation and very funny dialog. You notice if you haven't read the Peanuts comics before that they speak like adults which can get very interesting.Charlie Brown is pretty depressed about Christmas because he doesn't know the meaning of it. Lucy gives him the chance to direct the Christmas Play. The main thing people talk about in this special is how Christmas is all Commercialism. No one listens to Charlie Brown as he seems confident enough but always fails to get to the point with the actors.Characters are like a square, or should I say like a blockhead? They are never circular with just one note. When the characters are square, this means they have sides to them. These sides create what feel like living characters that are right beside you.The music is by The Vince Guaraldi Trio who may have made one of the best soundtracks of all time. Guaraldi uses appropriate music for each scene and knows when to not use music when not needed. I have the soundtrack both on CD and Green Vinyl with a Gold 45 RPM of Linus and Lucy. Thats how much I love this soundtrack. I bought it three times.Finally, the most important part of this special is the message said to us by Linus about the meaning of Christmas. It warms my heart every time I hear him say that speech. Its one of the greatest moments in the history of Film and TV.It gets better every time I sit down to watch it. If you haven't seen it, I urge you to buy the VHS at a flea market or get the special on Blu Ray. You haven't experienced life until you have seen this special.Perfect.100/100 A+