A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Review

 A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) Review

Why am I reviewing this beloved animated classic? Who out there doesn’t know about the Charlie Brown Christmas special, which has aired every holiday season since it first premiered? Well, I’m willing to bet there are people out there who may have never seen it—or, more likely, haven’t seen it in a number of years. Here is why you need to take the time to watch it this year, whether you’ve seen it as recently as last year or fall into one of the two categories I mentioned prior. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas is shockingly relevant in today’s age. As a kid, I didn’t get why Charlie Brown got depressed during the holidays. What kid didn’t like Christmas? Now that I’m an adult, I get it. All the prep work and gift buying and constant bombardment of songs and merriment can get to be a bit much, even though it’s all supposed to be joyous. It’s fairly high-concept for what’s supposed to be a simple holiday special for children. 

One of the aspects I like the most is the approach to the story. It would have been easy to have all the kids attend a Christmas party, or a family gathering, or something generic, but they participate in the school Christmas play. Not only have I never seen this particular concept executed in any other Christmas special, it allows for plenty of laugh-out-loud moments (mostly from Snoopy, of course) and a range of characters interactions.  

But it’s not all jokes and silliness. Things get real when Charlie flips his lid and demands an explanation: just what, exactly, is Christmas really all about? Linus steps up to the mic and drops some knowledge on all the kids, reminding them (and viewers) that it’s really about celebrating the birth of Christ. For real though, after all the years and over-commercialization since the release of this show, it’s unfortunate how many people have actually forgotten that. What a nicer way to remind them than to wrap it up in an animated short like this? It’s utterly perfect. 

A Charlie Brown Christmas has the classic jazz music, the charming peanuts animation style, and the timeless characters, but that’s really all just trimmings over an emotionally resonant core. This is without a doubt one of the best Christmas specials ever made. To skip it would be a minor holiday crime, as far as I’m concerned. So treat yourself.