A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

I remember seeing "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" back in the 80s when I was just a child. Every Thanksgiving they would show this at night time, since I was around 6-9 years old I couldn't stay up late to watch cartoons. But my parents made exceptions in these cases. Heck, I even recorded this on BETA! Thats right those tapes that are half the size of VHS tapes! Now that I'm older I wonder where time went, one day I'm a kid sitting on the living room rug watching Charlie Brown the next day I'm in my room hearing the advertisement on TV for the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving holiday special. Since I saw this when I was a kid I must say I was scared of the last portion of this presentation, the part where Charlie Brown camps out of a house. Damn that scared me! All I can say is that this is a classic for anyone who saw this as a kid. What's wrong with those people that gave this a 1 rating?!?! Some people just have problems.

In my opinion, this is an excellent holiday special which is very appetizing. However, I couldn't bear seeing Snoopy and Woodstock having to endure all that torture. In addition, the thing that really makes this special worth watching is the score, especially "Little Birdie and "Linus And Lucy." When those songs are performed, I always get warm and tingly. I would have to say that's my favorite song of this special. If you ask me, Charles M. Schulz was a really good artist. In conclusion, I highly recommend this excellent holiday special which is very appetizing to everyone, especially all you fans of the comic strip who have not seen it. When you see it, prepare to smile, have a good time, and bon appetit.

Well, today is Thanksgiving and that means one thing to do, for certain that is. I must watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving." It has become a tradition for me for the last five years in a row and will continue for the rest of my life. You just can't go wrong with Good Old Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Watching this special brings the true meaning of Thanksgiving. As usually Snoopy steals the show. Thank you Mr. Charles Schulz for this and all the Peanuts holiday specials. Thanksgiving requires "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" year after year, it is simply tradition. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang on the holidays make the holidays more enjoyable.

Another big hit with the kiddos. Some continuity with It's A Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, most obviously with Lucy tricking Charlie Brown into running to kick the football and then withdrawing it. But there are other interesting connections: once again, Linus is the bearer of the festive traditions. In It's A Great Pumpkin, he gets it wrong, producing a holiday grotesque; in this, he gets it right, offering historical reconstructions of the pilgrim's voyage, troubles over the course of the first winter, and finally the first thanksgiving. These narratives seem a bit forced, underlining the loose connection of the origin story of Thanksgiving to the celebration itself, even in the 1970s. Both specials highlight the enjoyment of the children even if they do not quite reproduce the standard script of the holiday. In this case, Charlie Brown ultimately gets it right, by showing hospitality, even if he is unable to offer his friends who have invited themselves over (following Peppermint Patty) a real feast; he is rewarded when his grandmother saves the day. Once again Snoopy provides the humor, with his struggles against the folding chair, and loyal efforts at making bread, popcorn, and an unidentified, but strangely appealing, jello dessert. There's a bit of subversion this time: we learn at the end that he has been hiding a Turkey and pumpkin pie the whole time, for himself and his pet bird, Woodstock.

Also funny that Sally made the same complaint in the 1970s that the kiddos and I do now: Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving! Reviewing November 2020; previously watched 2017 and 2018.

I have watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving for many years and of all the Peanuts specials that I have watched and reviewed for this website, this is my favorite. The opening scene where Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown always cracks me up. If you watch it on DVD or tape it off the TV, play back the football scene in slow motion to see Charlie Brown in mid air.

As for the rest of the cartoon, I thought Peppermint Patty was bossy and rude to Charlie Brown, inviting herself, Marcie and Franklin to Charlie Brown's for Thanksgiving dinner, monopolizing their phone conversations and even worse, complaining about the nontraditional cuisine. She was also flirtatious toward Charlie Brown. There were also outstanding sight gags involving Snoopy and Woodstock and the scene where they get the food ready for the feast that's set to "Linus and Lucy." It proves that cartoon scenes can work well without dialogue.

I also liked the scene near the end when the kids are in the car and they sing "Over the River and Through the Woods" en route to the Brown's Grandma's condo for a real Thanksgiving dinner. Before or after you go over the river and through the woods for your holiday feast, watch this cartoon. You'll even learn about the holiday in Linus' Thanksgiving prayer.