Snoopy's Reunion

'Snoopy's Reunion' does what it sets out to do. Which is give Snoopy and the audience a very cute reunion of Snoopy's family.

The premise is pretty simple. Even though Snoopy loves Charlie Brown and has great adventures with him and the rest of the Peanuts gang he will occasionally miss his family. You will see some really cute scenes in the beginning of this special demonstrating the closeness they all had along with the lovable bluegrass band they all play in.

Fun music, cute animation and characters make this special an engaging viewing for people of all ages. My only complaint is that it feels a little short. The ending is sweet, but I feel this special could have been twice as long with Snoopy and his litter mates having a side quest or sorts to get back to their old home.

Its still pretty good though, and definitely worth a watch!

The biggest problem with 'Snoopy's Reunion' should be evident in even the title – considering that it strays from the long-standing tradition that all 'Peanuts' TV special titles should be statements or questions directed at Charlie Brown (It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, It was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, etc), it isn't really that big a surprise that the story takes so many liberties with established 'Peanuts' history and principles. In many ways, this special could be received as an absolute nightmare for any nitpicking fan. An earlier source, the feature film 'Snoopy Come Home', revealed that the boisterous beagle had indeed once belonged to a little girl named Lila before being passed on into Charlie Brown's hands – so, that's something that the two instalments can at least agree on. See, the events depicted in 'Snoopy's Reunion' conflict with it over just about every other detail concerning how the boy and his dog first came to be together, the most noticeable being the well-observed fact that Sally wasn't even born when her brother acquired his new pet, something which this story strangely ignores (heck, it even shows her as being at her current age when it happened). It also breaks the Golden Rule that you never actually show the adults in the 'Peanuts' world (at least not their faces), or convey their speech as anything other than trombone-sounding gibberish. Well, I guess it made it easier for them to tell this particular tale, but since the kids and the dogs are still the main focus, I feel that with a little more thought they could've found a way round it.

But, no matter how nagging those faults can be, I find that I just can't stay mad at this special for long. In context with the rest of Charlie Brown's resume, it may seem lazy and inconsistent, but as a stand-alone story it still comes through as quite a pleasant little heart-warmer, partly poignant, partly bittersweet and partly upbeat and uplifting. Snoopy and his seven siblings (this looks like as good a time as any to show off my extensive 'Peanuts' knowledge – Andy, Belle, Marbles, Molly, Olaf, Rover and Spike are the names of all those guys!) are certainly very cute and make a fine little team from the beginning, so it's actually kinda sad to see them all get separated as puppies going off with different owners, furthermore when they're finally all reunited and discover that the world, physically at least, has moved on quite a bit since they were last together. But it's the way that the beagle kin react to this realisation that makes the whole thing so worthwhile – that spirit of theirs is something to be marvelled at.

There isn't really a great deal in the way of plot, dialogue or humour, but the appeal of those extroverted dogs is just about enough to carry it for the 24 minute running time (and it ends not a moment too soon). To sum up, I'd say it's worth a watch for any 'Peanuts' fan, provided that they're willing to overlook just how many odds it's at with the rest of the cannon.

Grade: B

This TV special shows us just where Snoopy came from. As it turns out, the Snoopster is a hunting dog which was bred for profit at a puppy mill. Even more surprising, everyone in his doggie family is musically inclined. (Snoopy's instrument of choice is a guitar.)

Well, nobody is at all surprised that these canines can belt out a mean tune. Instead, prospective buyers just grab whatever dog they want and drive away with them. Snoopy is first purchased by a girl who lives in an apartment. Soon enough, the landlord develops a "no dog" policy and the girl has to return Snoopy. That's good news for Charlie Brown. Chuck is feeling a little down in the dumps and realizes that every boy needs a dog. He goes to the puppy mill and buys Snoopy for the paltry sum of five bucks.

What about the reunion that is mentioned in the title? It comes into play when four years(!!) after the puppies are split up, Charlie Brown sends out invitations to all of Snoopy's siblings for a family get-together. I really don't know why the Mendelson-Melendez creative team kept bringing the Peanuts gang back together throughout the '90s if they weren't going to bother coming up with anything worthwhile. Maybe they were in it simply for the money. I hold up their Super Bowl fiasco as Exhibit A to back up that theory. 2/10

The snoopy shorts are always a great and fun watch. They aren't always the best in terms of quality, but in terms of just fun and quick stories they always seem to land just a little bit no matter what.

We see the origin of how Charlie Brown got Snoopy. We find out Snoppy has a lot of siblings and Chalie Brown plans a reunion for them.

The score is amazing for this short. Judy Musen created this fun country sounding score for the Snoopy siblings that gains and loses instruments at one time. It´s definitely the highlight of the short.

The story is a bit too rushed, especially in the middle. All of a sudden, things just happens and every escalates just a bit too quickly. It´s a cute story though and it starts with a great little misdirection for the viewers.

There is some good hand drawn animation in this short. Backgrounds and especially the dog designs look good, and the dogs look distinct from another in small subtle ways. It´s fun to see all the different siblings and their different lives, but more time should have been used to show them more. Some of the animation is also clearly reused a lot or zoomed into, a common thing for the Snoopy shorts.

A cute and fun short with a great and memorable score. It´s nothing incredible, but just a good time as Snoopy shorts just normally are.

Millions of people around the world who loved the comic strip "Peanuts" were sad when Charles Schulz died in February, two thousand. He was seventy-seven years old. The artist who created Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy had retired a month earlier because of poor health. The last new daily "Peanuts" appeared January third in two thousand six hundred newspapers in seventy-five countries. Charles Schulz drew "Peanuts" for fifty years. The comic strip first appeared in seven American newspapers in nineteen fifty. At that time, the subjects were all children and animals. They still are. People love these characters like snoopy because they demonstrate the failings and strengths of all human beings. For example, Charlie Brown usually cannot get things right. But he tries his best. And he never stops trying. toyswill.com/snoopy-plush-toy-120cmcute-plush-toy-p-651.html