I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown

Linus and Lucy's younger brother Rerun likes to play with Snoopy. He has adventurous rides on the back of his mother's bike. The Van Pelt kids have a combative chemistry. Snoopy has a few brothers including Spike. "Happiness is a warm Puppy." Rerun would like a dog of his own. His mother refuses. Spike sends Snoopy a letter and in the return letter, Rerun proposes to take Spike in as his dog.

It has the charm of the Charlie Brown shows with the Van Pelts taking the lead from Charlie Brown. Rerun is actually funny and the Van Pelt kids are hilarious together. Essentially Rerun takes the lead from Charlie Brown except he's more assertive. He even says "Good Grief!" It's a charming special but it lacks a good Christmas message unless it's for the SPCA. Snoopy is funnier than ever and there is Spike in this one.

This 40-minute TV special tells the story of Rerun, Linus and Lucy's very cute younger brother (I loved the scenes with him stuck on the back of his mother's bicycle). As the smallest child he feels left out of playing around with the other kids and wishes for a dog for Xmas. He starts a great friendship with Snoopy but Charlie Brown is reluctant to let him go. I felt so sorry for Rerun. He's just so desperate for attention, to be taken seriously. He's got a lot of love inside him and needs a best friend to let it all out. Jimmy Bennett's voice acting is spot-on and makes him so real.

It's all harmless fun, if not completely indisposable. I've made it a Xmas tradition already as well as the other seasonal Charlie Brown specials.

This one pales in comparison to the original Charlie Brown Christmas. This movie is lacking a lot. In fact it is lacking all the the originals have in them, MEANING.

This has its cute moments, and some humor in it. It just isn't the same though. Charles Shultz you are missed!!!

I do not recommend this one

I've been a fan of Peanuts for as long as I can remember. Every year our family has a tradition of watching the holiday specials together. Sure, we all know what happens, but Peanuts still has the ability to get you in the mood for the season.

At least until this special came along.

Rerun always had a segment on the TV show, riding on his mom's bicycle and giving his philosphies on things. For a two minute segment, it was cute. But this new special is all Rerun, all the time. There was a reason Rerun was confined to a two minute space. Any longer and he's grating.

The special (or at least the first half hour) consists of Rerun basically complaining about being the baby of the family. Nobody includes him in anything. Mom won't let him have a dog. He's not big enough to do what he wants to do, etc.

And then he gets suspended for sexual harassment! I kid you not. He tells some girl he wants to take her to Paris and he gets suspended for sexual harassment! At that point, I switched the channel. This isn't Peanuts. It's a cheap piece of trash trying to cash in on the Peanuts empire. Charles Schulz would be spinning in his grave.

This gets zero stars from me.

Following the death of Charles M. Schultz, there can be no original Peanuts ANYTHING. So we're basically left with animating old strips. This can get tedious since pretty much all dialogue has to actually "fit" in four panels.

Anyway, as Rerun appeared relatively late in the Peanuts run, and was a minor character, there haven't been many animated skits featuring the tyke. Basically all he does is ride on his mom's bike.

In this special, I was completely drawn in by the incredible voice acting. I was close to crying for the kid when he's begging the sun "PLEASE DON'T MELT MY SNOMAN" It was so cute.