Everyone loves Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. It is a holiday staple right up there with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Building off of that popularity, Charlie Brown Christmas Tales is a collection of short stories that further dive into the various traditions and moments of the holiday season, told through the eyes of Charles Schultz beloved Peanuts characters. However, the most interesting and successful story on the disc might be the one that has nothing to do with the holidays.
There are only a few short stories involving Christmas. Each of them running only a few minutes long they deal with issues like trying to find the perfect gift, and how to write the optimal Christmas wish list to Santa so as to yield the most and best gifts. Each of these stories has the same charm that we expect from the Peanuts gang, but given how great the full Merry Christmas Charlie Brown feature movie is, these all seem like also-rans or deleted scenes. In that respect, it is hard to imagine why these would be released as a standalone DVD, instead of included as extras along with the feature film.
The only other entry on the disk is a short film called Is This the End Charlie Brown? It is a short story that involves Linus and Lucy moving to a different town, and Charlie being forced to come to grips with losing his best friend. As kids we probably all had at least one friend move away (or maybe moved ourselves) at some point, and the depiction here is gripping and emotional. In true Peanuts fashion, things work themselves out in the end, so the duress is short lived; but in the meantime it is no less impactful. The decision Linus makes about his blanket is especially so, given how attached we all know his character is to it.
Despite the low price, it is hard to recommend this DVD on any level, except if you are to find it somewhere in a bargain bin as a grab bag gift idea. Really these stories, as good as they are, should be included along with a larger set of Peanuts stories to make it worth the purchase. Intensely devout fans of Charlie Brown won't need any other reason to pick this up though, as each story retains that same special charm that invites us back to Charlie and the gang again and again. It also helps that the same beautiful musical score, especially the holiday melodies permeate every animated minute on screen.
Bonus Features
There are no actual special features on the DVD. Given that the disk itself only features that few vignettes, the DVD is more aptly one giant special feature.
"Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales" is on sale October 5, 2010 and is not rated. Animation. Directed by Larry Leichliter. Written by Charles M. Schulz . Starring Wesley Singerman, Wichan Jarujinda.
