By Jacob Cameron

The Peanuts are timeless. Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Peppermint Patty, and more have become ingrained in pop culture thanks to Charles Schulz. While the Peanuts started out as a newspaper comic strip, some of their success and popularity has come from their television specials. It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, and that’s just a few. But the most famous special is 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The special, directed by animation veteran Bill Melendez, is one that gets replayed frequently around the holidays and is beloved by all. So much so that, for a recent example, when the special was acquired by Apple for Apple TV+ and put behind a paywall, people were incensed. As the special had been a staple of broadcast television for decades. A deal was struck so that the special would air on PBS in addition to Apple TV+. 

The plot is rather simple in that Charlie Brown tries to find the meaning of Christmas. He attempts to find this by taking on the director role for producing the school Christmas play to disastrous results. Suffering much ridicule from everyone except for Linus. But in the midst of everything, Charlie Brown finds appreciation for the little things about the Christmas season.

The standout aspects of this special are the animation and the score. Bill Melendez had a way with animation that is underappreciated in certain aspects. The hand drawn animation is still beautiful 60 years later. Additionally, the music is spectacular. Provided by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, it is genuinely some of the most beautiful music in any film ever.

Even though this special has since become timeless, that was not always the destiny of this special. The Peanuts were not as well-known in the mid-60s as they are now. It wasn’t until a well-timed cover for Time Magazine thrust them into the spotlight. The entire reason why the special exists was that Coca-Cola, yes the soft drink company, wanted something to promote something for the holiday season. Coca-Cola worked hand-in-hand with Charles Schulz for planning and production of the special.

The prospects of the special were so dim that Bill Melendez shouted “My golly, we’ve killed it” after an initial screening. However, Ed Levitt, one of the animators, would say that this would run for 100 years. 60 years later, it appears that Levitt predicted the future. A Charlie Brown Christmas is a very simple movie but that’s why it’s so good. The sagging Christmas tree with one red ornament represents the special in that it’s humble and not as pretty as other specials but it is worthy of praise.

If you watch just one scene from this special, watch Linus’ speech where he recounts the nativity story from the Bible. Even if you are not religious, it is one of the best scenes in any Christmas film. It is a gorgeous scene and should be sought out. Just like this entire special.

5 stars