A Charlie Brown Christmas.
A Charlie Brown Christmas.
In my eyes, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the most iconic animated
Christmas movie of all time and yes I know it isn't a Rankin/Bass
movie but it ranks up there with Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer,
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, Frost The Snowman, Jack Frost
and the list goes on and on. If you ask any historian or someone like me
who loves Christmas A Charlie Brown Christmas is always there answer
when asked what the most memorable Christmas movie is.
- Children skate on a pond. Charlie Brown and Linus leave their
- homes to join in the fun, but on the way they stop to discuss
- Charlie Brown's ambivalence towards Christmas. When they
- arrive, Snoopy begins a game of crack-the-whip and then grabs
- Linus's blanket, throwing Charlie Brown into a snow bank.
Charlie Brown checks his mailbox for Christmas cards, but finds - none. He sarcastically thanks Violet for the card she sent, which
- Patty proudly shrugs off, then runs across Pig Pen who is
- building a dirty snowman. The kids catch snowflakes on their
- tongues and try to knock a tin can off a fence with snowballs.
- After watching for a while, Linus forms his blanket into a sling
- and knocks off the can. Charlie Brown visits Lucy at the
- psychiatrist's desk. He tells Lucy he's depressed and is worried
- that he should be happy at Christmastime. Lucy suggests a
- series of phobias he might have; Charlie Brown thinks he has
- pantophobia, the fear of everything. Lucy suggests he needs to
- be more involved and that he start by directing the school
- Christmas play. Snoopy, meanwhile, begins decorating his house
- in hopes of winning cash in a lights and display contest, and
- Sally writes her letter to Santa, suggesting that money would be
- a satisfactory alternative, preferably in tens and
- twenties Charlie Brown is upset with their commercial
- focus. When Charlie Brown arrives at the auditorium, the kids
- are rehearsing their play, which consists entirely of music and
- dancing. They're very concerned about Charlie Brown's ability to
- direct. As he tries to explain his directing strategy, the kids
- gradually stop listening and return to their dance. Lucy, as script
- girl, hands out scripts and costumes: an innkeeper, a shepherd, a
- wise man. Snoopy, as the only animal, has to play a sheep and
- cow, and demonstrates his ability to imitate a penguin and
- vulture as well if necessary. He then imitates Lucy as she gives
- orders, much to her annoyance. Frieda and Pig Pen are
- ambivalent about their parts as innkeeper and wife. Sally is
- assigned to be Linus' wife, to her joy. Lucy, however, is worried
- about her part as the Christmas Queen. The kids continue to
- insist on music and dancing, so Charlie Brown suggests a
- Christmas tree as a good prop. Lucy wants a big aluminum tree,
- possibly painted pink. Charlie Brown and Linus go to a find a
- tree, and visit a glamorous tree lot with aluminum trees in all
- kinds of colors. But Charlie Brown chooses a tiny shrub with
- almost no needles. Back at the auditorium, Schroeder wants to
- play Beethoven for the play. Lucy disagrees, so Schroeder tries a
- jazzy number. Snoopy starts dancing to it, but both Lucy and
- Schroeder glare at him until he slinks away. Lucy requests Jingle
- Bells instead, and Schroeder tries several variants before finding
- one she likes. At that point, Charlie Brown and Linus return with
- their tree, which is universally derided as too small and ugly.
- Charlie Brown decides he doesn't understand what Christmas is
- all about, so Linus recites the Christmas Story from the book of
- Luke in the Bible. "That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie
- Brown," he says. Charlie Brown takes his tree and leaves. The
- other kids follow. Charlie Brown intends to decorate his tree
- beautifully and bring it back for the play. He takes an ornament
- from Snoopy's prize winning decorations, but when he puts it on
- his tree the branch droops all the way to the ground. In
- frustration, he walks away. The other kids then gather around
- the tree and decorate it with Snoopy's decorations. When they
- make it look nice, they begin singing, and Charlie Brown returns.
- "Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!" everyone yells, and they all
- break into "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing". Charlie Brown, happy
- at last as his search for a deeper meaning for the holiday has
- been fulfilled, merrily joins in as the credits roll. Far be it for me
- to tell you what to watch or anything but this movie is one of the
- best of all time and I think everyone should see it. So if you
- watch this and see something I should add please let me know in
- the comments or on my Twitter.
Comments
Post a Comment