A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Sorry for a late review tonight... I spent my evening binging the three "Berserk: The Golden Age Arc" movies. (I love that franchise!) But Berserk is far removed from anything resembling Christmas. So tonight's Christmas movie marathon review is on A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965).

SYNOPSIS:
As Christmas approaches, Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at all the commercialism overtaking the holiday. Lucy offers him the role of director in the Christmas play, but he's inundated with more calls for commercialism. When he gets a small wilting Christmas tree to bring back the spirit of Christmas in his peers, he's instead yelled at for not getting a shiny, expensive, aluminum tree. Desperate, he turns to Linus for advice on the true meaning of Christmas, who gives a rousing speech and stirs the Christmas spirit in their peers.

REVIEW:
This is a classic TV special that predates my existence by a couple decades, but was still an important and nostalgic part of my childhood. Vince Guaraldi's original piano music score is the perfect soothing blend for this calm, Christmas piece. One of these days, I'm gonna get some sheet music for this special so I can learn these songs on piano!

The Peanuts has always been a wholesome Christian comic series that, like Mr. Rogers, promotes good will to your fellow man without cramming religion down your throat. However, the important "meaning of Christmas" speech that Linus gave at the climax was a direct biblical quote; Luke 2:8-14 to be precise. Which is fine in this context, being that a lot of Christians attribute Christmas to the birth of Christ.

Even if you aren't religious (like myself), the message that commercialism distracts from the true meaning of Christmas is still a powerful one. And at the end, when all of Charlie Brown's peers use that blatant commercialism to help decorate his poor wilting tree and make it beautiful for him... that camaraderie and willingness to help out that one depressed kid (even if everyone agrees he's a blockhead) shows that the meaning of Christmas has not been lost to them.

RECOMMENDATION:
I cannot recommend this special enough! It's only 25 minutes long, so you're not put out of your way to watch it. It's wonderful that they actually got child actors to play all the parts, so you don't feel like you're being pandered to with adults mimicking children's voices. And despite showing a day-in-the-life of the Peanuts children, you still get a pretty straight-forward and powerful message. This is a must-watch for EVERYONE!