Following the success of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown", rather than the next Peanuts special be set on another
holiday; it's instead set during the last few days of school before summer
vacation in a special that could have easily been set on Valentine's Day (given
the title)...
It's only a few days before the peanuts gang is let-out of
school for summer vacation, and Charlie Brown still being depressed about
everything wishes to find something that he can legitimately enjoy in life. On
his way to school with his best friend Linus, he sees the Little
Red-Haired Girl on the bus that he missed and falls madly in love with her. But
since summer vacation is right around the corner, Charlie Brown must try to
find a way to woo her, or else he'll have to wait until school starts to try
again.
The premises to the previous three Peanuts special were told
in a simplistic way but had morals and themes that were deep and adult. Even
"Charlie Brown's All-Stars" though not as powerful as the holiday
specials, still had an emotional conflicting story to tell. That's not to say
that this special isn't emotionally investing to see Charlie Brown try to talk
to the girl he likes, in many ways the motions he goes through are quite
relatable. But in terms of plot, it's pretty standard. The whole special is just
Charlie Brown failing to talk to the girl he likes, as his friends either
torment him or try to help him. It's entertaining, but the special doesn't
really have much of a message like all the others. And as I was watching it,
there were times where I found myself wondering a few things regarding the story.
The Little Red-Haired Girl goes to the same school as Charlie Brown does, and is even in
his class; so how does he suddenly notice her, let alone fall madly
in love with her just as school is nearly ending? There is no indication in the
special that he's seen or fell in love with her prior to the events before the
special, this is literally the first time he ever sees her, which I find hard
to buy. On top of it, his motivation to see her before summer vacation begins
makes no sense either since she appears to live in the same town as him, which
is very small considering how the kids appear to live
close to one another. How will Charlie Brown not see her in the summer? Is she
going away on vacation somewhere, it's never really quite addressed.
But as lacking a powerful message and confusing as some
parts of the story are, it still maintains the charming elements that the
previous specials had. That basic and clunky animation and designs that
resemble a comic-strip continues to give the series a distinctive style of its
own; the music is soothing for its environment; and the stilted voice acting is
cute and lively enough to give each character their own personality. Given that
the special takes place in late spring, the backgrounds and designs depicting
spring do look as nice as how the other Charlie Brown specials capture the
season that each special is set in. However, unlike how the other specials were consumed
by the season and showed multiple activities going on to celebrate it, this
special pretty much downplays it. But to be fair, the setting is mainly
centered on Charlie Brown's life at school, so in that regard, it does its job
fairly in depicting the school life for our characters. In terms of the humor
provided in the special, there are plenty of good laughs to be had. Whether
it's a scene that's part of the story when Charlie Brown gets matched up with
the wrong girl; or a pointless bit involving Lucy flirting with Schroder as Charlie
Brown waits at Lucy's psychiatry booth for help; there's always some kind of
fun and laughter to be had. Even just seeing Charlie Brown's little black eyes
suddenly bulge out as much Linus' eyes do in the "Halloween special"
brings a bit of a chuckle out of me. But these moments don't become loud and obnoxious
where it loses the calm and mild tone that the previous three specials
established. An element that the special brings back that I haven't seen since
the first one of the franchise is the use of a song. We're only given one, as
the first special to try it used two different songs. But that one song is sung
twice in the special with a difference in tone. The first time it's used for
the opening title that's sung by an off-screen children choir that nicely
sets-up its romantic tone and spring setting, while also establishing its
cynical out-look on Charlie Brown's life given the song's lyrics. And the
second time it’s used is when Lucy and Violent sing it to poke fun at Charlie
Brown when they find out about his crush, which is as playfully mean as you'd
probably expect it to be in a peanuts cartoon but terribly synched.
Much like how the Charlie Brown specials after the first one
would offer something new to the series that would be widely recognized by people
who have watched the cartoons or not, this special does indeed have its fair
share. Obviously, this is the first time that Charlie Brown's famous off-screen
love interest The Little Red-Haired Girl is introduced in these cartoons,
but another famous character who's making her first appearance in the series of
Peanuts cartoons are everyone's favorite tomboy (or hinted lesbian as many would
say) Peppermint Patty. She's not yet accompanied by her best friend (or
possible bisexual lover as some believe) Marcie, but she shines just as much as
she would with her, through her colorful boy-like personality as she tries to
help out "Chuck" (who she refers to Charlie Brown as) hook-up with
the girl he adores. Another important element that this special adds to the
franchise is the famous use of a trombone. In the previous two specials when
the off-screen adult characters were finally added to the peanuts world to provide
the characters with some sense of authority, we'd only know about their
presence by seeing the kids looking and speaking to them as the adults would
say nothing. So in order to give the off-screen adults more of a presence and still keep the focus strictly on the kids, the special decides to cleverly use
a muted trombone sound for whenever they speak. As a kid when I watched the
Charlie Brown cartoons I didn't think the concept was at all funny. I found
myself more annoyed by it because I was eager to hear what they were actually
saying. But watching it now, I can't stop laughing at it every time the special
uses it. The reason for it is mainly for how the kids casually respond to this
cheesy trombone sound since they understand exactly what the adults are saying,
while we the audience don't have a single clue until the kids pretty much
translate what the adults are saying to them. And considering how half of the
things we hear adults talk about as kids are pretty much "blah, blah,
blah", it's more than fitting to give characters we never see in an
environment with the kids in the foreground a sound similar to the sound that
we used to hear adults say.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Pretty much everything how I summed up "Charlie Brown
All-Stars" is how I feel about this special. It's not as emotionally deep
when compared to the holiday specials that came out before it, and is the least
powerful when comparing them to all the previous three specials. But the story
and the emotions surrounding Charlie Brown's obsession with the girl that he
loves is still cute and engaging (even if some parts of the story don't make a
whole lot of sense). There are plenty of good laughs that the special provides.
The tone, music, voice acting, and animation style that we associate the
peanuts cartoons with are still charming. And the new characters and elements
that it brought to the cartoon franchise make the special important enough for
it to be a must see!
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