Today we are going to review one of the absolute classics of Christmas DVDs: A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is one of the Christmas TV specials that you want to watch year after year. There’s almost no holiday movie that captures the essence of Christmas with such ease in a simple story.

 A Charlie Brown Christmas covers Charlie Brown’s search for the true meaning of Christmas. He gets the job of director in the school Christmas play. But none of the other kids take their new director seriously, and when Charlie Brown passes over several Christmas trees which he believes embody the commercial exploitation of Christmas, and brings back a sagging relic of branch instead, the other kids fire him as director. Finally Linus reveals the true meaning of Christmas by retelling the story of the birth of Jesus Christ.

What struck me funny was a small note I found on the internet. When they first saw the show, CBS executives were horrified at the idea of an animated Christmas special with such a blatant message. In my opinion it’s the simplicity of the message that sets this film apart from other christmas dvds. Did you know that the director let the voice actors read their text phonetically? They didn’t even know what they were talking about! This tactic was the perfect trick to not bring the message across too blatantly. And it’s a message that’s just as strong now as it was in 1965. Prior to a Charlie Brown Christmas, all Christmas specials were aimed at children and just told a ficticous story. A Charlie Brown Christmas single-handedly broke all the rules und thus ranks high among Christmas DVDs.

 

Here’s some more information on A Charlie Brown Christmas. For everybody who has seen the original way too often check out the NSFW Scrubs redub of the movie.

  • It’s a Charlie Brown Christmas…..good grief! « Tall and Short … – Joel and I are just hangin’ in the living room with the light of a fire and the phosphorescence of our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Really….it’s true. You wouldn’t believe how funny my tree looks without all the trimmings. …

  • The Charlie Brown Christmas by Scrubs – This is a little unusual. Charlie Brown Christmas done by the cast of Scrubs. Found via the Scrubs Wikipedia page. Good news for Scrubs fans, there will be a series 7, Zach Braff signed up for another series. I haven’t even seen series …