Fifty-two years ago, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown premiered on CBS. And this year it’s Halloween movie #22.
I haven’t watched it in a while… my simple belief is this; it’s still pretty okay! I tend to dig Garfield’s Halloween Adventure a little bit more (which I reviewed last year).
As far as this one goes, it’s about a half hour long. Great imagery. A few mild chuckles. Snoopy’s got his iconic dog house ace pilot schtick. Linus is as dopey and (for some) lovable as ever — and his weirdo devotion to the Great Pumpkin is… well, he’s got a real weird connection to that thing. Lucy’s still a dick. Charlie Brown is such an unfortunate bozo loser schmuck that he gets a damn rock while trick-or-treating — and not just once — THREE TIMES. Schroeder can still kick out the jams.
Religious allegory may exist within the context of the picture. I decided to check in and considered writing a joking piece about it, but given some of the long-winded criticism both supporting wide-eyed Linus and condemning the film for being ‘too mean’ and ‘pro-bullying’ — I dunno…. good luck, universe!
People sure are faux-passionate about a lot of shit these days!
There are far more moronic reviewers projecting their own socio-political beliefs onto children’s cartoons than you’d care to believe are out there scumming up the world.
Perhaps the most insulting thing… nobody in that sector is a particularly great mind or writer. Just circle-jerk complaining about what does or doesn’t line up with their religious beliefs or how they think every character in art should somehow be morally upstanding and have no flaws?
The standout element is the score by Vince Guaraldi… as any Peanuts aficionado would guess… it is by a large margin the best part of the flick (and the reason I put it on).
Anyhow, it’s a TV special — eventually released on VHS/DVD/Blu-Ray/streaming… I think it holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts. A holiday tradition for some. A great alternative to gruesome gore, haunted houses, and macabre happenings, I suppose.
The most important thing… spoiler alert…
Charlie Brown still doesn’t kick that football.
And that kind of unspoken, dogged pursuit of inevitable failure is something he shares with Linus and the Great Pumpkin and that’s yet another reason, I think, this movie gets watched year after year…
One dollar.