Customer Reviews

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

After reading that this was a severe disappointment as a sequel to the excellent A Charlie Brown Christmas, I was prepared for a stinker. Perhaps keeping expectations low is the key to enjoying this cartoon. I liked it.

True, there isn't much to the story. There is another Christmas play, Charlie Brown is trying to find money to buy the little red-haired girl a present, Snoopy steals the candy canes off the Christmas tree. It seems It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown is really just a collection of comic strips brought to the TV screen.

However, new and old music by Vince Guaraldi adds to the mood, and this is a pleasant enough way for a Peanuts fan to spend a half hour.

Where the first Charlie Brown Christmas video had a central plot and only a few sideplots, this movie has a series of small subplots woven into a better-than-usual animated movie.

It follows Charlie Brown as he struggles to buy a pair of mittens; Sally as she memorizes a part of the Christmas play; Linus as he tries to follow his studies of Christmas; and Peppermint Patty pursues the part of Mary in the Christmas play.

There's less of a central plot, and there's less depth, but there is also less mockery and serious topics. The fact that I didn't have to sit through poor Charlie Brown being laughed at by his comrades made this one a notch better in my view. The images and situations are simply charming. Oh, and "hockeysticks!"

Well hey...there's simply no way that they could ever hope to live up to the runaway, annual classic that the 1965 special has become, but I still give credit for Charles Schultz for giving it a try in this special that first appeared on tV back in 1992.

Basically the gang is all off doing their own things as Charlie Brown is trying to raise money to buy a gift for the little red-haired girl, Linus and Sally go sledding in a box, and the gang put on a Christmas play at school helped by Peppermint Patti and Marcie.

Nothing will ever top the original special but this is a good effort still.

Cannot compare to the original. A forgettable soundtrack, substandard animation, no real plot. Plus the added shock of the gang's voices being so different now. I just couldn't accept this one. I bought it ..a few years ago with such high hopes but it was too disappointing. On the other hand, it made the ORIGINAL twice as heart-warming and a true, genuine classic Peanuts--Charles M. Schulz at his finest!

I bought this video from a gas station in the early 90's. Having grown up with Charlie Brown and the gang, and also being an avid "young-at-heart" fan of all Christmas specials - I KNEW that this one would have to be wonderful. WAS I EVER WRONG!! There was no story, no plot, just a series of poorly intertwined sub-plots that weren't even amusing. Poor ol' Charlie Brown sells his comic books to buy gloves for his girlfriend and then gives them to Snoopy. He also is selling wreaths door to door, Snoopy steals candy canes from a tree and uses them as dancing canes, Peppermint Patty forgets her lines in a play - and she is a SHEEP!! I kept waiting for the story to begin - and then the credits began rolling. Please - don't waste your money on this rip-off of classic cartoon characters. (...)

This is a great Charlie Brown Special. I would advise you just to buy the DVD of the original Charlie Brown Christmas for this entire one is on that same DVD. I always laugh (everytime I watch it!) when Peppermint Patty dresses up as the sheep for the Christmas Play. She looks and acts so depressed!

"I forgot my lines Marcy! I'm doomed..."
"All you have to say is Bahh, Sir."

The face on the sheep is just too good to pass up. I'd buy it for those 5 minutes right there. All in all though, this is a great Christmas Special. The only reason that I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the over excessiveness of the word "Hark" by Sally. Just got anoying after about the 10th time...

It would have been foolish to expect the crew behind the PEANUTS specials to top A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, not just because that show was so great, but also because the Peanuts specials had declined in terms of quality since the early 1980s. But it's shocking how much of a disappointment 1992's IT'S CHRISTMASTIME AGAIN, CHARLIE BROWN, the first "official" sequel to the said timeless classic, is. This special merely ties in several stories that had been created in the Peanuts strips over the past several years, including Charlie Brown wishing to get a pair of gloves for a certain someone; Peppermint Patty groaning over being a sheep in the Christmas play- again; and Snoopy dressed as Santa Claus honking a horn at passing pedestrians. Now, this may be the same format that was used to create many of the Peanuts specials- including A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS, but where shows like that holiday classic focused them around a certain theme, IT'S CHRISTMASTIME AGAIN, CHARLIE BROWN merely presents one story after the other, with no rhyme or reason save for the fact that they relate to Christmas.

It could have been a concept that worked, where the focus was put on each individual story for sake of humor. But the big problem is the execution- the show often sounds like it's following the exact format and script of the original daily or Sunday comic strips (which it pretty much is), and on top of that, once one "strip" is done, it often fades into the next "strip," making the connections more obvious. This results in a viewing that at times can be quite frustrating and frequently disjointed, especially in the story involving Peppermint Patty's dilemma over reading a book during vacation. Here, the story merely jumps from Peppermint Patty's worries when opening the book to Peppermint Patty taking time off making a snowman to Peppermint Patty questioning Marcie over what had to be read for Thanksgiving vacation, with nothing to connect the strips together. This leaves the individual strips themselves as the only source of enjoyment, and while some of the humor may be enjoyable, the overall humor of the strips is merely agreeable, regardless of the fact that Peanuts was never a comic strip built on gags. IT'S CHRISTMASTIME AGAIN, CHARLIE BROWN may be a show that's enjoyable on its own terms, but it's overall a big disappointment compared to A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS.

I was so excited when I heard that a *new* Charlie Brown Christmas special was going to appear on TV. My advice? Don't ruin it for yourself by watching this lame effort. It tries way too hard to be PC, and doesn't even make sense in some spots. Stick with classic Peanuts!

Imagine my giggly delight when a local petrol station offered me the follow-up to the Christmas chestnut, A Charlie Brown Christmas, titled, optimistically, It's Christmastime (sic) Again, Charile Brown. As I searched through the car parked next to mine for some loose change, visions of sugarplums, fairies, and Christmas Queens danced through my head, and the heads of others. I took the video home, smoked my last cigarette, and commenced watching It's Christmastime (sic) Again, Charlie Brown. Twenty-three minutes later, I was still waiting for the story to begin. Instead, I was treated to a cabaret of dancing and merriment--a yuletide Legs Diamond. I even found myself starting a chorus line in my too-small living room! I have not had this much fun since Rip Taylor threw a bucket of what I thought was water but what was actually confetti at me as I sat in awe of his comic wisdom! Those looking for plot, coherence, or sense need not apply! But those for whom a Dancing Snoopy is their Basket of Baubles need look no further! Let's all say: Fill'er up! With Christmas!

I have loved this video since the first time I saw it! I could watch it over and over again. I have looked all over for it, and finnally found it. Anyone who watches this will fall in love with it. I know my family and I did. So get it as fast as you can.