Hey folks, Valkor here. Continuing with our holiday programming here at TOV, along with "A Miser Brothers' Christmas", the folks at WB Home tossed us another nugget of a Christmas video, starring the Peanuts game. No it's not the famous Christmas vid, where the kids learn the meaning of the holiday. This one stars a lesser known, but just as popular character "Rerun" in "I Want A Dog For Christmas Charlie Brown".
This Christmas episode stars Rerun, a kid with some serious problems; he has a crabby older sister (Lucy), an older brother who still sucks his thumb and hangs onto a security blanket (Linus), and a mother whose bike riding will drive the kid insane. Throughout the ep, Rerun makes it known that for Christmas all he wants is a dog. Since his mom won't let him have one, he makes use of Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy. That is until he learns that Snoopy has siblings, one of which lives alone in the desert. Rerun sends Spike a letter inviting him to his house, and everything is cool, but mom still says no to dogs. Well the ending to that is: he learns that having a dog is too much work. Though Charlie Brown's name is in the title of the film, he plays a supporting role along with the other Peanuts characters. But our wishy-washy friend isn't left in the dusk, because there is a second feature included on the disc: Happy Years Charlie Brown!
In this episode, it's a minute before school is let out for Christmas vacation, and Charlie Brown thinks he's in the clear with homework, when the teacher hits him with an assignment – Chuck's gotta read War and Peace, and write a report on it during his break. At the same time Peppermint Patty is throwing a New Year's Party, where the guys must ask out the girls. Charlie Brown is dead set on reading that book, but the thought of a new year's party and possibly dating the little red-head girl kind throws him off a bit. Will he finish the book and report? Will he dance with the red-head girl? Gotta watch the episode, but if you've seen it before or known your Charlie Brown lore, you know what's gonna happen.
As far as extras are concerned, you only get a special feature on the Van Pelts called "Sibling Rivalry: Growing up Van Pelt", whose main focus in on the origins of Rerun and how he fits in with the rest of the Peanuts gang. It's actually pretty fun stuff and deserves to be checked out.
The Good:
You get two features for the price of one and that's a pretty sweet deal. Both eps are pretty sure, but fun if you're a fan of the series either in strip form or animated. I grew up watching and reading Charlie Brown so it was pretty cool to have em home, and digitally remastered. "I Want A Dog For Christmas" never looked and sounded so good.
The Bad:
The episodes are kinda bland. I mean kids might enjoy it, but the whining from Rerun in "I Want a Dog…" might drive adults a little mad. Plus the overall story, well, lacks the spirit and fun of "A Charlie Brown's Christmas". And during "Happy New Years, Charlie Brown" the audio drops during some of the vocals, quite noticeably I might add.
The Ugly:
N/A
Overall "I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown" would make a great addition to your Christmas viewing collection, especially for the bonus episode of "Happy New Year, Charlie Brown". And out of TOV 5 stars, I give the DVD a 3.5 and its been Valkor tested and TOV Approved.