I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003)

"I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" is an animated short film from 12 years ago and adds another successful chapter to the long-running Peanuts franchise. Now given that even back in 2003 this franchise already existed for approximately 40 years, it was quite a challenge to make this one a triumph. But Larry Leichliter did a good job overall. Charles M. Schulz was already dead at this point, but Bill Melendez was still alive and is also credited with co-directing this film and voicing Snoopy as usual. And actually, they made it even more daring as there are crucial differences to other Peanuts films. First of all, this one here runs roughly 15 minutes longer than they usually do. And the main character, the one who says the quote from the title is one that has not really appeared too frequently in the franchise. However, Rerun van Pelt is a worthy addition and carries this film nicely. I still don't know about the name. I guess there's a super-smart or super-funny story behind it, but I just don't like it. Anyway, that's my only criticism. Charlie is really just a minor character in this film for the most part as the van Pelts are the center of it. And we also find out a bit about Snoopy's family. All in all, a good watch, not only during the holidays. The child actors do a good job and some of them are actually semi-famous today. Some pretty funny moments in here and I recommend it. I think I even liked it more than many of the older films. They truly managed a nice combination of tradition and new elements here, some even politically incorrect jokes. Love it. Thumbs up.

It's obvious Charles Schultz had already passed on when this was made. It is definitely no good ol' Charlie Brown. The character, Rerun, doesn't fit in the Peanuts line up. The regular characters have no weight in the film and seem strange and out of place. I would highly recommend any of the older Peanuts classics, but this shouldn't even exist. The movie doesn't flow well either. It is almost like standup, or a series of newspaper comic strips strung together. They are not even funny. One of the things that bothered me about the Rerun character is simply bad manners. The old Peanuts characters were typically respectful of their homes and parents. This character shows none of that.

Following the death of Charles M. Schultz, there can be no original Peanuts ANYTHING. So we're basically left with animating old strips. This can get tedious since pretty much all dialogue has to actually "fit" in four panels.Anyway, as Rerun appeared relatively late in the Peanuts run, and was a minor character, there haven't been many animated skits featuring the tyke. Basically all he does is ride on his mom's bike.In this special, I was completely drawn in by the incredible voice acting. I was close to crying for the kid when he's begging the sun "PLEASE DON'T MELT MY SNOMAN" It was so cute.

Charles Schulz is terribly missed by all of us Peanuts fans. This is an excellent posthumous work. Main theme is Rerun's search for a dog for Christmas, but we get to see each of the main Peanuts characters doing their thing in a Christmas setting. Not all the Charlie Brown specials have been outstanding through the years, but this one can be put right up there with the best. Kudos. 9/10