Movie Review: You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: Great musical moments with the Peanuts gang

Cons: Some of the classic moments from the Broadway play aren't here

The Bottom Line:

Charlie Brown singing

So many funny moments

Wish it had them all

An Animated Take on the Great Broadway Show

With my love of the Peanuts comic strip, is it any surprise I love the Broadway musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown?  Only one version has ever made it to home video, and that version just got a DVD release this week.

In 1985, roughly twenty years after the off-Broadway version first debuted, it was turned into an animated TV special.  And that's what we get here.  While the play version usually stars adults (or teens) as the classic Peanuts characters, this version goes with the traditional children's voices for the characters.  And like normal, the animation is acceptable but not outstanding.  Basically, this is your normal Peanuts special or movie, but based on the Broadway show instead of an original story.

Just like that show, there is no real plot to the special.  Instead, it represents a day in the life of Charlie Brown and his friends.  Or maybe several days since there is a series of jokes around Valentine's Day and one of the songs deals with a baseball game.

There is actually very little dialogue between the songs here.  In fact, a couple of times we go right from one song to another.  That's one reason I wish this were longer.  It was obviously made as a TV special originally, but at 48 minutes, it's just not long enough to do the play justice.  Fortunately, they do include Charlie Brown's monologue about lunch time.  It's held a special place in my heart since I did it for drama class in high school.

But oh the songs.  They've got so many great moments.  I love "Book Report," which finds the gang going about writing a report on Peter Rabbit in their various ways.  Charlie Brown is procrastinating (there's a reason I identify with him so much), Lucy is counting every word and seeing how quickly she can get it done, Linus is producing a doctoral work, and Schroeder is comparing it to Robin Hood.  (And for an extra laugh, check out that computer he is using.)  Another favorite is "Glee Club" in which the gang try to rehearse "Home on the Range," but a fight between Linus and Lucy spills over and disrupts the whole thing.  It's so funny.  Charlie Brown struggles to fly "The Kite" in another classic number.  And of course it ends with the feel good classic "Happiness."

A big change from the normal cartoons is that Snoopy talks here.  Or rather sings.  No, he doesn't talk to the kids, but he does communicate with us.  And that's a good thing since "Suppertime" is the show stopper of the special.

What disappoints me are the things left out.  My favorite song from the show wasn't written until the 1999 revival, so I do understand why it isn't here.  But I do miss it.  It's also missing the great song between Lucy and Charlie Brown at her psychiatric booth.  Snoopy's monologue about fighting the Red Baron is also missing.  But I guess I am asking too much for 48 minutes.

Some of the score here is hard for adults to sing, so it is pretty impressive that the kids who provide the voices handle it so well.  I'm especially impressed with Jessie Lee Smith as Lucy since it's the hardest part vocally and I've heard it butchered by adults, even on official soundtracks.  The weak link here is Kevin Brando who provides the singing voice of Charlie Brown.  I must admit I squirmed a bit when he couldn't reach the notes he was aiming for.

Unlike most of the Peanuts DVD's, this special is all we get.  Granted, most DVD's only have two half hour specials on them, so we are getting the same amount of content.  But it seems like this would have been the perfect opportunity to give us Snoopy the Musical.  The only extra is a fifteen minute documentary about the creation of the Broadway show and how it was turned into this special.  Frankly, it's a bit too scattered to be truly informative, but there are some nice bits of information.

I don't think I will ever be completely happy until I have a full length live action version of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, to watch at home.  Until that happens, this makes a nice substitute.