The animated version of Clark Gesner's play "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown", based of course on the beloved comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz is truly one of the most delightful and heart-warming and beautiful animated specials – or let's get even broader, films – that I've seen in a long time. I am not familiar at all with the stage production; I only know a little bit about its history, but having seen this wonderful little film, I am now eager to track down a showing and purchase a ticket. Personally, I am not a huge fan of musicals, especially not ones for children, but this is a major exception. Maybe because Peanuts and the play were written more for adults, but can carry a meaning to children as well, this works out brilliantly.
The story is basically a day in the life of our favorite Peanuts characters: Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Snoopy, and of course, ol' wishy-washy Charlie Brown. The story tackles all our favorite running gags from the comic strip and brings them to life with a new style: surprisingly well-written songs with breathtakingly beautiful music flooding into our ears. All of these songs, most notably "Schroeder", "Glee Club", and the ending note "Happiness" are utterly beautiful and there were moments I nearly started to tear up because it was so artistic and wonderful and it reached down into my soul and touched me in a way that only a really good movie can do. And the remarkable thing about these songs and what makes me, a Peanuts fanatic, so enthralled by them is how accurately they capture the spirit of the comic strip. Remember, these songs were written without the collaboration of Schulz or animator Bill Melendez, so that makes the special worth even more praise. Most of the movie is dominated by songs, but it does not simply stop there; it also takes the liberty of incorporating dialogue, mostly taken from Schulz's strip to keep the overall spirit.
"You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" is one of the most thoroughly enjoyable pieces of animation that I've seen in a long, long time. It got me interested from the spirit-capturing opening, enthralled me with one great song after another, I laughed, I smiled, I clapped my hands, I had a great time. I have only complaint: the movie is *only* about fifty minutes long! That is way, way too short. The special ran by so quickly and so wonderfully that I was left wanting more. Why couldn't this have gone on at least ten or twenty minutes longer? Fifty minutes is not enough for something this rich and sweet and beautiful.
