Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

It's Valentine's Day. Charlie Brown keeps checking his mail box for valentines. Linus buys a big valentine for his teacher but Sally assumes it's for her. Lucy is going crazy for any sign from Schroeder. Linus is heart broken when the teacher leaves with her boyfriend. Charlie Brown has no valentine and Sally is mad that she's not getting the box of chocolate from Linus. Snoopy and Woodstock have their usual antics. I find some of voice work a bit harsh. I do like the various wacky stuff that Snoopy does. The puppet show comes out of nowhere but that's a fun side trip. Charlie Brown's desperation is fun. I love that he's so desperate that he grabs the pity valentine. It's missing some kind of central message but it's fun.

From the very beginning of the "Peanuts" specials, it's been clear that the makers were very opposed to the commercialism of many holidays. Remember the protest in "It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown" -- "It's Easter and they already have their Christmas decorations up!". So the very cynical view of this holiday, which has been completely co-opted by the greeting card and candy industries, in this special, can't really come as any surprise.

Yet at the same time, the animators do take the time, via Sally's recitation of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's famous poem, to offer a sincere tribute to the spirit of the holiday and the sentiments that it's supposed to be about. Admittedly, they also undercut that by having Linus specifically mention her, and the poem, in his ultimate denunciation of the holiday.

I saw "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown" for the first time in years and I thought it was a very depressing Valentine's Day special. Poor Charlie Brown, he never gets any valentines and he sits by the mailbox hoping to finally receive one but unfortunately it remains empty. Linus buys a heart-shaped box of candy for his teacher, Miss Othmar, but she leaves with her boyfriend and never gets the box although Sally, who has a huge crush on Linus thinks the candy is hers. Then there's Lucy, who tries to get Schroeder to notice her, a repetitive theme throughout the comic strip but ends up destroying his piano in frustration.

Even worse, in school where Charlie Brown's class has a valentine box and all the valentines are distributed with our hero not receiving a single one. How sad and thoughtless until the next day, Violet and some of the girls, finally give him a valentine.

if you enjoy Valentine's Day with someone special, watch a romantic movie instead. This cartoon will give you a broken heart.

Sally likes Linus. Lucy likes Schroeder. Linus is crushing on the teacher, Miss Othmar. And Charlie wants attention from anyone he can get, but especially from a certain little red-haired girl. None of them winds up particularly happy at the end of this show, but that is Peanuts for you. Charles Schulz had a way of showing how things don't always turn out the way you might want, but that's OK, and life will go on. The Peanuts specials were littered with that sort of sentiment.

Perhaps the oddest element to this one is Charlie's unshakable belief that he'll get so many valentines from his classmates that he'll need a briefcase to carry them home! How in the world did he reach this conclusion? Charlie has always been the lovable loser who gets rocks on Halloween, gets laughed at for picking a poor tree, misspells 'beagle' at the spelling bee....he has no right to expect that he'll be getting many valentines at all, much less a briefcase-full. But that's Charlie I guess. Ever the optimist.

Some notes for Peanuts aficionados: strangely, Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Franklin are shown here as being in the same classroom as Charlie, Linus and the rest. This is in complete contradiction to what had been shown before. In every previous episode where it was mentioned, those three lived 'across town' and attended a different school than the other Peanuts characters. No explanation was given for why they suddenly appeared here. It's also odd that, if PP and Marcie were in the class - why didn't they give Chuck a valentine? PP is always flirting with him, and Marcie even kissed him at the end of "There's No Time for Love Charlie Brown." If no one else, at least they should have given him one. Or his sister, Sally! Weird.

Strange also was Sally being in the same classroom with all of the older kids. Previous shows had already established she was in a lower grade. And the teacher, Miss Othmar, left the classroom unattended when she took off with her boyfriend! That can't be proper protocol. So this one is a bit inconsistent, albeit still very entertaining. I would say it lives up enough to the high standards some of the previous shows had set.

8/10. Not their best, but still very good. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes.

I always watch this Peanuts special every Valentine's Day. Seems that Charlie Brown is waiting for someone to give him a valentine, and Linus wants to give a gift to his teacher. Watch the results unfold in this favorite Peanuts cartoon that you will certainly love.