When you think of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the rest of the Peanuts gang, you probably think of the holiday specials that always appear on television each year. The most famous of them all are probably A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Other notable and frequently watched holiday specials include Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown and It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. All of those have been released on DVD before and more recently been re-released by Warner Home Entertainment in “Deluxe Remastered Special Editions”. It is Warner’s goal to release little known Peanuts specials on DVD. The first of these “little known” speacials to get released for the first time ever on DVD was You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown.
The primary focus of You’re Good Sport, Charlie Brown is this big motocross event. Peppermint Patty informs Snoopy, while playing tennis, and Charlie Brown, while practicing his place kicking, of the popular sport of motocross. Linus and Charlie Brown combine their money to buy a bike for a major motocross race. With Charlie riding and Linus acting as pit crew, they compete against Patty and Snoopy, as the “Marked Marvel”, in hopes of winning Pro Bowl tickets. Marcie provides colorful commentary as the announcer.
The subject of the main feature on this DVD release is motocross. Not exactly a subject that you would think would be the center of the next Peanuts special to be released on DVD. You will learn, in the retrospective featurette on this same DVD, that Charles Schulz’s son, Craig, was the inspiration behind making this special. Craig has a life-long passion for motocross, and thus this special was born. But really any time you have Snoopy, as the Masked Marvel, competing against Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown in a sporting competition, you are going to have an entertaining Peanuts special.
The problem with all of the Peanuts specials is that they all feel too familiar. Certainly the subject is unique, but other aspects of this special are pretty much trademark Peanuts. You will see Peppermint Patty push around Charlie Brown, Charlie Brown struggling to succeed at sports, Linus building confidence, and Snoopy fighting with ordinarily inanimate objects. That is not necessarily a bad thing, because all of that is fun to watch. But you shouldn’t expect anything that will surprise you in this special.
You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown may be little known to many casual Peanuts fans, but it is still just as entertaining as all the other Peanuts specials. The Peanuts gang also may not be celebrating a certain holiday in this special, but the main focus of this special is still definitely unique and interesting to watch. For hardcore Peanuts fans, you have been waiting for the day when Warner Home Entertainment started to release previously unreleased Peanuts specials on DVD. This is the first of hopefully many more to come. Hardcore fans will no doubt buy this, but casual fans who don’t remember this special, may want to rent it first. You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown may not be the greatest Peanuts special ever made, but it is definitely a solid, above-average entry in the Peanuts library.
The video is given in 1.33:1 fullscreen color. Like previous Warner DVD releases, you shouldn’t expect a widescreen version of this animated feature since it is over 30 years old. However, the video has been digitally remastered so this is without a doubt the best this feature is going to look. It’s really about as good as you would expect and a vast improvement over the original release.
The audio included is available in either English Mono sound, Japanese Mono sound, or Portuguese Mono sound. There are subtitles available in English, Japanese, Chinese, French, Portuguese, and Thai as well. The music and dialogue come out loud and clear, so no major problems either. Simply does what it needs to do.
You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown Bonus Feature –
This is also a previously unreleased full-length animated special. In this special, Charlie Brown wants to participate in the Junior Olympics. So he signs up for the only open event: the decathlon. It’s the only part of the Olympics we see, as Charlie Brown competes against Marcie, the Masked Marvel (Snoopy), and cocky Freddie Fabulous in the ten traditional events. This is another great special combining sporting events with Peanuts character. It probably would have been better if Peppermint Patty took the place of Marcie, but that’s beside the point. Again, it’s always fun and entertaining to watch Charlie Brown, Snoopy, etc. compete again each other.
“Dust Yourself Off and Pick Yourself Up, Charlie Brown” Featurette –
This is a brand-new retrospective featurette that runs 11-and-half minutes. We hear from Charles Schulz’s son, Craig, whose motocross hobby this special and the comic book strips about motocross. Craig shows off his bike collection and we see him riding in home video footage. We also hear from psychologist/author and two other Peanuts/animation historians in give more insight into this feature. But the main focus is on Craig Schulz, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but more time should have been given to the people actually involved in this animated specials.
Compared to other Peanuts specials released on DVD by Warner, this one is weaker overall. The picture quality and “extra” featurette is not as strong as previous releases. But the main feature (You’re A Good Sport, Charlier Brown) and secondary feature (You’re the Greatest, Charlie Brown), are just as good as all of those holiday specials you probably have seen over and over again. Check this out for sure, if you are a Peanuts fan. If you are a hardcore fan, you should rush out and buy this without hesitation.
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Warner Home Video presents You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown. Directed by Phil Roman. Starring Duncan Watson (voice), Stuart Brotman (voice), Gail Davis (voice), Melanie Kohn (voice), Jimmy Ahrens (voice), Liam Martin (voice), and Bill Melendez (voice). Written by Charles M. Schulz. Running time: 25 minutes. NOT RATED. Released on DVD: January 27, 2009.
Available at Amazon.com
