Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown: Remastered Deluxe Edition
DVD Review by Jon Cooke
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The success of the now-classic A Charlie Brown Christmas special in 1965 was followed up by a whole series of primetime specials based on the beloved comic strip. New Peanuts specials still occasionally pop up to this day. However, I doubt most people remember many of them aside from the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas specials, though. Everybody remembers Chuck's pathetic Christmas tree, Linus waiting all night for the Great Pumpkin's arrival and Snoopy serving up pretzels and toast in lieu of a turkey dinner. While usually enjoyable, the rest of the specials don't really have as many of those unforgettable moments.
I am always amazed by just how many primetime Peanuts specials there were (there was even an It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. No joke!). Even though it has been awhile since I last saw the main feature on this disc, I found Be My Valentine... (1975) and the two love-themed cartoons that fill the remainder of the collection to be enjoyable enough. Thanks to the involvement by creator Charles Schultz, the animated Peanuts manage to capture the humor and style of Schultz's immortal comic strips perfectly. Here the theme of unrequited love that was prominent in the comics --- and Schultz's life --- takes center stage. Schultz takes bittersweet Valentine's Day memories we could all relate to and rolled them into a 25-minute cartoon. You have Charlie hoping for at least one Valentine card this year, Linus developing a crush on his teacher and Sally and Lucy getting nowhere with Linus and Schroder, respectively. Snoopy and Woodstock are on hand for some comedy relief to lighten the mood a bit.
Like the previous Paramount release, the specials that fill the rest of the disc weren't specifically made for Valentine's Day, but the "love" theme makes them a logical fit. You're in Love, Charlie Brown (1967) focuses on Chuck's infatuation with the Little Red-Haired Girl. While It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown (1977) has the gang playing in a football game, with Charlie having the honor of dancing with the Little Red-Haired Girl following the big game. Chuck is given (somewhat) happier endings at the conclusion of both of these shows. After the initial airing, viewers protested how mean Peppermint Patty and Lucy were to Charlie when they blamed him for losing the big game (when it obviously wasn't his fault). On all TV airings and video releases since, a couple of the harsher lines of Charlie being scolded by his teammates were altered (and still are altered on this release, one of Peppermint Patty's lines sounds intentionally muffled. I would have to assume the alternations were done to the master copy back in the 1970s).
The only new content on the DVD is a new fifteen minute long featurette focusing on the how Schultz incorporated the theme of unrequited love into the comics and the making of the animated special. It was a surprisingly interesting piece. I was honestly expecting just a kid-friendly, hastily assembled fluff "extra". Also included are some trailers for other Warner DVD releases (The Smurfs - Season One and a "deluxe edition" of Chuck Jones' version of Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who).
Is it worth buying (or re-buying, if you already own the previous DVD release)? The picture and sound quality is good overall (Be My Valentine looks especially good, the other two are acceptable enough, though I did notice some DVNR applied to You're in Love...). Unfortunately, I don't have the older Paramount release to compare it to, but this review over at a Peanuts website says the specials appear to be new transfers with some improvements over the older release. If you own the older disc, I can't really recommend buying this new edition with very little new content added. If you don't already own it, unless you are a huge Peanuts fan, I would have to say a rental would be enough (especially for a DVD you'd likely only watch once per year anyway). Let's hope Warner starts to issue comprehensive box sets of all the animated Peanuts specials, perhaps in chronological order, in addition to these single disc releases.
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<--- DVNR? AAUUUUGH!