A Charlie Brown Christmas

Dir: Bill Melendez, 1965 (8.6*)
All you have to do is hear the terrific Vince Guaraldi jazz piano music, which is worth owning on CD, naturally, and this tv cartoon special lights images in your head that can evoke waves of humorous nostalgia. The comic strips of Charles Schultz come alive, and along with “The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” (which parodies Easter and Christmas both, with promises of the "great pumpkin" appearing overnight in the pumpkin patch to leave presents for believers), these are must-see’s for kids of all ages, and anyone with heart. The wry tone, the simplicity, the kids voices, Linus' love of Beethoven, Lucy pulling the football back (a joke that never gets old), the silent dances of Snoopy (who fantasizes himself to be wartime aerial ace The Red Baron) all this works perfectly and are short enough for the short attention span world. These are now some of the best holiday classics for the whole family, and can be enjoyed again and again.