'Toon Reviews Shorty: What Have We Learned Charlie Brown?

You know, it's interesting to note that I've been posting reviews on this blog for a whole year now.  It's really immersed me in a field I've been interested in for a long time, and I'm impressed with how far I've come since I've started. I've organized the reviews of different shows better than ever, and I've even gathered a lot of followers through a Facebook page and Twitter account.  So, to mark this occasion, I'm going to break from the currently scheduled review sets and look into something very special considering what day this one-year anniversary happens to fall on.  In other words, it's time for another MC Toon Reviews Shorty.

This shorty is the very first one to focus on an individual Peanuts special.  You might be wondering why I’m looking at an individual special and not making a full set of reviews on a certain decade like I did with the 60s and 70s specials.  As a reviewer, I need to have easy access to all the specials of a decade so I can record my thoughts on them, especially those I never grew up with.  They can be on DVD, websites like YouTube and Dailymotion, and even VHS.  Even if I didn’t have good access to one, I would be unable to do a true cover of the decade.  Regarding the specials of the following decade, the 1980s, that’s the case. 

I grew up with a few specials from the decade and any special I didn’t grow up with can easily be seen on Dailymotion as of this year.  However, there is at least one special from the 1980s I never owned or grew up with and can’t find on any safe and trustworthy video website.  Not to mention, it never got a DVD release.  I could buy the VHS through online retail, but it’s too expensive and it's not worth putting in a lot of money for one home media format I and many others have long moved on from.  However, since I reviewed all the specials from the previous two decades, I’m basically committed to reviewing Peanuts now, so I have to find a way around this.  All the other Peanuts specials I can get access to viewing will be reviewed as an MC Toon Reviews Shorty no matter what decade they’re from.

On this day, Memorial Day, as we honor the Americans who gave their lives for a noble cause during the two World Wars, this Peanuts special will be on:

What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown?

(May 30, 1983)

 

At the tail-end of my look at the 1970s Peanuts specials, I mentioned how the specials started becoming more hit-or-miss from the second half of that decade onward.  Some stories wouldn’t be as interesting, certain tropes of the franchise would go too far, there would be less appealing music (which is still fine), and the unique childlike tone of Peanuts would start becoming unrecognizable, mainly due to the odd decision of having adults be seen and heard.  We’d still get strong specials during this era, and this special is one of them for how it does tap into the distinguishable tone of the franchise (despite the presence of adults) while also combining it with heavy subject matter not often seen in family material.

The special is a companion to the 1980 feature film Bon Voyage Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back) which was about Charlie Brown and his friends going to France as exchange students.  The film is both ambitious and a bit misguided (mostly as a Peanuts film), but that’s another topic.  While it simply ended with Charlie Brown, Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Snoopy, and Woodstock driving off into the distance without a mention of how they got home, this special sets out to answer the question while highlighting the sights they saw along the way. 

Told in flashback and picking up almost exactly where the film left off, it starts off feeling like a simple travelogue mostly fueled by antics of their car breaking down, starting the replacement car through a repeated animation of Charlie Brown getting shocked by the spark plug, and constantly losing their way.  It’s a classic case of things continuously going wrong while on a road trip that very few people can see coming which we can all relate to.  There’s also minimal dialog in these moments which makes the travel hassles easier to stand out than they would if there was constant talking.  Huge spaces between character lines simply give a better sense of atmosphere of the moment, and happening during more light-hearted moments of the trip home foreshadows for how the atmosphere is utilized in the heavier moments.

Since it’s not always certain of what one may run into while travelling, especially to kids, the childlike tone of Peanuts is on great display when the gang discovers the background of the beach they spend the night at.  It’s a beach of major American significance, Omaha Beach in which allied soldiers, including American ones, fought to liberate Western Europe from Nazi rule on D-Day during World War 2.  Normally, characters just being at the battle sight wouldn’t sell how huge the place is.  However, through atmosphere-crafting, there’s plenty of silence to take in the emotional weight of the battles fought and the lives lost at Omaha Beach, especially through the visual composition of actual footage and photographs of the battles superimposed onto the beach’s backdrop.  The dark shots of mine fields, fighter jets dropping bombs, and destructive shots and explosions from tanks and battleships give a somber mood fitting for a setting of war right down to a sad music piece to mark the devastation of the fact that lives were lost.  The addition of shots of Linus, a philosophical child, looking around the beach as the footage plays adds to the emotional weight with the mere fact that someone so young and innocent is standing among the sight of all too real tragedies, perfectly representing the heartbreaking effects of war. 

It’s a very deep and respectful tribute to the historic sight and the lives lost there, and it continues with most of the special consisting of the group simply walking through the sites and their cemeteries holding those who were killed in battle.  There’s no quirks from the featured characters, just silent and tactful moments of the kids observing their surroundings of the beautiful and historic landmarks and the men who gave up their lives in the name of freedom.  It doesn’t just apply to Omaha Beach. Other times when details of the battles are brought up feature a lot of silence and respect from the characters further enhancing the emotional effects of the War.  

In addition to learning about World War 2, the group later explores the battle site of Ypres, where the allies fought during World War 1.  Speaking of Ypres, the moments of everyone exploring its poppies of Flanders Fields and battle trenches are also among the special’s most effective where they take in the hard effects of war following the mention of a legend that the poppies are said to be white flowers turned red with a cross in the center, representing even more casualties of war.  The emotional toll is completely sold with Linus, who’s famous for delivering milestone passages, recites the renowned war poem, “In Flanders Fields” accompanied by visuals of the poem’s lines, selling its message of all the importance of carrying out the legacy of those who died for our freedom.  This moment marking the end of the flashback sells this special’s great strength of paying respect for the sacrifices of the defenders of freedom throughout the World Wars, and all other wars actually, through silence and restraining, and effective deliveries from the mouths of children.

If there is one weak point to this special, it would have to be with the handling of the light-hearted moments.  For so much emphasis on heavy war-related history and how well the special pays tribute to it, comedic antics of the group advancing in their return trip feel really out of place.  It’s fine at the start since we’re just easing into the heavy stuff, but from the moment the gang recognizes they’re at Omaha Beach, there really is no room for comedic stuff.  Right after a heavy historic anecdote, we instantly cut to an inappropriate light-hearted scene of either of Snoopy messing around or a repetitive instant of Charlie Brown getting shocked by the car’s spark while everyone glosses over his pain. 

These moments are fine on their own, but in a special focusing on honoring the lives lost during some of the biggest battles in American history, these are not good fits whatsoever.  We even end the special with this flaw when, in the present, after Charlie Brown finishes recounting his return trip to Sally, instead of them discussing something meaningful like what exactly was learned from the experiences, Sally just points out that her big brother is gluing in his photos upside down.  That’s not even mentioning the fact that we still don’t see how Charlie Brown and his friends got home, technically meaning that the special failed at what it was meant to do as a continuation to Bon Voyage.  Maybe if there were better transitions from the serious to the light-hearted this wouldn’t be an issue, but to me, the tonal difference sticks out far too much.  While the jarring shift in tone is noticeable, nothing about the strengths are really destroyed, so the respectful stuff is still powerful.

From my experience, not a lot of people take Memorial Day very seriously, mostly seeing it as a day off from school or work to hang out at home and celebrate the coming of summer.  For that, it’s great that there are works out there like this special to show what it’s all about and go above and beyond with attributing to the thousands of devoted Americans who gave everything, including their lives, to secure freedom for all.  Standing out with great atmosphere crafting and genuinely innocent deliveries of the tragic information from child characters, it’s an impactful Peanuts special utilizing the franchise’s strengths for an effective cause.

Highly Recommended

That’s it for this ‘Toon Reviews Shorty, and my heart goes out to all the people we’ve lost in all the big wars throughout history.  They will be forever remembered in securing our freedom. 

We’ll return to our currently scheduled reviews next time, and after posting reviews here for a year, I look forward to continue to do so hopefully for years to come.  As always:

Stay Animated Folks.

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