It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976)

It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown Review

It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is a 1976 animated television special and the 15th entry in the Peanuts series. It is a flawed, yet solid entry.

This special is a big improvement over its predecessors ‘Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown‘ and ‘You’re a Good Sport, Charlie Brown‘, but it is still a very flawed short. The lack of any focus whatsoever is very frustrating as the special wants to celebrate Arbor Day, but also deal with baseball and various character issues as well. And it doesn’t succeed in the former two, but it does succeed in the latter one owing to some great use of these characters.

I loved Sally here, Charlie Brown is quite improved as well and Peppermint Patty is pretty good. The relationship between Patty and Charlie continues to be emphasized and it is quite good here. But Lucy’s scene is the highlight of the entire special as she was so close to finally kissing Schroeder, but she gave up on it once she saw he wasn’t interested. That was such a great choice for this character who continues to be such a strong presence. The action here is lacking, but thanks to those great and funny character moments, this special is worth watching.

It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is worth watching for some hilarious and terrific character moments, but it lacks focus and its subplots don’t add up well.

My Rating – 3.3