Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown Review

Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown is a 2011 animated television special and the 45th entry in the Peanuts series. It belongs in the top ten for the series.

Yes, the last Peanuts special is really that good. Linus’ grandma comes for a visit, but he has to get rid of his security blanket before she arrives or she will get rid of it. Of course Lucy is there to “help”. Finally, finally we see a Peanuts special revolve entirely around Linus’ insecurities and it does it beautifully. We see how he is insecure, his speeches are great and especially the one where he tells the kids how everyone has one of their own insecurities. Very heartwarming and truthful.

I loved how it ended and I loved that Lucy finally understood him in the end. As for the other subplots, they aren’t as great as the main story and sometimes felt like detours, but overall they were solid. I liked the usage of older animation and characters in it, from the sixties and even 50s comic strips. That was interesting to see. I liked Charlie Brown and rarely have I seen better utilized Pig-Pen. And even Snoopy is excellent here and he has a couple of funny moments, albeit I did not like his character design.

Happiness Is a Warm Blanket is so heartwarming and featuring such a wonderful use of Linus leading to one of the best Peanuts specials and a great swansong for them.