DVD Review: It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Deluxe Edition

Writers: Charles M. Schultz
Directors: Phil Roman
Cast: Jimmy Ahrens, Todd Barbee, Linda Ercoli, Melanie Kohn, Bill Melendez, Lynn Mortensen, Stephen Shea
Rating: Not Rated
Studio: Warner Home Video
strong>Release Date: February 19, 2008

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown always airs on network television, right before the Easter holiday. Like the Christmas Special and the Great Pumpkin, these three Charlie Brown specials seem to be the most seen specials out of all of the various episodes Charles M. Schultz created for the Peanuts gang. While my favorite special is Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, I do have a soft spot for the Easter Beagle. This Charlie Brown special is both similar and different from other Charlie Brown features. The random sequences, such as Snoopy dancing with the bunnies, and the interaction between Snoopy and Woodstock, are what make this one of the best Charlie Brown specials ever.

Release Information:
Though It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown was not the first Charlie Brown special/episode to be written, it did air as early as April 9, 1974. This is one of Peanuts creator, Charles M. Schultz’s favorite Peanuts specials. In typical Charlie Brown fashion, the special aired for 30 minutes, and has made many television appearances, airing nearly every year proceeding the Easter holiday, since 1974.

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is available in a remastered, Deluxe edition DVD. It is accompanied by another episode, the 1976 special, It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. This is one of the funniest Charlie Brown specials ever, so it makes the perfect edition to the already excellent It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. The DVD will be released at all major retailers on February 19, 2007. It is on sale at Amazon for $13.99, so you’ll have it in plenty of time for Easter.

The It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Plot
The first feature on this DVD is It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. In this special, Peppermint Patty is trying to teach her friend Marcy how to dye eggs. Unfortunately, Patty leaves Marcy in charge of getting the eggs ready. After Marcy fries the eggs, scrambles the eggs, and even makes egg soup, Patty eventually gives up. The entire time, Linus tells her and the rest of the Charlie Brown gang, not to worry. The Easter Beagle will deliver eggs to all the children. Though Sally is skeptical after the entire Great Pumpkin debacle, she’s willing to give her sweet baboo the benefit of the doubt this time.

Lucy doesn’t believe Linus, so she makes her own eggs. Her theory is since she is the one hiding them then she’ll be the one to find all of them. Funnily, Snoopy is following behind her and he is snatching up all of the eggs. In the meantime, he’s decided to be nice and buy Woodstock a house, because his nest floods every time it rains. After Snoopy’s big nose breaks the house open, he is left with no choice but to buy a new house.

In typical Charlie Brown fashion, everything works out in the end for everyone, but Charlie Brown. Once again, he is left disappointed as all of the other Peanuts characters enjoy the Easter celebration. The beautiful, visual scenery is especially prevalent in this episode as Snoopy enjoys a fantasy montage where he dances with fluffy, white bunnies.

The second episode on the It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown DVD is called It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown. In this, Sally doesn’t take Arbor Day seriously so her “wah-wah” teacher makes her do a report on the importance of Arbor Day. To learn about Arbor Day, Sally feels she’s best served by making a project out of it and planting trees as well as a garden.

With Arbor Day also comes the start of the baseball season for Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty’s teams. They will be playing each other in the first game of the season and Patty’s far superior team promises to give Charlie’s team a beating. As Charlie is going to check and make sure his field is ready for the ball game, Sally has decided this is where she’ll be planting her garden. Lucy decides to tell Charlie Brown they’ll be getting the field ready for the next season. What she doesn’t tell him is that this includes a tree being planted on his pitcher’s mound. The girls think the garden is beautiful, but Linus thinks they should tell Charlie Brown what they’ve done.

It’s the day of the game and Charlie Brown heads to the field, only to find it overrun with plants. After he freaks out, as does Peppermint Patty, they decide to play. With all the flowers in the way, Charlie Brown’s team has an advantage, and for once, it looks like they might win their first game…ever. In typical Charlie Brown fashion It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown ends on a disappointing note for Charlie Brown. Since the kid never gets a break, you can’t help but want to give him a hug.

Both specials are enjoyable, but It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown edges out Arbor Day merely because Marcy seems to be the dumbest person on the planet in this special. The smart girl just has no common sense and that just adds to the humor of It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. If you get this for anything get it for Marcy and because Snoopy is always the bomb in everything he’s in.

Storyline/Plot:
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Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown has been re-mastered from its original 2003 version. We owned that DVD and we also had this in VHS back when we had a VCR. Wow is all I can say about the quality. Warner Bros. did an excellent job with this. The visual transfer, done at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, is presented in full frames. It offers a sharp and vibrant picture quality unseen in previous releases. Though some of the animation is obviously dated, the enjoyment in seeming a Peanuts DVD look like it was made recently is impressive.

The sound quality for It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is great though I wouldn’t say it stands out quite like the video quality does. Available in Dolby Digital Mono English, Spanish and Portuguese, the sound appears to have been improved. There are no issues with volume and everything sounds rich and pleasant to the ears.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown offers one featurette called “In Full Bloom: Peanuts on Easter”. The feature is a little over 15 minutes in length. In it, you’ll learn how Schultz came up with the ideas for It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. You’ll also learn about how the Snoopy bunny dance was one of his favorite scenes. His wife and son as well as people who knew him, talk about his work, Peanuts, and how people interpret Peanuts specials.

There are also numerous trailers included on the It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown DVD. Trailers are for other Warner Bros. titles including The Smurfs: Season One Vol. 1, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who – Deluxe Edition, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo: The Complete First Season, and Tom and Jerry Tales – Vol 4.

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Bottom Line:
I liked It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown as a kid and I still like it today. My son is huge Charlie Brown fan so we’ve owned all the DVDs since he was little. It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is worth the re-purchase merely by the quality alone. The picture is vastly improved from previous versions adding to the enjoyment while watching It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. If you’re a kid at heart or just want to feel good about yourself, then purchase this DVD. Children of all ages will love it and so will adults, many of whom have grown up with this Charlie Brown special, themselves.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, Deluxe Edition, Lucy, Linus, Snoopy, Sally, Peppermint Patty, Marcy, DVD Review, Charles M. Schultz, Warner Bros

Written by Dominick Evans - Visit Website
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Dominick is in his late 20s. He lives in Michigan with his life partner, Ashtyn, their 14 year old son Robert, and their Shih-Tzu, Oliver. Dominick is a writer and the head editor for both LI Kids and Literary Illusions. He enjoys composing music and is an aspiring director/screenwriter. In his free time he enjoys spending time with his family, playing and watching sports, playing video games, watching movies, and singing.