Better Late Then Never

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Awful voices for the most part - not close to the original voices so it's hard to watch this one. Sally's voice is the worst!! Lucy and Schroeder's voices a terrible too. A good voice in this special is Linus' - his is pretty close to the original and definitely believable. Charlie Brown's voice is OK not too bad. And at least Snoopy is still Snoopy lol!! This is not a TV Movie like the originals, instead it's just some short stories from the comic strips - and they are cute, typical Peanut's sillies - really good stuff. It's most of the voices that are hard to watch, I guess it's just growing up with hearing certain voices for the characters and not able to hear them anymore that is the (only) disappointment with this film.7/10

"Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales" is a television short film from the early 2000s and somewhat different compared to other Peanuts short films. First of all, there are several short films in here that all have no connection to each other, apart from the Christmas reference. Also this one only runs for 17 minutes, which is a bit shorter than they usually do. This was one of the first Peanuts short films that were made after the death of writer Charles M. Schulz. The voice actors in here have appeared in live action projects as well and that's also a difference, especially compared to the early days of Charlie Brown and company, where most of the kids never appeared on anything else. Still, none of them are famous like Taylor Lautner or Fergie for example. At least I am not familiar with any of the names. And, all in all, I think this is among the weaker Peanuts films. They recycled many references from old films for traditional purposes, but the new aspects aren't too memorable. Snoopy in Santa outfit is fun though. Sadly, the stories are not. Not recommended. Maybe watch the new Peanuts theatrical release instead.

A series of Noel vignettes with the Peanuts gang: Snoopy works as a bell-ringer to raise money and tries to make peace with the ferocious cat who lives next door, Linus develops a crush on a weird classmate in school and makes faltering efforts to write an appropriate letter to Santa Claus, Lucy attempts to be nice, but still tries to convince everyone to buy her presents for Christmas, and Charlie Brown and his sister Sally stay up late to see Santa Claus. Granted, this show doesn't have the warmth or resonance of the classic 1965 TV special, but it does possess a certain sweet charm and an innocuous sense of good-natured humor that's impossible to either resist or dislike. Best gags: Sally takes a Christmas tree from a local kid's yard after it falls down (she doesn't know how to cut said tree down!) and Snoopy making off with a plate full of cookies while dressed as Santa Claus. The smooth animation does the trick while the pleasantly bouncy and melodic light jazz score by Vince Guaraldi and David Benoit keeps things bubbling along throughout. A nice lightweight diversion.

I have loads of trouble believing that Charles "Sparky" Schultz signed off on this let ALONE wrote it! For those of us who grew up on Peanuts characters, both the specials and the comic strip, this bears very little resemblance other than the characters look relatively the same. You need look not further than some of the quotations posted on the quotations page for this show.Lucy Van Pelt (to Schroeder): You know why I don't want you to get me anything for Christmas? Because I know you hate me.Lucy Van Pelt (to Linus): You have to give me a Christmas present. It says so in the Bible.In one scene, Sally steals a tree out of another kids yard. When he confronts her and they have words, she calls him "ugly". Then she later returns the tree, dismissing her theft as a "misunderstanding".Please do not "misunderstand" ME here. I realise this is not 1965 any longer. And no, people don't like their icons being messed with. I get that. But the original Christmas special is a classic because it addresses issues we all contend with during the holidays, from commercialism, to greed, to loneliness and disaffection, to matters of spirituality. And it does so in a way that both children and adults can understand. When someone is mean to Charlie Brown, you feel the despair he feels. There are no actual arguments, and other than the term "blockhead" (which I have never heard anyone use even in real life), no one says anything mean. Words like "hate" are never used. No one ever "steals" ANYTHING. And it certainly never perverts the Biblical message.Children (and most adults) parrot what they see on TV. Are these the values that we wish to be teaching our children? That it's okay to steal and then call people names? That, if you don't hate me then you should be buying me something to prove that you don't hate me? I know our values as a society have gone askew, but is THIS the they way we wish to teach our children to behave? Do we not have nearly enough negative images for those who are very impressionable to sink their teeth into? To this I can only say, "OH GOOD GRIEF!!!!!!!!"