It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

'It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!' is another holiday Peanuts special chronicling the tales of the Peanuts gang. In this special the usual holiday hysteria is demonstrated with topics of consumerism, goodwill, and friendship. Linus preaches of the Easter Beagle, Peppermint Patty hopes to teach Marcie about Easter traditions, and Snoopy tries helping Woodstock find a new home.

This special is not as great as the Christmas and Halloween specials, but the classic Peanuts humor and charm keeps you happy throughout. The music is great and the animation look old-school, but feels fresh.

Give it a watch for some Springtime fun!

Let's see, error prone Marcie, crabby Lucy, wise Linus, helping Snoopy, and good old Charlie Brown. I like the part where the Easterbeagle (i.e. Snoopy) approaches and gives the eggs to the kids. I also like the part where Snoopy is at the store, and dances with Marcie and Peppermint Patty. Woodstock is funny. The music is cool. And Marcie keeps messing up on boiling eggs. Which makes Peppermint Patty say "AAAUGGHH!" This happens for about 4 or 5 times. Why not just kick her out of here or something and let her do it herself. Or better yet, explain that eggs should not be broken, toasted or roasted in the beginning. That way she would not go through all this mess. I bet a lot of you people went up into similar problems as Peppermint Patty went into. You had similar problems with your friends or family members (like your siblings or parents no offense). Some scenes got edited into, THE CHARLIE BROWN AND SNOOPY SHOW (1983-1985). If you like this one, you'll like IT'S ARBOR DAY CHARLIE BROWN (1976).

What else is there to say about the Easte Beagle. As usual Snoopy steals the show. Good Old Snoopy always steals the show in the Peanuts specials. However, not only would it not be Easter without Snoopy, we also need to include Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang. Who cannot love the misadventures of the Peanuts gang? Their specials are what makes the holidays of the year great. From Peppermint Patty struggle to teach Marcie to color Easter eggs. From Snoopy buying the perfect birdhouse for Woodstock. To Linus always having a way of words for the Easter Holiday. To Good Old Charlie Brown, as always, dreading the holiday. Snoopy as the Easter Beagle is a must for Easter and something generations of people can enjoy every year at Easter. The Easter Beagle is Easter.

Twelfth animated special based on the cartoon strips of Charles M. Schulz gets around to Easter, as Lucy tries to color her eggs, and Peppermint Patty tries in vain to make Marcie comprehend the proper way to make Easter eggs(going broke in the process). All of them meet at the department store(already pushing Christmas!) to look for Easter gifts and clothes, while Snoopy tries to find a new house for Woodstock after accidentally destroying it. He also gets to dance with some bunnies. Sally is wary about Linus talking about the Easter Beagle after her Great Pumpkin experience, but Snoopy steps in(much to Lucy's annoyance) to save the day. Appealing and warm holiday tale.

While not as entertaining as many of the other Peanuts holiday specials (Thanksgiving, Halloween, Christmas), there's still some amusing scenes that makes It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown worth recommending. Like seeing Peppermint Patty get frustrated every time her friend Marcie cracks open the eggs (to fry, waffle, or boil) as Patty prepares to paint them. Or Snoopy botching some attempts at getting his bird friend Woodstock a bird house. Only a Peanuts cartoon would have a scene in a Discount Mart with a sign saying "Only 246 days till Christmas" with potential presents on sale! Though while Linus' belief in the Easter Beagle, unlike that of the Great Pumkin, comes true, isn't it a bit strange no one acknowledges that it's Snoopy doing the rounds? And why is Schroeder's scene so brief here? Otherwise, this was a pretty entertaining animated special with fine work, as always, by musician Vince Guaraldi on the score.