“The Muppets” is marking a successful return to the big screen of the Muppets. Thanksgiving 2011 saw the airing of two different Charlie Brown specials on two different networks almost simultaneously. “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is one of the least interesting the Peanuts holiday specials so it was no big deal to turn the channel over and take in the special with which I was unfamiliar: “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown.” Immediately the call needs to be put through to whoever was involved in this special to get them to work on a big screen Charlie Brown movie.
“Happiness is a Warm Blanket” was a retro trip to the mid-early days of Charlie Brown. You may not realize it, but the first couple of years of “Peanuts” featured a Charlie Brown not terribly far removed from Calvin, he of the best friend named Hobbes; Charlie Brown was even the inspiration for the truly inspired series of comic strips about Calvin and his surreal snowmen. Shortly afterward, Charles Schulz transformed Charlie from a rather devilish little kid into the put-upon loser that made him famous. “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown” takes us back to those revolutionary years before such ungodly invasions of the world of “Peanuts” as Flashbeagles and talking adults. This cartoon is all about the philosophical underpinnings of Charlie Brown and his friends circa “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It is positively brilliant and features more laugh out loud moments than all the Charlie Brown specials made since the 1980s put together, with the notable exception of “Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales.”
If those involved in “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown” could recreate the magic of a Snoopy who still mainly walks on four legs, of the presence of Violet and Patty rather than Peppermint Patty and Marcie and of a Lucy who really is a bit-well, you know, then Charlie Brown could be given brand new life on the big screen just like Kermit and Piggy. It has been a long time since it has been a pleasure to head to the cinema and enjoy the exploits of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Sally and company. Enjoying new exploits on the small screen hasn’t been that fun for more than a few decades for that matter. With the exception of “Christmas Tales” and “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown,” in fact, the drought of enjoyable new Peanuts specials on TV goes way, way back. The nadir, of course, was Snoopy’s bizarre obsession with flashdancing, but the less said of that, the more likely the entire memory of its existence will disappear into a black hole.
Watching something along the lines of “Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown” on the big screen would make happiness actually be more akin to being a great Charlie Brown movie than a warm blanket. And that’s just what would happen even if the movie was merely retooled and expanded from the TV special.
Happiness is reading more Timothy Sexton articles:
The Charlie Brown You May Not Know: Charlie and Hobbes?
A Look Back at the Success of Charlie Brown and Peanuts
The Best Charlie Brown Animated TV Specials