It's Valentine's Day. Charlie Brown pines to be the little red-haired girl's valentine. He doesn't even have the courage to rescue her from a bully. Peppermint Patty also wants a Valentine. She sends one to Charlie Brown. Marcie also wonders if Charlie Brown likes her. Lucy is willing to settle for kisses and a hug from Schroeder. Sally wants Linus to be her sweet baboo no matter what he actually wants.There is something hilarious about the pathetic Charlie Brown. Poor Charlie Brown! It's also his essence. It's just simply funny. I like both Marcie and Peppermint Patty in this. They are a favorable duo of mine. Snoopy has a funny bit putting on a red wig but this is all Charlie Brown. He is completely hopeless and completely funny.

Though it had the usual "Created and written by Charles M. Schulz" credit, this was the first animated special made after Sparky's death in 2000. It was also the second concerning Valentine's day and as such, there isn't the depressing vibe the first one had. In this one, Charlie Brown spends most of his time pining for The Little Red-Haired Girl who is usually an unseen character. But this one has her in a couple of scenes. Unlike the last one, Peppermint Patty and Marcie are also present both of whom think Charlie likes them and get disappointed when they find out otherwise. Add in Lucy still trying to get Schroeder's attention and Sally's ignoring her "Sweet Baboo's" protests of her love declarations and you have a pretty funny show lovingly directed, as usual, by Bill Melendez. But compared to the last Valentine one, it's not as effective...

Charles Schulz requested (though since he did not hold the copyright to Peanuts he could not demand) that no one create any new Peanuts stories after his death. United Media, on the other hand, did not want to let a cash cow like Peanuts fade into the night. So they compromised with Schulz's family, making the latest Peanuts special, "A Charlie Brown Valentine", from a conglomeration of numerous loosely connected comic strips penned by Schulz. Unfortunately, the special feels like a conglomeration of numerous loosely connected comic strips.Unlike previous Peanuts features, which almost always contained a coherent (although occasionally bad) plot, the only prevailing theme here is that it is Valentine's Day. Actually, it's several Valentine's Days. The time frame jumps around *so* much that we can't keep any supposed story line straight. Early on, we get the impression the special takes place on February 14. Then Lucy announces that Valentine's Day is a week away. Then Charlie Brown tries to work up the courage to give the little red-haired girl a Valentine. Then we learn that V-Day is still a few days away, then Charlie Brown goes to a school dance.While some of the jokes are funny, the special could hardly be called hysterical, and its choppy style is more dizzying that enjoyable. All in all, "A Charlie Brown Valentine" plays more like a love-themed episode of _The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show_ than a legitimate television special. While such a variety show could get away with some unfunny sketches (_Saturday Night Live_ has been getting away with it for decades), a full-blown special has to pull its weight all the way through. Sadly, this one does not.If Peanuts is to survive beyond one more TV special, a new compromise must be reached. We must allow the producers the opportunity to forge existing strips into a workable script--one with a story line--and the possibility of adding some new jokes. Otherwise, the next special may be, "It's the Last Hoorah, Charlie Brown."

This special premiered tonight and I really enjoyed it. A lot of classic Peanuts strips were put into animation. Though this was probably the first Peanuts special produced after the death of Charles Schulz it still had the same classic animation and humor as the others. They even showed the Little Red Haired Girl dancing with Snoopy. One thing I've noticed though is that a lot of things are drawn the way they were in the comics: (Ex: In most Peanuts specials Lucy's hair is all black, here it has a white outline. The same thing with Snoopy's ears.) Oh, well. Still this was a great holiday special.