Out of the four "Peanuts" Christmas specials,this is probably the best one of them all since the original "A Charlie Brown Christmas" first aired in 1965. The other "Peanuts" specials were ""Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales",and the heartwarming classic, "It's Christmas Time Again,Charlie Brown". But "I Want A Dog For Christmas,Charlie Brown" was totally different from the rest of the pack. The producers carefully went by the collection of creator Charles Schulz' "Peanuts" comic strip and animated it,and from there may a cohesive storyline from it. Produced and animated by the team of Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez(the same team responsible for many earlier classic Peanuts cartoon specials)it originally aired as a hour-long special for ABC. ABC debuted this special in prime time on December 9, 2003 and it has aired annually ever since. This special aired three years after the untimely death of its creator Charles Schulz,who passed away in 2000.Usually,these holiday "Peanuts" cartoon specials run no more than a half-hour,but this special was the first hour long Charlie Brown program to aired a full hour. This 2003 animated special reunites the rest of the Peanuts gang and the yuletide season. In this installment, Linus and Lucy's younger brother,ReRun(taken for the comics)is having some stress issues. He goes to Charlie Brown's faithful and resourceful beagle Snoopy for attention and fun,since ReRun doesn't have a dog of his own and he desperately wants one for Christmas. However,Snoopy has other plans,which don't include ReRun. So,Snoopy invites invites his canine brother from the Southwest,Spike to visit. After ReRun has been given the responsibility of handling his newfound pet,hijinks and hilarious situations ensumed. The voice talents are brilliant here which includes the superb performance of Jimmy Bennett as ReRun. Bill Melendez still does Snoopy's yelps and other voices,while the rest of the voice talent includes Adam Taylor-Gordon(Charlie Brown),Ashley Orr(Lucy),Nick Price(Schroder),Corey Padnos(Linus),and Hannah Leigh(Sally). ABC airs this special annually. Out of all the Peanuts specials,nothing can replace the classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas",but this one comes pretty close but comes on sweet.

Following the death of Charles M. Schultz, there can be no original Peanuts ANYTHING. So we're basically left with animating old strips. This can get tedious since pretty much all dialogue has to actually "fit" in four panels.Anyway, as Rerun appeared relatively late in the Peanuts run, and was a minor character, there haven't been many animated skits featuring the tyke. Basically all he does is ride on his mom's bike.In this special, I was completely drawn in by the incredible voice acting. I was close to crying for the kid when he's begging the sun "PLEASE DON'T MELT MY SNOMAN" It was so cute.

This is awful. There is no real story line here. Instead, it is a series of jump cuts from one joke to another. You can almost picture the four panel strips that the jokes were originally presented in. While some of the material is funny, the scattered nature of the "plot" really detracts from your enjoyment. Yes, I know it is a "cartoon", so my disparaging of a lack of a plot may seem overblown. However, I challenge you to compare this to "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and I believe you will understand my point.I am not sure what the running time is, but the network managed to cram in a lot of commercials over the hour.

This one pales in comparison to the original Charlie Brown Christmas. This movie is lacking a lot. In fact it is lacking all the the originals have in them, MEANING.This has its cute moments, and some humor in it. It just isn't the same though. Charles Shultz you are missed!!!I do not recommend this one