Peanuts: It's the Pied Piper Charlie (2000)

When Charlie Brown reads aloud the classic tale of a rat-ridden city, he recasts it as a modern-day misadventure involving a band of sports mice that overruns his town. Whether kicking soccer balls, riding motorbikes, or skating through plazas, these little gray rodents are prolific and proud. They parachute onto dining tables to devour scraps of food, and they river-dance their way into City Hall. How to rid the town of these menacing exhibitionists? Just in time, Charlie Brown introduces the mayor to the Pied Piper Beagle, an adroit accordionist also known as Snoopy. With his usual sophistication, the clever canine parades the band of misfit mice to the edge of town, getting rid of them forever. Snoopy is quickly heralded a hero, but the mayor reneges on his promised payment of a year's supply of dog food. Sweet and unassuming, with a silky-smooth score from David Benoit, this direct-to-video cartoon is a fitting tribute to the late Charles Schulz (it is also the last Peanuts special developed under his supervision). Endearing to the end, it is a classic reminder of why America's famous beagle is still a pied piper of sorts, captivating millions of fans with his enchanting spell--with or without an accordion. Also included is a deft 11-minute feature on Schulz outlining the origins of Peanuts, including a timeline showing when the characters were created. Just right for kids interested in such things. Ages 4 and older. --Lynn Gibson Amazon.com

Didn't the producers realize something was going horribly wrong?

O.K., the first 5 minutes of this video special are not bad, but once Charlie Brown starts telling Sally the story of the Pied Piper you may as well pop the disc out.

In true Peanuts tradition, this story should have been told from the perspective of Charlie Brown & the Peanuts Gang. Instead we have ADULTS TALKING & discussing their problems. Through out the entire show, I kept thinking of the way it should have been told.

Now this is not the first Charlie Brown Special to include adult voices, that violation goes back to "SNOOPY's REUNION" where the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm owner talks for no reason at all.

The bonus material is not specific to this special, it is more of a general look at the making of these specials. It's likely the specific reason for including it here is to fill out the disc beyond the 25 minute story.

There are many other Charlie Brown DVDs worthy of purchasing, buy this only if you are a completist. December 5, 2008

come on

Don't be so hard on it it's a good video. Maybe not the best but I like it. July 16, 2008

good movie!

you can't go wrong with Charles M. Schulz. Who doesn't love Charlie Brown and the whole Peanuts Gang! It's a classic. fun for the whole family. May 2, 2008

Extremely Disappointing...

I'm 37 years old and grew up watching the peanuts specials which I love, but hadn't seen this one so I picked it up and was extremely disappointed in what I saw. Charles Schultz is credited as writer, but this 'classic' is copywrited 2000 and released posthumously to Mr. Schultz's death-I can't believe he would have green-lighted the release if he had viewed the final cut. Hardly the 'swan song' of an amazing career!
The video starts out okay, but once we get into the retelling of the 'Pied Piper' story the whole thing quickly degenerates into a mish-mash of hurried, sub-par animation, pointless diologue, extended filler musical scenes, and painful character interactions (yes, we get it, the mayor is a jerk and doesn't want to pay the Pied Piper). Where the REAL classics had an underlying, deeper philosophy that impacted and touched both children and adults, in this one Charlie brown actually verbalizes "...the moral of the story is..." In summary, avoid this one and stick to the originals. June 5, 2007

Missing something

I'm not entirely sure if I like this one or not. It seems to be missing something from the original Peanuts modus operandi. Maybe it's because we get to see and hear the adults. Maybe it's the river dancing mice. I understand it's Charlie reading to Sally, which is reminicent of the Garfield and Friends U.S. Acres when Orson reads to Wade, but it doesn't seem to have the same quality. It's always the last one my nephew and niece choose to watch when lined up against Charlie Brown's Valentines, Christmas, Halloween, America and Thanksgiving. May 11, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...