"What's the matter with you? All you think about is gimmie, gimmie, gimmie. Get, get, get!"
"That's called survival, baby."

Warner Bros. has re-released Charles M. Schulz's 1974 TV special, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, in a newly cleaned-up, sparkling print, along with a bonus short, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, and a new documentary about the making of the Easter special. Cute and funny at times, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown focuses much more on Snoopy than Charlie Brown this time, and unlike Schulz's masterpiece, A Charlie Brown Christmas, conveniently leaves out all the "messy" religious aspects of the holiday.

Combining the plotlines of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown juggles three tiny subplots: Peppermint Patty's (voice of Linda Ercoli) efforts to dye some Easter eggs; Snoopy's efforts to secure a dry home for Woodstock (both voiced by producer Bill Melendez); and Linus' (voice of Stephen Shea) strident belief that the mythical "Easter Beagle" will come and bring eggs and candy and peace to the children of the world. Peppermint Patty's labors to get her eggs dyed are hampered by preternaturally weird pal Marcie (voice of Jimmy Ahrens), who can't seem to understand that the eggs have to be boiled in their shells before coloring. Snoopy, after wringing out a soaking wet Woodstock (his pathetic little nest is offered no shelter in his pathetic little twig of a tree), decides to buy him a nice wooden bird house that Woodstock fantastically appoints in the very latest mid-seventies mod furnishings. And Linus convinces Sally Brown (voice of Lynn Mortensen) that the Easter Beagle will come on Easter morning.

By 1974, the whole Snoopy phenomenon was really peaking, and so it's natural that Schulz and producers Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson would want to focus most of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on Charlie Brown's dog, and not Charlie Brown. Chuck doesn't have a lot to do here (except of course getting shafted at the end when Snoopy runs out of eggs), and even though I love Snoopy's funny little antics, I miss the morose, moral anchor that is Charlie Brown in these specials. It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown plays awfully familiar, as well. The entire "Linus believes in the Easter Beagle" bit is lifted obviously from It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, while Peppermint Patty's frustrating battles with dimwit Marcie remind one of the cooking sequences (and the gang's rejection) of the Thanksgiving feast in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.

And while a few scenes are quite cute and memorable (Snoopy peering into a sugar egg, visualizing himself dancing with Easter bunnies, is clever and sweet), it's hard to say that It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown has much to do with what makes Easter, Easter. For Schulz's A Charlie Brown Christmas, Schulz famously fought the networks who didn't want the cartoonist's explicit religious references (particularly Linus' final Bible quotation, conveying to Charlie Brown the true meaning of Christmas). That viewpoint is gone in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. "Easter" is coloring eggs, evidently, and that's about it. That underlying seriousness of tone (which was also found in the amazing Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown, which I reviewed here) is totally absent, and as such, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown doesn't have the weight of those other two outings. In the new bonus documentary included on this disc, commentators discuss Schulz's motivations, both artistic and commercial, and they seem to want to have it both ways. Phil Cousineau implies that Schulz was knocking organized religion, but nothing in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is religious; there's a back-and-forth discussion as to whether Schulz intended deep, meaningful subtexts in his work, or if he was, as he often described it, just making "funny stories." Producer Lee Mendelson is perhaps the most fair, acknowledging that there's definite contradiction in Schulz's frequent disdain of commercialism (seen also in It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown), and his overwhelming success at...commercializing the Peanuts characters. Ultimately, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown suffers precisely because of its unresolved inconsistencies. It's about Easter, but it denies any religiosity; it espouses anti-commercialism, but it was specifically made to get ratings and sell Dolly Madison treats. These contradictions result in a sweet, light Charlie Brown offering, but no more.

The DVD:

The Video:
I've included a comparison of a screen cap from the 2003 Paramount release of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, and the brand new Warner Bros. transfer. As you can see, the new Warner Bros. image is a definite improvement. Colors are brighter, more saturated, and the image is far sharper. Dirt and screen anomalies still exist, but I would suspect those originate in the original film elements (these were animated fairly quickly). Obviously, a frame-by-frame wiping hasn't been done, but the overall picture quality has been significantly improved.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English audio track is big, fat mono, which accurately recreates the original broadcast presentation. Spanish and Portuguese mono tracks are also available. English subtitles are included.

The Extras:
In Full Bloom: Peanuts on Easter, which runs 15:31, is obviously culled from the same interviews that went into the documentary included on the new Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown release. It's informative, but it doesn't have the same focus the previous doc had -- which may be due to its subject's lack of cohesion, as well. There's also an additional animated short, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, included here, which appeared on the earlier 2003 Paramount release. It's fine, but no great shakes, and fairly typical of the later Schulz Charlie Brown shorts.

Final Thoughts:
Fun and sweet, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown is certainly enjoyable, but it doesn't have the weight of previous Schulz TV efforts. Those wondering if they should double-dip on this release, the image has been significantly improved, and the additional doc is worthwhile. I recommend It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.