Okay, so I don’t celebrate Easter, and I don’t particularly subscribe to the principles of Schulz’s comic and its strong religious themes, but it doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with “Easter Beagle,” yet another classic Charlie Brown episode involving the gang and, what else, Easter! While Linus creates another sentient figure out of a holiday called the Easter Beagle, anxiously awaiting its gifts and bounty, Marcy and Peppermint Patty try to grasp the concept of coloring eggs while wasting food in the most disturbing of manners. Believe it or not, Marcie can’t figure out that you have to boil eggs before coloring them.
On the other side of the neighborhood, Snoopy and Woodstock battle over a bird house they’ve built. Though it’s not the best of the series, “It’s the Easter Beagle” has its fair share of laughs even if there’s no ultimate moral or real pay off in the end. “It’s the Easter Beagle” is merely the preparation for Easter in which the gang learns of the finer intricacies of the holiday before the day arrives, and Snoopy appoints himself a high role as the Easter Beagle, which doesn’t go over well. There are some funny gags here including a dance with Marcie and Patty in a holiday shop, and Marcie learning about coloring eggs, while still unable to figure out how to eat hard boiled eggs. It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976) is a film based around such an unusual occasion that it has to explain what it actually is.
Grasping for the ever prevalent theme of environmentalism, the gang prepares for the next Arbor Day, and incidentally plants a tree on Charlie’s mound at the baseball field, unaware of the big game coming soon. One of the finer points of the half hour special is the relationship between Linus and Lucy finally playing out as they bicker incessantly while Linus vows to kiss her if she hits a home run during the big game. It’s a footnote in one of the cutest romances I’ve seen in film in years. “It’s Arbor Day” is also not the best of the two either, but it does have a funny concept involving Charlie’s struggles to beat Patty, and fate inevitably stepping in to bring him down again when he’s at the height of victory, but the pay off with Patty under a tree makes it all worth it.
And don’t even get me started on the hilarity of Snoopy masquerading as a player on the field. “In Full Bloom” is the fourteen minute special that basically outright admits that “It’s the Easter Beagle” is a very religious special, as was the entire Charlie Brown gamut, due to Schulz’s background with Christianity and his love for his religion. Just the same, it commends Schulz for not using the strip as religious propaganda, and as a huge fan of the series, I’m thankful too. It’s an interesting capper in a nice DVD set. It’s a nice breath of fresh air when we can take a deeper look behind the best comics of all time, and though Schulz is acknowledged as a devout Christian, you’d be oblivious when watching or reading Charlie Brown, and I thank him for that. He’s still my hero, and this is a great set.