7.3 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Charlie Brown makes his way to the national spelling bee finals.
Starring: Peter Robbins (I), Pamelyn Ferdin, Glenn Gilger, Andy Pforsich, Sally DryerFamily | 100% |
Animation | 100% |
Comedy | 67% |
Comic book | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 kbps)
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Life is tough. That's a lesson everyone learns, early on, and it's reinforced from that day forward until the day one dies. It's a lesson Charlie Brown knows all too well, too. Seems he's not too good at anything, which he believes means he's not too good at life. His ups and downs and whether he can learn to cope with the challenges life throws his way are at the center of A Boy named Charlie Brown, a 1969 feature film Directed by Bill Melendez and based on the characters created by the legendary Charles M. Schulz. Like Snoopy, Come Home, the film deals with real-world challenges in an agreeable manner, exploring rather deeply within a colorful and approachable context.
What's the signal for my Eephus pitch again?
A Boy Named Charlie Brown's 1080p transfer is similar to that found on the Snoopy, Come Home disc. Plenty of wear and tear is evident throughout -- the screen is littered with pops, scratches, speckles, and all sorts of signs of age and deterioration -- but the image otherwise holds up nicely. Clarity is up there. The Blu-ray is more than capable of getting down to the nitty-gritty animation details with a screen presence and vitality that older formats cannot even hope to match. Viewers will be intimately privy to the smallest textural nuances in characters and environments alike. Colors are pleasing, rather broad and lacking much in the way of seriously intimate gradations by design, but the crude reds, blues, greens, and other mainstays present with plenty of splash and vitality. Fans coming back to the movie after growing up seeing it on TV or VHS are in for a seriously good treat, wear and tear flaws and all.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown features a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 lossless soundtrack. Despite the channels available to it, and unsurprisingly so, information is mostly limited to the front-center portion of the soundstage. Musical clarity is a little stilted, passing the basics well enough but finding trouble in offering a wide, robust presentation or all that much definition beyond the cruder details. The U.S. national anthem, instrumental, finds a bit more punch and vitality, maybe even a slightly more wide spread out to the sides, but even then it doesn't venture all that far from the comfort of the middle. Much the same may be said of a musical montage during a sequence featuring Snoopy on skates. A loud hockey buzzer is the most impressive single sound effect in the film, and even with only modest clarity and no real sense of immersion or reverberation, the sharp, piercing sound plays nicely enough.
This Blu-ray release of A Boy Named Charlie Brown contains no supplemental content.
A Boy Named Charlie Brown, much like Snoopy, Come Home, deals in the challenging themes that it presents sincerely, without makeup or mincing words, by maintaining an agreeable presentation and pacing. This film is about accepting life's hardships and moving forward, about trying, and finding the victory even in life's losses. It's very well done and holds up even after all these decades, as entertainment and thematically relevant storytelling alike. CBS/Paramount's Blu-ray release is disappointingly devoid of extra content, and video and audio aren't perfect, but fans will want to pick this up, though probably in the sub-$10 range. Recommended.
1972
and Don't Come Back!!
1980
1977
+ It's Magic, Charlie Brown / Charlie Brown's All-Stars
1966
Peanuts Collection / + Mayflower Voyagers
1973
Collector's Edition
2015
Peanuts Collection
2011
2012
2017
2007
2-Disc Edition
2008
2017
2005
2002
2013
1996-2004
1990-1991
2005
2011
2016