A Boy Named Charlie Brown

This has got to be one of the most overlooked films in talking about classic stories. The storytelling of this film is wonderful, with a surprisingly insightful point for an animated film.

This film follows the fortunes of our title character, Charlie Brown, as he finally proves his worth by making it to the National Eliminations Spelling Bee, Second Grade. Along the way, we see his failures in baseball, his troubles with an overly imaginative dog, and his entanglements with his closest friends. All of the classic scenes from the comic are there as well. With only this mix of characters and the superb storytelling, the film would have been a classic.

But wait, there's more! The story is set against a beautiful backdrop of color and inventive imagery (Schroeder's concert of the "Adagio Cantabile" by Beethoven or the Snoopy's ice-skating interlude come to mind). In addition to all of this, there is the always transcendent score by Vincent Guaraldi as well as several fun songs sung by the characters and a title song by Rod McKuen that makes me wonder why one is unable to find a soundtrack to this movie anywhere.

If you haven't seen this movie, then I highly recommend that you do. Perhaps you'll see why this is easily on of the very best animated films out there.