Review of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966) by Ethan D — 27 Oct 2010

For me, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown remains the quintessential Halloween special--Garfield's Halloween is a close second. What makes the Great Pumpkin outshine all others is that, like many of Charles Shultz's classic Peanuts tales, it harbors a deeper meaning than the surface jokes.

In reality, the Great Pumpkin is a tale about faith and the vicissitudes of life. As Charlie Brown continues to trick-or-treat despite everyone giving him rocks and Linus continues to wait in the pumpkin patch year after year, the story becomes about more than the "blockheads" who seem to never "get it" like the other characters.

Thus, in many ways, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown ends up being a children's version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. Despite how it seems, Charlie and Linus (the outsiders, geeks, or whatever you want to call them) are the true heroes because of the faith they maintain in something beyond the quotidian.

The search for material goods (candy) is not their sole concern. That's why I watch It's the Great Pumpkin every year because it is a film that makes me happy and content with existence. In its own seemingly innocent way, It's the Great Pumpkin explores the existential angst that accompanies our existence and affirms the belief in something more than material reality.

While he constantly receives nothing but rocks, Charlie Brown still continues to try in the hopes that one day he will receive candy. Charlie Brown continues to run at the football in the hopes that one day he will actually kick it.

Linus continues to wait in the pumpkin patch in the hopes that one day the Great Pumpkin will truly appear to him. The Great Pumpkin is a cartoon about the power of hope and that is why it remains the greatest Halloween cartoon ever beyond its surface comedy elements.