The Peanuts Holiday Collection is comprised of three of the Peanuts gang classics, A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Each title features the gang finding a new problem with how things in life work, friendship, and the true meaning of the holidays. Charlie Brown is once again trying to find his place in life and fit in with the rest of the crew.

We’ve previously covered A Charlie Brown Christmas, but here’s the recap. You may think that this is just another kid cartoon, but I believe it’s much more than that. The troubles that Charlie goes through are not one for kids to have so early in their life, the questioning of the sole purpose of Christmas; this takes Charlie Brown to a whole step above. For this I do not believe the story is aimed solely at a younger audience. The dissection of commercialism and materialism ending with the origins of Christmas is the one thing the Peanuts must deal with and is excellently told by the production team. One may say the story of The Nativity is essential to the understanding the true meaning of Christmas and needed for this story to remain a classic. This special depicts everything rejected by a commercial world and provides an inspiring warm message.

A Charlie Brown. Thanksgiving is much of the same except with a different holiday. The writing staff explored what the meaning of thanksgiving and friendship is all about. The gang, specifically Charlie Brown sees the meaning of spending Thanksgiving with his friends. But this is release can’t be considered a full release without the inclusion of The Mayflower Voyagers which tells the story of the pilgrims as they begin their new life in the new land. It’s sort of like a part two further elaborating of the notion of friendship and giving thanks for your fortunes.

Finally, It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown is the third and final film in this release. But it’s far from being as good as the last two. Not that is bad, but it just doesn’t really have a striking message. However, it does appear to delve into the mind of the kids and how they perceive stories told to them. It simply revisits the kid’s imagination and plays along with their playful adventure.

This collection is more than just another set of cartoons, is a recollection of the best Peanuts TV classics, but best of all is a trip down memory lane. Who can’t remember sitting in front of their TV at the time when these were airing? It’s a nostalgic set that has plenty to offer in terms of quality. The writing and directing is incredible. This is a set that shows you a different style of entertainment that has long been gone; the simplistic style of storytelling can’t be replicated. This set should easily make it into everyone’s collection.

Each title inside the Peanuts Holiday Collection arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p VC-1 encode framed at 1.37:1. At first your initial thought may be “It’s a movie made a couple of decades ago, how much better can it possibly look?” well to put it in simple words, they look fantastic. The films have received a major facelift from deeper blacks to brilliant colors and they just do not disappoint. The original material suffers from certain artifacts and imperfections among other things, which are now obvious on high definition; however, all of this is kept at a minimum. This release is far from being the best-animated transfer, but given the age of the original material and the effort by WB all I got to say is kudos for this fantastic looking transfer.

A Charlie Brown Christmas arrives on Blu-ray with a Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital stereo. There’s really nothing to rave about in this section of the review, the studio repurposed previous tracks from the DVD and while it’s not the best it does its job. There are a couple of problems found throughout like the hiss noises, muffled voices, among other things. I believe a lossless track would have added a bit more depth, but all in all this should take some a nostalgic trip down memory lane to please the older audience while the youngsters really cant tell the difference nor really care. It obviously isn’t reference material, but again gets the job done.

The other two titles within the set, A Charlie Brown, Thanksgiving and It’s The Great Pumpkin. Charlie Brown, arrive on Blu-ray with a 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio lossless track. Unlike A Charlie Brown Christmas, these two titles have a new remastered track, but they just don’t seem to add anything special to the movies. They sound great, don’t get me wrong, but the age of each title doesn’t really require much power. The dialogue is a bit muffled, but is clearer than previous releases. The music sounds great and it takes advantage of the lossless track. As mentioned before, the age is the blame for things like some hissing around the track. Ultimately, both titles sound fantastic.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

A Christmas Miracle – This is perhaps one of the best overviews I’ve seen. It deals with the challenges, the tight datelines, and the tough decisions made for this film. It’s very entertaining and you should take the time to watch it.

It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown – This is another Peanuts holiday special, it is very identical and it’s definitely worth a watch.

DVD – Also a DVD version of the film has been included.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

The Mayflower Voyagers – The Peanuts gang tell the story of the first settlers in the new land.

Popcorn & Jellybeans: Making a Thanksgiving Classic – This featurette explores the making of this TV classic.

DVD – Also a DVD version of the film has been included.

It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

We Need a Blockbuster, Charlie Brown! – This is a very short view at the events and problems that surfaced during the creation of this TV special.

DVD – Also a DVD version of the film has been included.

The Peanuts Holiday Collection contains three of the most unforgettable specials of the Peanuts gang. Each title presents a simple interpretation of the various holidays, some more appealing than others, but ultimately trying to give you a view of what they truly mean. The Blu-ray offers a great set of video and audio transfers. The supplements are somewhat lackluster, but the content is enjoyable nonetheless. This release is a no brainer, the collection is exceptional and it features some great content for the entire family. This collection should be a part of your collection without a doubt. I highly recommend a purchase.