Film
Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
A slim, warm half-hour of Peanuts devotion to Valentine's Day. Charlie Brown does what he does best—hopes against the odds while the neighborhood orbits around him in their own small dramas. It's gentle, funny, and built on the strange comfort of characters you've known since childhood failing in exactly the ways you expect.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you have a soft spot for gentle, wistful Peanuts comedy where small hopes and small embarrassments carry the whole half hour, and you enjoy Schulz's quiet way of finding warmth in loneliness.
Skip it if you need fast plotting or modern slapstick, since this is a brief, leisurely TV special built around everyday disappointments rather than big gags or a strong narrative drive.
What it asks of you: Around twenty-five minutes, unhurried, with a light touch and a few short interwoven storylines that you follow at the characters' own easy pace.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
A Charlie Brown Christmas1965
The Peanuts holiday special that set the template. Same aching sweetness, same jazz score, same sense that the smallest, saddest thing might be the truest thing. Essential viewing if you love this one.
But It's been shown so many times it can feel like wallpaper. And if you need plot momentum rather than mood, you'll find none.

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown1966
Linus van Pelt at his most beautiful—faithful, hopeful, stubbornly believing in something nobody else can see. The whole special hinges on a single character's quiet dignity, which is very Peanuts.
But Sally's storyline about trick-or-treating for money feels thin, and the pacing can drag if you're not in the mood for stillness.

Snoopy, Come Home1972
The dog's own movie. It has melancholy and genuine emotional stakes, built on the bond between Snoopy and Woodstock. A different temperature from the holiday specials, but recognizably kin.
But Some find it sadder than they want from Peanuts. And at 80 minutes, it tests whether the charm can sustain for that long.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Anne with an E2017
Both are fundamentally about outsiders trying to fit in, and finding value in themselves when the world doesn't immediately offer it.
A Canadian series that adapts the novels with surprising depth, capturing the anxious interiority that *Peanuts* always understood. It finds humor and heartbreak in the same breath, across ten full hours.
But It's a prestige drama, not a comedy special. Dramatically heavier and more sprawling than a 25-minute cartoon.

More like this (7)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower2012
Another story about an outsider navigating high school friendship and the small agonies of wanting to belong. Same emotional honesty, same awareness that small moments matter.
But It's set in the '90s and shot like a standard coming-of-age indie film. The tone is more wistful and less funny than Peanuts.

The Owl House2020
A cartoon that understands what Schulz understood: that anxiety and humor live in the same room. Smart, warm, and unafraid of genuine feeling beneath the jokes.
But It's about witches and fantasy worlds, not kids in suburbs. Takes a few episodes to settle into its rhythm.

Craig of the Creek2018
Childhood adventures rendered with real affection and no condescension. Episodes are short, the humor lands, and there's genuine heart under the slice-of-life premise.
But Aimed at younger kids than Peanuts was. Some find it slight compared to the specials that shaped them.

Love, Death & Robots2019
An anthology that proves animation can do anything. Each episode is wildly different, with craft and ambition that reminds you what the medium can hold.
But It's violent, often dark, and nothing like the gentleness you're looking for here. Completely wrong vibe.

Moral Orel2005
A stop-motion show about a religious kid trying to do right in a broken world. Black comedy disguising genuine pathos, built on the tension between hope and reality.
But It's deeply cynical under the surface and sometimes cruel about its characters. The animation is deliberately ugly and stiff.

Adventure Time: Distant Lands2020
Starts as silly cartoon chaos but deepens into something unexpectedly complex about friendship, loss, and growing up. The emotional payoff builds slowly and genuinely.
But The early seasons can feel random and directionless. It takes real commitment to reach the parts that matter most.

Lamb2021
Both understand that the hunger for connection—to matter to someone, to not be invisible—is the deepest thing in us, and both treat it with complete seriousness.
An Icelandic film about a childless couple who raise a mysterious creature as their own. It's tender and utterly strange, built on the quiet need to love something and be loved back. Peanuts logic transplanted to surrealism.
But It's slow, deliberately paced, in Icelandic, and tonally bleak. Nothing like the cozy warmth you might expect from a Peanuts recommendation.

People
Cast
- Duncan WatsonCharlie Brown (voice)
Stephen SheaLinus van Pelt (voice)
Melanie KohnLucy van Pelt (voice)
Greg FeltonSchroeder (voice)- Lynn MortensenSally Brown (voice)
- Linda ErcoliViolet / Frieda (voice)
Bill MelendezSnoopy / Woodstock (voice)
Directing
- Phil RomanDirector
Writing
- Charles M. SchulzWriter
Production
- Lee MendelsonExecutive Producer
- Bill MelendezProducer
Recommended by
Snoopy, Come Home, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!)