While I can’t speak for anyone else, Charles Schulz‘s “Peanuts” have always had a comforting quality to me.  They weren’t cartoons that I enjoyed on a regular basis, but the holidays, particularly Thanksgiving, were made for them.

They also had this oddly melancholy character about them that was interesting and unlike anything else.  I have particularly fond remembrances of “It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,” in which we witness Linus waiting in a pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin, behavior that was oddly delusional for a children’s cartoon character and “Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown” where we witness Snoopy’s prowess riding a motorcycle, Easy Rider style.

Then there’s Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown, always a classic (though I always hoped that, at least once, either Charlie Brown kicked the football, or her).

The animation of the new feature seems to be in 3D, but barely, which is a good thing since it better takes into account the essentially 2D nature of the characters.