"I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" is an animated short film from 12 years ago and adds another successful chapter to the long-running Peanuts franchise. Now given that even back in 2003 this franchise already existed for approximately 40 years, it was quite a challenge to make this one a triumph. But Larry Leichliter did a good job overall. Charles M. Schulz was already dead at this point, but Bill Melendez was still alive and is also credited with co-directing this film and voicing Snoopy as usual. And actually, they made it even more daring as there are crucial differences to other Peanuts films. First of all, this one here runs roughly 15 minutes longer than they usually do. And the main character, the one who says the quote from the title is one that has not really appeared too frequently in the franchise. However, Rerun van Pelt is a worthy addition and carries this film nicely. I still don't know about the name. I guess there's a super-smart or super-funny story behind it, but I just don't like it. Anyway, that's my only criticism. Charlie is really just a minor character in this film for the most part as the van Pelts are the center of it. And we also find out a bit about Snoopy's family. All in all, a good watch, not only during the holidays. The child actors do a good job and some of them are actually semi-famous today. Some pretty funny moments in here and I recommend it. I think I even liked it more than many of the older films. They truly managed a nice combination of tradition and new elements here, some even politically incorrect jokes. Love it. Thumbs up.

While "I Want a Dog for Christmas" has it's flaws and may not totally live up to the old "A Charlie Brown Christmas", it nonetheless manages to hold a special place in my heart and has remained a staple for my family's Christmas viewing for three years running.

I can remember being in the philosophical Rerun's position, both for wanting a dog -- for years and years until I was able to get one when I was in my teens, and also for and also for being treated as the "baby" in the family. Seeing other members of Snoopy's family was a treat.

I felt the script could have been a little tighter, but I think it is far from being dreadful.