The VHS cover.
It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown! is a direct-to-video animated musical special, released on August 5, 1997. It is the last animated Peanuts special released before creator Charles M. Schulz's death in 2000, and is one of only two to not yet air on TV.
In this special, Linus is roller-skating after he attends a birthday party, and on his way back home, he hears someone singing beautifully and he enters a garden and sees that a girl named Mimi is the one who was singing. After he meets her and gets to know her, he invites her to his own birthday party and she accepts.
Everywhere he goes before the party happens, he hears her singing in his head and somewhat goes insane due to it. Lucy is at first doubtful that she will even show up, but Linus is sure she will and happily awaits her until the party happens.
It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown! contains examples of:
- Adaptation Decay: This story is rather flat for a Peanuts special.
- Adaptation Expansion: In a lot of ways. Such as Linus rollerblading through town in a very skillful and sassy manner, all of the Peanuts character's wearing ties for parties, and the voice lines being more generalized.
- Art Evolution: This is the first Peanuts special to be colored digitally instead of by hand. As such, the colors are now brighter than they were before.
- Beautiful Singing Voice: Mimi, duh.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Even though Linus is initially drawn to her singing voice, he eventually decides to invite Mimi to his birthday party because she treated him with respect and kindness the whole time he was in her garden. And considering she gives him a Last Kiss before she leaves town, Mimi may have had feelings for Linus herself.
- Bittersweet Ending: Linus becomes enamored with Mimi, who explains that she's staying at her grandmother's place for a few days and helping her garden. It turns out the day of Linus's birthday is the day her parents are picking her up. Yet she asks them to stop by Linus's house, where she can give a proper goodbye to him, as well as a flower and a kiss. Linus laments about Mimi leaving and never being seen again, but Woodstock cheers him up by whistling "O Mio Babbino".
- Canon Foreigner: Mimi never appeared in the comics and was made for the special.
- Comically Missing the Point: Charlie Brown tells Sally that RSVP isn't a word but an acronym and it means you call to confirm you're attending an event. She dials Linus's place and says, "RSVP."
- Covers Always Lie: Snoopy does not wear skates, no presents appear in the special, and Linus's color scheme looks different.
- Crush Blush: Linus gains this when he's around Mimi.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After spending the last four specials dealing with Janice having cancer, putting up with Sally and Snoopy's stupidity and annoyance throughout Christmas, losing a baseball game after Leland quit, and getting betrayed by Melody-Melody in the punt, pass and kick contest, Linus more than deserves his happy ending.
- Everyone Loves Blondes: Mimi is blonde and has stolen the heart of Linus.
- Ear Worm: Linus hears Mimi singing in his head everywhere he goes after meeting her for the first time and virtually goes crazy from it.
- Everybody Do the Endless Loop: All of the birthday party sequences, and were even reused numerous times as well.
- Flowers of Femininity: Mimi, other than her ability to sing, is shown being a Child Prodigy at planting flowers and being affiliated with them in every way.
- Guest-Star Party Member: Mimi. Downplayed, as she didn't even leave the car and drove off shortly afterwards.
- Hidden Depths: Charlie Brown knows some French; he explains to Sally that RSVP is an acronym for "Répondez s'il vous plaît," which means "Please respond if you are coming to my event."
- Limited Animation: Considering the fact that Peanuts is known for very quick and cheap animation for what it is, almost every scene has this, and contains either very few or reused frames and scenes.
- Love Makes You Crazy: Linus falling for Mimi drives him to the brink of insanity, with him getting out of bed and hypnotically walking towards the window while hearing her singing in his head. Lucy catches him in the act and calls him out on his crazed state.
- Luminescent Blush: Linus gains this when Miss Othmar calls on him, and when he humiliates himself in front of his entire class.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailer makes it appear more happier and eventful than it actually is.
- No Antagonist: There is really no villain or source of evil or wrongdoing whatsoever.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Linus does not bring his blanket with him when he enters Mimi's property to meet her.
- Out-of-Character Moment: Linus rollerblading in a very skillful fashion throughout town.
- Rollerblade Good: Linus is rollerblading a lot throughout the entire special as his temporary trademark. The scenes are obviously rotoscoped and are repeated quite frequently.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Mimi's talking voice vs. her singing voice is very different, except for when she sings "Happy Birthday" to Linus at his door.
- There Are No Adults: This one does not even contain any hint of one.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: This is one of the few shorts where Charlie Brown isn't a Butt-Monkey, apart from paying for Snoopy's groceries. He even gets a Cool Big Bro moment with Sally when he explains what RSVP is. The same can be said for Linus, look for Earn Your Happy Ending for more details.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Mimi is never seen again after she sings from her car and gives him a flower before driving away.
