Peppermint Patty is in training for a figure skating competition with Snoopy as her coach. There are a number of obstacles along the way, including a group of hockey bullies and Marcie's poor dressmaking skills. But Patty forges on with help from her coach and a certain little bird. This is a rather different Peanuts special as the focus is entirely on supporting character (but fan favorite) Peppermint Patty. She, Marcie, and Snoopy are the only characters with a lot of screen time. The rest of the gang shows up at the skating competition and get a line or two each. Woodstock is also present in the background throughout and gets one of his best moments from any of the TV specials at the end. The skating sequences are really well done with authentic movements, accomplished with rotoscoping. Charles Schulz's own daughter did some of the skating. It's not a very humorous cartoon but it does have heart and a pleasant tone. Not one of the greats but nice.

"She's A Good Skate, Charlie Brown" is not as well-known as, say, "A Charlie Brown Christmas." But this "Peanuts" special includes a special moment that I will always remember.

In this special, Peppermint Patty is training for a local figure skating competition. She spends hours at a frozen winter pond, practicing her skating routines, with Snoopy, her "skating coach," barking and snarling orders. Snoopy's little bird friend, Woodstock, watches from the side of the pond, caught up in the beauty of Patty's skating.

On the night of the competition, Patty skates out on the ice at the local ice rink. But as she is about to begin her routine, the tape containing her music breaks. Just as Patty is about to be disqualified, Woodstock saves the day. He steps to the microphone in the announcer's booth, and whistles a beautiful rendition of Puccini's "O Mio Babbino Caro." (A professional bird whistler, Jason Serinus, was used for this.) Patty does her routine, and wins the competition.

When Woodstock whistles Patty's music, it is a poignant and deeply moving moment. You get the idea that Woodstock is a little guy with hidden reserves of spirit and a tremendous heart.

Peppermint Patty rigorously trains for an upcoming figure skating competition with Snoopy serving as her tough coach and Marcie deputized as her reluctant costume designer. Director Bill Melendez, working from a pleasant and witty script by Charles M. Schulz, relates the delightful story at a snappy pace, creates and sustains an engagingly breezy tone, and milks the amusing sense of good-natured dry humor for a few solid laughs (it's a total hoot to see a crabby and exacting Snoopy put Patty through her paces and the sequence with Patty and Snoopy standing up to a team of belligerent bully hockey players is quite funny). Naturally, the trademark sweet and warm Schulz sensibility is very evident here, with the single most lovely, precious, and touching moment occurring when Woodstock whistles the music for Patty over the microphone at the big skating event after Snoopy accidentally breaks the cassette player. The nice jazzy score by Ed Bogas and Judy Munsen keeps things bubbling along. The animation is really bright and colorful as well. Well worth a watch for Peanuts fans.