‘They should try harder’: Is Montreal’s grand Christmas tree ugly?

Montreal’s Christmas tree at Place des Arts was supposedly designed to compete with New York’s legendary Rockefeller display – but it isn’t quite living up to grand expectations.

Some are even calling it downright ugly.

“Yeah they should try harder,” said a passerby while looking at the tree.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Yeah they should try harder," said a passerby while looking at the tree.

Here’s a comparison: Rockefeller Centre’s Christmas tree is 94 feet tall this year.

It’s crowned with a Swarovski crystal star and is a world renowned symbol of the festive season in New York.

Montreal’s tree, on the other hand, stands at 70 feet tall, billed as the tallest tree in Canada.

It is adorned with Canadian Tire logo ornaments.

WATCH: It was a tall order: find a tree that would outshine the Rockefeller Centre’s in New York City. That’s what the City of Montreal tried to achieve. But as Mike Armstrong reports, not only did they not succeed, the tree has become a bit of a laughingstock.

2:26 Montreal’s Christmas tree disappointment

The tree has garnered so much attention, that it now has its own Twitter account.

Some passerbys have started drawing certain comparisons to the the classic holiday movie, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

In it, Charlie Brown sets out to find a Christmas tree to decorate the set of the children’s play.

He ends up finding a scrappy – but real – little tree.

WATCH ABOVE: An excerpt of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

Similar to Charlie Brown, the company that installed Montreal’s Christmas tree, is standing by it.

“This is a real Christmas tree, that’s what a big Christmas tree looks like,” said Philippe Pelletier, the co-founder of Sapin MTL.

“It’s impossible to find an 88-foot Christmas tree that is absolutely perfect from the bottom to the top.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's impossible to find an 88-foot Christmas tree that is absolutely perfect from the bottom to the top."

Some Montrealers agree with Pelletier, saying perfection is not what the holidays should be about.

“It’s not the most beautiful tree, but it’s true, it’s authentic,” Claire Groulx-Robert said.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's not the most beautiful tree, but it's true, it's authentic," Claire Groulx-Robert said.

“What you don’t have in a tree, you make up in an attitude with people,” said Christine Gordon, a New Yorker visiting Montreal.

Maybe it’s just as Peanuts character Linus says: “It’s not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love,” as he proceeds to wrap his blanket around the tree.

Where is Linus when you need him?