Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf

You know a Scooby-Doo feature is bad when Scrappy seems benign relative to everything else. Actually the little guy for once does a good job of refraining from irritatingly hogging the spotlight in this one, but unfortunately we just might have been better off if he had.

The basic plot is that Dracula turns Shaggy into a werewolf and forces him to win an all-monster road race to have any chance of becoming human again. The race itself tries to cross the Wacky Races with the Coyote/Road Runner shorts but after the 527th failed effort to put Shaggy and Scooby out of the race and the 83rd time Dracula whines about things not going his way (with no end in sight), it gets just the tiniest bit tedious.

This (in conjunction with the concurrent "Pup" series) was the point where the Scooby-Doo franchise hit absolute rock bottom, and the cowardly great dane and friends went into a long-overdue semi-retirement.

This tv movie is only slightly funny because of Scooby Doo and Shaggy. They actually have an interesting plot and very surprisingly, Scrappy Doo doesn't ruin it. The monsters are also amusing. Certainly not Scooby Doo's best, but much better than Ghoul School or Boo Brothers.

Okay, okay ... first the good stuff. Some of the colors here are very cool, particularly the intense greens and blues in Dracula's castle. But that's not what Scooby-Doo is about, right? It's about corny jokes, frightened squeals and Ghostbuster-style monsters. And there's plenty of that here, if that's what you want. Many of the usual cast -- Fred, Velma and Daphne -- are Missing In Action, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.

But for those of us who aren't huge fans of the cartoon, there's really not much appeal. The monster race takes up about 50% of the movie, simply Shaggy and Scooby driving along while Dracula continually thinks up new ways for him and his cronies to stop them. As soon as they get past each of the obstacles, they're straight in the lead again. And that's pretty much what this movie has to offer. Well ... I say 'movie' ... really it's just an extended cartoon episode. There's nothing here to suggest that it's a departure from that, aside from the running time. Don't get me wrong -- I don't mind Scooby in small doses, but ninety minutes of this was just about all I could take without my brain melting.

Good for big fans, and maybe for kids, but not much appeal for anyone else.

I have a lot of fond memories of this as a kid.

I suspect a lot of people will scoff at how it abandoned the Classic Scooby formula by not having a mystery or how the fantasy elements are actually real but I actually quite like that. I also personally like Scrappy. Maybe it was because I hadn't been exposed to him that long or because I hadn't grown used to the classic series for there to be anything to ruin but I like the ensemble of Scrappy, Scooby and Shaggy, emphasising the comedy part of the series alongside a brilliant homage to vintage horror.

Dracula is our bad guy here and he is a stunning one that both commands threat and doesn't dampen that when he is used for more comic moments.

There's even a cute girl who's into shaggy. It maybe not have much of a "soul" but for those who aren't the Scooby purists this is a delightful adventure with much to bring to the table.

Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Monsters from around the world gather at their annual car race but the werewolf is missing so Count Dracula demands that they get another. The Hunch Bunch decide to turn Shaggy into a werewolf so Dracula tells him that if he takes part in the race and wins that he'll lift the curse. Scooby, Scrappy and Shag's girlfriend must make sure he wins. SCOOBY-DOO AND THE RELUCTANT WEREWOLF is a fairly entertaining feature but the biggest problem is that it feels incredibly long at 91-minutes. When you consider that this here is close to five individual episodes of the TV series you realize that the subject is best served in smaller portions. With that said, outside the length this here contains some pretty big laughs including the highlight, which takes place during a drive-in horror movie where Shaggy first gets turned into a werewolf. The only problem is that he has the hiccups and keeps transforming back and forth but never realizing it. Another funny thing about the film is Count Dracula who is simply delightful. I really thought he made for some great jokes throughout and Hamilton Camp did a fantastic job with the vocals. The film features all sorts of monsters like Dracula, the mummy, Frankenstein's monster, swamp thing, the bride and various others. Fans of the genre should get a kick out of seeing all of these monsters together and packed into one film. I think the film really would have benefited from fifteen-minutes being shaved off but it's still entertaining.