Scoubidou et l'école des sorcières

Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)

*** (out of 4)

Good feature has Scooby, Scrappy and Shaggy going to a "school" that is attended by famous monster's children. At this female school they play an annual volleyball game against a military academy and Shaggy has been hired to make them winners. The first sixty-minutes of this feature are absolutely delightful with all sorts of laughs but sadly it really runs out of gas and barely makes it to the end. At 90-minutes it just runs way too long and the second portion of the film has a fairly weak story involving someone at the school trying to take it over with a new kind of evil. I thought the final thirty-minutes really dragged in spots and nearly ruined the entire film but the first part is just so good that horror fans should really enjoy it. I thought some of the best moments involved the monster children and the nice homages to previous movies. We get Count Dracula's daughter, a mummy, a werewolf and Frankenstein's daughter who is made up to look like the Bride and of course she's named Elsa (Lancaster from the 1935 film). We also get some pretty good jokes once the parents show up and of course they're enough to scare Shaggy and Scooby. Fans of the TV show should really enjoy this and monster fans will also have a good time with the creatures on hand.

It was a joy to see Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy true to character. Shaggy's clothes--and the Mystery Machine--appear as they premiered in "The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" (1985-1986), providing continuity. Glenn Leopold weaves a multi-character story with traditional Hanna-Barbera charm. I think it would have made more sense to include Daphne, but it still lives up to Scooby-Doo cannon established from 1969 to the late 1980s. A must-see for true fans!

My older sister and I grew up with this movie I love it. I've seen it now and I admit it's bit lame but I love it. I also love the Scooby Doo movie where Shaggy turns into a wolf. If you grew up watching these movies you just have to love them.

I've heard people dissing this movie, but I don't agree. I loved this movie as a child, and even now (I'm 19) I still enjoy it. Sure, the whole gang isn't there, but that's fine. I was never a hardcore fan of the series, but this movie is fabulous. The "little ghouls" are adorable and lots of fun. Matches, the "pet" dragon of the boarding school, is really great, and the friendship he develops with Scrappy is nice to see. The beginning to the movie is actually really funny, and the exercise scene (don't ask, you'll just have to see it yourself!) that follows soon after always puts a smile on my face. It all starts as a misunderstanding that results in Shaggy and Scooby meeting monsters they (gasp!) aren't afraid of... and, of course, some new villains that *are* quite scary. All in all, this is a really entertaining watch. I love it, and gave it an 8 out of 10.

I disagree with Op_Prime. I saw this movie and I thought it was really good. I liked all those ghoul characters, and I thought it was an interesting plot with that witch Revolta trying to take over the ghoul school. So maybe it doesn't beat "Zombie Island" or "The Witches Ghost," still I enjoyed this movie.