Scooby Doo is one of the most loved and most watched cartoon series – there is no arguing about that fact. Whether the Mystery Machine is navigating down a dark foggy road, investigating a haunted house or shooting hoops with the Harlem Globetrotters – when you heard the theme song you knew you were in for some laughs. This was before Cartoon Network was created, before Power Rangers hit the scene and long long before every house had at least one video game console. Yeah, that’s right … Scooby’s an old school dawg.

Maybe I am a Scooby Doo purist, but the downfall of the television series was the entrance of Scrappy Doo. That annoying little know it all pup simply needs to take a nice long trip down a very short pier – either that or a trip to the vet’s for an attitude adjustment. For me, his addition to the films and television shows killed off the magic between Shaggy and Scooby – not to mention that annoying voice. I’ve never been one to advocate animal abuse, but I think I could turn a blind eye to Scrappy taking a dirt nap.

The Plot

Shaggy is a racecar driver, along with his pals Scooby and Scrappy he wins the Tyler Country race – but evil is lurking in Transylvania. Dracula’s a little ticked that his protégé Wolfie retired before the big Monster Road Rally – leaving him holding the bag. He calls for the Hunchbacks, also called the Hunch Bunch, to do his dirty work in America – their task being to turn Shaggy into a werewolf. They only have three days to complete the task - which seems like plenty of time – until Scooby Doo discovered the plot and tries his hardest to protect his best friend. The Hunch brothers finally succeed at converting Shaggy at the drive in, where Shaggy slightly annoying girlfriend is clueless of his newfound alter ego.

A nice twist to the plot is that Shaggy has the hiccups, or as Drac says “heeeeecups”, causing him to change from the Shaggy we all know and love to a growling, drooling werewolf. This causes panic at the drive in before the crew makes a hasty retreat. During the course of the get away, they are abducted but the Hunchbacks and transported back to Dracula’s castle.

In order for Scooby and the gang to get out from under Dracula’s grip and be returned to a human he needs to drive the Werewolf car in the Monster Road Race. Drac has a ‘change of heart’ and says that they are free to leave but mentions the ‘F’ word [food that is] to trick them into staying. After a test drive of the course, the big event race finally gets underway and is riddled with Dracula’s pranks and pitfalls. The race takes up a lot of the film that might get a little boring for younger kids. As you might guess, Shaggy wins the race despite the evil doings of Dracula but the big meanie refuses to turn Shaggy back into a human. The finally manage to ditch the fanged fruitcake and hitch a ride home piggyback style on a jumbo jet. After reciting an incantation from Dracula’s spellbook Shaggy is returned to normal and they all lived happily ever after … or do they?

My Take

This is an average flick in the Scooby Doo library of home videos. There are some extremely funny parts but there are also some pretty dull parts – someone needed to take a bulldozer and even out the jokes before they released this on home video. Dracula gets absolutely no respect in this film – from Crunch constantly spitting on him to having vehicles fall on him to man-eating plants. The monsters add a lot of humor to the film and their constant bickering is a trip. Overall this is a good film but nothing that special – this would make a great film to watch around the Halloween season if you are planning an alternative to trick or treating for the little monsters.

The video comes packaged in the white soft plastic case which should stand up to a moderate amount of use and abuse. Inside the case you’ll find Scooby related items such as a small catalog of other films in the Warner line, a Scooby bookmark and individual advertisements for other Scooby Doo movies.

Tomb Service

There are some great one-liners in this film, as well as obvious puns and classic antics from Scooby and Shaggy. The best has to be when Shaggy orders room service and the Hunch Bunch delivers in seconds flat. They soon come to learn that all the food was prepared from Scream Beans resulting in a howling good time. The spectators during the race are equally humorous with their less than enthusiastic replies to Dracula’s orders of audience participation. You may have to watch it a few times to get a all the jokes so this should be good for at least a few viewings before it gets stale.

The Vehicles

For me this was the best part of the entire film. The amount of humor and ingenuity that went into each of the individual cars was awesome – not to mention that each vehicle was basically the mechanical version of the owner / driver. My absolute favorite is the Dragon Dragster driven by the Dragon Fly with the Bone Bomber coming in a close second. This was really one of the saving graces of the film – too bad one of these monster machines didn’t veer off course and make a grease spot out of Scrappy.

Animation

The animation of the film is average. Nothing too stellar but certainly nothing that could be considered ‘bad’. If you’ve picked up any of the newer releases on video or DVD you’ll notice they are a few steps above this release on the production scales. You will be able to pick up on some scenes that are looped [used over and over] such as Shaggy being chased in the parking lot and also when they are trying to avoid the ghost in Dracula’s basement.


The Voices

Shaggy Casey Kasem
Scooby Doo Don Messick [also Scrappy Doo]
Dracula Hamilton Camp
Frankenstein Jim Cummings
Dreadonia Joan Gerber
Googie B.J. Ward
Vanna Pire Pat Musick
Dr. Jeckyll & Mr. Hyde Ed Gilbert
Brunch Hunch Rob Paulsen
Crunch Hunch Frank Welker


Who Would Love This

Die-hard fans of the television show and movies should see this at least once, just because it’s a Scooby event. The lack of the other cast members really turned some people off but younger kids love this regardless. The story is easy enough to follow and provides a good hour and a half of entertainment for children and adults. While the film is not rated I personally consider this a G rated film – even with the scary monsters. They are done in such a way that there is a little element of darkness, but not so much so that kids will be having nightmares from it.

Since this lacks the rest of the Scooby Doo gang, you might want to tell kids this little fact before you rent or purchase Scooby-Doo And The Reluctant Werewolf. I, for one, would have loved to have seen Fred, Daphne and Velma joining in the race and helping out Scooby and Shaggy than that little twerp Scrappy. Smaller kids might not understand why the rest of the gang is absent from the feature – just tell them they were on vacation.

For additional information on other Scooby-Doo movies and adventures, please visit the following links:

www.scoobydoovideos.com
www.warnervideo.com

You can also check out the Cartoon Network page for times when this film may be showing. http://www.cartoonnetwork.com/doc/scooby/sdfe.html


The Stats

Original Date: Original Date: 1987
Rating: Not Rated
Run Time 93 minutes
Producer: Hanna & Barbera
Distributed By: Warner Home Video
UPC: VHS 14764 18783

As always, thanks for the read…

^V^ Freak ^V^




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Good for Groups
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4