Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf (1989)
Film:
DVD:

Written by Jim Ryan
Directed by Ray Patterson
Starring the Voices of Casey Kasem, Don Messick, Hamilton Camp, B.J. Ward, Frank Welker

Features:

• Get the Picture: How to Draw Scooby-Doo
  
• "The Race is On" Game
  
• "Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Love to Eat" music video
  
• Trailers for more Scooby-Doo films and others
  

Anamorphic: N/A; appears in its original 1.33:1 format.

My Advice: Avoid It.

Shaggy (Kasem) is a famed race car driver in America. Along with his partner Scooby and Scooby's diminutive relative, Scrappy (both voiced by Messick), he can beat anybody thanks to a jalopy that makes K.I.T.T. look like a Matchbox car. He's also supported by his girlfriend Googy (Ward). Meanwhile, in Transylvania, Dracula (Camp) is about to hold The Monster Car Race...and his werewolf has retired to a beach somewhere. So he enlists his two hunchbacks (Rob Paulsen & Welker) to go transform Shaggy into a lycanthrope and bring him to Transylvania to serve as the furry entry in the contest.

Right out of the starting gate, I have some serious issues with this film. First, since when did Shaggy change clothes? Shaggy seems to have traded in his normal apparel--green ill-fitting shirt and brown pants--for a red T-shirt and jeans. The box art leads you to believe that this is something that happens when he changes into his wolf-form, but alas, no. Not sure whose lame brained idea that was. Speaking of hobbled craniums, not only was Scrappy-Doo part of the roster here (and you know how much we love Scrappy) but instead of any of the regular Scooby Gang...we get Shaggy's stupefyingly obnoxious girlfriend, Googy. I guess I missed it when Shaggy finally got hooked up with the girl but...man, is she annoying.

Now with those drawbacks aside...I still don't have anything nice to say. I'm being deadly serious here--I'll take Scooby's team-up with Jerry Reed, Sonny and Cher AND Phyllis Diller before this one. The movie is simply not funny and forgets what made Scooby-Doo great. Scooby and Shaggy never wanted to have anything to do with spooks and monsters and such; not that there ever were really spooks...or such. But no, the monsters here are real...and dumb as hell. Dracula's accent alone will make you want to cave in the tube of your television set with your head. He spouts terrible puns throughout the entire film--and none of the rest of the monstrous cadre are any better. Note especially how you begin to convulse at the Hunch Bunch, the aforementioned hunchbacks--one who speaks intelligently and the other whose tongue seems to be stepped all over by his attempts at communication. I...guess that was supposed to be funny. Dunno.

As far as features go, you've got the obligatory trailers for other Doo films. The game itself is simply matching the monster drivers to their monster cars, and again...I never think that games of this nature are a good idea on DVDs. I can't see how kids these days could care less. Terrifyingly enough, there is a music video on here of Scooby and Shaggy singing "Scooby-Doo and Shaggy Love to Eat." I think you can imagine for yourself the sheer potential of atrocity there. About the only interesting bit on here is the "Get the Picture" segment, which--although is touted as a "how to" on drawing The Scoob--is merely watching somebody sketch Scooby in time lapse.

One last note and then we'll wrap up here. Some readers may think I'm a little harsh in doling out such criticisms for what is obviously a quickly executed children's flick. And although the humor involved is so cringe-worthy I would be worried for children that do enjoy the film, a huge part of it is the utter disrespect that the film shows to the original cartoons it sprang from. I can just see some exec somewhere saying, "We need to have Shaggy in different clothes. It's been years--surely he would have gotten some new threads by now." This is what happens when you don't understand your source material.