Scooby Doo And The Reluctant Werewolf is a made for TV animated film directed by Ray Patterson. The plot sees Dracula (Hamilton Camp), and his legions of doom seek out Shaggy (Casey Kasem), to take up the role of the werewolf driver for the Monster Road Rally.
This film is the epitome of rose-tinted glasses. I remember watching this film as a kid and enjoying it, clearly as a kid I had no taste.
This much like the recent released Scoob film is not a Scooby Doo film, the core element of what makes Scooby Doo, Scooby Doo, which is solving mysteries, is nowhere to be found. The film seems more focused on being some kind of racing film, or perhaps some botched spin-off of Whacky Races. I wouldn’t be surprised if this film was just made to sell toys.
For a film that just skirts the hour and a half mark it feels very long. I for one found all the racing, which makes up a good portion of the second half of the film to be tiresome and repetitive; it was the same thing over and over again to the point where you just wanted it to be over.
Moreover, some of the comments made in this film are blue, they would have been blue for a kids animated film in the 80’s, but in today’s climate they are even worse. There are multiple jokes where Dracula threatens to beat his wife, yes, I understand he is the bad guy, but why put them in a kid’s film? I get that it is a reference to the Honeymooners, so I am left asking is this for the parents watching?
Overall, unlike many of the childhood films I have reviewed recently this one didn’t hold up. It was boring and to me not a real Scooby Doo film.
Pros.
Neat monster characters.
Scooby and Shaggy have fun.
Cons.
The domestic abuse jokes.
The repetitive racing.
It is just boring.
2/5
Reviewed by Luke