Scooby-Doo! and the Reluctant Werewolf (1988)

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

...DIE HARD fans of ANYTHING to do with Scooby Doo, people who don't mind stupid jokes too much, people who like long races and people who prefer Scooby and Shaggy to the rest of the gang.The kind of people who would not like this film so much are people who do not like Scooby Doo, people who do not like tedious and repetitive parts in a cartoon so much, people who prefer witty jokes to endless amounts of stupid, similar ones and people who like the rest of the gang just as much as Shaggy and Scooby.Good things about this film for people who may not like it all that much:Among an endless seeming plot, there are quite good, clever jokes, clever bits in general (like the fact that Dracula has a Transylvanian accent), exciting points and that is about it.In this film with only Scooby Doo and Shaggy who are in the gang in this film, Shaggy is a race car driver with a brilliant car and with a cute girlfriend. Meanwhile, in Transylvania, Dracula is going to have a car race soon and needs a werewolf, which he does not have. He discovers that on three close nights, there is one person who can be turned into a werewolf - Shaggy! Watch on to find how the reluctant werewolf copes.About two fifths of this film is taken up by the big race, which is probably the most tedious part of the film.

Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf is an underrated masterpiece in the Scooby-Doo saga*SPOLIERS AHEAD*Plot: Dracula turns Shaggy into a werewolf and kidnaps him, Scooby-Doo, Scrabby-Doo, and his girlfriend Googie. In order for Shaggy to return to being a human he most compete in the Monster Road Race and win first place.The Good News: The film may have an effect of nausea on you. It's from 1988 and everything reeks 1988. From Scrabby-Doo from at the time hit T.V. show to Shaggy's old red shirt and the cartoon animation it reminds you what has happened over the years to the recent What's New Scooby-Doo? The story is fresh and hasn't been done before. The three repeated ways to turn Shaggy into a werewolf are pretty original and my favorite one has to be at the supermarket. Going for a midnight snack Shaggy and Scooby are shopping and a hand pops out from behind the shelf and hands Scobby a snack and then the person emerges from behind the shelf and takes off with the cart without Scooby and plows into Shaggy who falls in the cart and they roll him outside to the designated spot for the transformation, but a melon truck pulls up just in the nick of time at the exact spot. The drive in movie scene was also a long and fun sequence and the idea that the hiccups cured a werewolf and turns the victim from a werewolf and then to a person and so on and so on was pretty neat and used to great degree. Shaggy's girlfriend was a good character and the movie surprisingly didn't need the rest of the gang. The monsters at the castle, while nothing new, it was nice to see them all together. Casey Kasem voices Shaggy and you can't find a lot of fault in his performance. Don Messic voices Scooby-Doo greatly and Scrabby-Doo is actually likable here and makes me kind of mad that he turned evil in Scooby-Doo (2002). The way the whole castle is rigged and every escape and hope turns out to be a trap is pretty smart and something most kid movies don't think of. If all else reason to see this fails then the practice round and the actual race are standout sequences which are action packed and fully entertaining from beginning to end and is a great way to end a film. That is the major highlight of the film and is worth to see it as a stand alone scene. The long running time also helps this out because it seems more natural than it would if it was over in five minutes. The failed plans by Dracula to stop Shaggy from winning the race provide much of the action and it also provides a few laughs and a lot of giggles by Dracula's bride as she does commentary on the race. The Bad News: I don't see how anybody can dislike this. It's fast, entertaining, action packed, and has a slam bang ending.Conclusion: Recommend to everyone and especially for Scooby-Doo fans. Recommend.Rated: Not Rated

Following up "Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School," the Hanna-Barbera studio churns out another made-for-TV Scooby-Doo movie for their "Hanna-Barbera Superstar" series, "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf!" This looks different from the two previous films, but that might be because they used a digital coloring system and some cheap computer graphics here. This film seems like a cross of "Scooby-Doo," "Fangface," "Wacky Races," "The Groovy Goolies" and "Drac Pack." It is a pretty funny spoof of those old werewolf films. However, Shaggy doesn't really look much like a real werewolf (the one that "retired" at the beginning of this film (as well as Scooby's wolf mask) looks more like the Wolfman from "Van Heisling"). Plus, in this film, Scrappy-Doo is a bit useful, and not as annoying as he is in his earlier appearances! However, we could have done without Shaggy's cheesy girlfriend and have Fred, Daphne and Velma with them. The animation is sometimes a bit corny, and the various monsters in it (Dracula, Frankenstein, Crunch and Brunch, the mummy and skeleton and slime monsters) might remind you of the cast of "The Groovy Goolies!" However, I LOVED some of the jokes in it, most of them coming from Dracula himself. This is actually quite enjoyable and much better than the newer Scooby cartoons!

This Scooby-Doo film came at the end of 80s era, when Hanna-Barbara, by far, produced their worst shows. Everything H-B made in the 80s stunk, because their plots were reduced to stupid gimmicks and lame humor instead of the catchy themes that kept the animation studio unique. And no other H-B creation suffered more in this decade than Scooby-Doo.It should be pointed out that "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf" was the last entry in the 80s era Scooby cartoons. It's actually pretty interesting that this cartoon came out in 1988, the same year as the debut of "A Pup Named Scooby Doo," which tried to radically alter the style of the 80s Scooby cartoons and return to the former 60s and early 70s glory days of actually being a detective show (while still dumbing the premise down for kids).Beginning in 1979, it was an era of real monsters, no detective work, a loss of most of Mystery Inc. (only Scooby and Shaggy remained near the end of the decade), and most importantly, Scooby's nephew Scrappy-Doo. THE MOST ANNOYING CARTOON CHARACTER OF ALL TIME!! (And I can say that with a clear conscience, since so many people agree with me.) A character so reeking of "cuteness" his appearance was obvious from the start; to warp the minds of little children with his presence! Scooby-Doo had betrayed itself by becoming a pale version of its once former glory.The story for "Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf", if there is such a thing, involves Shaggy (who is now a race car circuit star for some reason) being cursed into being a werewolf in order to compete in a race in Transylvania. He has a new girlfriend named Googie that is not given much personality, add that to the fact that she is never seen again in any future incarnation of the show which lets you know how awful she really was.In order to lift the curse, Shaggy agrees to race in the competition, which is littered with so many road obstacles (some living!) and evil fellow drivers you'd think it was invented by the producers of "Survivor." It plays like a horror version of "Wacky Races", but when you have Dracula filling in for Dick Dastardly you know you're in trouble.The film is basically a collection of lame humor, such as Dracula's race color commenter Vanna Pira's statements ("There's a red! There's a green!") Stop it, you're killing me! Literally! Dracula gets the only two funny lines in the whole movie, one about sunblock that even I'll admit made me crack a smile, and the second a riff at how "dead" his audience is since they're not laughing at his jokes. I know just how they feel, Drac.And of course there's Scrappy, the little turd that for once I'd wish Shaggy and Scooby wouldn't save! Just let him try some of that Puppy Power on Frankenstein, I'd love to see Scrappy become a puppy pancake! The only thing good about him in this movie is the fact that this is his final appearance; once "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" came along he was gone for good. And good riddance.H-B has since thankfully learned from its past sins, making some excellent direct to video Scooby-Doo cartoons in the late 90s and early 00s. The whole Mystery Inc. gang is back again, and Scrappy has mysteriously disappeared (hopefully Shag and Scoob finally realized how much an annoying hanger-on he really was and just left him behind in Transylvania to be eaten by the monsters! :) ) In any case, the formula has been improved, and Scooby-Doo is once again interesting to watch.Watch this movie as a final reminder of how off-base the series had gotten before H-B decided to take a breather and then return to the old mystery solving format. It's the last vestige of the Scrappy era stupidity, and like the other products of its time it's pretty much indistinguishable from every other 80s Scooby cartoon. In the end it was shallow, overlong and ultimately pointless, and I don't think Scrappy would want it any other way.5 out of 10, mostly because of Dracula's two good jokes and the happy feeling I have knowing Scrappy is out of the picture!