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Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School

Warner Bros. // Unrated // June 4, 2002
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]

Review by Phillip Duncan | posted June 26, 2002 | E-mail the Author
This DVD should have come with a warning label. WARNING! May contain scenes of Scrappy Doo that can induce vomiting or other violent reactions. Seriously, 1 most fans, or non-fans, hate Scrappy Doo and I'm no exception. The annoying little nephew of Scooby isn't mentioned anywhere on the package or pictures (probably a smart marketing decision), but he appears within the first minute of the film and the fun never stops.

Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy have taken a job at Miss Grimwood's School for Ghouls. It's an all girl ghoul school that houses the daughters of famous monsters like Dracula, the Wolfman and the Phantom. Ever the cowards, Shaggy and Scooby want to leave immediately after learning the truth of their new job, but they are bound by a contract and of course Scrappy speaks for the gang and they agree to stay and teach the girls how to dance and win the local competition. Joy of joys it a chance to see Shaggy, Scooby and the rest wearing pink tutus and dancing to the music.

But what would a Scooby movie be without a mystery. After a lengthy subplot involving the neighbor military school, the villain Revolta is revealed. She's hatching a plot to kidnap the girls to make her the most powerful web-witch (whatever that is) around. She plans to use Shaggy and the rest to capture the girls and it turn capture the girls' fathers, hence making her the most powerful monster.

One by one, the kids are captured and hypnotized by Revolta. It's up to Scooby and Shaggy to go undercover in Revolta's lair to rescue them. One inside, Shaggy becomes possessed and Scooby is own his own. Scrappy enlists the help of the school mascot and Shaggy breaks the curse on himself and they are all reunited while trying to save Scooby. The thin plots, the military school and Revolta, collide as the cartoon nears its end. With the students freed, it's up to them to help Shaggy, Scooby and the military schoolboys to finish off Revolta. Things finish up with another sickening dose of Scrappy and the gang dancing to Scrappy's rap. Yes, I said Scrappy's rap.

Video: Produced for television in 1988, the animation looks bright but slightly muddy. I've always been a fan of animation and especially loved the way DVD brings out the colors and contrast of it. That can sometimes be a bad thing when the color palette is muted or the transfer isn't great and that happens on this disc from time to time. The high quality transfer shows the flaws of the animation as well as the color.

Audio: The Dolby digital Mono soundtrack sounds good, but is lacking when compared to what's readily available on most other DVDs.

Extras: There are several extras on the disc, but most are too bad to watch. The two music videos are clips of footage from old cartoons with the worst possible singing imaginable over them. The guessing game is simple enough and lasts for only a few questions. The get the picture feature, billed as showing how to draw Shaggy and Scooby, merely shows an artist draw them quickly with no hints or instructions. Lastly, there are trailers for all of the other Scooby videos and the new feature film included as well.

Overall: It may sound like I don't like Scooby Doo, but I do. I can't stand Scrappy, so the video had one strike already. Add to that the fact that this felt like three separate episodes joined horribly together and stretched to fill time and you get an idea of how bad this one is. I'd recommend skipping this altogether and picking up the DVDs released of the original cartoons. I haven't seen them, but they have to be better than this.

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