Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988)

 Scoob-Doo and the Ghoul School (1988) 3/5 Stars

One of my favorite title cards of all time

The second Scooby installment in the Hanna-Barbera's Superstars 10 syndicated movie package starts us off on a dark and stormy night with Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy in a van heading to their new job as gym teachers. Nothing out of the usual, except Scooby gets distracted by the opening credits of the movie, 

"Raggy! Rook! Righting!" 

"Writing?, don't you mean lightning?" 

"Ruh uh" 

Then the credits introduce the cast, with Scooby first, who then shifts the focus over to Shaggy, who says "Not while I'm driving" and pushes it away. 

So either they are so stoned they have reached Deadpool (Or maybe Deadpool reached their level) levels of awareness or they were already aware of their status. Kinda like Jack Slater at the end of Last Action Hero.  

Despite seeing nearly every episode of Scooby from "Where Are You?" thru "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" and handful of others, I do not have an encyclopedic knowledge of every plot beat from the show" So this may have happened a few times prior to this moment.

The basic premise of the movie is one that was well loved by 90's kids, a school of offbeat misfits is whipped into shape by an unlikely teacher who leads them to victory over their rival school. A well tested, tried and true concept.  

Except this time the misfits are the offspring of iconic monsters such as Dracula, Frankenstein's monster, and the Wolf Man.

And no ghoul school would be complete without a headmistress who is reminiscent of Elsa Lanchester.

L to R: Tanis (Patty Maloney), Winnie (Marilyn Schreffler), Phantasma (Russi Taylor), Sibella (Susan Blu), Elsa Frankenteen (Pat Musick), and Miss Grimwood (Glynis Johns).

A lot of the humor would seem to suggest that this is set in the macabrish humor stylings of The Addams family and/or The Munsters universe. Basically picture Shaggy, Scooby and Scrappy teaching at a Hogwarts for monsters. And there is even a Voldemort stand-in named Revolta. (Perhaps related to Rito Revolto and Rita Repulsa?).

Calloway's Military School is the rival school who primarily are only rivals on the field of sports. Beyond that, they are generally very accepting of the Ghouls, and Col. Calloway has at least a very cordial and polite diplomatic relationship with Miss Grimwood and the school. That at times recalls similar interactions between The Addams/Munsters and the nominally normal humans of those shows.

My favorite segment in the movie is the Parents day at the school, the adult monsters are sadly underutilized as they could've been used for an interesting team up movie with Mystery Inc. 

Much like "The Boo Brothers" before it, Ghoul School is seemingly comprised of three different scripts. I'm wondering if these were rejected scripts for various other Hanna-Barbera projects, and they just frankensteined them into one project that has very visible stitching.

Plot I: Scooby, Shaggy, and Scrappy end up as gym teachers at Miss Grimwood's School for Peculiar Children.

Plot II: School Rivalry

Plot III: Evil witch tries to take over the school for sinister purposes. Basically Xavier's School for the Gifted vs Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants. Making Scooby and Shaggy reluctant heroes. 

I will never not be distracted by the musical score for these movies, I have no idea why, aside from the cost, they decided one score for 10 movies was a good idea. Thankfully it doesn't contain any of the primary motifs associated with the various franchises, but it's still earritating (Lame pun alert). 

The cast of this Scooby movie is packed with legends and soon to be legends of TV animation, Just reading over the cast list is enough to give me warm nostalgic feelings. If you are a Millenial or animation buff, you'll probably get the same sense of nostalgia. 

Onto the cast: The main trio remain unchanged from "Boo Brothers"

Scooby & Scrappy [No change]: Don Messick  

Shaggy [No change] & Mirror Monster: Casey Kasem 

Guest Cast:

The Ghouls

Miss Grimwood: Glynis Johns (Mrs Banks; Mary Poppins 1964)

Matches the Dragon and Papa Werewolf: Frank Welker (Voice acting royalty at this point. Seriously, if you don't know who this is,  are you even a fan of animation)

Sibella: Susan Blu (Voice direction on both the 1987 and 2003 Ninja Turtles series, and so much more. Also occasional voice actress, Arcee in Transformers 1986 ).

Elsa Frankenteen: Pat Musick (Prolific guest voice actress most active in the 80's and early 90's, lending her vocals to a wide variety of projects. Mona Lisa:. TMNT, 1987, Snappy Smurf,  Tony Topini in An American Tail, 1986)

Phantasma: Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse, 1986-2019, Huey, Dewey, Louie and Webby: Ducktales 1987-1991),  A regular of both Hanna-Barbera and Disney animation from the 80's onward)

Tanis: Patty Maloney (Another unsung voice actor, reliable background voice in tons of stuff. Also was the puppeteer for the Cryptkeeper in the TV show and the cameo in Casper, 1995. Perhaps best known as Lois Addams in the 1991 movie)

Winnie the Werewolf: Marilyn Scheffler (A Hanna-Barbera stalwart of the late 70's and most of the 80's. She lent her vocals to nearly every animated show from that era)

Calloway's Military Academy

Colonel Calloway: Ronnie Schell (See "Boo Brothers" review,)

 Miguel: Aaron Lohr (Portman in Mighty Ducks franchise)

Tug Roper: Scott Menville (One of the best voice actors of the past 40 years has appeared in hundreds of projects since his debut. Notably Jonny Quest 1986-1987, Freddy Flintstone, Flintstone Kids, Red Herring, A Pup Named Scooby Doo. his most iconic role is as Robin in Teen Titans and Teen Titans Go!)

Baxter: Remy Auberjonois (Busy character actor showing up in a variety of roles)

Jamaal: Bumper Robinson (Has had several memorable voice turns as superheroes from both DC and Marvel. Cyborg, Black Lightning, Sam Wilson, James Rhodes etc. Also was a regular on the final 2 seasons of the 1987 TMNT cartoon)

Grunt: Jeff B. Cohen (Forever Chunk from The Goonies. Retired from acting and is now an Entertainment Lawyer

Parent Monsters

Dracula & Frankenstein: Zale Kessler (You know his face, but not his name, another reliable character who seemingly popped up everywhere)

Phantom Father: Hamilton Camp (See "Boo Brothers" for more on him)

Mummy Daddy and Phantom Creeper: Andre Stojka (Owl in the Winnie the Pooh franchise 1997-onward)

The Big Bad

Revolta: Ruta Lee (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The voice of Milton Berle in Cracking Up, also steady and reliable television performer for 60 years)  

Overall an enjoyable if slightly below average entry in the franchise.