Review of Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular (2003) by Bryan G — 23 Oct 2009

Being a kid who enjoyed Halloween more than any other holiday, I've always had a soft spot for movies that featured children and monsters, especially ones where they got along. Ezekiel Norton's adaptation of Jill Thompson's popular Scary Godmother comic and children's book series isn't particularly great. But it has great respect for the holiday, and puts some adorable little children in a situation involving the nicest monsters anyone could come across.

The animation, done by Mainframe Entertainment (responsible for CGI animated series like ReBoot and Transformers: Beast Wars), isn't going to blow you away but the animators do a nice job at bringing Thompson's characters to life. The backgrounds are a little bland, but this allows the characters to pop out more and feel more alive.

The voice acting is pretty good as well. I really like Tabitha St. Germain as the Scary Godmother, and also enjoyed Britt McKillip as the adorable Hannah Marie, who comes across Scary Godmother and the other monsters after a prank by her mean spirited cousin Jimmy. Some voices do get on my nerves, like Scott McNeil's effeminate take on Skully Pettibone, a living skeleton. And at times Gary Chalk's role of Harry the Werewolf can be a little heavy handed.

There really isn't much to Scary Godmother Halloween Spooktakular, but this television special has grown to become one of my favorites to watch during Halloween. It is a lot of fun, surprisingly humorous at times and has some pretty good music to it as well. It might not be the best animated movie about Halloween, but it is one that is worth the annual viewing.