My Episode Review on Scooby-Doo! The Spooky Scarecrow
Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?
This is your friendly film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, for my 32nd episode analysis, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow".
Here's the summary of it:
It's nearly Halloween, and Scooby-Doo and the gang have arrived in Cobb Corner to join in on the town's Harvest Festival.
However, when a fearsome Scarecrow called Cornfield Clem comes to life and terrorizes the town, Halloween and the Harvest Festival are put into jeopardy.
Will Scooby and friends capture the Scarecrow and solve the mystery? Or will the town of Cobb Corner not have any festivities and cower before Cornfield Clem?
Having been looking for an opportunity to watch and review this special for some time, I figured that it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and do so now before my series of reviews for July comes.
I really must say that this special was another Scooby-Doo treat that I enjoyed. I had so much fun with it I couldn't help but consider it a top favorite Scooby-Doo installment.
Here's why:
The direction by Michael Goguen, and the story by Paul Dini and Misty Lee, were awesome!
A big thing I enjoyed was that they made the narrative vastly unpredictable, especially in terms of who's posing as Cornfield Clem. As I watched the special, I noted that Goguen and the writers were able to make it seem like any one of the suspects was the monster and not just the one person, so it wasn't obvious who Cornfield Clem turned out to be. Along with that, the humor aspect of the special was fun and nicely worked to a tee, especially to where viewers like me could hardly resist laughing.
The animation was amazing, if I may add. I loved how theatrical everything appeared to be, and the comic book visualization was as appealing to look at as ever. The fact that the animators don't know when to stop increasing the quality look has been deeply surprising to me, as it showed that they weren't willing to cease themselves from extending their creativity.
The special's music by Robert J. Kral was a noticeably magnificent ear-catcher, really. I know I never commented on what I thought of the music for "Spooky Games" and "Mecha-Mutt Menace", but that was because they didn't stand out to me enough to take note of. I loved how Kral was able to literally throw himself into composing this episode's music. He not only came up with melodies that matched every single moment, but he captured the tone and emotions of the characters as well.
Finally, the vocal performances and characters were excellent. It continually amazes me how the performers seemed to put so much personality into their roles, and the fact that they've been throwing themselves into their characters both physically and emotionally was terrific. It was the performances of Frank Welker and Matthew Lillard as Scooby and Shaggy that I enjoyed the most in this short, and the two characters themselves had all of the best moments. Guest performer Gary Anthony Williams also didn't cease himself from standing out with his portrayal of Mayor Husk.
In conclusion, "Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow" is another Scooby-Doo installment that I'm proud to have watched. It's not only one of the most entertaining and intriguing of the six direct-to-video specials, but it hits all of the right notes at being a modern Scooby-Doo installments done right.
So, I rate "Scooby-Doo! and the Spooky Scarecrow" five out of five stars.
