Absolutely fantastic for children! I used to love it. Fun, spooky, memorable. Definitely worth a watch! It completely shaped my taste in films and even my life! I'm a bit biased, obviously, but I remember it as a wonderful film.
12 Reviews
Scraping for Similarities
klolson5421 October 2009
I find myself curiously looking forward to seeing Scary Godmother Movie. Not a glowing review, at first glance, but beneath it is high approval. I'm very critical of the air-brushed look of some video games and CGI animation; so for me to look forward to "Scary G" means something of content got through. That... is what every program creator secretly wants to hear. Is "je ne sais quoi" over doing it? Well that's my take on it. But something else nags me. "Hanna" the lead in "Scary G" reminds me so much of "Cathy" from "Monster Buster Club" that I find myself scrounging for a connection. MBC is a Marathon France/Canada product with ties to Jetix and Disney Chanel. Now "Scary G" is from Canada but I got no more than that yet (as far as IMDb says). Sometimes animators do carry-over styles from one production house to the next (see Annime) but I'm holding out for a more direct connection. Anyone care to chime in?
Modern Campy Cult Classic for the Spooky Season
elicopperman19 October 2023
The Scary Godmother books by Jill Thompson were a series of Halloween related spoofs on the fairy godmother trope. While it's hard to say how well known the original books are today, they did inspire a made for television adaptation called Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular. Created by legendary CG animation company Mainframe Entertainment (or Rainmaker today), this special has been regarded as somewhat of a cult classic since its release in 2003 (2004 on Cartoon Network). Looking back on the special today, while definitely dated in some capacity, its corny embracement of Halloween is still delightful.
The special focuses on a little girl named Hannah Marie, who encounters the title character and her many friends for a Halloween party, while her cousin Jimmy and his friends want to trick or treat without her. With that premise intact, the special's main theme is overcoming your fears, as the Scary Godmother herself tries to show Hannah that not all monsters are as bad as they appear. The many acquaintances around Scary Godmother include her flamboyant roommate Mr. Skully Pettibone, Harry the ravenously dramatic werewolf, Bug-A-Boo the fuzzy monster who only scares kids for work, and the vampire parents Count Max and Countess Ruby, and son Orson. In addition to some phenomenal voice acting courtesy of Tabitha St. Germain, Scott MnNeil, Gary Chalk and more, these characters make the special work from their corny personalities and witty banter. Meanwhile, the older kids Hanna is around are a bit too pompous and stupid for their own good, although their payoff is well earned and only further adds into the point to never doubt the consequences of your actions.
Going more into the special's quality, perhaps the most infamous aspect of the whole show is its delightfully dated animation. The backgrounds and environments themselves appear to reflect a watercolor approach to fit the idea that this is a storybook come to life. Meanwhile, the character designs reflect an uncanny inspiration to stop-motion halloween films of years prior, allowing their movements to feel janky and distorted while still going all out in broad acting and gestures. At a time when people behind computer animation had no proper understanding of the technology's limitations, products like this stick out well in how much they went all out in embracing the unlimited possibilities of animation as an artform. Also, the music score fits in with the cheesy tone so well that it's hard not to dance around whenever the characters do at the same time, especially when the mood gets intense. Perhaps the only real downside is the lack of proper musical numbers, but that would have padded out too much time to begin with, so the music at least gets the job done as well as anything else.
20 years since its release and Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular still holds up as a wonderfully corny modern Halloween classic. In a day and age where most Halloween specials are either focused more on the fear factor or mere kiddy fodder, specials like these come around to mix in the scares and humor without losing respect for its target audience. As the special would later result in a sequel and become popular in recent years thanks to social media, it's no wonder that it's deemed a cult favorite today. If you ever have time this Halloween season, this special is waiting for you to check out.
The special focuses on a little girl named Hannah Marie, who encounters the title character and her many friends for a Halloween party, while her cousin Jimmy and his friends want to trick or treat without her. With that premise intact, the special's main theme is overcoming your fears, as the Scary Godmother herself tries to show Hannah that not all monsters are as bad as they appear. The many acquaintances around Scary Godmother include her flamboyant roommate Mr. Skully Pettibone, Harry the ravenously dramatic werewolf, Bug-A-Boo the fuzzy monster who only scares kids for work, and the vampire parents Count Max and Countess Ruby, and son Orson. In addition to some phenomenal voice acting courtesy of Tabitha St. Germain, Scott MnNeil, Gary Chalk and more, these characters make the special work from their corny personalities and witty banter. Meanwhile, the older kids Hanna is around are a bit too pompous and stupid for their own good, although their payoff is well earned and only further adds into the point to never doubt the consequences of your actions.
Going more into the special's quality, perhaps the most infamous aspect of the whole show is its delightfully dated animation. The backgrounds and environments themselves appear to reflect a watercolor approach to fit the idea that this is a storybook come to life. Meanwhile, the character designs reflect an uncanny inspiration to stop-motion halloween films of years prior, allowing their movements to feel janky and distorted while still going all out in broad acting and gestures. At a time when people behind computer animation had no proper understanding of the technology's limitations, products like this stick out well in how much they went all out in embracing the unlimited possibilities of animation as an artform. Also, the music score fits in with the cheesy tone so well that it's hard not to dance around whenever the characters do at the same time, especially when the mood gets intense. Perhaps the only real downside is the lack of proper musical numbers, but that would have padded out too much time to begin with, so the music at least gets the job done as well as anything else.
20 years since its release and Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular still holds up as a wonderfully corny modern Halloween classic. In a day and age where most Halloween specials are either focused more on the fear factor or mere kiddy fodder, specials like these come around to mix in the scares and humor without losing respect for its target audience. As the special would later result in a sequel and become popular in recent years thanks to social media, it's no wonder that it's deemed a cult favorite today. If you ever have time this Halloween season, this special is waiting for you to check out.
Dark childlike fun!!
johnsongoyan-116 September 2003
I went in worried. I love Jill Thompson's work and Scary Godmother has always touched that slightly dark, yet very childlike side of my sense of humor. I was impressed, Ezekial Norton and his crew have really grasped the universe that Jill had created. The story is right but more than that I saw in the characters and animation what I had seen in the Comic book. Make sure to check this one out, I think it's fun for all ages. My niece is a huge fan as well and spent the whole show laughing and calling out the names of the characters. I am truly hoping that we will see more work of Jill's work (and the Scary G crew) and hopefully the Director and his team will be there to wow me again.
Well that was...something
benjamin_james-4901512 October 2015
Warning: Spoilers
Warning: The following contains spoilers; if you haven't seen this movie you might want to before reading this review. As a kid, I used to see this movie on Cartoon Network and thought it was a unique and funny Halloween special. Looking back at it now, I now see that it's not that good of a movie; the main problem here is the animation. While it's better than Spookley the Square Punmpkin, it's still really weak as if Jimmy ScreamerClauz (the creator of Where the Dead go to Die) made this after graduating from CalArts yet still share similar quality. The characters have a laughably bad design and while the animation is more fluent than Where the Dead go to Die, it still looks as unfinished as that film. With that out of the way, let's look at the story; on Halloween night, 5 kids (Jimmy, Bert, Daryl, Katie and Hannah) in the graveyard planning out their trick or treating when Jimmy decides to scare Hannah before they actually go trick or treating. The kids put Hannah in a haunted house and lock the door behind here, leaving her to cry her eyes out. Just then, Scary Godmother appears to cheer her up and take her to another dimension where she's hosting a "Spooktacular" party with her friends. These include Mr. Skully Pettibone, Bug-A- Boo, Harry the Werewolf, Count Maxwell the vampire and his wife and kid, Ruby and Orson. Once all the guests arrive, Hannah becomes less and less afraid of monsters after getting to know them and eventually they become her friends. Meanwhile, Jimmy, Bert, Daryl, and Katie are doing nothing of value to the plot except waiting for Hannah to come out of the house. When they finally decide to go in to get Hannah, she and her monster friends scare the day lights out of them in the funniest scene in the entire movie. It then ends with Scary Godmother giving Hannah a key that, once inserted into any door, will take her back to her house. The story, while better than the animation, still has it's flaws; for example, apart from Hannah, Katie is the only other girl in the group, so why is she more concerned about kissing Daryl than Hannah's safety? Also, Hannah gave them all chocolate bars in the beginning, so why do they agree to scare her? Comedy-wise, apart from that one scene, the jokes fall flat left and right. Now let's talk characters; Hannah is the only character that goes through a character arc and learns something at the end of the day; Jimmy is a jerk to his cousin, Daryl has a crush on Katie (and vice versa) and Bert is only here for that one joke about his Halloween costume which wasn't funny the first time and never became funny by the end of the movie. In contrast, Scary Godmother is bursting with personality as well as Mr. Skully Pettibone. The vampire family is decent at best, Harry is an annoying chatter box and the rest of the cast knows this (thankfully he gets punished for his ignorance) and Bug-A-Boo has a unique personality but unfortunately he has the ugliest character design in the movie, which is fitting because, well, he's a monster. Now this movie was based on a book by Jill Thompson, and I can only imagine that the book was better because this is a pretty lackluster Halloween special. With rather bad animation, a flawed story and only half of the characters, I can't really recommend this to kids. However, I guess I could recommend this as a film that's fun to make fun of. While there are other Halloween specials much better than this, at least some enjoyment can come from this movie as opposed to Spookley the Square Pumkin
I miss when Cartoon Network Would Air This Hallowen Special
GravityLoudHouseLover116 October 2018
Happy Halloween Everybody Since its October I'm finally going to review something for Halloween like the 2003 Cartoon Network Halloween Special Scary Godmother: Halloween Spooktakular. This Special is about little girl Named Hannah who gets tricked into going a Scary House by her Cousin Jimmy. She meets Scary Godmother and her Halloween Friends like Harry The Werewolf and others. This Halloween Special is awesome & I wish Cartoon Network would bring it back. Also this Special had a sequel in 2005 that was also awesome. 10/10
2:30 in the morning
skbar-2891616 November 2019
I'm sitting here with my 3 year old at 2:30am and she wanted to watch scary godmother for the 20th time in a week. I showed her this on Halloween to make sure she wasn't scared to go trick or treating. And she loves it. It was my favorite growing up as well and it will never get old. It's not the best of quality for 2019 but neither are black and white films.
Nostalgic, innocent fun.
theninjagummybear21 August 2017
If there's anything in the world that can make me excited for Halloween, it's my traditional viewing of the Scary Godmother movies. Many people's main complaint about this title is the quality of the animation. I never thought that it was really bad, and I still don't think so even now. I grew up watching this on cartoon network every October. I have started showing it to my nephews every year, and when I have children, I will show it to them. This movie holds a place in my heart akin to the way Rudolph, Frosty the snowman, and Nightmare before Christmas do. It's just one of those movies.
A wildly funny Halloween Special
ja_kitty_7127 October 2007
Normally, I would stick with good old-fashioned 2D animation. But I would make an exception with this CGI Halloween special. As I have said many times, Halloween is also my favorite holiday, as I have said many times.
I love the two stars of the show: Scary Godmother herself, who is wildly funny, and Hannah Marie, who is adorable. I loved it when Katie and Daryl reenacted when Hannah left to go trick-or-treating. It is also funny when the kids get scared out of their wits, as when Hannah and her new friends teach her nasty cousin Jimmy and Katie, Daryl, and Bert a lesson they'll never forget on Halloween night. Kind of like that Donald Duck cartoon "Trick or Treat," huh? Only without a magic potion.
I love the two stars of the show: Scary Godmother herself, who is wildly funny, and Hannah Marie, who is adorable. I loved it when Katie and Daryl reenacted when Hannah left to go trick-or-treating. It is also funny when the kids get scared out of their wits, as when Hannah and her new friends teach her nasty cousin Jimmy and Katie, Daryl, and Bert a lesson they'll never forget on Halloween night. Kind of like that Donald Duck cartoon "Trick or Treat," huh? Only without a magic potion.
Neat Halloween Classic
jeremycrimsonfox10 October 2020
Jimmy has to take his little cousin Hannah trick-or-treating, and because she is slow and scared, Jimmy and his friend trick her into the Spook House on a story that monsters will eat everyone if the new kid does not give them candy, hoping it will scare her to the point of running home. However, things take a turn for the better, as Hannah soon meets her Scary Godmother, a witch who actually came because she cried, and soon, she is taken to her house in the Fright Side, to meet her monster friends and have a party (and even get back at Jimmy and his friends).
This is a neat Halloween special for kids. Made by Mainframe Entertainment (the company that brought us ReBoot, Beast Wars Transformers, and the 2000 incarnation of Action Man), this is a sweet special. Hannah is scared of monsters, and meeting Scary Godmother's roomates (from Skully Pettibone, the skeleton in the closet who wears a top hat and acts fancy, to Harry the gluttonous werewolf, to Bug-A-Boo, a monster who hides under the bed), the monsters are all friendly and Hannah learns not all monsters are evil and scary. Also, the voice actors are great and the story is heartwarming.
This is a neat Halloween special for kids. Made by Mainframe Entertainment (the company that brought us ReBoot, Beast Wars Transformers, and the 2000 incarnation of Action Man), this is a sweet special. Hannah is scared of monsters, and meeting Scary Godmother's roomates (from Skully Pettibone, the skeleton in the closet who wears a top hat and acts fancy, to Harry the gluttonous werewolf, to Bug-A-Boo, a monster who hides under the bed), the monsters are all friendly and Hannah learns not all monsters are evil and scary. Also, the voice actors are great and the story is heartwarming.
Classic
gillianvineyardhendricks17 October 2020
Me and my brother watched this movie when we was extremely young and we finally found it again, we vividly remember watching this every halloween and being extremely excited when it finally came on the t.v.,this was and forever will be a classic
Nice!
nbbfilms30 October 2012
Best movie I've ever seen!!! Definitely watch it! But why does the main character's voice go from deep to high from the first movie to the second? Huh? Anyway, I made popcorn before this movie and I was laughing out loud so much that I almost choked on it! So funny! I do not want to give anything away, so I will not say my favorite part, but it was the best movie ever! I rate it 10/10 stars and it is worth watching for all ages. Writing, character development, animation, acting, all great! The only thing I didn't like was that the monsters were very spooky! Whoa! But all in all, I guarantee that you will love this movie!!! I can't believe how great it is!
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