Monster Mash (2000)

Let's be realistic.

good back-story, and good acting

Absolutely brilliant

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

I'd say this was the worst Halloween special ever made, except nobody ever saw it, and if they did, it was so forgettable that they probably didn't remember seeing it. The animation is low quality, often re-using animation. The songs are terrible, with the only one that was bearable being the titular song, and they do admittedly try to add a new touch to it by remixing it as a dance song, but it has no connection with the story itself. The characters have no character, especially the main family. The big running joke with them is that they're fat (hyuk, hyuk!) and all their personalities are stereotypes. Meanwhile, it sucks away all the dignity of Frankenstein, Dracula and the Wolfman, while completely misunderstanding the original stories (Frankenstein didn't WANT to scare people; it's like they've never even seen the original movie). The only characters that were likable were the villains, based on the Alien from Alien, Chucky from Child's Play, and one who was a combination of Freddy Krueger and Jason Voorhees; only problem is, they never get any development in it. The slapstick isn't funny, with its sloppy movement and predictable and corny jokes and gags making me believe that its creators need to take a lesson from Tom and Jerry. The voice acting is hilariously bad, taking talented voice actors such as Scott McNeil and Tabitha St. Germain and forcing them to read such bad dialogue with silly voices. But the worst part is the script, which at the end decides to deliver a heavy-handed message about how the old movie monsters are better and scarier than the new ones. No, after delivering such juvenile entertainment, you do not have the right to put a message like that. And it's a contrived one, too; the old monsters aren't better, they were scary for their time but then became less so, and then they were replaced but then those monsters became less scary, and then they were replaced afterwards, etc. By the year it was released (2000), the characters who the villains were based on had already decayed, so this movie was obsolete even at the time it was released. It's quite forgettable, and I think DIC Entertainment wants the audience to forget they ever saw it. They shoved it on the same DVD as two much more entertaining Halloween specials (from Alvin and the Chipmunks, and Archie), and it's quite short, just barely over an hour long. I guess it was intended for really little kids, but all I can say is, I feel sorry for the parents who have to watch it with them.

This is an awesome kid-friendly tribute to the classic monsters and a look at how they hold up against the monsters of modern-day. I liked this one upon first viewing. Some films need to grow on a person and others are enjoyed the first go-round. "Monster Mash" is the latter. I can promise you that.The story is very well written. The voice cast is phenomenal. Unfortunately, the quality of animation is a little low (If you've seen TV's "Sonic Underground" -also from DiC- this is more of the same) but that is the only blemish I could see. I'm not going to spoil the plot for anybody other than we see Frank, Drac, and Wolf (you know what their full names are) attempt to scare a typical family (with hilarious results). But, I will say this is an awesome Halloween party flick for the kids and adults will enjoy this as an alternative to the gory slashers that are all special effects and no performance.I give "Monster Mash" 9 out of 10 stars. The one negative star is for the afore-mentioned low quality animation (We've all seen better come from DiC). This title might be difficult to obtain outside the Halloween season but, if you could locate a copy, get it! I just wish the DVD would have a "Scene Selection" but that's just personal preference.

This is a very different animated feature. Its funny in some parts and the animation is good but different. The voices are cool! The famous Monster Mash song is present as are some other songs and the original Monster Mash song is included after the end credits! If you would like to watch a different animated feature around Halloween time then this is it!

NOTE: Minor spoilers. I doubt if you will watch it anyhow.If only Bobby Pickett had known the horrors his classic song would inspire, perhaps we would never have his song "Monster Mash" played every Halloween. More importantly, this inept cartoon movie would never have been made. Now, I know that cartoon movies for kids are often judged on a different tangent than all other films, but there is just no way I can grit my teeth and give this awful film a break. The public must be warned."Monster Mash," and I mean the film, is about as brainless as you can get. The plot involves three aging ghouls (Dracula, Frankenstein, the Wolfman) that, after making fools of themselves on national television, have lost the ability to be scary. They are taken to a monster court where a skeleton judge orders them to scare one family by the end of the next day. The family are the Tinklemeisters. Dad is a dog groomer, Mom is a neat-freak, Spike is a boy-genius that doesn't speak but whistles, and Stella is just there to talk when Spike can't as she has no character of her own. After a few lame attempts to scare the Tinklemeisters, the trio up and whisks them away to their castle. Not surprisingly, Spike is the only one that is not fearful. The fact that three of the four have been scared worries the Grim Reaper, who prosecuted the case, so he sends three modern monsters to the castle, which immediately seems like a real stupid and counter-productive thing to do.Cartoon movies that try to have fun with the Halloween genre are open to great satire, but "Monster Mash" pumps out lame scene after lame scene. The courtroom scene is full of lame lines. For example, everyone refers to the skeleton judge as "Your Ogre." That might be funny if the judge was really an OGRE. The animation feels like it came right out of a Saturday morning cartoon show, but without the fun feeling that it is Saturday. But by far the most excruciating thing about it are the songs. The famous title song is just thrown in the beginning just to be in the movie, and the rest of them are downright awful songs, particularly the one sung by the Tinklemeisters called "Waiting for Spike." Why is it that Disney has forced all other animation companies, in this case DIC, to think they have to throw in songs? As a word of warning, I strongly urge parents to not watch this with their kids. Actually, don't give it to your kids, either. There are only tow good things about this. One is that there was one bit of creativity in one of the modern monsters, a parody of Jason Voorhees, called Freddie Spaghetti, whose head is made of matter-eating noodles. The other good thing is that it is short, clocking at a little over an hour. But in the version I saw, DIC threw in an episode of Jim Varney's "Hey Vern, It's Ernest" from 1988. I can't for the life of me figure out why DIC did this, other than a flat-out attempt at redemption. But they were beyond that long ago. DIC has created a monster. Zantara's score: 2 out of 10.