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ARTICLE
DVD Review: Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy
by R.J. Carter Published: August 25, 2006
Rating: Country: USA Release Date: August 29, 2006 Distributor: Anchor Bay Director: · Ezekiel Norton Cast: · Gary Chalk · Scott McNeil · Tabitha St. Germain Related Sites: ·IMDb: Scary Godmother: The Revenge of Jimmy
Grade: A+
Way back when I was just a pimply-faced wet-behind-the-ears cub reporter for a great metropolitan website devoted to comic books, I had the opportunity to interview Jill Thompson. It was my first telephone interview. I was looking forward to it with breathless expectation. I worked up a list of "she's never been asked this, before" questions. And then the day came when I picked up the phone, dialed the number, and started talking.
And blew it bigger than Peter Potamus with a giant birthday cake. It could have all ended for me there and then, except that Jill worked tirelessly with the source material I had written down -- most of it incorrectly, I might add! -- and whipped it up into something that passed for an interview.
That's the magic of Jill Thompson.
Now many moons have passed, or at least a couple of years, and one of the things she and I discussed -- her Scary Godmother graphic novels -- has been transformed into CGI animated cartoon specials! This second holiday, "The Revenge of Jimmy", will be the focus of this review. And the best part is that, regardless of my indebtedness, the cartoon is really a treat that appeals both to children and grown-ups!
Scary Godmother and Hannah share a moment
after saving Halloween.
In the first Scary Godmother special, Jimmy and his friends sought to scare Jimmy's younger cousin, Hannah. But Hanna has friends in the fright business -- her Scary Godmother and the rest of the crew that live in Ackerman Forest, just over on the Fright Side: Harry the Werewolf, an erudite yet lazy candy-craving beast; Skully Pettibone, Scary Godmother's right-hand skeleton; Bug-a-Boo, a multi-eyed ball of... something... that lives under the bed; and the vampire family of Count Max, his wife Ruby and their son Orson. With all their help, Jimmy and his friends got the bejabbers scared out of them, and Hannah had an excellent Halloween.
This year, Jimmy's friends have figured that the monsters of last year were just some older kids having a laugh on them. And they've even decided that Hannah is kind of cool. Not Jimmy, though. Jimmy knows that the monsters were real, and he's dreading the approach of Halloween when they can come and get him. He's laid out all kinds of monster traps in his room to stop them. But that's not enough. No, Jimmy gets an idea. An awful idea! Jimmy got a wonderful, awful idea!
Oops. Sorry, wrong holiday special.
Jimmy decides the best, permanent solution to his monster dilemma is to prevent Halloween from coming at all. First he vandalizes all the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch by kicking holes in all of them. Because without pumpkins, as Mr. Pettibone puts it, "you can't have Jack... O'Lantern." October 31st begins to shrink on Scary Godmother's calendar, and everyone goes into a panic.
But nothing can daunt the optimistic Hannah and her Halloween spirit. But Jimmy is tireless, and each of his efforts to keep Halloween from coming results in more damage to the Fright Side for Hannah to have to undo. Fortunately, by the time all is said and done, Jimmy finds his Halloween spirit (and his heart grew three sizes that day!) and the kids and monsters have a spooktacular time at Scary Godmother's Halloween party.
With top-notch CGI animation, some clever humor, and a positively charming story, The Revenge of Jimmy is a Scary Godmother tale that deserves a rerun each and every Halloween. But just in case the network execs lose their nerve and play something else instead, this DVD release from Anchor Bay will more than suffice, providing extra features that include storyboards, some deleted scenes, and more.
Scary Godmother and Hannah share a moment
after saving Halloween.