Source.

The answer to the age old question “Scooby-Doo! Where are you?”  is ‘here‘.  It’s time for the next five Scooby movies. We left off last week with the worst movie yet, and spoiler alert, the worst of the lot. Now we move on to one of (if not) the best Scooby movies.  Let’s get started.  Oh, and there are SPOILERS ahead to be aware of that.

                        

Years ago, sometime in the mid to late 90's, I saw this movie on cartoon network. I loved it. Even then I knew it was a quality product.

“Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island” is a great leap forward for the Scooby franchise. For starters it takes a darker more mature look at the premise.

When the movie opens we learn that the gang have gone their separate ways. Daphne is a reporter,  Fred is her producer and camera man, Velma owns and operates a book store, and Shaggy & Scooby are working as airport security.

Of course it is only a matter of minutes before the gang is back together and on the hunt for a real supernatural occurrence. You see after years of debunking numerous ghosts and monsters Daphne wants to find something real.

That is the set up. What follows is a great movie. As I said last week this movie does not feature Don Messick as Scooby. Up till this point he was the only man to voice the character. Scott Innes took over the role and did a very good job. There was also another change in the voice cast. Casey Kasem does not voice Shaggy in this film. He was adamant about only voicing the character if Shaggy was a vegetarian like Kasem. As such Shaggy is played by Billy West who also does a very good job. In fact it was years before I realized that Kasem wasn't playing him.

The voice acting, animation (done by the Japanese animation studio Mook Animation), story, direction, every aspect of this movie is great. Considering it was written by Glenn Leopold who wrote for Doug and Davis Doi who wrote for Dexter's Laboratory, how could it not?

I could give a detailed synopsis of this movie but I don't want to spoil any of it for you. So suffice it to say it's the best Scooby-Doo story period. Watch it.

10 out of 10

Next up is “Scooby Doo! and the Witch's Ghost“. This film is in the same continuity as Zombie Island. Continuity isn't a big thing in these movies, but as a comic book guy I love me some continuity, so when it happens it makes me smile.

Before we get into the plot I have to mention that Shaggy is now being played by Scott Innes. Here's a fun thought. Every scene of Scooby and Shaggy talking to each other is just Scott Innes talking to himself. Imagine those conversations as the inner monolougue of a man with a split personality.

Since this is in the same continuity as Zombie Island the gang now know that the supernatural is real. It's never stated outright but they do come off as less skeptical.

     

 Totally not evil.

So we kick off with the gang solving a mystery with the help of a mystery novelist named Ben Ravencroft, who Velma is a huge fan of. With a name like that and the fact he is voiced by Tim Curry it should come as no surprise that the guy is our villain.

Ben invites the gang to his home town, which has been turned into a tourist trap thanks to the mayor. In a somewhat distasteful turn the mayor is using the legend of Ben's ancestor, a supposed witch who was killed by the town's folk and became a vengeful ghost, to lure in tourist. Ben of course is not happy about this, especially since he is adamant that Sarah Ravencroft was not a witch. 

It's only a short while before Scooby and Shaggy meet the ghost and the gang is on the case. This leads to the introduction of a group of characters that have become something of a Scooby Doo mainstay the Hex Girls.

   

The Hex Girls are an all girl Goth rock band. They look like they should be our villains but actually help the gang multiple times in different movies and series.

   

The gang of course doesn't know that so they, Thorn specifically, become our red herring (see above) for the movie.

This movie takes a slightly odd turn when the mystery is solved halfway through the run time. The mayor and a few of the towns folk, including Thorn's father, are faking the ghost to bring in tourist. So movie over right?

Wrong. Remember how I said Ben was adamant that his aunt wasn't a witch? Well he told the gang that if he could find his aunt's journal he could prove her innocence. Of course Velma finds the book leading to a happy ending.

Nope!

 It turns out Ben was lying. His aunt was a witch and he wants to release her ghost so that he can take over the world. What follows is an epic battle between good and evil. Also a giant turkey.

All in all this is a solid movie but I found it a little dull. Thinking back on it now it sort of felt like one of those Stephen King mini series. Except in Massachusetts instead of Maine. It isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, but after Zombie Island it is a step down. Maybe I just find Zombie's Louisiana setting more exciting than small town Massachusetts.

The voice acting is great, Scott Innes is a good Shaggy and Tim Curry is fantastic, when is he not? Mook Animation did the animation for this one and it is just as good as Zombie Island.

Even though I felt this one was a little dull it's still solid and worth your time.

8 out of 10.

After two dark, well dark for Scooby Doo, movies we move into something a little lighter. The next movie is "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders".

This movie, to me at least, feels like an actual episode of Scooby Doo, mainly do to the reveal at the end but I'm getting ahead of myself.

The basic plot of this movie pretty simple. The gang are driving somewhere, I don’t know if it’s ever stated exactly where, when shit happens. First Shaggy, who is driving oddly enough, takes a wrong turn during a sandstorm, then he spots a UFO and wrecks the mystery machine. What follows is a very run of the mil Scooby style mystery.

The gang meets different people, they separate, they are chased, and at the end they solve a mystery.

One thing this movie does have going for it are a few interesting characters. Firstly you have Lester, who by all accounts should be the villain, I mean he is a creepy old man. Instead he turns out to be a nice, but weird, old many who puts the gang for a few days, and may or may not have been abducted by aliens.


         

 Actually not the bad guy.

The thing about Lester is that while he seems nice enough I wouldn’t stay with him. I mean why would you willingly go into the home of man who swears he was abducted by aliens? The guy screams "I have an alien costume and am going to use it to scare you!". The gang should know better.

We are also introduced to Crystal and her dog Amber. They are Shaggy and Scooby’s love interests in the movie. Can I just say that Scooby falling for a dog just seems odd to me. I know he is a dog, but he can talk. In my mind that makes him very human. So seeing him making googily eyes at a normal dog is just off putting.

Okay so this movie is about aliens. Like the last two movies the creatures are real, but it’s a little different this time. The bad guys are not aliens, they’re just assholes in costumes, but aliens are real (as are jackalopes). Crystal and Amber are actually aliens. They were in the UFO that caused Shaggy to run off the road.  After the bad guys are caught the two leave to return home.
                                
                          

This movie really plays up how much Shaggy and Scooby are in love.  There is a love song and we even get  kiss, although that happens in Shaggy’s mind.  I liked the romantic subplot. It’s nice to see Shaggy and Scooby as something other than simple clowns. I do have to wonder what happened to Googie. I like to think that she and Shaggy had a tumultuous break up over him quitting racing to work in an airport.  (This movie is in continuity with the previous two. There is a scene where Shaggy is telling Crystal about the Witch’s ghost.)

This movie is not as good as the previous two. I prefer my Scooby movies to have a little bit more edge. Having said that, it is a quick watch and isn't bad by any stretch of the imagination. The animation, once again by Mook, is good as is the voice acting. There's no Tim Curry though.

What we got instead is Jennifer Love Hewitt singing "Scooby Doo, Where are you?". The music in The Witch's Ghost was better.  The voice acting was good, on par with the last movies.  Sadly this is the last time Mary Kay Bergman would voice Daphne. She died after completing the voice over, but before the movie was released.

This movie isn't as interesting as the previous one but it also has more energy.

7.5 out of 10.

We're sticking with SciFi elements for the next Scooby movie “Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase“.

The set up for this one is real simple. Eric, a friend of Mystery Inc, is making a game about them. This is fine and well until the Phantom Virus pops out of the game and begins to wreck havoc. Luckily Scooby and the gang are on the way to the college campus Eric is working at.

That’s the set up. It’s simple and like Alien Invaders feels like an episode of a Scooby TV show. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just that these movies should, in my opinion, be better or bigger than that.
              

The only thing about this movie that stands out are the interesting chase/action scenes. At one point the gang is sent into the world of the game.  This gives us an opportunity to see the gang (and their virtual counterpoints)  in new and interesting settings. That’s what I’m talking about.  Something you wouldn’t get in an episode of “What’s new Scooby-Doo!”

Another thing of note in this movie is we know immediately that the Phantom Virus is real. There is no question.

While we know the Phantom Virus is real, what we don’t know is who created it. Actually it is blindingly apparent who the bad guy is. They couldn’t have made it more obvious if the guy had a sign around his neck that read “Villain”.

We are introduced to three people who could be our bad guy, if you don’t count Eric. You have Professor  Robert Kaufman, his other student Bill McLemore, and Officer Wembley. 

If you didn’t know that Bill was the bad guy then you were paying less attention than me, and I blanked out for the beginning of this movie.

The movie ends with the gang playing the aforementioned game. I find this odd because they know the game characters are self aware and yet they are okay with controlling and endangering them. Although since the characters can’t actually die, I guess danger is relative. But the game characters do state they are tired of playing the game since when the lose the return back to the beginning and are happy where they are. Then again they do help the gang beat the game so… I’m over thinking things aren't I? Let’s just move on.

We get a fun post credit scene where the gang tells the audience what their favorite parts of the movie were. It’s a nice addition. This is the last movie animated by Mook and the last movie where Shaggy and Scooby are voiced by Scott Innes. Casey Kassem returned to the role of Shaggy and Frank Welker, the voice of Fred, takes over the role of Scooby.

This is a very average movie. So it gets an average rating.

6 out of 10.

The next movie has a change in animation and style. Why is that? To reflect the style used in "What's New, Scooyb-Doo?" that's why. Although the characters are not dressed as they are in that show, that won't happen for a couple of movies.  I watched all of that series. It wasn't great. It had a few high points but was very much a kid's show, in a bad way. One thing that show did have going for it was the return of Casey Kasem as Shaggy. To be honest I wasn't desperate for Kasem to return to the role.

As I said earlier I watched "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated" and "Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!" before jumping back into these old movies. The Shaggy for those shows was Matthew Lillaird. He was one of the only shining spots in the two live action Scooby movies that were released in theaters. He is my favorite Shaggy. That might be blasphemy to some, but it's my personal opinion.

That's not to say that I don't love Kasem's Shaggy, I do. But in these movies and "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" you can really hear the age in his voice. It's not really noticeable at first, but towards the end of this run it is very apparent.

There is another reason that I wasn't big on Kasem's return. The only way he would return to the show is if Shaggy was turned into a vegetarian, of course if Shaggy is off meat than so is Scooby. The two of them being vegetarians doesn't bother me in and of itself, but the Scooby-Doo franchise isn't known for subtlety. So we get scenes were Scooby and Shaggy scarf down huge plates of vegetables and Dagwood sandwiches filled with nothing but Lettuce and Tomatoes.

Once you become aware of the Vegetarian thing you can't ignore it. It doesn't help that these scenes go out of the way to remind us that Scooby and Shaggy are not eating meat.

You'll be watching one of these movies enjoying it when, BAM, Vegetarian bomb.

I got off track there, sorry.  So let's get to the movie, "Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire". In this movie the gang is in Australia. They decide to head to the out back and check out the "Vampire Rock Music Festival", which is a Battle of the Bands.

The Concert is having Vampire problems, sort of. The monster of this movie is the Yowie Yahoo, an actual Australian myth that is more like Big Foot, and his three Vampire side kicks. These movies aren't the most accurate when it comes to crytids.

After four movies with real monster we are back to guys in masks. Double masks actually.  I have to give this move credit. After the last one the ‘mystery’ here is harder to solve. Mainly because it’s so convoluted.

Let me see if I can write this in a way that is comprehensible.

At the previous years concert there was a band called Wildwind.  They didn’t win and decided the best way to jump-start their careers was to fake a mysterious disappearance. A similar story was done much better in the Mystery Inc. episode “Dance of the Undead”.

Wildwind then decides to add to their plan. Instead of just returning to the world, they decide to attack the concert by pretending to be vampires, while also entering the contest under assumed names. This way they can actually win, but not as Wildwind. That makes the entire previous year of their life, which was spent in hiding, pointless. 

So their plan was to A) Fake their Deaths, B) Reenter the Battle of the Bands as a different group, and C) scare off the other competition so that they win.  The thing is, they reveal that they got the other bands to leave by giving them tickets to go Scuba Diving. That means this concert is so unimportant that unsigned bands would rather go swimming than perform. Wildwind are fucking idiots, hardworking and skilled, but idiots.

This leads to the big reveal. The vampires are caught and unmasked only to then be unmasked again as the members of Wildwind.  As stupid as the ending is, and trust me it is, it got me. I was sure the bad guys were Wildwind but I had no idea they were pretending to be other people.

There are other things to mention in this movie. Firstly Fred decides the best way to solve this mystery is to enter the Battle of the Bands but the gang can’t come up with a good name. Eventually they are given the name “The Meddling Kids”. 
         

We also get a guest appearance by the Hex Girls.

This movie is absolutely average, except for the crazily convoluted plan the bad guys came up with. The animation is a step down (still pretty good but it's missing that dark moodiness from Zombie Island and Witch's Ghost) but the voice acting is solid. Phil Lamar, I love Phil Lamar, has a size-able role so that's a plus. If you're a completist it won't be a chore to sit through but it is skippable.

5 out of 10.

That’s it for this week. Next week we get Scooby-Doo meeting the Loch Ness Monster. See you then.