Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo: Bang Bang Bang, The Dumbing Down Of Today’s Youth

Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo is an animated family mystery film directed by Maxwell Atoms. The plot sees the Gang’s Halloween become interrupted by evil mutant pumpkins. Can they solve the mystery and salvage the night.

This film is not a Scooby Doo film, there should not be explosions and battle scenes in a Scooby Doo film, maybe Atoms wanted to make a different animated film, but they gave him this instead. Either way it does not understand what Scooby Doo is at all and it shows at every turn.

The mindless action lacks all the plot and story of previous Scooby Doo films that gave us memorable character moments that last the test of time. I knew something was up when they put in Scarecrow (the Batman villain), in for no real reason at all. I know Scooby Doo (Frank Welker), has teamed up with Batman in the past but this just feels random and done for no purely for fan baiting. I also disliked immensely how the film felt the need to reference as many Justice League characters as they could- Warner Brother you really need to get better with this in film product placement.

Likewise, the pandering to Bill Nye is obvious as hell. He was mildly in the popular culture a few years ago, but because executives don’t understand what kids like and are always out of date, he is all over this film and it is painfully cringe whenever he is on-screen. It feels like one of those bad Simpson’s episode when they centre the story around a trendy celebrity for a slight boost in relevance.

Overall, a badly thought out film that doesn’t seem to understand what a Scooby Doo film is, what the kids want, or who is trendy in the year of 2020.

Pros.

It is good background noise

Cons.

It is not a Scooby Doo film

It is dumbed down

It tries to hard to be trendy

It relies wholly on a celebrity cameo that most of the kids watching won’t know

Why is Scarecrow in this?

0.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Croods: Not The Nicolas Cage We Needed, Nor The One We Deserved

The Croods is an animated fantasy family film directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders. The plot follows a family as their way of life is threatened and they come to realise that the only way to survive is to adapt. Also it is set during the prehistoric era.

The animation models on this one are bad, there is something a bit too uncanny about them that is off putting, not to mention the fact that Eep (Emma Stone), is designed in quite a sexual way, which as we are never quite sure her age is deeply troubling.

I feel like I have seen this film hundreds of times before, yes maybe not set in cave men times, but a very similar story arc. I understand that Hollywood is a creatively bankrupt place but come on. All of the twists and turns are painfully obvious, and everything is sign posted from the start of the film. Oh the father Grug (Nicolas Cage), doesn’t like change, I wonder what intricate arc they will give him, oh he just learns to embrace change. The growth.

The voice cast are all very eh, I don’t think any of them are really trying. It seems to be a for the money venture through and through, which is upsetting as the idea of a Nicolas Cage fronted animated film was something that really did intrigue me.

Overall, boring, bland and been there done that, the animation is creepy and off putting as well, so give this one a miss.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

There is nothing new about it

The voice cast are wasted

The plot is blindingly obvious

The animation is awful and weirdly sexual

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo And The Cyber Chase: Too Meta?

Scooby Doo And The Cyber Chase is a family mystery film directed by Jim Stenstrum. The plot sees Scooby (Scott Innes), and the Gang be sent into cyberspace to defeat an evil virus. The have to progress through various levels that harken back to their classic monsters, defeating each along the way.

I enjoyed the references to the classic series that are all over this film, to me in the final level when they brought back the various villains from the past it was nothing short of a cheer worthy moment. I also enjoyed the tongue in check metaness of having Scooby and co go into a videogame based on them. As we have covered before in my Scooby Doo reviews I am a sucker for metaness.

However, I think very much like Aliens Invade this film does not really understand what a Scooby Doo adventure is and tires to be something else, differing from the formula drastically; maybe too much. Although, the ending that I have mentioned does fix this issue.

I think for once it is not super obvious who the villain is, which is nice to see from one of these films. I understand that they are primarily for kids, but they are usually so damn obvious.

Overall, though this film does lose sight of what a Scooby Doo film is being maybe too meta, it does bring it full circle in a satisfying fan pleasing kind of way with references to the classic series, and the mystery isn’t obvious which I appreciated.

Pros.

The call backs

The metaness

Not an obvious mystery

Cons.

Maybe too much metaness

It drags and has pacing issues

The levels other than the final one with the classic monsters do nothing for me

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo On Zombie Island: A Taste Of Southern Hospitality

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island is an animated family mystery film directed by Hiroshi Aoyama, Kazumi Fukushima, and Jim Stenstrum. The plot see the Gang reunite after their mysteries have seemingly come to and end and each member has gone their separate ways. They travel to New Orleans to film a Most Haunted esque segment for Daphne’s (Mary Kay Bergman’s) new TV job.

This is the film that really kicked started the new era of direct to video Scooby Doo movies and is remembered by more than a few as the best amongst said films. Personally, I am more of a Witch’s Ghost person, but that is just me being a sucker for the ever-charming Tim Curry.

I enjoyed the meta feel of this film, much like Pirates Ahoy this film talked about the Scooby Doo franchise as a whole during the film in a very telling way, whilst keeping it in universe. I thought the writing in this regard was smart and well done.

I enjoyed the fact that this film feels like effort has been put into it, a sad thing to state I know, by that I mean there were songs created specifically for the movie, and the story felt like the result of careful planning and more crucially, a great deal of thought.

Overall, this is definitely one of the best animated Scooby Doo films, the love it has for the franchise is clear to see and it has many memorable moments.

Pros.

The metaness

The songs

The considered approach to why the gang have to reunite

It feels like it moves the story forward, rather than just being another throw away adventure

Cons.

It has some pacing issues

The reveal is obvious

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo, Pirates Ahoy: Aliens, Ghost Pirates and Hypnotism

Scooby Doo Pirates Ahoy is an animated family directed by Chuck Sheetz. The plot sees Scoob (Frank Welker) and The Gang be invited on a cruise by Fred’s (Also Welker) parents to celebrate this birthday, the cruise is mystery themed and the gang make quick work of all the fake baddies, then they stumble upon some real evil; ghost pirates

I enjoyed this quite a bit, I enjoyed the metaness of it. I found the idea of the gang going on a mystery cruise to be quite humours and I liked how they handled it. I thought unlike some of the other animated Scooby Doo films this one had far more life, soul and warmth to it, which is always a good thing.

I enjoyed the pirate theme and thought the sea shanty esque soundtrack was used to great effect and really gave the film a nice sense of personality. I thought the ghost pirates themselves were well done and scary enough villains, however it was super obvious who they were and why they were doing it.

Another minor issue I had with this film was that it felt too busy, as well as the pirates there was a lot of other stuff going on and from time to time I would be slightly confused as it if I had missed something.

Overall, a very enjoyable Scooby Doo film that was brimming with warmth and charm. The pirate theme is used to great effect and I had fun with it.

Pros

The metaness

The comedy

The warmth

The pirate theme

Cons

A little overstuffed

Very predictable

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Aloha Scooby Doo: The Most Obvious Mystery Of The Gang’s Career

Aloha Scooby Doo is an animated family film directed by Tim Maltby. The plot sees Scooby (Frank Welker) and the gang be invited to Hawaii, as Daphne has been offered a job, of course not long after they arrive a vicious tiki spirit starts to wreak havoc.

I have written at great length about the Scooby Doo formula and this might be the best example of it, and the harmful effects of it on the films themselves. My issue with this film is that it is clear from the off who the bad guy is, it is so obvious and predictable. This is a result of how strictly this film sticks to the formula, its like clockwork. You will know exactly what is going to happen and when if you have ever seen a Scooby Doo film before.

There is no charm in this feature either, a little warmth might have made the glaring flaws a little less noticeable. Also the jokes don’t land and are often painfully unfunny, and the characters themselves are particularly likeable and that stretches to the gang as well.

The one thing I will give this film props for is that it doesn’t reduce the Hawaiian characters to stereotypes, as often happens in these films.

Overall, an incredibly by the numbers affair that is soured by the lack of charm, humour or surprise.

Pros.

The minor Adam West role

The Hawaiian characters don’t feel like clichés and stereotypes

Cons.

The humour doesn’t land

It is painfully predictable

It is joyless

Even the gang themselves aren’t very likeable here.

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Emperor’s New Groove: A Hidden Gem Of Disney

The Emperors New Groove is an animated family film directed by Mark Dindal. The plot sees Emperor Kuzco (David Spade), be turned into a llama in order for villains to try and usurp this throne. The mighty Emperor must team up with a village peasant (John Goodman), in order to reclaim his birth right.

So despite this film coming out long after the golden years of Disney Animation, I think that this is one of the best Disney films possibly ever, but certainly of the early 2000’s.

The comedy and the charm are what really make this for me. I am a big David Spade fan and usually find him quite amusing, but I enjoyed how this film’s humour played off his personality as was often quite self-deprecating. I thought the choices of narration that breaks the fourth wall was also quite an inspired idea, one that makes the whole film feel more engaging.

I enjoyed the very distinct feel of this film and how because of the unique colour pallet and style it felt different from all the other Disney animated films. A film having a strong personality is always a good thing.

The supporting voice cast also do a good job, with Goodman and veteran Patrick Warburton being the standouts. There characters both feels very well realised, which makes them far more compelling.

Overall, an often-overlooked Disney gem.

Pros.

The unique feel and style

David Spade for the most part

The voice cast as a whole

The comedy

It is very watchable

Cons.

Spade does get a bit annoying at times

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The War With Grandpa: It Is Not A War It Is A Slaughter

The War With Grandpa is a family comedy film directed by Tim Hill. The plot sees a boy (Oakes Fegley) and his grandfather (Robert De Niro), go to war over a bedroom, when the grandfather moves in with the family.

The premise of this film is lame, and the tame nature of it stops it from ever doing anything truly memorable as far as the war is concerned. I get that this is a family film, but it feels scared to say word like hell, really? It is the tamest film I have seen in a long while.

The war feels fairly one sided in terms of hearts and minds, as the kid is a brat from the get-go and has no redeeming qualities. The performance by Fegley is woeful and is easily crushed by De Niro, even though this is clearly a paycheck role for him.

De Niro manages to capture quite a lot of good sentimentality and actually hit me in the feels by the end of the film, this is much better than something like Dirty Grandpa as it is far more dignified for him and he gives a fairly good performance. I enjoyed all the nods to De Niro’s gangster films that are peppered in throughout I thought they really added something.

I can’t talk about this film without talking about Uma Thurman. She is the star of this film, even if she only has about twenty minutes of screen time. She is both unintentionally hilarious, and just a joy to watch. When she is on screen hamming up her performance it is always good for a laugh. She was easily my favourite character.

Overall, too tame to be enjoyed by some, schlock for the most part and clearly a paycheck for De Niro, but it does have its moments and Walken and Thurman steal the show.

Pros.

Uma Thurman

Some genuine emotion

Christopher Walken

Cons.

Too tame, the war doesn’t feel exciting

The kid is an unlikable brat, you don’t feel torn between the two for a second

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo And The Samurai Sword: The Curse Of The Stereotype

Scooby Doo and The Samurai Sword is an animated family film directed by Christopher Berkeley. The plot sees the gang head to Japan so that Daphne (Grey Griffin), can attend a martial arts competition. Of course once they get there a vicious old samurai spirit wreaks havoc.

A few Scooby Doo reviews ago I was praising the fact that they started having the monsters and the supernatural elements turn out to be true, but now it is getting to a point where than is becoming a crutch; they have gone too far the other way. There are now officially dragons in the Scooby Doo canon.

That aside this is just a very bog-standard affair, there is nothing hugely good or bad about it, it is just what you would expect for slightly over an hour.

I am sad to report that this goes the same way as Monster of Mexico with its over reliance of tired stereotypes. Most of the Japanese characters in this film are caricatures, that you have seen before. This to me reeks of lazy writing. Furthermore, this film goes a step further and as well as Japanese stereotypes brings in other nationalities to also reduce to their most base form.

Overall, the poor/lazy writing brings this one down for me. It could otherwise have got a very middling score, but now gets a lower score.

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Phineas And Ferb The Movie, Candace Against The Universe: Ashley Tisdale’s Finest Performance

Phineas and Ferb The Movie: Candace Against The Universe is an animated family film directed by Bob Bowen. The plot sees Candace (Ashley Tisdale), get abducted by aliens whilst trying to bust her brothers, naturally Phineas (Vincent Martella) and Ferb (David Errigo Jr.), mount a rescue mission. However, once they find her, they find that she is no prisoner and has finally found people who appreciate her. Or has she.

I assume this film is the end the series, I don’t know as I haven’t kept up with the series for over 5 years, but if this was a conclusion to it then it works well to end things. If this is a just a film that will lead into the next series ignore this point. It did have an air of finality to it.

The humour of this film reminded me of more adult fare like Family Guy, which is either a pro or a con depending on how you view that show. The humour for the most part left me cold, but it did manage to get a laugh out of me a few times.

I enjoyed seeing things work out for Candance for once, it was nice to see her side of things as I felt it carried a nice duality to the series.

Overall, a nice flipped perspective that showed the series can still hit the highs it used to.

Pros.

The flipped perspective

I enjoyed the finality to it

It made me laugh a few times

Cons.

More often than not the humour left me cold

It wasn’t as strong as a lot of the classic episodes

3/5

Reviewed by Luke