#an act of scoobris
Explore tagged Tumblr posts
Text
Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf
Original airdate: November 13, 1988
Date watched: March 1, 2022
Runtime: 91 minutes
Synopsis: Dracula has seen better days. When he finds out that his annual Monster Road Rally is in peril of being canceled due to the Wolfmanâs sudden retirement to Florida, he opens a book to Shaggyâs face and decides to turn him into a werewolf instead of just, you know, doing the race with one less contestant. Long story short, Shaggy is indeed turned into a werewolf and forced to participate in the race, with his girlfriend Googy there to help him, as well as Scooby and Scrappy of course. The race happens, and then the race keeps happening, and then the race happens some more. And then, Shaggy wins and his werewolf curse is undone! Yay!
Culprit: Much like Ghoul School, there is no unmasking in this movie. Although it is my strong personal belief that the Dracula in this movie is not the real Dracula. Heâs definitely a vampire, but I think he just convinced a bunch of monsters that he was the real Dracula and got in over his head. Laura's alternate theory is that "Dracula" is not a name, but instead a job position, like James Bond. This allows the purple Dracula from Ghoul School and the green Dracula from this movie to exist in the same continuity, and explains why this Dracula is so easily lured into pratfalls.
Guest star(s): Jim Cummings voices like four guys in this one.
Trivia: This movie marks Scrappy-Dooâs last appearance until 2002âs Scooby-Doo.
Ratings
Spookiness: This movie is more harmless slapstick than anything. The âscariestâ part is near the beginning, where Scooby keeps seeing Draculaâs henchmen (the âHunch Bunchâ) but Shaggy doesnât notice or believe him. âNo one but me can see this horrifying thingâ is a classic horror staple. Oh yeah, also this Draculaâs teeth can grow and twist at will? Itâs fucked. MARINA: 2.5 LAURA: 3.5
Characterization: Fred, Velma, and Daphne are still nowhere to be seen, but hey, Googyâs here! Everyone loves Shaggyâs girlfriend, Googy! The Shaggy werewolf design is also very good. They honestly barely change anything about him, which was the right call.
Check this out. Incredible. Anyway, the movie monsters (who, for the record, have completely different designs and voice actors than in Ghoul School, lending credence to Laura's aforementioned theory) have some decent designs, and the cars they drive in the rally? Great stuff. MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4.5
Overall: So, this was my (Marinaâs) favorite Scooby-Doo movie as a kid. Rewatching it as an adult, it really seemed to hold up super well! And then Dracula, in his final attempt to prevent Shaggy from winning the race, opens a cage and unleashes a horrid racial caricature named âGenghis Kong.â None of us remembered that part, and for good reason. GK has less than 3 minutes of screentime, but itâs more than zero. As much as I enjoyed the rest of this movie, I have to dock it severely for being mega-racist out of nowhere. This also wonât be the last anti-Asian racism we see in these movies. MARINA: 2 LAURA: 2
Outlandishness: The crux of this movie consists of a race contested by various movie monsters driving extremely themed cars and constantly attacking each other. What more do you want? MARINA: 5 LAURA: 4.5
Brevity: The first half of the movie was paced extremely well. Even the race wasnât that badâŚand then it just kept going and going and going. This movie could have and should have ended twenty minutes earlier. That way, the racist monster design doesnât show up and the race doesnât drag on forever! Unfortunately, it runs for the full 91 minutes. MARINA: 2.5 LAURA: 2
Final Ratings: MARINA: 3.3; LAURA: 3.3
66 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School
Original airdate: October 16, 1988
Date watched: February 27, 2022
Runtime: 92 minutes
Synopsis: Shaggy has been hired as the new gym teacher at Monster High Miss Grimwoodâs Finishing School For Ghouls! They need some help getting in shape for their annual volleyball match against the neighboring military academy. They win, due to shenanigans! But then, out of nowhere, the movie remembers to introduce its main antagonist, Revolta, who wants to brainwash all of the girls for some reason? She almost succeeds, but she is stopped by our heroes, Shaggy and Scooby (and Scrappy). Scrappy commits a cardinal sin by rapping the movieâs closing musical number. Our heroes flee at the end of the movie when they see the schoolâs new crop of students, including a baby Godzilla. WHO DOESNâT STAY FOR BABY GODZILLA?
Culprit: Thereâs never an unmasking in this movie, as Revolta never tries to hide her identity and the military school's cheating in the volleyball match is deeply transparent to all but the ref (known centrist Scrappy-Doo). Perhaps this is a reference to the way the US Military flaunts war crime violations and faces no consequences. Makes you think! Perhaps that is more credit than is deserved by a movie that has Scrappy-Doo rap at the end. Only history can tell.
Guest star(s): Tony Award-winning actress Glynis Johns as Mrs. Grimwood
Trivia: The Ghoul School students reappeared in a 2018 episode of OK K.O! Letâs Be Heroes, âMonster Party.â Three out of the five original voice actresses reprised their roles as one had passed away and the other had retired.Â
Ratings
Spookiness: For a movie that features the progeny of so many famous movie monsters, thereâs actually not a lot of scariness in it? Itâs more charming than anything. Some of the brainwashing scenes are pretty unnerving, and thereâs a bit with quicksand that teaches kids to always be afraid of quicksand, but otherwise things are pretty straightforward. I will say that Revoltaâs design is pretty spooky. MARINA: 2.5; LAURA: 2
Characterization: These 80s Scooby-Doo film ventures really suffer from a lack of Fred, Velma, and Daphne. It hurt Boo Brothers really bad, but Ghoul School manages to do what its predecessor couldnât: have an actually good cast of supporting characters. Revolta is honestly a wash, despite her incredible titties. All of the students enjoy the benefit of having iconic movie monster designs to riff off of. Theyâre cult favorites for a reason! MARINA: 4; LAURA: 4.5
Overall: It suffers from some of those telltale pacing issues Boo Brothers had to deal with, but itâs way more enjoyable of a romp overall. I think these movies were designed specifically to be turned on in the middle of. After all, thatâs the definition of syndication! Watching it start to finish is actually a bit of a chore, though. I think when I was a kid, I blocked out all of the parts with the military academy because they were boring. Those parts are still boring. MARINA: 3.5; LAURA: 3.5
Outlandishness: In the middle of the movie, the school hosts a party so that all of the parents can meet their schoolâs new gym teacher. Dracula, the wolfman, a mummy, a ghost, and âFrankenteen Sr.â are all in attendance. Thereâs dancing and music and funny antics and then before they all go home all of the monster dads graphically threaten Shaggyâs life should anything happen to their beloved daughters. That right there is what all Scooby-Doo movies should strive to achieve. MARINA: 5; LAURA: 5
Brevity: It has the exact same runtime as Boo Brothers. It does a little bit more with that runtime, but not enough to completely save it. Instead of feeling like one insanely long chase sequence, it felt like a multi-episode arc that had been mashed into one movie. Slightly better overall. MARINA: 2; LAURA: 2.5
Final ratings: MARINA: 3.4; LAURA: 3.5
53 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo! and the Witch's Ghost
Original release date: October 5, 1999
Date watched: March 9, 2022
Runtime: 66 minutes
Synopsis: Horror writer Ben Ravencroft has invited the gang to his hometown of Oakhaven, Massachusetts. His ancestor, Sarah, was executed in the 1600s for supposedly being a witch, and he has been trying to clear her name. Making his job more difficult is the witchâs ghost that is haunting the town. Well, it turns out that was just a publicity stunt cooked up by the mayor to drum up tourism. Ah, well! Oh, wait, Scooby-Doo just dug up the book that will finally clear Sarahâsâoh wait, she actually was a real witch who used her powers for evil and her ghost has now been resurrected. Oopsie! Ben tries to convince her to rule the world alongside him but she decides to destroy everything as vengeance for her original execution. Thanks to the lead singer of the eco-goth band The Hex Girls being 1/16th Wiccan (???), she is able to trap Sarah back in the spellbook, although she drags Ben into it with him. A burning tree branch then falls on the book and burns it, confirming Ben Ravencroft as the first person to die in a Scooby-Doo movie.
Culprit: The movie subverts this really nicely, unmasking the initial witch as the townâs pharmacist, Mr. McKnight, about halfway through. And then surprise! Real witch.
Guest star(s): Tim Curry as Ben Ravencroft, Jennifer Hale (2) as Thorn, Jane Wiedlin (of The Go-Goâs) as Dusk, Kimberly Brooks (Ashley in Mass Effect, Jasper in Steven Universe) as Luna
Trivia: The original screenplay for the film ended with the revelation of the first witch being fakeâeverything involving the real witchâs ghost was added onto that.Â
Ratings
Spookiness: A little less harrowing than Zombie Island, Witchâs Ghost still has several frights that would give any child nightmares. Take your pick: pumpkin monsters using vines to grab your ankles and drag you away, a giant turkey extending its neck to try to bite you, or a vengeful spirit attacking you with blasts of fire. Itâs clear that the creative team wasnât given as much leeway as they were in the previous movie, but they still do a lot with what they have. MARINA: 3.5 LAURA: 4
Characterization: A lot like how Harley Quinn originated as a character exclusive to Batman: The Animated Series and then became so popular that she started appearing frequently outside that series, The Hex Girls are easily the most iconic original characters from any Scooby-Doo movie. They went on to appear in another Scooby movie and three Scooby TV shows. Hot Topic launched a clothing line based on them last year! Their presence alone is enough for a 5 in this category, but letâs not forget we had a Tim Curry-voiced antagonist whoâs a pastiche of Stephen King, and a real witchâs ghost with big titties and a booming Tress MacNeille voice. I actually have to break the scale for this one. MARINA: 6 LAURA: 5
Overall: The only possible knock I can think of for this movie is that it treats Wicca like aâŚrace? That said, Laura did point out that maybe thatâs just how it works in the Scooby-Doo universe since, you know, magic is real and all. Otherwise, this really is basically the platonic ideal of a Scooby-Doo movie. It even has beautiful animation at times, especially during the climax. There are a lot of reasons this one is a cult classic. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 4.5
Outlandishness: This is the first Scooby-Doo movie with a body count. Like, Iâm not even sure if describing it as âBen Ravencroft diedâ is even accurate. He was dragged, kicking and screaming, into his dead ancestorâs spellbook by his dead ancestorâs ghost. And then the book caught fire and turned to ash. Is he in Purgatory? Is he in a realm between life and death? Did the powers that be see fit to show him mercy and let him die, or will he exist in unending agony and isolation until the end of time? Any time a Scooby movie elicits these questions, thatâs a 5. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 5
Brevity: At a mere 66 minutes, this clocks in as the shortest Scooby movie yet, even shorter than the baffling Arabian Nights. Thatâs a crime. I would have liked a little bit more time with the witchâs ghost. This is officially the first Scooby movie that I wish was longer. That keeps it from getting perfect marks in this category. MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4.5
Final ratings: MARINA: 4.8 LAURA: 4.6
27 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island
Original release date: September 22, 1998
Date watched: March 6, 2022
Runtime: 77 minutes
Synopsis: The gang has become jaded. Every time they solve a mystery, they are disappointed to find that there is nothing legitimately supernatural going on, and the culprit is always someone in a mask and/or costume. They go their separate ways, but reunite for Daphneâs birthday and one last attempt to solve an actually-supernatural mystery. In the Louisiana bayou, they find it on Moonscar Island. Actual, real zombies! And, beyond that, immortal cat-people who lured the gang to the island to sacrifice their souls to the cat god and extend their immortality. Yeah, a lot happens. The immortal cat-people are unable to complete their ritual in time and they die, allowing the gang to escape and releasing the zombie souls.
Culprit: Simone Lenoir, Lena Dupree, and Jacques the ferryman. Thereâs no unmasking, but thereâs a great transformation sequence. And then, when the ritual fails, their bodies turn to bones and dust. Itâs wild.
Guest star(s): Jim Cummings (2) voices several guys, Mark Hamill is there too as âSnakebiteâ Scruggs, and Tara Strong provides the voice of Lena Dupree.Â
Trivia: Shaggyâs original voice actor, Casey Kasem, was a vegetarian and refused to continue voicing Shaggy unless he stopped eating meat. Filling the role for Zombie Island was Billy West. West was unable to reprise this role in later movies due to his commitment to Futurama, so this is the only time he ever voiced Shaggy.
Ratings
Spookiness: This is the first Scooby-Doo movie to actually be scary. When this movie is terrifying, it is terrifying on purpose. Zombies emerging from the earth approach the camera, certainly horrifying any young child watching at home. People who had been trustworthy the entire movie suddenly and vividly turn into bestial cat-people, and then both them and the zombies graphically turn to dust. Itâs never edge-of-your-seat horror, but itâs a step in the right direction. MARINA: 4 LAURA: 4.5
Characterization: Finally, the whole gangâs here! Sitting through four straight movies with no Fred, Velma, or Daphne really makes it pay off when theyâre finally back. The new, modern designs were fun, and it was also very good to get a glimpse into their lives post-Mystery, Inc. Shaggy and Scooby are TSA agents, although they donât last long before getting fired for eating contraband. Velma runs a mystery-oriented bookshop. Daphne has broken into the world of TV, with Fred acting as her jack-of-all-trades. The movie characters are great, too, and Iâm not just saying that because they transform into cool cat-beasts. Now, can we stop having Confederate zombies show up in Scooby-Doo movies, please? MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4.7
Overall: The first four Scooby-Doo movies were built for syndication. They were not designed to be watched all in one sitting, they were designed for children to be entertained at the end of a commercial break. This movie, built from the ground up for home video, shows the strength of no longer being limited by televisionâs constraints. The jump in quality is evident throughout the entire movie. Even the musical numbers are better! I just wish the cast of movie-exclusive characters better reflected what Louisiana is actually like. MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4
Outlandishness: Third Eye Blind performs the original Scooby-Doo theme song at the beginning of the movie. I could rate this category a 5 based on that alone. But that would do a disservice to the cult of cat god worshippers, the catfish-hunting hog named Mojo, and the litany of zombies with outfits ranging from pirate to Confederate soldier (sigh) to tourist. This movie sets a very good tone for a Scooby-Doo movie. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 5
Brevity: Again, freedom from the restraints of syndication does nothing but good for Scooby-Doo. This movie is paced in a normal way, and it never really feels like it drags. The two musical numbers are strategically placed to be at the parts that would probably drag the most without them. Theyâre also pretty good musical numbers! Very late 90s alt-rock. If anythingâand I canât believe Iâm saying thisâI wish this movie was a little bit longer, almost. Almost. MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4.5
Final ratings: MARINA: 4.5; LAURA: 4.5
29 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase
Original release date: October 9, 2001
Date watched: March 12, 2022
Runtime: 75 minutes
Synopsis: One of the gangâs old friends made a video game about their adventures! How wonderful! Oh dear. It seems that the gang has been trapped inside the video game, and if they die in the video game, they of course die in real life. The only way to escape is to beat the game! The gang progresses through to the final level, where they find their virtual doppelgangers, the versions of them made specifically for the game. They team up to clear the final level and escape, solving the mystery in the process.
Culprit: That asshole, Bill! He was jealous that his baseball game didnât win a prize or something, and he was stupid enough to make the phantom virus keep saying random baseball shit.Â
Guest star(s): Gary Sturgis (Ebon from Static Shock) as the Phantom Virus
Trivia: This is the final of the four direct-to-video films to be animated by Japanese studio Mook Animation. They will be missed dearly.
Ratings
Spookiness: The way in which this movie is spooky is maybe not the way it intended to be spooky. Thereâs just not a lot of unexplored territory in the whole âtrapped inside a video gameâ trope. For a lot of kids, thatâs just gonna sound like a dream. The spookiness comes from how self-aware the digital versions of the gang are. Once they reach the final level, rather than complete the game, they just start chilling in kind of an idyllic Purgatory of their own creation, delaying the inevitable by simply choosing not to do it. Some wild existential implications there. MARINA: 2.5 LAURA: 2.5
Characterization: This movie perhaps knows it has a weak cast of movie-exclusive characters and therefore spends little time with them. More interesting is the digital gang, with intentionally retro designs that harken back to the era of red-shirt Shaggy. It also gives the real gang an opportunity to play off their doubles, which makes for some decently interesting character work. Thatâs about the extent of it, though: âdecently interesting.â MARINA: 3 LAURA: 3.5
Overall: Since we know that this is the final Scooby movie that this particular animation studio worked on, it helps us with some speculation. This movie sure did have a lot of very stylistically different setpieces that perhaps were from movies that ended up getting scrapped or reworked. As a result, it feels like far less of a cohesive whole than its three predecessors. Itâs, like, fine, and everything. But âfineâ is a step down from where the standards have been set the last few movies. MARINA: 3 LAURA: 2.5
Outlandishness: As I mentioned earlier, the digital versions of the gang express open and honest acknowledgment of not only the fact that they are digital facsimiles of real people who inhabit a fictional game world, but also the fact that if they never complete the game, they can exist in a kind of post-conflict bliss in the final level. Also, in a post-credits scene, itâs revealed that they made the digital Scooby real? Love it. More of this, please. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 5
Brevity: This movie avoids pacing issues by virtue of the fact that over half of it is set in a digital world where the setting can and does change abruptly. A few of the game levels get slightly extended sequences, whereas some of them are shown in a musical montage. The crux of the movie takes place with the digitized gang alongside their digital counterparts. That part felt like it was as long as it needed to be, but I do wish they had done a little more with the concept. MARINA: 3.5 LAURA: 3
Final ratings: MARINA: 3.4; LAURA: 3.3
13 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo
Original release date: June 14, 2002
Date watched: March 13, 2022
Runtime: 86 minutes
Synopsis: In the gangâs theatrical and live-action debut, they actually split up after the opening sequence. Two years later, theyâre all invited to Spooky Island by an eccentric billionaire, who wants the gang to solve the mystery of the brainwashed tourists. Turns out, demons used to live on the island, and are seeking vengeance on the resort for displacing them. (For a movie filmed on location in Australia, they maybe should have considered the subtext of that a bit more.) After some body-swap shenanigans, Scrappy-Doo is revealed as the orchestrator of all this, because he was jealous of everyone elseâs fame and recognition. He tries to use the souls of everyone trapped on the island to become a powerful monster, but it doesnât work and he is arrested and, I guess, sent to the pound? How do you incarcerate a CGI dog?
Culprit: Scrappy-Doo piloting an eccentric billionaire body double robot. I canât think of a precedent for something like this, and it really speaks to the unique place the Scooby-Doo franchise in pop culture. You have a character introduced in the late 70s to save ratings, who featured prominently in almost every piece of media through the 80s. Heâs virtually unseen in the 90s, until later in the decade when the only time heâs mentioned is to be made fun of. Then they make him the antagonist of the franchiseâs theatrical and live-action debut? They really stacked the deck against my guy Scrappy-Doo.
Guest star(s): Rowan âMisterâ âBeanâ Atkinson as the eccentric billionaire whose name I donât feel like typing. Also Pamela Anderson is there?
Trivia: James Gunn wrote the screenplay for both this and the sequel. Go figure.
Ratings:
Spookiness: As this is a feature film, we have a little bit more insight than usual into the creative process. Apparently, the first-draft demons were scarier than the ones we ended up with. Would love to see whatever they looked like. As it stands, Iâd say the scariest part of this movie is Scrappy-Dooâs grotesque transformation sequence near the end. Itâs tough to stomach. Thatâs about as spooky as this one gets. MARINA: 2.5 LAURA: 2.5
Characterization: The revelation of Matthew Lilliard as Shaggy is one that would pay dividends for years to come. Hell, they eventually just let him start voicing Shaggy. It rules. The rest of the cast is good, although theyâre limited by how the script sets up their characters. I get it, theyâre tropey and one-note on purpose. Itâs camp. But if the most fleshed out original character is rich Mr. Bean, we gotta get some more substance for the gang. MARINA: 3.5 LAURA: 4
Overall: This is a movie that is a product of its time. There is a farting sequence that lasts upwards of thirty seconds. The producers did not think about the optics of having an elaborate tribal-themed ritual on location in Australia in a movie about demons being mad that tourists have infiltrated the island that has been their home. On the other hand, OutKast is on the soundtrack for this movie. They kept some of the weed jokes in. This one breaks pretty even. MARINA: 3 LAURA: 3
Outlandishness: The fact that this is a live-action movie does not stop the outlandishness pile from getting taller. We get a body-swap sequence. We get a grotesque CGI Scrappy-Doo transformation sequence. Shaggyâs love interest is named Mary Jane. I have to dock this movie some points for âwhat could have been,â as the deleted scenes are all very good, and the original cut of the movie had Fred being gay and Daphne and Velma sharing a kiss. Damn you, Warner Brothers! We could have had it all! MARINA: 4 LAURA: 3.5
Brevity: One of the longer entries in this canon, this movie does not feel too long. We watched all of the deleted scenes right after the movie, and they felt right at home. They should not have been removed. Let Velma have her drunken piano anthem! MARINA: 4 LAURA: 4
Final ratings: MARINA: 3.4 LAURA: 3.4
7 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo! in Arabian Nights
(Laura's Note: for some reason it's impossible to find a non-crusty jpeg of this movie's cover??)
Original airdate: September 3, 1994
Date watched: March 2, 2022
Runtime: 69 minutes (nice)
Synopsis: This is easily the least Scooby-Doo movie out of all the Scooby-Doo movies. Shaggy and Scooby have been hired as royal food tasters by an unnamed caliphate. They eat all the food and the caliph gets mad and orders his guards to kill them. While hiding, Shaggy takes on the guise of a harem dancer, whom the caliph immediately wants to marry. To try to lull the caliph to sleep so they can make their escape, Shaggy tells two stories which form the bulk of the movie. One is a genderflipped Aladdin retelling (huh, I wonder what movie had come out two years prior) featuring Yogi Bear (???) as the genie, and the other is a Sinbad the Sailor retelling where Magilla Gorilla (???????) is Sinbad. Do the stories work? Does the caliph fall asleep? Do Shaggy and Scooby make their escape? Here is a more important question: Does it matter?
Culprit: For the third consecutive film, thereâs no unmasking, but I do want to note that the caliph is a boy who sounds exactly like Mandark from Dexterâs Laboratory because itâs the same voice actor.Â
Guest star(s): Jennifer Hale as Aliyah-Din
Trivia: This was the last time Scooby-Dooâs original voice actor, Don Messick, would portray him in a movie. Messick passed away in 1997.Â
Ratings
Spookiness: Non-factor. Nothing in this movie is scary or spooky. Itâs justâŚweird and dreamlike, in a way thatâs not exactly good. Nothing more really needs to be said about this. MARINA: 1 LAURA: 1
Characterization: So, the movie does have a distinct visual style. It looks unique in a way neither of the first three films have done so far. However, most of the movieâs original characters are either racial stereotypes, completely non-memorable, or Yogi Bear in a turban. Pick your poison. This movie gets one half-point for showing femme Shaggy, a mainstay of Scooby media. It is the panel's opinion that Shaggy's gender is the most advanced of the gang.
The movie receives one more half-point for the cyclops from the Sinbad tale, voiced by the inimitable Maurice LaMarche, who just wants to make it to âCatsâ on time. He is our shining star.
MARINA: 2 LAURA: 1.5
Overall: What do we unpack first? The fact that the leader of this ostensibly Islamic kingdom is a moody child who everyone unquestionably answers to? The fact that the genderswapped Aladdin (Aliyah-Din) has blue eyes and is voiced by a white woman (Jennifer Hale)? The fact that Magilla Gorillaâs comrade in the Sinbad tale is hot-tempered, greedy, impulsive, and comically short? The fact that Scooby-Doo appears for maybe five total minutes in a film bearing his name in the title? MARINA: 1 LAURA: 1
Outlandishness: Given that all of the actually outlandish events happen within the context of stories that Shaggy is telling (although they do ride in on an actual flying carpet), itâs not going to get high marks here. That said, this movie is so very baffling. Are we to assume that the version of Aladdin that Shaggy was telling justâŚhas Yogi Bear in it? Magilla Gorilla also acknowledges that he is in a cartoon and wantonly flaunts the laws of physics in doing so. There's a sequence in the Aladdin story that felt weirdly like a scene from Dragonball Z, where the bad guy and Yogi were the size of skyscrapers and trying to eat the planet or something.
Again, this movie has a lot going on. Not a lot of it is good. MARINA: 2 LAURA: 2.5
Brevity: This movieâs shorter runtime is one of the few good things it has going for it. The fact that itâs pretty much two shorter stories as opposed to one long story helps with the pacing. It still could have been shorter. But it at least deserves to be rated higher on this metric than any of the three movies preceding it. MARINA: 3 LAURA: 2.5
Final ratings: MARINA: 1.8; LAURA: 1.7
9 notes
¡
View notes
Text
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders
Original airdate: October 3, 2000
Date watched: March 10, 2022
Runtime: 71 minutes
Synopsis: While driving the Mystery Machine through what is ostensibly the southwestern United States, Shaggy sees an alleged UFO, freaks out, and crashes into a cactus. While waiting for the Mystery Machine to get repaired in a nearby town, the gang encounters Lester, who has also had an apparent alien encounter. They crash at his place for the night, but Shaggy and Scooby are abducted while sleeping on the roof and released in the morning, where they encounter a very retro hippie named Crystal and her dog, Amber. Shaggy and Scooby fall in love at first sight, blah blah blah. Eventually, the gang discovers that the three workers at the nearby SALF (Search for Alien Life Forms) station have been mining the gold deposits underneath the government property. To keep the townspeople at bay, they have been faking being aliens. To keep their secret safe, the workers resolve to kill the gang, but Crystal and Amber reveal themselves to be the real aliens! They save the gang, say their goodbyes, and go home.
Culprit: Steve, Max, and Laura, the three workers at the SALF station. Honestly, mining gold off of government property and keeping it secret? Not a crime, in my opinion. That said, they were willing to kill multiple people to keep their secret safe, so thatâs a point against them.
Guest star(s): Mark Hamill (2) as Steve, Jennifer Hale (3) as Dottie the waitress
Trivia: Mary Kay Bergman, who had voiced Daphne in this movie as well as the prior two movies, passed away in November 1999. The film is dedicated to her memory.Â
Ratings
Spookiness: Thereâs not really a great deal of spookiness in this one. Shaggy and Scoobyâs original alien abduction is mostly played for laughs. However, when the SALF employeesâ plot is revealed, and their two fake Fed bodyguards are revealed to have real-ass guns, the movie takes a quick turn. Fred, Velma, and Daphne are but a few seconds from being dropped into a cave pit. The danger doesnât last that long, however. At the end of the day, though, aliens are real. MARINA: 3.5 LAURA: 4
Characterization: One of the strengths of Witchâs Ghost was the relatively large cast of new and memorable characters. Alien Invaders doesnât really have that outside of Crystal and Amber (who have great alien designs), but what it lacks in that category it makes up for by giving a lot of good moments to the gang. Shaggy gets an entire song about being in love! Velma and Daphne get really good outfits! Fred gets several really great moments! Itâs definitely the strongest movie so far in terms of doing character work for the gang. MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4
Overall: This movie exceeded expectations in a lot of ways. It got a lot of laughs out of us. There are some great goofs that would fly clear over the heads of most children watching (Shaggy telling the âalienâ examining him that, like, his health plan doesnât cover physicals, man; Fred giving Shaggyâs water bottle a quick sniff while heâs in a lovestruck stupor). The twist is, like Witchâs Ghost and Zombie Island before it, one that would blow the minds of most children watching. These early direct-to-video entries in the franchise are real gems. Excited for it to definitely keep getting better from here on out! MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4
Outlandishness: Shaggyâs love song is one of the movieâs highlights. Itâs a legit dream sequence, tossing a lot of homages to the franchiseâs history and legacy both lyrically and visually (âOur house will be / So very fine / Weâll fill it up with stuff from 1969!â). Itâs one of the more meta entries yet. Late in the movie, Amber talks while in her dog disguise. Shaggy says, âDig that, Scoob! A talking dog!â A withering Fred goes, âImagine that.â Itâs great stuff. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 5
Brevity: On the shorter side of things, clocking in at 71 minutes, this movie feels like itâs a good length. Absolutely no complaints here. MARINA: 5 LAURA: 5
Final ratings: MARINA: 4.5 LAURA: 4.4
5 notes
¡
View notes
Text
An Act of Scoobris, Explained
Welcome to An Act of Scoobris! Crank up the Mystery Machine, grab some Scooby Snacks, put on your ascot, and strap in. It looks like we have a mystery on our hands.
Since the premiere of the original television series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on CBS in the morning hours of September 13, 1969, the gang has seemingly done it all. Cartoons, movies both live-action and animated, video games, stage plays, comic books, you name it. At this point, Scooby-Doo is its own medium.
By a wide margin, the most prolific Scooby-Doo format is that of film. Since Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers aired in syndication on October 18, 1987, there have been forty-six Scooby-Doo movies, all the way up to the crossover Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog, released digitally and on DVD on September 14, 2021.
Whatâs the best one? Whatâs the worst one? Which one ranks, say, twenty-first out of the forty-six? Those are the questions we seek to answer. By watching each movie in chronological order, we will see how the art of Scooby-Doo evolves over time, how later iterations honor earlier iterations, and how different teams approach the same characters.
Each movie will receive its own post, complete with the date the movie came out, the date that the panel watched it, the runtime, a brief synopsis, the culprit (spoiler warning!), any guest stars who appeared, and a piece of trivia regarding that specific movie. Then, we bring the science in. Introducing...the SCOOBric!
Spookiness: How scary is the situation the gang finds themselves in? How unnerved would I be in the same situation, with disbelief fully suspended? How worried would I be for my own safety and sanity?
Characterization: How consistent is the characterization of the gang? What do we learn about the gang that we did not know previously? Are movie-exclusive characters memorable or forgettable?
Overall: How enjoyable of an experience is watching the movie, regardless of its actual quality? Is it something to watch again with friends or never watch again? Does it add anything of value to the world at large?
Outlandishness: How zany and wacky are the antics that the gang gets up to? How legitimately supernatural is the story? How many times does something happen that is genuinely unexpected?
Brevity: Does the movie drag on for far too long? Is the runtime 20-30 minutes longer than it should be, if not more? How much of the movie is obvious filler?
All ratings are on a scale of 1-5, although the panel reserves the right to assign ratings outside of that range for exceptional circumstances. A movieâs final rating will be the average of the five ratings above. At the end of the journey, the panel will purchase the movie ranked #1 on DVD. We hope you enjoy that journey.
13 notes
¡
View notes
Text
laura and i have officially launched the Act of Scoobris blog where we watch, review, and rate every single scooby-doo movie. weâre halfway through the watch (23 down, 23 to go) so weâll gradually be posting stuff for everything weâve done so far. very excited
An Act of Scoobris, Explained
Welcome to An Act of Scoobris! Crank up the Mystery Machine, grab some Scooby Snacks, put on your ascot, and strap in. It looks like we have a mystery on our hands.
Keep reading
13 notes
¡
View notes