Review of Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost

The first half of the movie had it on track to be one of the best Scooby Doo movies ever. The intro with Van Ghoul recapping the captures of the ghosts in the original show in poetic form was really cool. There were a great many small references to the show that worked so well - I was thrilled when I saw the rubber ducky come out, really liked how they dealt with Flim Flam, and the consistency of the backstory with Fred and Velma being away at camp was all so satisfying. The humor in the episode was also a high point, with a bit more self-awareness and referential humor that worked well. Now, for that pesky third act. The biggest problem with the film overall is that the twist disregarded the darker realism of the monsters from the show, and gave a horribly weak explanation for what actually happened to the 13th ghost. Velma's hand-wavy claim that the Sanskrit was translated wrong and he just wanted redemption which he got through Van Ghoul is unequivocal garbage and runs counter to all the lore of the demon chest. I get they wanted a mystery rather than just the capturing of a real ghost, and the lack of actual mystery was a flaw of the show, but the bait and switch in this case given the backstory is a bad decision, especially with the terrible execution of the explanation. The solution itself was fine and plausible if quite cliche and derivative, but it was a letdown given the lore of the 13th ghost and also didn't make complete sense (how did Asmodeus fly and breathe fire and all that if he was just the dude? He may have been a powerful magician, but he couldn't have kept up the appearance of the most powerful demon of all time, or stifle Van Ghoul's magic). In addition, in the second half of the film Fred and Velma's characters were both too absurd and too one-dimensional. All of Fred's moments were focused on his identity crisis -> accepting that he's a cheerleader, which (while amusingly built up with subtle hints at that earlier in the movie) relegated him in value for the mystery and wasn't really consistent with his character historically. Similarly, all of Velma's moments were her going way too over the top in refusing to believe in ghosts. This at least does have precedent, but not only was the execution of it poor (a ski lift picked her up? Seriously??), the reveal at the end reaffirmed her incorrect belief instead of the realism the show is steeped in. Velma was unlikable for her unwillingness to listen to other's experiences with the ghosts and general insistence, and Fred was just so over the top in this bizarre and unprecedented character shift as to be unbelievable. I did quite like Daphne and there were plenty of humorous moments in the role reversal between her and Fred. Shaggy and Scooby were consistent as always, and I appreciated their willingness to call out the other characters for their absurdity. Van Ghoul was just as great as I hoped. A final minor flaw of the movie was the avalanche sequence. It was quite out of place and also physically impossible. At various points, the avalanche would've physically overcome them and they would end up beneath the snow, not on top of it. The sliding on the snow was not well animated, and it was drawn out much more than needed.

While I've focused on the negatives here, I do believe it's an average to above average Scooby Doo movie and a good one. When considered in the context of the show, so many elements are excellent and satisfying, especially early in the film, and it is a fun and exciting one to watch that does feel like it has real stakes. But considering the context of both the show and the characters, the ending is a major let down. For a movie with some great highs and some bad lows, it ends up as a solid but forgettable movie - and that's a real shame for the potential it had.