I must say when I heard there was a new Halloween centric Scooby Doo movie on the horizon I was genuinely excited. I hadn't taken in much Scooby Doo media since the "What's New" days that I grew up with but always looked back on the franchise fondly. This plus my appreciation for Halloween made Happy Halloween, Scooby Doo a must see. Now however, I wish I hadn't.
Now yes, I'm clearly not the "target audience" here. That is understood. I could also argue the "target audience" would not understand half of the um...odd choices made in this film.
Story: There is very little here actually. The "mystery" is quite jumbled and while I don't expect Sherlock levels of attention to detail (cough, weird mind palace plot line, cough), the explanation given at the end contradicts everything the viewer is shown throughout the movie. The pumpkins being drones for instance. We are shown time and time again that when smashed there's no drone inside the mutated pumpkins...except at the end when they explain it away as drones... Half of the movie is a Mad Max Fury Road reenactment. It's weird. You almost get the sense it was compiled of several different skits and/or a story that was deserving of a half hour TV episode stuffed with filler to meet a desired run time.
Guest stars: What 7-year-old would know who Elvira is? Like seriously...in Return to Zombie Island the cameo was an interesting Easter egg. In this film however she almost got more screen time than Scooby. Let that sink in. (And yes, this movie made me go back to some other recent films in the franchise to see if this poor quality was a trend.) The addition of Bill Nye was a completely unnecessary move that only further distracted from any form of story. I can't get too upset at the Batman villain seeing as the two properties have had several crossovers in the past. Sadly what could have been an awesome movie to add to the Halloween collection ended up just being a vehicle to stuff with "celebrity" cameos.
Humor: As mentioned prior I have since gone back and watched a few other recent movies and TV episodes from this franchise. When I was younger I saw all the pre-2010 installations as well. The characters have gone through a number of vastly different incarnations and that's expected and encouraged. A means to keep a formulaic concept somewhat fresh. Here though, they all seem to be annoying, stupid, and borderline insane...especially when referring to Daphne...wow. The humor was cringe inducing, to someone in their early 20s mind you. I know times change and whatnot but if you're going to model half of your comedy after sub-par Tic Toks there may be some issues. So much more can be done with these characters that doesn't rely on blurting out current pop culture phrases.
To that person reading through these reviews simply looking for a movie their child will enjoy, I'm sorry...so very sorry. This was long winded and completely irrelevant. But it was bugging me. Is it a good kids movie, yeah, probably so. Is it a good Scooby Doo movie, no. Return to Zombie Island blows it out of the water on that front.
Now yes, I'm clearly not the "target audience" here. That is understood. I could also argue the "target audience" would not understand half of the um...odd choices made in this film.
Story: There is very little here actually. The "mystery" is quite jumbled and while I don't expect Sherlock levels of attention to detail (cough, weird mind palace plot line, cough), the explanation given at the end contradicts everything the viewer is shown throughout the movie. The pumpkins being drones for instance. We are shown time and time again that when smashed there's no drone inside the mutated pumpkins...except at the end when they explain it away as drones... Half of the movie is a Mad Max Fury Road reenactment. It's weird. You almost get the sense it was compiled of several different skits and/or a story that was deserving of a half hour TV episode stuffed with filler to meet a desired run time.
Guest stars: What 7-year-old would know who Elvira is? Like seriously...in Return to Zombie Island the cameo was an interesting Easter egg. In this film however she almost got more screen time than Scooby. Let that sink in. (And yes, this movie made me go back to some other recent films in the franchise to see if this poor quality was a trend.) The addition of Bill Nye was a completely unnecessary move that only further distracted from any form of story. I can't get too upset at the Batman villain seeing as the two properties have had several crossovers in the past. Sadly what could have been an awesome movie to add to the Halloween collection ended up just being a vehicle to stuff with "celebrity" cameos.
Humor: As mentioned prior I have since gone back and watched a few other recent movies and TV episodes from this franchise. When I was younger I saw all the pre-2010 installations as well. The characters have gone through a number of vastly different incarnations and that's expected and encouraged. A means to keep a formulaic concept somewhat fresh. Here though, they all seem to be annoying, stupid, and borderline insane...especially when referring to Daphne...wow. The humor was cringe inducing, to someone in their early 20s mind you. I know times change and whatnot but if you're going to model half of your comedy after sub-par Tic Toks there may be some issues. So much more can be done with these characters that doesn't rely on blurting out current pop culture phrases.
To that person reading through these reviews simply looking for a movie their child will enjoy, I'm sorry...so very sorry. This was long winded and completely irrelevant. But it was bugging me. Is it a good kids movie, yeah, probably so. Is it a good Scooby Doo movie, no. Return to Zombie Island blows it out of the water on that front.