Big Top Scooby-Doo!

"Big Top Scooby-Doo!" from 2012 is one of the most generic and mediocre of all the animated Scooby-Doo movies that I have seen to date. With that being said, don't get me wrong, because it is not a bad or a poor movie. It is just a movie that offers nothing new or really stands out from all the other Scooby-Doo movies.

The storyline was fair enough, although it is as every other Scooby-Doo movie turns out to be, so nothing new there. But the story just failed to fully captivate me and entertain me as much as many of the other Scooby-Doo animated movies did.

The animation and art style in "Big Top Scooby-Doo!" was good, and very much in the spirit of the original Scooby-Doo cartoons that I grew up with on TV.

And as an animated movie then the voice acting is very important. And I will say that the acting talents were doing good jobs with their respective roles in "Big Top Scooby-Doo!". Personally I am always thrilled about having Frank Welker and Matthew Lillard do the voices for Scooby-Doo and Shaggy respectively. There were also some great guest voices in this animated movie, such as Peter Stormare and Jeff Dunham.

However, the storyline just didn't really reach out to me, and the happenings throughout the course of the storyline just didn't really spice it up to my liking. And as such, then I found "Big Top Scooby-Doo!" to be a very mediocre addition to the Scooby-Doo library. As such, then I am rating this animated movie five out of ten stars.

Yet again we have one of the rare endings that serves as an actual pay off to the movie. The ending works very well.

The problem is the rest of the story sort of stinks. The plot is good, but the execution and the humor is "meh." And it gets doubly bad because of the whole premise. The Big Top, it is a classic Scooby Doo setting and yet it fails to deliver the classic Scooby Doo feel nor does it have the matching classic Scooby Doo story.

In the premise they had the making to merge the Scooby of old with the new Scooby--in a far better way than the Goblin King--and it still fell short, painfully short.

The plot worked, the ending worked, but everything else failed to hit the mark and only a few of the jokes really stuck like they should.

I thought this would be great since Music of the Vampire was amazing, but I was wrong. This movie was dull. Nothing kept my attention, except for the circus. Even that didn't have much going on. The side characters were forgettable as well as boring. The mystery was just not there and made the movie feel drab. The story just felt out of place and rushed. The voice acting was great and the visuals were beautiful. Those are about the only great things I can say for this film. Honestly, I don't suggest watching this.

Big Top Scooby-Doo! (2012)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

There's no question that the Scooby-Doo features have been up and down throughout the two decades that they've been made. This one here has the gang arriving at the carnival to find out that it has been taken over by werewolves who are stalking it for an unknown reason. The gang agrees to go undercover and join the circus so that they can find out what's really going on. BIG TOP SCOOBY-DOO is without a doubt one of the best features to be made in the series and it might very well be the best. There's so much that works here that even someone who hates Scooby Doo could probably love this film. Fans of the original series when it was meant as a dark, creepy and atmospheric ride will certainly enjoy this film because it really goes back to its roots. The monsters are all extremely well-made but even better is that the film allows them to be dangerous and I'm sure scary to many of the younger viewers watching. The werewolves are all excellent looking and come across quite menacing at times. The atmosphere is about as thick as any animated feature in history with a certain bleak darkness running throughout the film. The entire visual look of the film is wonderful as the darkness just really soaks up everything going on and makes it all the more memorable. The animation is another major plus as this is probably the best looking feature I've seen from the series. All of the main characters are quite memorable and they're really brought to life by their vocal actors. Scooby is pitch-perfect here as is Shaggy as the two share many great scenes together. Even the new characters are quite memorable. Best of all is that the actual mystery really works well and keeps you guessing right until the end. BIG TOP SCOOBY-DOO has all the horror and comedy that the best episodes in the television series had.

If you like Scooby Doo and the gang, you will enjoy this adventure where they venture to Atlantic City, New Jersey for a vacation but they end up solving a mystery involving a big top circus. I just enjoy watching the gang solve another mystery. I just enjoy the cast of characters who haven't aged in decades. If you love Scooby Doo Adventures, you will definitely enjoy this light-hearted adventure with the gang.