Scooby-Doo! et le Fantôme de l'opéra

1 and 1 is 2, 6 and 2 is 8, come on baby don't you make me late....

Oh, can I really title this "An Honest Review" when it takes place in my city? Yeah? You don't approve of it? Well you're not from Chicago.

I love, in all caps, I LOVE the part at the start where Velma is reading off all the attractions in Chicago and Scooby and Shaggy are more interested in our pizza than anything else. Now if they threw in a hotdog joke to match the scene at the Pizza Parlor than I would be on cloud 9.

...Baby don't you wanna go...

Anyway, the parody of American Idol works from a humor perspective, it is really funny and you combine that with the pathological director, the reference to the Phantom of the opera and Disco and, well, you have one seriously funny installment...

And one that takes place in my sweet home, so...represent.

The only down side is that, yet again, the ending is a "meh." Almost like Scooby Doo just doesn't know how to end its movies. Not that it matters, the build up is enough to make it enjoyable.

Stage Fright was nothing special. It had so much potential but got lost along the way. The voice acting was terrific, the idea was great, and the animation was amazing. And as much as I loved all of that, the story didn't follow through. Each scene didn't feel that exciting like it should have been. Even so, there were some nice parts. I liked how many bad guys they were. It made for an interesting discovery each time. I loved the whole plot line with Fred and Daphne and hoped they would continue it in later movies, but guess what. It doesn't happen. So honestly that whole plot felt pointless to add. If you want to see Daphne and Fred together then I suggest watching Mystery Incorporated.

All the Scooby Doo films are at least watchable, Witch's Ghost, Zombie Island, Goblin King and Big Top Scooby Doo being my favourites and Monster of Mexico faring the least. Scooby Doo! Stage Fright will not disappoint any fan of Scooby Doo. The final solution has neat twists and is very unexpected but it also a little rushed and maybe with too much going on, and Daphne and Grey DeLisle voicing her did at times come across as too ditsy. However the animation is great, very detailed backgrounds and atmospheric colours that are reminiscent of classic Scooby Doo as well as modern. The music is appropriately spooky and catchy with a terrifically funky opening theme. The writing is a delight in Scooby Doo! Stage Fright, the humour is very reminiscent of classic Scooby Doo, goofy but also very endearing too. The rest of the writing is to the point and doesn't try to be too complicated- it may seem confusing looking up/reading the plot, when watching the film though confusing it is not- or too simplistic. The story is diverting, with some action that is the very meaning of exhilarating and a mystery that while a bit "here there, done that" (to be honest that's not uncommon for Scooby) that is creepy, charmingly goofy and keep-you-guessing-quality throughout. From the comedy, the mystery elements, characterisations and the sound effects Scooby Doo! Stage Fright has that classic Scooby Doo feel in terms of writing and story except with more twists and turns, and for me that was part of the film's appeal. The Fred/Daphne subplot does not slow things down, in fact it does bring some dimension to the story, while Scooby and Shaggy's friendship is as charming as ever. The characters are neatly set up, are relevant to the story and fit nicely into it, Shaggy and Scooby are definitely the best characters but Velma is much more likable than she was in some of the previous outings. The voice cast is spot on (especially from Matthew Lillard, who is note-perfect as Shaggy, he had big shoes to fill and has done so admirably), with only DeLisle disappointing slightly, John O'Hurley is a little underutilised as well. Overall, very entertaining and Scooby fans will find much to enjoy here.

I watched "Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright" together with my 7 year old son as part of a Scooby-Doo animated movie marathon. And I must conclude that "Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright" is hardly among the best of the animated movies in the franchise.

With that being said, I am not saying that it is a bad movie. Far from it. It is, however, just similar to 90% of all other animated Scooby-Doo movies. And once you have seen one, you have essentially seen them all. Because they follow the same blueprint and doesn't stray from the generic build-up and Construction one bit. So take it for what it is, for better or worse.

The story is adequate, but it does suffer from being predictable and following the How-To-Make-A-Scooby-Doo-Adventure step by step. Certainly there is familiarity in that approach and the audience is familiar with the concept, but wouldn't it be nice for a change of pace and approach for once? With this animated movie sort of poking fun at the talent shows that constantly show on the TV screens, it does have some appeal. However, while it certainly was watchable and entertaining enough, it just was too much of a repeat of previous movies.

The voice cast in "Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright" is great, as it always is in the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. And it is always a delight to have Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard and Frank Welker return to do the voices for Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby. Furthermore, Vivica A. Fox also gives voice to a character in this particular animated movie.

All in all, "Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright" is just your average, run-of-the-mill animated movie in the franchise. It is enjoyable if you are content with watching the animated movies of the Scooby-Doo franchise as they are and doesn't need change of scenery.

Jinkies! It's a cartoon adaptation of 'Phantom of the Opera' with a cynical, yet often rather humorous, perspective on talent shows. You sure Simon Cowell wasn't the masked villain? Because he's still at large! Quick! To the Mystery Machine! For what it's worth, this isn't half bad. The classic Scooby-Doo formula is grounded with as much realism as possible, given the boundaries of a cartoon. No fantastical myths or legends. Just a masked caped "phantom" being a complete menace. A phantom menace as it were (you can have that...).

With Daphne finally confirming her undying infatuation for Fred, Velma naturally getting excited over a diamond and Shaggy and Scooby devouring the largest pizza ever created in just mere seconds. Someone living in the sewers for forty years whilst failing to understand mirrors, parodying the famous musical. Accompanied with a cutesy little title cartoon that introduces the voice actors. All harmless shenanigans, but the problem with this extended episode (I just can't class these as films), and the remaining straight-to-DVD features, is the imbalanced story. The mystery of the phantom itself literally only consumes a third of the plot. The other two thirds are filled with cartoonish antics for the sake of filling up the runtime. It loses focus and leaves my mind wandering as I wait for the predictable culprit to be revealed.

Sure the animation, minus the 3D computerised effects, and voice acting were consistently engaging as always. But there's only so much dawdling I can take. Oh, and a talent show ending on a tie? Two acts with the same precise number of votes (we're talking over thirty million here)? Impossibly improbable. But of course, the good ol' sympathy story always wins. What else can I say? It's an unnecessarily long Scooby-Doo episode that kids/fans are sure to love. Harmless as it is forgettable. The metal girl group should've won though. An American punk 'Babymetal'...