Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island

Story is very bland and uninspired. Sure they mention quite a lot from the first movie, but NEVER took it back to the things that made the first one unique. A complete waste of time, and a VERY disrespectful sequel to Zombie Island.

Am a big Scooby Doo fan and have been for goodness knows how long. Like to love most of the franchise's shows, especially 'Scooby Doo Where are You?' and 'The Scooby Doo Show', and also like to love most of the animated Scooby Doo films (including the newer ones). When hearing that there was a sequel to 'Scooby Doo on Zombie Island', the best Scooby Doo film with 'Witch's Ghost' close behind, part of me was very intrigued but another part of me questioned its point.

'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' ended up not being of high quality and struck me as unnecessary. Really do have to agree with everything negative that has been said and am saying this with regret and a want to like it. It is a disgrace as a sequel and is not a good Scooby Doo film on its own terms, the worst since 'Monster of Mexico' (except worse than that) and one of the worst films of the franchise overall. As heavily flawed 'Curse of the 13th Ghost' (though didn't hate it as much as others did) was this made me appreciate that film.

Having said that, 'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' didn't strike as that awful. It did have good things. The animation is very colourful and atmospheric, the attention to detail in the backgrounds is beautifully done. Did like that some of the music did pay homage to the 60s that had a very nostalgic quality.

The film actually started off very well, with a great opening that paid homage to familiar ghosts from earlier incarnations (including rarely seen since Spooky Space Kook). Elvira is a fun kooky character and makes a cameo that makes one nostalgic for the macabre. The black cat creature was an interesting idea.

Which is why it was so sad that 'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' went drastically downhill halfway through and got worse with each minute. It gets too hectically paced and tries to cram in too much content, all of which veering on ridiculously silly and muddled. Managing to do so without generating any tension or suspense (the zombies looking more goofy than creepy) and the truth wasn't even that much of a surprise, as well as feeling over-stretched. What started off so promising is practically discarded halfway through as well, with near-non-existent continuity and the one that showed the most potential is inexplicably left as a loose end.

Dialogue is often cheesy, too much of the music jars (especially the very outdated chase scene music) and most of the characters are either dull or annoying. The film nails Shaggy and Scooby and also liked Daphne and Elvira, but the supporting characters are either too cartoonish or have too little to do and Fred is far too sappily written. Worst of all is Velma, who practically feels like the main character and is incredibly over the top annoying. Lets not get started on that theory she had, which did not any sense, very contradictory for her character and was like raising the middle finger to continuity (which it pretty much denounces just like that).

Really cannot agree with the ignorant review that said the voice acting is better here. Other than Matthew Lillard (spot on as Shaggy), Grey Griffin and Cassandra Peterson's wonderfully mysterious cameo, to me the voice acting was not very good here (a rare occurance for the animated Scooby Doo films) and nothing in the delivery is on par with Adrienne Barbeau's beautiful delivery of the Simone and Lena backstory flashback in the original. Frank Welker sounds tired and borderline depressed while John Michael Higgins and Kate Micucci overdo it horribly. Nobody else stands out with their limited material.

Concluding, not awful but disappointing and the worst Scooby Doo film in a long time. 4/10

So disappointed. I wasn't expecting much though to be honest. 'Scooby Doo on Zombie Island' and the few films that followed it - 'Scooby Doo and the Witches Ghost', 'Scooby Doo and the Alien Invaders' - were actually GOOD. But 'Zombie Island' was far and away the best. They updated the whole Scooby Gang, filled them out a bit, gave them something a little more three dimensional to work with, modern clothes, careers etc. But best of all, was the writing - it was solid, and entertaining and even as a grown up person, I still enjoy watching those movies. So then they go and do THIS. I'm being very generous giving this a 5. It is a typical, cheap, slap up sequel that distorts the original story, has no continuity - it is just plain old lazy. The animation is cheap and tired, the gang are back in their frankly ancient garb again. This is a vastly inferior offering.

Look, Scooby Doo is part of my life, it's like comfort food. I am a fully grown up person now, bordering on middle age. I have small children, and I would follow Scooby and Shaggy off a cliff. Their enormous sandwiches make me laugh every.darn.time even though the gag is so over used. But honestly, don't tarnish a timeless classic by churning out these cheap, poorly written, tired old straight to DVD jaunts that bank on people watching them simply because we love Scooby Doo. Take a good, hard look at the original zombie island film and take notes - THAT is how you keep a franchise like this going. Please, please, no more cheap, badly written, badly animated sequels.

A major disappointment I'm afraid to say. Such a wasted opportunity. I usually love all the Scooby-Doo DTV movies, but Return to Zombie Island did not impress me. You can't help but compare it to the original Zombie Island, which is just brilliant.

This sequel isn't worthy of association in my books. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't go into too much detail, but the supernatural elements are practically discarded. Instead we get a plot that's contrived & boring, and jokes that are hit and miss (mostly miss). Also, the way Velma is written in this movie is an affront to her character. Yes she's a skeptic, but you can be a skeptic without being an insufferable know-it-all.

On the whole, the children will probably enjoy it, but for those of us who grew up with the original, Return to Zombie Island is a wasted attempt to capitalise on the nostalgia of the original movie. If, like me, you love the original Zombie Island, skip this mess.

Pros: -Good animation -A few funny moments -No political correctness, virtue signalling

Cons: -Bad story -Disappointing antagonists -Unnecessarily stretched to make a 80 min movie

Bottom line: Only watch it if you are a Scooby-Doo fan and have some time to spare.