Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown

Scooby and the gang head out to the Wild West. Of course, when they get there they find the town is being terrorised by a ghost - outlaw Dapper Jack, who (wouldn't you know it!) turns out to have been an ancestor of Shaggy's!

The story's good. There are some hilarious lines and situations (Fred trying to shoe a horse with a car-jack, and Shaggy and Scooby's ridiculous rock-side plunge are two that stick out), as well as some touching ones. The artwork and animation are excellent. And whilst I'm not a huge fan of the western setting, the movie makes the most of it with just about every cliche you can think of (and I mean that in a good way!). Even the title music has more than a hint of Ennio Morricone.

There are a couple of issues. 1) There are way too many featured characters who contribute absolutely nothing to the story. They have a lot of lines, but serve no purpose whatsoever. And 2), the movie really hits a slump around the 60 minute mark, with a dragged out rodeo/parade sequence, and a completely shoehorned mini pop concert by one of those pointless characters. It's as though the makers suddenly found themselves five minutes under the 77 minute runtime and had to start padding. Once it gets back on track it soon picks up, but that slump definitely robs the 'big reveal' of some punch. Thankfully, Frank Welker, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard, and Kate Micucci bring it as they always do, with solid support from the rest of the voice cast. And there's a nice little surprise scene just before the end credits.

Without the time-wasting this would have been an easy 8/10. Fortunately, what's good still gets it a 7.5.