Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire

Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

I was always a fan of the TV show so I thought I'd check out one of the movies since this is the only month that seems fitting. Scooby and the gang go to Australia for a rock concert but band members start turning into vampires. I was really, really disappointed in this thing because everything that made the TV show entertaining is missing here. I guess you could say this movie was dumbed down for kids but expanding this out of a 30-minute running time also hurts thing because often times the mystery is put on the back burner while we see stupid stuff ranging from concerts to other items. The actual mystery that is here seems watered down and gets boring after the first twenty minutes. I wasn't too impressed with the vocals either, which is strange since four of the original members were together again for this.

I've been an avid Scooby fan in the last five years. Ive followed the great dane from Zombie Island to the live action movie. Now we join him at Vampire Rock. After four quite successful animated films I had high hopes for Vampire Rock. However this film is a drastic departure from those films, as Zombie Island was from the original series. There is a nod to those films present in the form of the Hex Girls and the Cyber Chase game, but thats it. The mystery machine is now the old van and Fred has his ascot back. All that the previous films had built up has gone. On the plus side Velma's orginal voice is back and sounds fantastic. Also worth a mention is the excellent reengineering of the old Scooby Doo Where Are You? incidential music. Overall the piece feels like it is pandering too much to the general populous' preception of Scooby Doo and this does stiffle the creativity. One last thing though please if there is to be another film could have Scoot Innes back as Scooby?

The past Scooby movies have been either great or just okay, but this one was completely confusing. This one was entertaining but it made no sense. The whole plot had me extremely confused. I didn't understand why Daphne and Fred are back to the regular outfits and the villain's plan. They brought the music back in this one so that was nice but sometimes the sounds were too much. Overall, it's watchable but not great.

Having enjoyed the last several direct-to-video installments of the Scooby Doo franchise, I have always been impressed by the fact that the writers were keen on what made the original series work and how to translate that to film. Oh sure, it was always rather corny entertainment, but you're not expecting high art from Scooby. You're expecting FUN.

And that was what I wanted from this outing, but I was rather disappointed overall. As nice as it was to see the living members of the original cast together again, the writing seemed a little stale. The in-jokes were so thick where they became tiresome by the time the credits rolled. The situations concocted for the cast frequently felt like padding instead of entertainment. Though the real kicker is the fact the conclusion managed to be too unbelievable even by Scooby Doo standards. After the more outrageous events that have transpired, the solution to the mystery of the Yowie Yahooie is far too dull, especially considering the supernatural events the last several films ended with. While it's nice to see the film end in step with the original series (proving the supernatural to be something much more mundane), it feels as though the balance isn't even enough between the supernatural facade and the reality.

However, this installment is not a total loss. Not all the in-jokes are a waste (especially one at Fred's expense when the gang is set to investigate a trailer). The riffs on various genres of music (in particular the KISS-inspired vampires) were appreciated, as was the reappearence of the Hex Girls from the second film (though they've lost a lot of their character now that they're not suspects). The hideously out of date manager inspired quite a few laughs as well.

Unfortunately, this does not take away the rather empty feeling at the end of the film. With a new series running, it's of course possinble this was more of a pilot for than a continuation of the previous films, but it's hoped this is really more of an anomaly in the series of movies and not a trend, lest we return to the likes of the franchise-toppling "Scooby Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf".

Voice actor Frank Welker is to voice acting what Lon Chaney & Lon Chaney Jr. were to acting through layers of makeup. But while Frank has done just about everything from people to animals to special creature vocalizations to killer robots (he voiced 13 of the original Decepticons on "Transformers"), to some people Frank will ALWAYS be the voice of Fred from "Scooby-Doo". But for some reason, Frank has been pulling double duty lately as both Fred and Scooby, who was previously voiced by Scott Innes, who got the job after the original voice of Scooby, Don Messick, died. Frank's still a good Fred, but despite his considerable vocal talent, his Scooby is something of a disappointment: he never quite captures Don's Scooby pitch the way Scott did and for the most part his Scooby sounds too much like Fred. Which is strange considering that Frank's been with Scooby from the beginning. That's just one of the dis-pleasures of this entry.

The gang heads down under for vacation and ends up investigating the goings on at a rock festival which leads to a group of alleged vampires. Though colorfully drawn and full of gags, it never reaches the height of "Zombie Island", "Witch's Ghost", "Alien Invaders" and even the original show itself. The best bit is probably Fred carrying the whole gang across a rope bridge. Velma also sings with the voice of Jennifer Love Hewitt.

Still, it's nice to have the old crew back together - Nicole Jaffe as Velma, Heather North as Daphne (though technically Daphne #2) and Casey Kasem as Shaggy (who was absent from the previous entries). The "commentary" by Fred, Shaggy and Scooby is mildly amusing.