Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery

As a huge Scooby Doo fan, Scooby Doo! And KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery may not be one of the best of the Scooby Doo films in the way Witch's Ghost, Zombie Island, Big Top, Mask of the Blue Falcon and Goblin King are, but it is hardly a lesser effort (Monster of Mexico is my personal least favourite) and is definitely worth a watch.

The animation is great, some of the most imaginative and funky of any Scooby Doo film. Everything is beautifully drawn and meticulously detailed, with rich, atmospheric colours and a lot of care and time clearly went into how the characters were drawn and move. Even better, and perhaps the best thing about the film, is the terrific rock and roll soundtrack filled with a mix of KISS' biggest hits and songs every bit as catchy, KISS fans will be in KISS heaven almost certainly.

Scooby Doo! And KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery is a smartly written and funny film as well, with some endearing goofy slapstick and jokes, great inside jokes with KISS and witty digs at Fred's taste in music and commercialism in the business. The story is always diverting, love the over-the-top strangeness of the KISS scenes and it didn't feel too much of a KISS rock video and while the ending did feel rushed, not quite explained enough and the identity of the villain a little obvious the mystery is fun and suspenseful.

The characters all engage, Scooby and the gang are true to personality, fun to watch and have an easy-going chemistry, Velma is more likable than she has been in some of the more recent outings and Shaggy and Scooby's friendship is charming as always. KISS are great additions and have really interesting personalities, while the villain is an appropriately spooky one. The voice work is very good, the Scooby Doo regulars (especially Matthew Lillard) are spot on and KISS are a very pleasant surprise and sound more than comfortable in their as themselves roles.

All in all, not Scooby Doo at his best, but Scooby Doo! And KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery is never less than a rocking good time, and at its best it's an absolute blast. 8/10 Bethany Cox

OMG.

I swear, I thought I was watching a vintage Scooby-Doo! movie from the worst era of marketing-driven, Hanna-Barbera whoring-their-characters animated drivel. No, it's NEW. They actually spent money to make an homage to the low point in children's programming, the greed driven 80s when everything on Saturday morning TV was hawking a toy or breakfast cereal or in this case, a stupid rock band trying to remake themselves in comic books once the first bloom of fame had faded.

What you're subjected to in childhood is obviously powerful, since a lot of people seem to like this. Sorry about the brainwashing, folks.

I mean...come on, you get what you're expecting. If you saw the clips of "KISS Saves Santa" on "Family Guy" and thought that'd be fun to watch, you pretty much get that here. The campiness, the corny humor, the band members having fun voicing themselves, etc.

HOWEVER!!!! There is a musical scene in this movie, one in particular, that is so over-the-top and so bad-ass that you will be a KISS fan if you weren't before, and something that made me take such a deep dive into a band's discography is something I cannot rank any lower than an 8. I am glad I live in a reality where this can exist.

Of course you'd find KISS to be the band that put their name to the "Scooby-Doo" franchise, for better or worse. And of course you see a lot of shameless KISS merchandise promotion here, which I really hope was a spoof on themselves and their ability to put KISS on everything that can make a buck.

Now, "Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery" was your average run-of-the-mill Scooby-Doo adventure. But throw the rock band KISS into the equation and you end up with this movie. Plus, there were some very trippy scenes throughout the story as well.

While the story is entertaining for what a Scooby-Doo animated movie usually is, then "Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery" is not the best of animated Scooby-Doo adventures available.

It is, of course, always nice to have the same cast return to do the voicing for the characters in the franchise; Frank Welker (as Fred and Scooby-Doo), Mindy Cohn (as Velma), Grey Griffin (as Daphne) and Matthew Lillard (as Shaggy).

And having KISS in the animated movie was a bit of a mixed experience for me. Sure, with their history of putting KISS on anything with commercial value, I can relate to them joining in here on the Scooby-Doo franchise. However, giving the KISS members superabilities and being able to fly? Come on... No, that just gave this particular animated Scooby-Doo movie a way too cartoony and childish feel. Something that worked against the entertainment value of this 2015 animated movie in my opinion.

Sure, there were fun moments to the storyline as well. But the overall enjoyment of it was just mediocre. Hence I am rating "Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery" a five out of ten stars.

I love Kiss but their comic books usually suck so I wasn't expecting much from this. I hate that the comics always seem to center around The Elder but this movie mixes it up by throwing in a black diamond and even a bad guy named the Destroyer, who looks an awful lot like Galactus(he even threatens to swallow the earth). Ironically, The Elder was voiced by Penny Marshall and she was entertaining so I wouldn't have minded more of her. It's a decent story and there's a couple full songs(over very long chase scenes). Five stars.