Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery

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.

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 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.

What is a Halloween WITHOUT Kiss or the Scooby Gang? With this terrific fun-fest we will never know the answer to that question! Yup the Fearless Five team up with the Hottest Band In The World to solve the mystery of the Crimson Witch, an especially vicious new monster that is terrorizing the visitors to the Kiss themed amusement park known as Kiss World on Halloween Night. And in the process the Gang will travel to strange places, learn how to belch fire, and find out who Kiss really are.

For starters let start with the animation. The five Scooby-Doo characters have never looked better. The animation is fluid without over-animating them. The animation is sharp, very colorful and crisp looking. As for the plot, that is where a snag comes in. To me it gets a tad too thick at times. We all know the basic Scooby-Doo plot and it was always straight forward. Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, Fred, and Scooby stumble onto another weird situation, run for their lives from the monster, and then solve the mystery and expose the buttface in the mask and costume that was causing all the trouble at the episodes end (and always revealing their solutions with an ironic comparative ease - after all if they figured out it was just some harmless ordinary idiot in a costume and mask from the start, then what were they so frightened of?). It was a formula that was took it easy on the brain and was fun to watch as well. That was why it was so successful and Hanna-Barbera used it many times over in their various shows (Speed Buggy, Jabberjaw, etc.)

Here the plot concerns a Black Diamond the band must protect, and the Witch wants desperately, while the Scooby Gang helps the band out in their quest. But it goes deeper than just protecting the precious gem, far more so. And that is where the plot of "Scooby-Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery" kicks into gear and things get complicated. It is a little more than the basic Scooby formula that I had described before. Not that it is a bad thing. After all this is a MOVIE, so it has to be more solid than an average episode. I'm just saying that it seems a little bit off putting for viewers that are more used to 30 minute Scooby adventures, like myself.

But the real treat here is the voice casting. The band members actually do their own voices, as well as their real life manager Doc McGee. There is also a bevy a celebrity voices here, from Jason Mewes and Paula Perrette, to Penny Marshall and Darius Rucker, just to name a few. The band members all do a decent job with their rolls. For non-actors (well Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley has done acting before) there is rarely a flat reading of lines by the them and it is a joy to hear them sound like voice acting pros.

Another added plus is the slathering of Kiss references that are plastered throughout the movie. A couple of examples: when the gang is watching a video of the Witch doing her evil, she smashes a guitar. Paul Stanley smashes his guitar at the end of every Kiss concert. When told that the Scooby Gang will join them whether he likes it or not, the Demon (Gene Simmons) replies "Oy" referencing the fact that Simmons is Jewish. The list goes on and on. It took me at least three viewings before I could get even half of the references. And there are a few non-Kiss references thrown in to keep you on your toes, look for a Sailor Moon one. Kiss fanatics, like yours truly, will be in Kiss trivia hog heaven here.

In all this is a great Scooby adventure, a great Kiss adventure, and a great Halloween movie. Along with great Kiss songs (the opening credits are a knockout) and a new Kiss song that is fun to listen to, "Scooby-Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery" will definitely get your Halloween Rockin and Rolling All Nite!

My Rating (from Excellent to Poor): Good. Lots of fun to be had here.

Scooby-Doo and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery (2015)

*** (out of 4)

Scooby and the gang are headed to a KISS amusement park for a big concert but once they get there they are saddened to learn that it has been canceled because a phantom is stalking the park. The group agrees to help the band try and find out who the phantom is and why she's there.

As a life-long Scooby-Doo fan, I've been disappointed with the last couple movies but this one here gets things back on track and it's really a nice little throw-back to the Scooby Doo Movies, which had the gang teaming up with various famous people for one hour episodes. This movie here has some of the best animation from the series and there's no doubt that the use of the KIiss music is a major plus. I won't ruin which of their songs are played here but they certainly help punch up the action and especially the song playing over the title credits.

As far as the story goes, it's actually fairly interesting, although the mystery is pretty much a disaster as it's obvious who the bad guy is going to be. In fact, it's easy to figure out why they're doing it. The story itself has some pretty wild stuff going on including various winks to other Kiss songs and album titles. The villain, for the most part, is a good one and the look of the costume was quite good as was the red fog that follows her. Scooby and his boys are in fine form here and I thought the animated Kiss members were a lot of fun.

SCOOBY-DOO AND KISS: ROCK AND ROLL MYSTERY isn't the best movie of the series but it's certainly has some fresh moments and the music is great. At just 72 minutes the film moves at a nice pace and makes for a solid entertainment. Plus, seeing Scooby and his buddies in full Kiss make-up was quite fun.