Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost

Way back in 1985, a pair of bumbling ghosts named Bogel and Weerd tricked Scooby and Shaggy into opening a chest of demons, and it was up to the beloved goofballs to return all 13 escaped specters into the mysterious box. To aid them in their mission, Scooby, Shaggy, Scrappy, and Daphne were joined by a young con artist named Flim-Flam, and a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul (voiced by and modeled after horror icon Vincent Price). Unfortunately, the show was canceled with only 11 demons back in the chest.

"The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" was a departure from the established formula. Although it wasn't considered a hit at the time, it immediately began to develop a cult following, which has grown in the ensuing decades thanks to occasional reruns and a DVD release. It was wildly irreverent and self-referential years before that became a standard, plus the ghosts were real. Vincent Van Ghoul went on to become a recurring character in "Mystery Incorporated," although in that incarnation, he became an outright caricature of the late Mr. Price.

So for the 50th anniversary of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!," WB decided to greenlight two sequels, one that finally gave closure to the "13 Ghosts" and a follow-up to "Zombie Island," which is universally regarded as the best Scooby-Doo movie ever made. Both films give little nods and winks to their predecessors, but they each managed to disregard the established stories in really insulting ways.

This film begins with a promising prologue with Mr. Van Ghoul, which is followed by a brief recap of the show. But instead of picking up where they left off with Scrappy and Film-Flam in tow, it's the usual goings-on at Mystery Inc., with Fred and Velma being utterly oblivious to events that transpired while they were away at summer camp. It quickly becomes clear that the writer goofed by not cluing them in. Velma becomes obnoxious in her skepticism of the supernatural (which she's witnessed in many instances in many different timelines), and Fred is reduced to an endless barrage of unfunny gags as Daphne assumes the role of the group leader.

It takes way too long for the gang to be reunited with Vincent and Flim-Flam, who are both a shell of their former selves. Mr. Van Ghoul was charming as a washed-up horror actor in "Mystery Incorporated," so they made the colossal mistake of transplanting THAT version of the character into this story. Instead of being a powerful mystic, he's a powerless eccentric who continuously delivers insipid pun-filled one-liners. Flim-Flam fares slightly better. Now, the huckster does have a few shining moments where he feels like the original character, but they gave him absolutely nothing to do. If you snipped his few scenes out of the movie, it wouldn't change the story at all.

Furthermore, there's no Bogel and Weerd, or even Scrappy-Doo. Bringing Scrappy back for one final outing would have been the right thing to do, and since he was at his least annoying in the original show, maybe they could have even made him likable. The absence of the charmingly goofy Bogel and Weerd is downright unforgivable since, at the very least, they could've offset Velma's relentless ghostly skepticism.

What made the show stand out from the pack is that it dared to be different, with its regular throwaway gags and zany sense of humor. A few other Scooby iterations have come close to recapturing that feeling ("Frankencreepy" immediately springs to mind), but they didn't even attempt it here. And that might've been okay if they'd gone the darker route of the original "Zombie Island" or "The Witch's Ghost," which for a while seemed to be the intention. Sadly, the tiny bit of goodwill that they accrued is negated by the final act, in which the story suddenly devolves into a run-of-the-mill Scooby tale.

As a stand-alone Scooby-Doo film, it's overwhelmingly average. As a finale to the series, it ranks right up there with "Lost" and "Game of Thrones" as one of the most unsatisfying conclusions in television history.

Who's seriously giving this anywhere near a ONE out of ten? LOL pathetic.

Anyway, thanks to the always-winning combo of the modern day Scooby-Doo animation style + quality, the incredible (possibly franchise greatest) voice acting cast, and the infinitely enjoyable fourth wall-breaking comedy writing, this very easily ends up being yet another top quality WB Animation Scooby film.

Finally, the Daphne we deserve, and a wrap up to a series that maintains the integrity of the team, and also satisfies the narrative. Those who gave this low ratings are nuts.

Belated sequel to the short-lived TV show The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo (1985), made for the franchise's fiftieth anniversary. That show, although not hugely popular at the time (it was cancelled early), later acquired a cult following as an early example of Scooby-Doo encountering the genuine supernatural. No sequel so long afterwards was going to please everybody, and when it was announced fan reactions ranged from 'OMG! I've waited so long for this!' to 'I won't hold my breath for this to be decent, let alone good'.

The 13 Ghosts TV show focused on Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby (no Fred or Velma), assisted by Scrappy (Scooby's nephew), Flim-Flam (a young con artist), and a warlock named Vincent Van Ghoul (voiced by the legendary Vincent Price), and the first thing most people wanted to know was whether this would do the same. It doesn't. Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, and Scooby ALL feature - plus Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim-Flam, but no Scrappy. The second thing people wanted to know was whether the ghosts would again be real - I won't spoil that one.

The first half of the movie is very good. It quickly recaps the original show, reintroduces Vincent (now voiced by the excellent Maurice LaMarche) and has some very funny moments (not least Shaggy and Scooby's response when they realise they've got to go back and capture the 13th ghost that slipped through their grasp last time). There are also a whole load of visual nods to Scooby's adventures back to Scooby-Doo, Where Are You in 1969. But by the half-way point the initial quick-fire pace starts to ease off, with fewer callbacks to the original. It's not that it's bad from then on, but it feels less of a continuation and more like its own thing. The conclusion (again, I won't spoil) has fans divided, with some loving it, and some not so much.

At the end of the day it's as wacky as you'd expect. The regular voice cast (Frank Welker, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard, and Kate Micucci) are on top form. The character interplay is as strong as ever, and there are some laugh-out-loud moments. It's not quite what I'd hoped it would be, but it's still enjoyable. 7/10.

Yes, I really did enjoy this movie because I love me some Scooby Doo and the gang! Was glad to see some of the "Old Characters" from the "Thirteen Ghost of SD", but Flim Flam was the only one who brought up Scrappy. Then Velma was like, "Who is a Scrappy?" First of all, if the writers would of look at all of the Scooby Doo shows, they would have known that Scrappy had first join the Scooby Gang back doing "The Scooby and Scrappy Show." It was some other stuff that didn't make sense to me in this movie, but I'm not going to discuss it. Smh I think that they should bring Scrappy back because he was Scooby's nephew for goodness sake!!!!