An entertaining but not wholly successful direct to video Scooby-Doo! movie.
This film is strange to say the least. This movie was released in 2015 well after Kiss was at their most popular and when they certainly were far from as young as they are pictured here (teenage Daphne has a crush on Starchild, who looks as young as her). Yet despite this the film takes place during the time it was released instead of when Kiss was young. That however is only the beginning of the strangeness. The film starts with The Mystery Inc. gang heading to the amusement park, Kiss World, which is centered around the rock band. On the way they gush and talk about how great Kiss is. When they arrive they find that there is a ghost haunting the place. They are ready to solve the mystery, when they discover that another team of detectives has been hired. These mystery solvers end up being Kiss, themselves. As the mystery unravels Shaggy and Scooby come to believe that the band may have superpowers and the story takes a truly bizarre sci-fi turn.
Despite being a strange movie, the film does have plenty of what makes Scooby-Doo! so beloved. The Crimson Witch is an excellent villain. Her design is fantastic and she is creepy enough to feel like a real threat to our heroes, while still not being too much so to not take away from the lighthearted feel of the franchise. Kiss World, as corny as it is, is very atmospheric. It is silly and fun, but still has an irresistibly creepy darker side to it. The main characters are as likable as ever and anytime we spend with them feels like visiting old friends. The mystery, while not to hard to solve, is quite engaging. While this film is not laugh out loud hilarious, there are quite a few jokes that raise a smile. For a direct to video movie, the animation is often quite good as well.
The use of Kiss songs works quite well here. The songs are as always a lot of fun and they fit the action pretty well.
Despite all this there is some stuff that doesn't quite work here. The constant praising of Kiss, feels forced and can be a bit too much at times. The supernatural and sci-fi elements also don't work. These parts can feel too over the top and silly even for a Scooby-Doo! movie. Kiss' superpowers and having sci-fi elements where everything is modeled after Kiss' image feel out of place in the franchise and remind one of some of the worst Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980's. Also even at 78 minutes this film can feel overlong.
This is a fun but quite flawed Scooby-Doo! movie.
No comments:
Post a Comment