Scooby-Doo! Stage Fright (2013)

 

A really fun direct to video movie. 

In this film Daphne and Fred try out for a talent show that is to be held in an old opera house. However, when a mysterious phantom haunts the opera house, the gang has another mystery on their hands. 

This is a pure delight of a movie. It benefits from a very strong villain. The Phantom has a wonderfully creepy design and laugh. He is a very memorable villain, who reminds me of the classic Scooby-Doo Where Are You villains in the best way. He also adds a sense of suspense to this film because he makes us feel our heroes are really in danger. The storyline is also very clever, providing a smart and memorable twist on Victor Hugo's Phantom of the Opera. The mystery itself is very strong and keeps one guessing who is behind the mask. This film provides many suspects all with completely believable motives. I also love how this mystery provides a twist on top of a twist. The humor is also quite good here. There are some truly funny moments throughout, especially with the other talent show acts. I actually laughed out loud a few times watching this. There is even a little joke for animation buffs with a character, whose name is a play on the great cartoon writer Paul Dini. That character is also a magician, playing off of how in real life Dini is married to a magician, and he loves writing for the magic based DC Comics character Zatanna.   

The biggest flaw is the romance between Daphne and Fred. When romance is incorporated into the Scooby Doo franchise, it most often falls flat. Even the otherwise incredible Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated series struggled with this. In Stage Fright, the romance is never that interesting and adds little to the rest of the film. I also stand by that I feel Daphne and Fred work better as friends than as a couple.  
  
This film was directed by Victor Cook. While this is the only feature length Scooby movie he directed, this was not his only time he directed Scooby. He served as a supervising director on the beloved TV show, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated as well as some half hour specials including Scooby-Doo! Haunted Holidays (2012) and Scooby-Doo! Ghastly Goals (2014). Cook would heavily work with Disney on many animated projects including episodes of Lio and Stich: The Series, 101 Dalmatians: The Series, Buzz Lightyear of Star Command and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. This film was written by the husband and wife writing team of Doug Langdale and Candie Langdale, who also wrote the direct to video movie Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown (2017). Doug wrote the direct to video movies, Big Top Scooby-Doo! (2012), Scooby-Doo! Legend of the Phantosaur (2011) and Disney's The Return of Jafar (1994). He also created such animated Disney TV shows as The Weekenders and Dave the Barberian.

This movie is a pure delight for my fellow Scooby fans.