Jasonic Reviews Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island

As a childhood and recent fan of Scooby-Doo, I see there's a certain charm about seeing it done in a way that's both different and done well. After the original show ended, not every iteration was an absolute success (i.e.: Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, Scooby-Doo Meets the Boo Brothers, etc.), but just for existing a long while, one ought to give them props for trying to revitalize the series multiple times. After many attempts at doing something different for its first few decades as a franchise, many would say that the first of many direct-to-video movies, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, from 1998 was the key to the franchise's relevance today as it allowed the talking canine continue to be relevant amongst today's generation of kids. Since the yearly release of Scooby movies continues even today, it's best to really look back and see what made this movie work and whether or not it holds up now.

A message from Morgan Moonscar: ***SPOILERS AHOY!!***

The film takes a massive departure from the traditional Scooby-Doo tropes in a number of ways. In it, the Mystery Gang reunites after a year long hiatus in an effort to discover real ghosts as part of a segment for the show that Daphne Blake (voiced by Mary Kay Bergman) is in charge of. After Fred Jones (voiced by Frank Welker) manages to get everyone back together, the likes of them, Velma Dinkley (voiced by B.J. Ward), "Shaggy" Rogers (voiced by Billy West), and Scooby-Doo (voiced by Scott Innes) travel to the city of New Orleans only to be met with an abundance of cases reminiscent of their old days. It isn't until they run into a young woman named Lena Dupree (voiced by Tara Strong) who invites them to her work residence of Moonscar Island in the bayou that they believe they're in for a real scoop. The island being allegedly haunted, the gang accepts the task to investigate the place, albeit skeptical of the possibility of there being real ghosts and monsters running around. Upon their arrival and investigation, however, more and more clues begin to emerge showing signs of genuine supernatural happenings and creatures popping up. And so, in a series of twists and turns, the gang finds themselves in the face of legitimate danger when captured by the least likely suspects.

The first and most notable thing about this movie is the fact that it goes against all the traditional Scooby-Doo tropes thereby giving the film a fresh direction. For starters, the characters are aged up and redesigned as young adults (see picture above) giving them more potential for them to evolve over the course of the film -- for example, Daphne becoming a successful career woman, being able to defend herself, and not be captured. Whereas Fred and at least one other character set off a trap that captured the villain at the end of every case, Scooby and Shaggy are the ones who actively neutralize threats, making them a lot more useful despite their classic quirkiness. And, of course, who could ever forget about the multiple twists the film takes to keep from repeating the same old, but somehow timeless formula? Long story short, the titular zombies turn out to be real and are haunting the place every night seemingly about to devour unsuspecting bystanders as zombies do. Moreover, the real villains are of the supernatural variety, being granted the transformation of "werecats" by a cat god and drain the life source of their victims in order to replenish their immortality -- the zombies actually being the good guys and trying to warn everyone of their potential fate. Tell me, does this sound like Scooby-Doo? It sure doesn't, but it definitely is done well and plays with everyone's expectations they've come to know from the franchise.

Simone: "I've had it with that meddling dog!"

Scooby: "Rog? Where?"

For a 1998 direct-to-video movie, the animation and art style in this flick is just as superb as many notable 2D animated films from the era. Every shot looks smooth and fluent, even more so than the old Scooby cartoons and made for TV films -- which, of course, were lower budget. The animators really gave it all they had with capturing the essence of the original cartoons in the way that the characters move and react to things, especially when Scooby and Shaggy get involved in cartoony antics and/or sprint away from whatever's chasing them. The characters themselves even resemble their original selves, but with updated wardrobes and even more detail applied to their overall looks -- i.e.: Fred and Daphne are given more detail in their eyes, Velma's given noticeable freckles, etc. Despite being set in a cartoon, the locales are given a lot of attention to detail in resembling the actual real life New Orleans; just looking at the city they travel throughout the unmasking montage or the bayou they venture into for the majority of the film could make one feel they've been whisked away to Louisiana. This amount of effort in capturing the feelings of real life locations would later go on to be a priority in later films and adaptations of Scooby.

If any kids or adults are gonna take away anything notable from the audio department of this film, it's the music. The film is packed with good music start to finish; from the cover of the original theme song in the opening chase sequence to Skycycle's "The Ghost is Here" from the aforementioned unmasking montage, the music is quite catchy that you might be wanting to look it up and sing along to it for days after. And who could possibly forget the real chase sequence in the film with "It's Terror Time Again", also done by Skycycle? While Scooby is known for its chase scene songs, never before has it experimented with power rock like such that sounds so legit it could even be played at a zombie walk in town and some may not even know it was originally from Scooby-Doo. And, to give credit where due, the voice actors did a good job at replicating the style of the original shows voice actors -- save for Frank Welker who reprises Fred here for the first time in years and has ever since. While some may disagree, Billy West does a good job sounding like Casey Kasem as Shaggy whereas Scott Innes was definitely a good successor to Don Messick (whom the film is dedicated to) in the few years that this same style of films was coming out. Lest we not forget that voice acting veterans such as Adrienne Barbeau, Tara Strong, Jim Cummings, and Mark Hamill were also in this film as Simone, Lena, Jacques, and Snakebite respectively. Seriously, for voice actor and rock music enthusiasts alone, this film may as well be one worth watching for a slice of obscure history.

'Cause it's terror time again!
They've got you running through the night!

The film may not be absolute perfection, but almost nothing ill can be said about it in hindsight. Between its ambitious plot, the risks it takes along the way, the superb animation and art style, the music, and voice acting, all components work well together and don't trip over the other in an effort to make this a great movie. Even kids today would be surprised at how scary parts of this film tend to be because hardly any of the newer Scooby movies or shows for that matter tend to tread this area of risk taking and letting the monsters be real and deadly threats. The good news is that one show managed to play on its success in the form of Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, but both have since faded into obscurity. Even so, I hope that somehow at some point every Scooby fan or superfan comes across this gem of a film of which I give a B+ and a worthwhile flick in the franchise.

Seriously, what are you waiting for?
Go watch this film this Halloween (or whenever you can)!
Bwahahahaha!