Very Cool!!!

Let's be realistic.

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

The funniest thing about the "Scooby-Doo" franchise is that is started off by always having the monster be fake in every episode. People ended up complaining that the series was too formulaic. In the later 1990s they made a ton of direct to video movies where the monsters were real. They made so many it got to the point where people complained that this idea had become too formulaic as well. The latter animated movies went back to the original formula. It can be hard to stretch this idea out to a full length movie, but they did it quite well here.The best part is that we're introduced to Velma's sister, Madeyln who has a crush on Shaggy. Madeylin's quite a likeable character with a very cute design. This movie even addresses one problem that the Scooby-Doo franchise has. Why is it that the villains are able to come up with these elaborate costumes and illusions when they could simply use them to become successful on their own? Here, the villain reveals that he wanted his brother to sell their school so he could get the money to start his own magician business. I yearn for the days of theatrically released 2D films as this was certainly enjoyable enough to be shown there. ***

Everybody's favorite canine detective is back again. The Scooby Gang still seem fresh and vibrant in their latest straight-to-DVD adventure, Scooby-Doo: Abracadabra-Doo, over 40 years after their first television appearance. The Mystery Machine is a newer model and now has a very annoying GPS, but that's about all that's changed.The script writers do seem to keep up with the times, seeing that this new adventure takes place at a magic school that is reminiscent of Harry Potter's Hogwarts. It also features a very cool gryphon that flies around snapping at everyone and causing all kinds of ruckus. The story has all the right elements you've come to expect from a Scooby-Doo movie: a big and dark house or mansion, the eccentric cast of suspects, and a creepy or foggy landscape. There's even a foreboding groundskeeper, voiced by John DiMaggio (Bender on Futurama, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ben 10), who is constantly warning everyone of impending danger.Speaking of the cast, Matthew Lillard has picked up duties from longtime voice talent and radio DJ Kasey Kasem. Lillard does a great job, as if anyone ever had any doubt he could after playing the part in the two original live-action Scooby-Doo films. Frank Welker returns once again to voice both Scooby and Fred, thankfully. Mindy Cohn (The Facts of Life) again voices Velma. There's also some really cool guest voices, like John Stephenson (the narrator of Dragnet, Wacky Races, The Flintstones), Olivia Hack (The Brady Bunch movies, Hey Arnold! The Movie, Open Season 2), and Jeffrey Tambor (Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show, Hellboy 1 & 2).The animation is the same comfortable look that we've come to expect. It's pretty much the look of What's New, Scooby Doo? A mix of the classic feel of the original television show and new animation technology. Thankfully, it doesn't look like the horrific animation of Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue! I definitely enjoyed this new entry in the Scooby series. Your kids will love it and it will keep their attention. This is good and entertaining family fun.

The opening credit titles were a breath of fresh air and they had a flair that matched John K.'s "Ren & Stimpy" cartoon in the look of it. The music had a nice throwback to the original 69 series as well.As for the main animation throughout, it's simply some of the cleanest and tightest that has ever been done yet for a Scooby-Doo production! The turns and inbetweens look well done and the background paints have an air of mystery that match the brilliance of the original series in '69! The CGI Mystery Machine was produced and worked a lot better than in previous versions and there wasn't an overuse of CGI overall as there was in "Samarai Sword" which was horrible. Digital eMation Inc did a superb job on the production. Too bad we have to send the work out to Korea as usual though. Can we make anything in this country???? As for story, and having worked on Scooby stuff for 10 years of my professional career, the story once again shows how creatively bankrupt the Scooby-Doo series has been. Once it was a guy in a costume and once that was worn out they had to use real supernatural elements which shows that it "jumped the shark" decades ago. The last batch of movies has been really bad. Scooby stories should just be hacked out as apparently there is nowhere to take the characters and as a brand maybe it's for the best since these are made for kids. It's a strict formula and usually these things hit the bulletpoints as to what happens when and where in the story. WB won't allow a lot of new ideas to mess up the brand so it will just continue. It is their golden calf so I'll let it lie, since six-year-olds won't notice the sameness till they watch them when they are older. As an aside, the romance of Daphne and Fred had taken a noticeable turn. She had at least one hand on Fred in most of the scenes and flirted with him more than in any other picture. She sure is fighting for her man in this one...As for the voices, it was adequate. Welker was more on point and Scooby's voice didn't have a touch of Fred's voice in it as it did in "Samuarai Sword". He's getting older too, so I wonder who will replace him at some point. You can only use ProTools on a voice and speed up the tape to make them sound younger for so long.Matthew Lillard was watered down Shaggy and had no pep. Bad casting choice for sure, but tying him to the animated from the live-action Scooby is a good marketing decision. This is a problem though of hiring an actor as opposed to a voice actor. Actors can't voice act worth a damn! Didn't Matt Damon and Brad Pitt animated ventures tell the studios anything??? There is a difference and why Mel Blanc was a genius. They should have gotten Scott Innes to play Shaggy it since he still does all the licensing work as Shaggy and Scooby, plus he sounds closer to Casey than anyone else. Billy West is the reason I can't watch "Zombie Island" and he was the worst Shaggy ever so thankfully he wasn't cast! Maybe Lillard will improve since he'll be in the new series, "Mystery Inc" as well.All in all, a great clean piece of slicker animation which makes it stand out from the normal drivel.

Finally, for the first time in eight years, Warner Bros. Animation got off their backs and made a darker, more professional Scooby-Doo animated movie similar to their infamous "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island," their excellent "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost," the not-so-great "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders" and the fun "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase." I have been WAITING for this ever since "Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster" came out and simply went with the "What's New Scooby-Doo" animation style.Story-wise, it is a shame they go back to fake supernatural creatures once again, after "Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King" and the "Samurai Sword" movie. But it's got plenty of suspense and jump-scenes like the original movies did, though. They also go with a somewhat original plot for once, too! The gang has already come across too many tiki monsters, mummies, pirate ghosts, snow monsters and samurai ghosts that it seemed the writers were beginning to run out of ideas. But they REALLY surprised us with this one. The inclusion of Velma having a sister was fun, as was Daphne getting jealous over Fred going gaga over the lovely female assistant. Speaking of Fred, he isn't as stupidly-portrayed as he was in the previous films, or even "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" and "What's New, Scooby-Doo." Scooby-Doo also has quite a bit of dialogue too, and they cleverly parodied the old formula here as well (such as a danger-prone Fred, and Shaggy using ventriloquism on a wolf puppet to mimic the famous "meddling kids" line.) Voices aren't too bad either. Sure, Frank Welker's Scooby-Doo still sounds like Brain from "Inspector Gadget," but I've pretty much gotten used to it by now. As for Matthew Lillard, he's actually a pretty good Shaggy! Sure, he's not as good as Casey Kasem, but he's better than Billy West and Scott Innes, and definitely better than Scott Menville! It does sound a little strange hearing the live-action Shaggy's voice coming out of the animated Shaggy, but after a while I got used to it. He also managed to make Shaggy sound hip and young again! The sound effects are also similar to the early made-for-video Scooby-Doo movies, only limiting the classic H-B sound effects to the Scooby and Shaggy scenes or exaggerated comedy sequences. They even managed to use the classic haunted "Castle Thunder" sound as one of the magic-spell sound effects (ala "The Powerpuff Girls"), but the other thunder sounds are pretty much identical to the earlier made-for-video Scooby-Doo movies, too.The animation is also very good, too. As I mentioned, it is in a much darker style now, but the Scooby gang is drawn as how they appeared in the early 1970s, complete with wearing their original outfits! It looks much better than the "What's New Scooby-Doo"-esquire style of the past movies.Overall, this is definitely a step up from the last several Scooby-Doo movies. It seems they're finally going in the right direction. Not only that, this film didn't even end with a Hanna-Barbera logo like the others did, which is actually somewhat of a good thing because Hanna-Barbera didn't make this movie; Warner Bros. Cartoons did. Definitely recommended!