Overrated

One of my all time favorites.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It hurts!!!! It hurts!!!! Turn it off it hurts!!!!! OK, so it's not THAT bad, but there are parts of it that do make you feel like you're Linda Blair, strapped to a bed, and getting doused with holy water.So much of it is a big old FAIL that it's hard to believe they released it as a movie and not as, well, a throw away episode of one of the shows.Just run away from this one.

I wasn't so keen on watching this Scooby adventure as it has the shortest running time of all of them so far and I figured that it couldn't possibly have a substantial mystery worth taking an interest in.And while that's true for the most part, they do make a huge effort to keep the viewer guessing by throwing in lots of distractions, more so than any other Scooby adventure. And despite it's brief running time it does manage pack in a fair amount of characters and guest voices, so in a sense they give more AND less.The Mystery Inc. gang head off on a tropical cruise for Fred's birthday but things turn sinister when they pick-up a drifter floating in the water. No one believes his tale of ghost pirates (they're on a "mystery cruise" and are becoming quite jaded to the novelty), but only when said pirates show up do they gradually accept that it's real.There's a few more in-jokes than normal in this one too. And while I usually hate in-jokes it's forgivable, and perhaps welcome, in a Scooby-Doo mystery. I am aware that the infamous Bermuda Triangle was the focus of a lower-wattage mystery in the third season of Scooby-Doo back in the early 70s, but this one is considerably better.It looses points for being short, but it's still a worthy mystery.

I really enjoyed Scooby Doo: Pirates Ahoy! and I honestly think it is one of the better movies in the Scooby Doo franchise. Like any film with pirates, it was fun, colourful and hugely enjoyable, and my only complaints are that it is too short, and I wasn't hugely keen on Frank Welker's Scooby voice, I much prefer Don Messick. Still, the animation is very colourful, and the music is great. I loved the plot, about the gang cruising in the Bermuda Triangle, and falling foul of ghost pirates. The voice acting was fantastic, Casey Kasem is just a hoot as Shaggy, and Dan Castallenetta was excellent as Magician Mysterio. Ron Perlman was not only charming as Biff Wellington, but deliciously sinister as the villainous pirate captain, and his laugh was quite scary- and I thought Tim Curry's Pennywise's laugh was scary. All in all, despite a couple of minor flaws, an unexpected delight for Scooby Doo fans, a similar thing I said about last year's Goblin King, and I do recommend it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I can honestly admit that I don't like "What's New Scooby-Doo" at all, as well as the direct-to-video Scooby movies from 2004 to the present. The last two direct-to-video Scooby movies were not that good. They mostly focused more on Fred, Daphne and Velma, rather than Scooby-Doo himself(who is actually my favorite character!). However, this movie is a slight improvement over the last two. It's still basically an extended-length episode of "What's New Scooby-Doo," but not much like "Aloha Scooby-Doo!" or "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy." In this installment, Scooby-Doo is given more attention and screen time than the last two in the series! He also has plenty of dialogue, too. When I noticed this as I was watching, I couldn't believe it! The only flaw is, as usual, Frank Welker's Scooby-Doo voice (you know, like Brain from "Inspector Gadget!") I sure hope this isn't Casey Kasem's last time he does Shaggy's voice, what with Scott Menville (aka Robin from "Teen Titans," Larry and Steve from "Rugrats," etc.) starting to do a horrible Shaggy impersonation. However, it's not like Daphne, who sounds a bit like Vicky from "The Fairly Oddparents," and Mindy Cohn providing Velma's newer, slightly dark-sounding voice. However, I thought Fred's parents were pretty goofy (I loved the running gag with their camera flash temporarily blinding people!), and there was that crazy tour guide who reminded me of Ms. Frizzle from "The Magic School Bus." However, they STILL didn't use the old "Castle Thunder" sound effects, like the last three movies! I mean, they used it on a couple of episodes of "What's New Scooby-Doo" and on "Loonatics Unleashed," and since pirate movies tend to have thunderstorms in them, this would've been perfect for it! But I also enjoyed seeing references to classic Scooby villains (not Redbeard, thankfully, but Captain Cutler, the Ghost Clown and a werewolf from an older episode). Also, I am very grateful that they didn't use the gawd-awful new designs from "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue." That would've sucked! But I am still find it weird they keep using the old 70s Hanna-Barbera logo at the end of the movies. I will say it again: HANNA-BARBERA DID NOT PRODUCE THIS MOVIE! It was all TERMITE TERRACE! Nonetheless, if you liked "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase" or are just a fan of the new series, you will like this then.