Scooby Doo is an icon, and
beloved through generations. A consistent
stream of modern cartoons as well as re-runs of old ones ensure that. But the surprise to me is that producers apparently
find KISS still relevant or appealing enough to warrant a crossover with Scooby
Doo. Seriously, is KISS really the kind
of thing you want to introduce to a younger audience?
Anyway, in the direct-to-video animated
movie Scooby Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll
Mystery, the Scooby Gang goes to visit a KISS theme park on which the hard
rock band is set to have a Halloween concert.
At arrival, they learn that the theme park is under attack by the
mysterious Crimson Witch, and this put the concert at risk of being
cancelled. The Scooby Gang has to team
up with KISS in order to get to the bottom of the mystery and save the
day.
KISS members
Starchild, Demon, Spaceman, and Catman are basically real-life cartoon
characters anyway, so the transition to cartoons isn’t that big of a leap. However, they are depicted to have
superpowers in this movie. It’s not
really that absurd of a concept to someone who is familiar with the supernatural
representation of KISS in the comics, and just treats this incarnation of the
band as based on the comics’ version rather than the real-life band.
KISS’ songs are
understandably featured in this movie.
But it’s not that inappropriate as it seems to be. If you know KISS, you would know that despite
their outlandish and hardcore appearances and theatrics, their music per se is
really not that heavy nor has that dark vibes.
Their music is tamer than what their image implies. And though I’m not a fan of KISS’ music, I
don’t hate it either. So I tolerated its
presence in the movie.
The movie is
as dumb, ridiculous, and weird as you would expect. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As what it’s trying to be – a good form of kids’
entertainment – it hits its mark. The
voice work is good and the animation has appeal. There is kids-level fun in it.
Scooby Doo used to have a show
called The New Scooby Doo Movies
wherein real-life celebrities or popular animated characters would guest star. And I was reminded of it while watching this. If Scooby
Doo! and KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery had been an episode of that show, it
would have been a pretty solid one. Of
course, if it was up to me, I would prefer seeing the Scooby Gang team up with Batman
& Robin, Josie & the Pussycats, or the Addams Family (my most favorite The New Scooby Doo Movies guest stars) again
instead of KISS.
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