The latest Scooby-Doo film is a followup on The 13th Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, the 1985 incarnation of the
Scooby-Doo TV program. Titled Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost,
it sees Vincent Van Ghoul contacting Scooby, Shaggy, and Daphne about finally finishing
their ghost capturing mission. After the
three fill an astonished Fred and a sceptical Velma in about their past in
hunting real ghosts, the Mystery Inc. gang meets up with Vincent to capture the
thirteenth and final ghost that escaped from the Chest of Demons.
I’m pretty fond of Scooby-Doo (it should be obvious from how closely I follow the movies these last few years), and when I was a kid,
I enjoyed watching its various series’ reruns a lot. However, to be honest, The 13th Ghosts of Scooby-Doo was a version of the show that
I didn’t quite become attached to. Thus,
I totally forgot that that show ended with the 13th ghost left uncaptured.
Nevertheless, once I was reminded
of this detail (when the trailer dropped), I did get to appreciate that this
story was finally being given closure after more than three decades.
Moreover, it excited me somewhat
that, this time around, the entire Scooby gang was participating. And, indeed, among the things that I enjoyed
the most in this movie were Fred and Velma’s reactions to this side of their
friends’ lives that they weren’t aware of.
As for returning characters from
the original cartoon, only Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim Flam took part in this
movie. Weerd and Bogel weren’t in it,
and neither was Scrappy-Doo (though his name was mentioned once). I was actually surprised that Scrappy wasn’t
in it. Going into the movie, I was kind
of anticipating that he would make an appearance – a cameo, at least. But that didn’t happen, and it disappointed
me a little. I guess the franchise is
still not ready to bring that notoriously annoying puppy back to the spotlight.
All in all, Scooby-Doo! and the Curse of the 13th Ghost is exactly the kid-oriented
fun time I thought it was going to be from the start. Moreover, although it’s still generally light
and silly, I feel that this Scooby-Doo adventure to be a little bit spookier
and more sophisticated than usual.
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