Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost (1999) (V)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Jim Stenstrum

Writers:

Rick Copp (writer)
David A. Goodman (writer)

Release Date:

5 October 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family | Mystery

Plot Keywords:

Dog Cartoon | Spell Book | Scooby Doo | Author | Witchcraft

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Scott Innes	...	Scooby Doo / Norville 'Shaggy' Rogers (voice)
Frank Welker	...	Fred (voice)
Mary Kay Bergman	...	Daphne (voice)
B.J. Ward	...	Velma (voice)
Jane Wiedlin	...	Dusk (voice)
Peter Renaday	...	McKnight (voice) (as Pete Renaday)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kimberly Brooks	...	Luna (voice)
Tim Curry	...	Ben Ravencroft (voice)
Jennifer Hale	...	Thorn (voice)
Bob Joles	...	Jack (voice)
Tress MacNeille	...	Sarah Ravencroft (voice)
Neil Ross	...	(voice)

Runtime:

70 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

South Korea:All | Australia:G | UK:U | USA:Unrated

Company:

Hanna-Barbera Productions

Movie Connections:

References The Wizard of Oz (1939)

Much better than you'd expect – comedy, good animation and all the old favourites

Whilst investigating a haunted museum the gang meet horror writer Ben Ravencroft and get invited back to his hometown. When they get to Oakhaven they find the tourist season at full flow – attracted by tales of the ghost of Ben's ancestor who was burnt as a witch. The gang begin to try and unravel the town's mystery despite the many red herrings.

This update of Scooby Doo is much better than you'd expect it to be. The plot is just what you expect from Scooby Doo (witch haunting town – but is it real or is someone up to no good etc). However it does have a little added spice by having some modern twists – like the fact that Fred always wants to go off with Daphne when they split, or Fred being tired getting called a `kid', or Thelma's geeky status nicely kept.

The plot is good for the most, with plenty of red herrings to make it less than obvious as to who's behind everything. The animation is good – the gang are nearly identical to the original, with the exception maybe of Fred. However the feel of the film is quite like the dark mood of the Batman animated series. The only complaint is that you can that it is modern by the use of car chases, supernatural battles and Batman-type fights. However it is good to see the characters in a well animated adventure – even if some of the ghosts are more scary and less comedy that they are usually.

The voice work is good – except Fred doesn't sound quite like he should. Tim Curry is good but really you know that if he's going to do the voice then his character is going have some meat on it. The `ghost' is poor – all `thee' and `thou'. But in the most case the voices are fine.

Overall it is a modern telling so we really do have ghosts etc, but apart from this it's actually very enjoyable – the humour, the pop culture references etc all made it much better than I thought it would be, even if some of (The Hex Girls) doesn't work very well. Oh – and did we need to have the Scooby Doo theme song by Billy Ray Cyrus?