Scooby-Doo! and the Goblin King (2008)

I really enjoyed this movie. There were lots of laughs when Scooby and Shaggy got scared. Shaggy's hair would stand up and their faces would show distorted fear.The animation was great. There was lightning and flash animation when characters would change in to monsters or back to themselves. The flashing of colors and the characters transformation is stunning.The music was good too with the monsters singing and performing in a band. A skeleton on keyboard and more.This is one of the better Scooby Doos. Not a lot of violence. Just a lot of running, flying on a broom and dodging goblins.Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Frank Welker as Scooby and Freddie, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Jay Leno, Lauren Bacall, James Belushi and more.Well worth watching.

Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King (2008)** 1/2 (out of 4) Scooby and Shaggy go to a magic show with the gang when they call out a fake magician who in return turns Fred, Velma and Daphne into monster. Scooby and Shaggy must then enter the monster underground to find a cure but first they must go up against the Goblin King. This feature is pretty uneven and I'd probably call it the weakest I've seen so far. It's certainly not a bad movie and I'm sure fans of Scooby will be entertained but there were several moments where my son's interest (as well as mine) was not fully into the picture. I think the start of the film is a lot of fun as the gang are on a roller coaster ride with all sorts of scary monsters around. The ending is also a lot of fun as Scooby and Shaggy have to dress up as Velma and Daphne to get into the Goblin King's party. This here adds some nice laughs and there's another great sequence where the duo go to a monster party. The animation during this party sequence is great and there's a lot of good imagination going on with the various creature looks. The biggest problem is in the middle of the picture where it just seems like the writers didn't know where to take the material and we've got a lot of scenes that just drag without much happening. Still, fans of Scooby should at least be mildly entertained and we even have the likes of James Belushi, Tim Curry and Wayne Knight and Jay Leno adding some vocal support.

You gotta love him! 40 years of silly antics and still quite popular with the kiddies.The old TV show was annoyingly repetitive. Scooby and the gang get involved with a phony ghoul of some kind and Velma and Fred solve the case, while Scooby and Shaggy get to be live bait.Then came the live action movies. They tried but failed to be anything more than actors overshadowed by too many visual effects and stories that much like the old TV show were tedium incarnate.The retooling of the old TV show was an improvement. What's New Scooby-Doo was bold enough to play with conventions and actual decent animation. But soon they began to be repetitive too.Here's another retooling. The monsters are real! There's no unmasking and Fred, Daphne and especially Velma are kept off screen for much of the running time. Scoob and Shag has to save the day and they do it without being doped up by Scooby snacks.It's pretty amazing how many celebrities were involved in this. For instance Lauren Bacall of all people. Jay Leno (actually funny here) as a pumpkin. Is this a stab at the size of his head? Hmmm... Tim Curry, as close as a cartoon in live person as you can get and Jim Belushi and his sidekick from According to Jim.The animation assisted by lots of CGI makes you head hurt but the voice talent elevate this from being a total dud. Wayne Knight as a megalomaniac? Predictable? You bet and it still make you chuckle of appreciation.Looking forward to what's next? No. But I can't help but watching. Something where you don't have to think will definitely always be on my to do list a couple of times each year.

Zoinks! Like, ruh roh, Raggy, don't rook now, but just when you were about to ask "where are you" there's a reaky new Scooby Doo movie available on rideo. Yeah, reaky. Gulp. And in this one, the whacked out warlock isn't just a guy wearing a mask. Heh heh heh. Like, no way man, but this wunnerful creepy old time animation is completely on the mark and ten times as fun as th-th-th-the rive action Scooby Doo movies. Like,trust me, old friend, old buddy, old pal, there are even a bunch of scary moments that will make you rump off your chair. Boing! There is also a runch of musical numbers. I especially liked the one that went romething like "Woararoarawoararoarawoar." Yikes! The kids will love the Goblin King, and the adults will laugh at the inside rokes: "Oh no! Velma's fried!" or "Now that is something you just do not do to a guy's van." Why do I get the feeling this one should have been on the big screen? Way to go old Scooby Dooby movie makers. You should totally rent Scooby Dooooby Dooooo and the Goblin King: jeepers, maybe there's food inside the box.