Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)

I re-watched this film for the first time in years yesterday, and it was really nothing special. After four animated Scooby-Doo films that took risks and offered us stuff that is new ("Zombie Island" through "Cyber Chase"), we get a forgettable entry that really doesn't do much outside of the old Scooby-Doo formula.The gang are their usual selves, which is pretty nice, I guess. It was also cool that we get to see the Hex girls again, even if they didn't do much. As usual, we get some funny scenes here and there and I will admit that the design for the vampire was pretty cool.It doesn't offer much outside of that. The story is typical Scooby-Doo fare, and there wasn't anything to make it feel like a real "movie." This was really nothing more than an extended TV episode. Several Scooby-Doo movies suffer from this, but this is one of the worst cases.It took too long for the plot to get started. There were too many filler scenes that added nothing and felt like they were there only to pad out the movie's length. The supporting characters aside from the Hex Girls were also nothing to write home about.The climax in the mountains is kind of routine, and the reveal was nothing shocking. However, I kind of liked the gang performing the Scooby-Doo Theme Song at the end.This is definitely one of the most by-the-numbers entries in the long-running franchise. It's not a bad film and it's okay to watch if you've got nothing better to do. However, it isn't really that much worth your time and there are better Scooby-Doo movies out there.RATING: C

Haven't the vampire theme been used enough in the Scooby-Doo universe? Or maybe it is just me...Regardless, "Scooby-Doo! And the Legend of the Vampire" turned out to be just another assembly line produced Scooby-Doo movie. You know, the ones that follow the very original Hanna-Barbera formula to the point. So you know what will happen here before it happens, and you know exactly how the movie will end.With that being said, aren't all Scooby-Doo movies essentially so? Yes, you are right. However, some of the animated movies do manage to distinct themselves from the rest of them, either with the storyline or with the "monsters" that the gang is chasing (and being chased by) after.This time the Mystery Gang has traveled to Australia where they investigate the mysterious disappearances at a music festival. Here they come face to face with the grim Yowie Yahoo creature.Right, nothing new or innovative here. It just runs a bit too much on autopilot here for this 2003 animated movie.However, I will say that I did find some amusement in the musicians and their costumes. But it was hardly enough to make up for the rest of the mundane experience that the animated movie turned out to be for me.The voice acting is very important for an animated movie to work with the audience, and "Scooby-Doo! And the Legend of the Vampire" had some good enough talents, although some of the more familiar voices were missing. It is always pleasing to have the voice of Frank Welker in a Scooby-Doo animated movie.My six year old son enjoyed "Scooby-Doo! And the Legend of the Vampire" well enough. I, however, found it to be lacking the fun and energy of many of the other Scooby-Doo animated movies. And as such, then my final rating of "Scooby-Doo! And the Legend of the Vampire" is a mediocre five out of ten stars.

I have to ask myself why do we get these classic cartoons and try to update them. What we have here is a stretched put episode of Scooby Doo which on its own would not be too bad, it is just when they try to modernise them that it fails to work and I for one can not see the sense in it. Surely from a quality and economic point of view it would just be better to shot kids the clearly superior originals (pre Scrappy obviously). Anyway the premise here is that the crew are holidaying in Australia and are due to go to The Vampire Rock Festival. As one would guess a mystery becomes apparent that the kids have to solve. Now the classic Scooby elements work well but where it goes wrong is when the try to bring it up to date with the gay references and the rock music (but still incredibly keep Fred in a cravat). This frankly does not work and would have been best left alone. I have seen worse updates of classics but still I would avoid this and stick to the originals.

After annoyingly sitting through the previous recent feature films that modernized this classic cartoon, I am happy to see that the Scooby Doo creators are getting back to their roots. Why mess with something good? I'm so happy that the gang is back in original gear, riding in the classic Mystery Machine, and grooving to tribute tunes. If they have to update the animation, at least they are leaving the content the same. If I wanted change or "creativity" with style, I'd watch a NEW cartoon.