Customer Reviews

Scooby Doo: Abracadabra-Doo

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

Nice to see Scooby-Doo alive and well in this 2010 new movie. The major change is that Matthew Lillard from the Scooby live action movies, fills in as the voice of Shaggy. I always thought Matthew was the best of the characters of those somewhat bizarre movies, and here, he's more than adequate but no Casey Kasem.

The mystery: a flying half-lion, half-bird monster terrorizes a school for magicians where Velma's sister, who's got a crush on the Shagmeister, elicits the gang's help. A little tension develops between Daphne and Fred over his goo-goo eyes for Whirlen Merlin the Magician's assistant.

It has all the traditional Scooby trappings- with lots of potential suspects, lots of like creepy, 'reepy' settings- a giant castle, a dark isolated forest, an island haunted by another monster, trap doors, towers, colorful artwork, Scooby and Shaggy silliness, a few tunes, and a mystery to solve. We prefer solvable mysteries versus supernatural ones.

A cute cartoon plays during the opening credits of the feature cartoon (a novel idea) with a bouncy song that got the kiddoes dancing.

Our children, ages 3 & 6, loved it; although, we fast fowarded for the younger one, the extra spooky scenes on the 'ghostly' island, but overall the writers resolve it nicely for kids' sensiblities. As adults, growing up with SD, we liked it a lot for what it is. This one rates somewhere between "Chillout Scooby and Where's my Mummy?". 4-1/2*.

Scooby and those meddling kids are back on the case once again in this frightfully fun animated adventure from Warner Home Video.

Scooby and the gang take a trip to check up on Velma's younger sister, Madelyn, who's studying magic at a special school for stage magicans. Apperently the school is being haunted by a griffin, a legendary creatre that's half lion, half eagle. Of course, as the mystery unfolds at Whirlen Merlin Magic Academy, not all is what it seems.

First off, let's talk animation. Instead of continuing using the animation from What's New Scooby Doo, WB decided to go with a new look, and quite simply, the animation is fantastic. It has the same feel as the early Scooby movies{Scooby Doo on Zombie Island, Scooby Doo and the Witch's Ghost} with a "retro" twist to it. This is the best looking Scooby movie since Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase.


Speaking of retro, Abracadabra-Doo takes Scooby back to basics here, right down to the mystery, and it works really well. The gang are dressed in their classic outfits., and their personalities are more in tune with Scooby Doo: Where Are You{though, not completely. For example, Fred's not a complete jerk like he was early on}.

Of course, no Scooby Doo movie would be complete without it's humor. Some of which involves Madelyn's crush on Shaggy. But I think the funniest parts in the movie come from the Mystery Machine's new "G.P.S" system. At one point in the movie, G,P,S proceeds to call Fred "Scarf Boy". Just think Robi the Robot from Shaggy and Scooby Doo: Get A Clue!, except funnier.

I had alot of fun watching Abracadabra-Doo. With a good mystery, great looking animation, and some funny bits, This is the best animated Scooby movie in recent years. I would definitely recommend this to Scooby fans. 4/5.

This movie is one of the best Scooby movies to come along in quite some time... and I think alot of that has to do with a great story. The writers seemed to get back to the basics - back to what makes a great Scooby story: not overly obvious, not overly fantastic, a nice blend of humor, rooted in reality, but leaving you with a hint of a mysterious and supernatural vibe. This is very much UNlike the last two movies, which were way too "fantasy". It also felt like they had a firm grasp on the fact that their audience varies from 3 to 80 in age, and they needed to be sensitive to the way they blended "too childish" with "too adult".

The entire cast does a great job, and I personally really like Matthew Lillard as Shaggy. No, he's not Casey Kasem... but to me, I think that's the point... that's why I like him. With Casey passing the torch, I wouldn't want someone to come along and try to pretend he's Casey Kasem and try to duplicate him in a way that's completely transparent. Because frankly, I don't think that's possible. Instead, I want someone to bring themselves to the role, while still maintaining character integrity. And to me, Matthew does this beautifully. Casey Kasem should be proud of his successor, and I look forward to seeing Matthew grow more into the role as time goes on.

All in all, this movie represents exactly what I want a Scooby Doo movie to be. I hope they stick to the formula they've developed here, because it works perfectly.

We own every thing related to this show and are huge fans. This movie goes out of its way to let you know it will be a little different compared to other Scooby-Doo movies. The beginning credits are cute with stylized versions of the gang. It starts with them wrapping up a case at a chemical factory when Velma is called by her mom who is worried about her little sister. They head off to a Magician School where she is studying. The mystery involves a griffin. While the story is good the voice of Shaggy as Mat Lillard instead of Casey Kasem is distracting. My three kids kept saying, "That is not Shaggy." "Where is Shaggy." I too, found it distracting to not have the now familiar and comfortable voice of Mr Kasem there. If he was there it would have been a five. I don't understand the choice not to include him. Too bad, really.

I did not care for this movie. My 3 yr. old loves Scooby but I was afraid for him to watch this one. There are lots of scary screaming noises through-out the movie. As mentioned by other reviewers, Shaggy's voice is different and it really distracted me. Also, what's up with the weird shadows on everyone's faces? I totally don't get that. There are so many other good Scooby movies out there, save your money and go for one of the older ones.

Well I just brought this from Amazon about three weeks ago and had it sent to New Zealand.I think it is a good film ,seemed to be pretty quick paced the only reason for 4 stars instead of 5 is no Kasey Casem as Shaggy.The new guy did a good job but I guess I am a bit old fashioned when it comes to this sort of thing.If you are a big Scooby fan like me you will have to get it for your collection.

I've always been a fan of Scooby-Doo going back to the originals when I was a kid. This latest direct to video movie is one of the better efforts.
It's a great story. The Scooby gang comes to the aid of Velma's sister at her magic school, with a bit of a Harry Potter vibe. They are being terrorized by a giant Griffin which is one of the better monsters they have faced for some time. There is lot of good action and creepy locations in the manner of the best Scooby-Doo. There are some good humorous moments too, without stooping to the ridiculous sight gags and role playing bits from the earlier shows. Except for musical interludes, this movie plays the mystery pretty straight.

I like the interpersonal action going on in this movie. Fred and Daphne at first are close and clingy until Fred sets eyes on the magician's assistant. Daphne, now jealous, tries a bit of ballet to try to improve her grace and not be the "danger prone" one. Velma's sister has a crush on Shaggy who actually responds to her if in a limited way.

Matthew Lillard, who played Shaggy in the two live action movies (loved the first, liked the second) takes over for Casey Kasem as the voice of Shaggy. Though Kasem IS Shaggy, in the last few movies, his age came through in his voice work, making teen-age (early adult?) Shaggy sound kinda like grandpa. Lillard does a fine job here and would be a worthy successor to Kasem.

I'm a bit conflicted by the new animators. At times I thought it was great, while at times it looked to be too stylized. The Scooby gang seemed a bit too much of a representation of the characters instead of the kids we're familiar with. Unlike another reviewer, I preferred the "What's New'" animation to the earlier movies like the "Witches Ghost" era. While it was great animation, the core characters seemed to be changed too much. The later ones like "Loch Ness" (one of my favorites) while cartoony, seemed more like the originals. Just my opinion.

On one final note, keep the mysteries real. Keep away from the supernatural as much as possible. My favorite thing about Scooby-Doo is that it's always a man in a mask. If kids see that what they think is real might be something else underneath, they may just develop a bit of healthy skepticism.

WOW! Colored me floored after decades of Scooby Doo remakes that never live up to the original Where Are You show this one hits it out of the ballpark! The creepy backgrounds, the eerie tension, the charming gang done justice, decent voice acting, amazing animation and shadow work! Very refreshing plot, nothing overly annoying just to appease 5 year olds, adults will love this too, quite intelligently done! I can see watching this dvd again. Highly recommend this dvd and please please please tell me there is more like this to come!!!

We own every Scooby Doo dvd you could ever find in the USA, my boys love them and my husband and I have grown to like them too. I even admit to having the silly Scrappy Doo and horrible "Hollywood" and "Arabian Nights" movies. The second this "Abracadabra-Doo" movie started and Shaggy spoke, my 4-year-old started crying - I rushed in and he said "there's something wrong with Shaggy!" "his voice is bad, he must be sick!" ...I also wanted to cry because this is the first movie in years without Casey Kasem as Shaggy and I actually had to explain to my child that this Shaggy's voice was like the live action movies (which my kids do not like very much), not the cartoons. No offense to Matthew Lillard, but he does not sound like our beloved cartoon Shaggy and is not a good voice actor at all, especially compared to the amazing performances in other most recent scd movies ("Goblin King", "Samurai Sword"). I again was in disbelief when the gang reverted back to the "Where are You?" series dress and degrading treatment toward one another - Daphne was back to being a silly clutz that Velma made fun of and had an argument with, Daphne called Fred "scarf boy", both girls were busy being jealous of someone else and the show was largely dominated by useless Shaggy and Scooby dialogue versus mystery solving fun or funny quips. The best parts were great explosions, interesting "ghost/monster" designs and a good plot twist/happy ending. But I also have to scold this one for the shameless advertisement of Bakugan Battle Brawler balls which, in key chain form, just happen to look exactly like the 5 dozen "fireworks" balls thrown at the monster by Shaggy and Scooby (sadly pathetic, do we need to meet Shaggy on the street corner late at night and slip him a few ones so he can get by these days?). Overall poorly written dialogue and disappointing voice acting make me wish we didn't spend our money on this one.

I heard recently that Casey Kasem, who had been voicing Shaggy for most of the Scooby-Doo specials, had retired from voice acting and radio. So, this film may not have Kasem in it, otherwise it looks good, I can't wait to buy it! I've been a huge Scooby-Doo fan for quite some time now, but fans, don't be disappointed, Kasem is in his late 70s and has been doing this voice for a long time. But, it is possible that Kasem may have done the voice of him one last time for this because his last voicing of Shaggy was for the upcoming cartoon series to air on Cartoon Network sometime this year (he only did it for the first season though).

Otherwise, just because it may not have Kasem, doesn't mean it will still be a great Scooby-Doo mystery to watch! But I was curious on who would replace him, I recently heard that Matthew Lillard from the first two live-action films was going to replace him so I assume he could've voiced him here. However, the chances of Casey doing it again isn't out of the question.

Can't wait for this and the new cartoon series!