I didn't really gain much from watching this. Again, it's great to see the franchise return to the original format after how much of a mess of that other movie that came out in May of 2020 was, but as is, it wasn't that good.
The first half of the film is promising, we see the characters are being played by their original actors again, the introduction of Elvira and Bill Nye was great, and the writing still had its traditional charm that it's been using for years. Soon the actual plot starts to happen when all the mutant pumpkins start reeking havoc on the city with Shaggy and Scooby being the first ones to actually witness what's coming (because, you know, they're always the first ones to see that something bad is about to happen). So Shaggy and Scooby go to warn the others what's about to happen and obviously they don't listen, instead Velma snaps at them, says a bunch of harsh things, and tells them to get lost.
Velma has always been the most unlikable member of the group to me, in fact, she just so happens to be one of the biggest problems with this movie. Her high intellect and long history of successfully solving mysteries gave her a massive ego that makes her think she can't make mistakes and is never wrong, even by the time she and the others do see the mutant pumpkins Shaggy and Scooby tried to warn them about, she doesn't apologize for ranting at them until 40 MINUTES IN. Shaggy and Scooby don't even say anything like "Do you still not believe us?" or "Scoob and I tried to tell you, but did you listen? NO!" as an implication of them telling the others they should've listened when they had the chance. The story primarily centering on Velma isn't what I would expect from the first actual Halloween-themed Scooby-Doo movie, if the writers want to make a story about Velma learning to accept the fact that everyone can make mistakes no matter how smart they are, they should've saved that for another movie. But what really bothers me is the fact that she hogs up nearly ALL OF THE FILM'S DIALOGUE, the majority of the movie is just Velma constantly yammering nonstop to the point where she's almost the only character in the film who actually says anything. It's really exhausting having to listen to her rambling ON AND ON AND ON AND ON for so long. Kate Micucci may be a very talented voice actress and was a perfect successor to Velma's previous actress (Mindy Cohn) but unfortunately this movie has shown that if you give a voice as nasally and high-pitched as hers too much dialogue, it'll become EXHAUSTING to listen to.
Speaking of Shaggy and Scooby, it feels like they've been "dumbed down" in this. The problem there is that they were never meant to be "stupid," they just get scared really easily, so why would the movie make them stupid enough to think that hitting a random pumpkin they find with sticks is going to get them proof that mutant pumpkins are going to attack???
As soon as the mutant pumpkins break loose and chaos ensues, we get a car chase sequence that lasts 24 MINUTES STRAIGHT with Shaggy and Scooby riding with a random stranger named Mike and his daughter, Daphne in Elvira's car, and Fred and Velma in Bill Nye's Mystery Machine X. I'm not making up what I said earlier, a 24-minute car chase in a Scooby-Doo movie, the problem there is that it drags out the amount of time I have to spend waiting before Velma can admit she shouldn't have ignored Shaggy and Scooby when they were telling the truth about what was coming, that's far too much time for me to have to spend waiting to hear those words.
After the car chase finally stops and the gang starts setting up traps and fighting the pumpkins off, it starts to get better, only for it to get ruined again when this half repeats a joke it made in the first half where Velma was unmasking a criminal they were catching earlier (that being the Scarecrow). After Velma unmasks the crook she monologues about how she knew who it was, as she's monologuing, for some reason, in between her pauses Daphne will be filling in those pauses with saying random slangs that give me the impression these writers are trying to be hip and relevant, which is NEVER a good idea, saying slangs of a current year will make your movie age poorly with time. But if that wasn't enough, the ending is just a painful sting.
After Mike and his daughter are able to find help and the crook is arrested, the gang comes across a local Halloween party some random people are having at someone's house and are invited to join without the people not even having ever met them before (does that make any sense to you?), and right before the movie ends it decides to quickly traumatize me by implanting an image of Elvira bald into my brain when Daphne asks to borrow her wig. I really liked the stuff between Elvira and Daphne, I thought them switching outfits was hilarious, and when it's revealed the entire time Daphne was actually trying to steal Elvira's outfit so she can have a costume to wear. It's really funny at first (plus seeing Daphne wearing Elvira's whole outfit is a treat for the eyes), but as soon as she hands Daphne the wig (which technically was a trained monkey), that's when the joke dies, and we're forced to have to continue looking at Elvira bald until the credits roll.
It's a bit shocking that Fred doesn't seem to be affected by any of this trash the movie has thrown out, but that's only because if you removed him from it, it wouldn't change anything. Which is something I would never have expected to say about a Scooby-Doo movie.
So there you go, this movie is kind of a mess, Velma is more unbearable here than she is in other movies, the car chase drags on for too long, those slangs Daphne was saying are going to make the movie feel dated years later, Shaggy and Scooby despite never being idiots in any previous media are made to be idiots here and don't stand up for themselves when no one will listen to them, it has that TRAUMATIZING image of Elvira (one of the most beautiful women in the world and one of my newest idols) bald despite the fact that she's actually not in real life without her wig on, and worst of all, it's BORING.
I will however give this movie credit for still being a decent return to the original format the franchise is best known for after the CGI movie unnecessarily decided to change everything, having 2 perfect choices for new guest stars, and letting the original voice actors return to their roles. It may be a mess, but at least things are back to the way they should be.
The first half of the film is promising, we see the characters are being played by their original actors again, the introduction of Elvira and Bill Nye was great, and the writing still had its traditional charm that it's been using for years. Soon the actual plot starts to happen when all the mutant pumpkins start reeking havoc on the city with Shaggy and Scooby being the first ones to actually witness what's coming (because, you know, they're always the first ones to see that something bad is about to happen). So Shaggy and Scooby go to warn the others what's about to happen and obviously they don't listen, instead Velma snaps at them, says a bunch of harsh things, and tells them to get lost.
Velma has always been the most unlikable member of the group to me, in fact, she just so happens to be one of the biggest problems with this movie. Her high intellect and long history of successfully solving mysteries gave her a massive ego that makes her think she can't make mistakes and is never wrong, even by the time she and the others do see the mutant pumpkins Shaggy and Scooby tried to warn them about, she doesn't apologize for ranting at them until 40 MINUTES IN. Shaggy and Scooby don't even say anything like "Do you still not believe us?" or "Scoob and I tried to tell you, but did you listen? NO!" as an implication of them telling the others they should've listened when they had the chance. The story primarily centering on Velma isn't what I would expect from the first actual Halloween-themed Scooby-Doo movie, if the writers want to make a story about Velma learning to accept the fact that everyone can make mistakes no matter how smart they are, they should've saved that for another movie. But what really bothers me is the fact that she hogs up nearly ALL OF THE FILM'S DIALOGUE, the majority of the movie is just Velma constantly yammering nonstop to the point where she's almost the only character in the film who actually says anything. It's really exhausting having to listen to her rambling ON AND ON AND ON AND ON for so long. Kate Micucci may be a very talented voice actress and was a perfect successor to Velma's previous actress (Mindy Cohn) but unfortunately this movie has shown that if you give a voice as nasally and high-pitched as hers too much dialogue, it'll become EXHAUSTING to listen to.
Speaking of Shaggy and Scooby, it feels like they've been "dumbed down" in this. The problem there is that they were never meant to be "stupid," they just get scared really easily, so why would the movie make them stupid enough to think that hitting a random pumpkin they find with sticks is going to get them proof that mutant pumpkins are going to attack???
As soon as the mutant pumpkins break loose and chaos ensues, we get a car chase sequence that lasts 24 MINUTES STRAIGHT with Shaggy and Scooby riding with a random stranger named Mike and his daughter, Daphne in Elvira's car, and Fred and Velma in Bill Nye's Mystery Machine X. I'm not making up what I said earlier, a 24-minute car chase in a Scooby-Doo movie, the problem there is that it drags out the amount of time I have to spend waiting before Velma can admit she shouldn't have ignored Shaggy and Scooby when they were telling the truth about what was coming, that's far too much time for me to have to spend waiting to hear those words.
After the car chase finally stops and the gang starts setting up traps and fighting the pumpkins off, it starts to get better, only for it to get ruined again when this half repeats a joke it made in the first half where Velma was unmasking a criminal they were catching earlier (that being the Scarecrow). After Velma unmasks the crook she monologues about how she knew who it was, as she's monologuing, for some reason, in between her pauses Daphne will be filling in those pauses with saying random slangs that give me the impression these writers are trying to be hip and relevant, which is NEVER a good idea, saying slangs of a current year will make your movie age poorly with time. But if that wasn't enough, the ending is just a painful sting.
After Mike and his daughter are able to find help and the crook is arrested, the gang comes across a local Halloween party some random people are having at someone's house and are invited to join without the people not even having ever met them before (does that make any sense to you?), and right before the movie ends it decides to quickly traumatize me by implanting an image of Elvira bald into my brain when Daphne asks to borrow her wig. I really liked the stuff between Elvira and Daphne, I thought them switching outfits was hilarious, and when it's revealed the entire time Daphne was actually trying to steal Elvira's outfit so she can have a costume to wear. It's really funny at first (plus seeing Daphne wearing Elvira's whole outfit is a treat for the eyes), but as soon as she hands Daphne the wig (which technically was a trained monkey), that's when the joke dies, and we're forced to have to continue looking at Elvira bald until the credits roll.
It's a bit shocking that Fred doesn't seem to be affected by any of this trash the movie has thrown out, but that's only because if you removed him from it, it wouldn't change anything. Which is something I would never have expected to say about a Scooby-Doo movie.
So there you go, this movie is kind of a mess, Velma is more unbearable here than she is in other movies, the car chase drags on for too long, those slangs Daphne was saying are going to make the movie feel dated years later, Shaggy and Scooby despite never being idiots in any previous media are made to be idiots here and don't stand up for themselves when no one will listen to them, it has that TRAUMATIZING image of Elvira (one of the most beautiful women in the world and one of my newest idols) bald despite the fact that she's actually not in real life without her wig on, and worst of all, it's BORING.
I will however give this movie credit for still being a decent return to the original format the franchise is best known for after the CGI movie unnecessarily decided to change everything, having 2 perfect choices for new guest stars, and letting the original voice actors return to their roles. It may be a mess, but at least things are back to the way they should be.