Scooby Doo on zombie island commits the sin of breaking it's show's foundational premise. It starts treating the supernatural as real, and taking the show's format out of the realm of mystery and firmly into the horror camp. That just didn't sit well with me.
For one thing, parents can usually trust Scooby Doo will solve the mystery, helping the kids understand that there is no supernatural monster under the bed, and that everything has a rational explanation if the mystery is solved. Along with this you got some campy comedy, some clever Rube-Goldberg traps, and an appreciation of science and investigation. Scooby Doo has been taking the fear out of the unknown for kids for years. Sadly, Zombie Island does away with all of this. I figured if they were going to start accepting the supernatural as real, why not go further and just have the gang exercise their second-amendment rights on the monsters - instead of laying some overly elaborate trap as they usually do?
On the positive side it's actually well animated and has a well thought out plot, and some genuine scares and horror. There's also a number of self-referential gags poking fun about the formulaic nature of the Scooby Doo format, but the movie ends up subverting all of them - in a good way if you like horror, but should this have really been a Scooby Doo film?
If, however you watch this with your child and you are dismayed by the formula being broken right under your nose, there is good news. A sequel "Return to Zombie Island" has Velma is on a quest to make sense of this film. Thankfully it's a much needed book-end.
For one thing, parents can usually trust Scooby Doo will solve the mystery, helping the kids understand that there is no supernatural monster under the bed, and that everything has a rational explanation if the mystery is solved. Along with this you got some campy comedy, some clever Rube-Goldberg traps, and an appreciation of science and investigation. Scooby Doo has been taking the fear out of the unknown for kids for years. Sadly, Zombie Island does away with all of this. I figured if they were going to start accepting the supernatural as real, why not go further and just have the gang exercise their second-amendment rights on the monsters - instead of laying some overly elaborate trap as they usually do?
On the positive side it's actually well animated and has a well thought out plot, and some genuine scares and horror. There's also a number of self-referential gags poking fun about the formulaic nature of the Scooby Doo format, but the movie ends up subverting all of them - in a good way if you like horror, but should this have really been a Scooby Doo film?
If, however you watch this with your child and you are dismayed by the formula being broken right under your nose, there is good news. A sequel "Return to Zombie Island" has Velma is on a quest to make sense of this film. Thankfully it's a much needed book-end.
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