Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock And Roll Mystery Film Review

Scooby-Doo and the gang have teamed up with a great deal of celebrities over the years ranging from The Addams Family to the WWE. However one of their more oddest crossovers comes in the form of this movie as while the idea of having them crossover and meet the band Kiss isn't a new thing it's what the film does with the crossover that makes it weird and so then join me as I review the film that turns both Kiss and the Scooby gang into superheroes with the film in question being called simply just "Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock And Roll Mystery" enjoy.

The plot of this film is with a witch haunting there theme park before there big Halloween night concert the band Kiss are forced to team up with Scooby and the gang to solve this mystery before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this films plot being alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this films plot should have been really bad and yet because of the fact that the film takes the crossover in a unique and new direction by literally turning the band Kiss into a group of superheroes it makes the pot of this film all the more fun and bizarre as now it can go to those more campy and strange places that just wouldn't be possible if the film kept it's crossover aspect straight by having the band just be there usual selves with this films plot being one of the more better direct to DVD Scooby-Doo animated movie plots because of it but at the same time tho this films plot isn't as good as it could have been either as it doesn't develop it's plot well enough with this films plot coming across as being a bit more on the weak side of things because of it which is something that does make this films plot feel more like an afterthought with it being obvious that the main attraction of this film is seeing the band Kiss being animated and teaming with Scooby-Doo with the plot of this film also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Frank Welker as Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers. Also starring in this film is Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake , Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley , Paul Stanley as The Starchild , Gene Simmons as The Demon , Tommy Thayer as The Spaceman , Eric Singer as The Catman , Jennifer Carpenter as Chikara , Garry Marshall as Manny Goldman , Penny Marshall as The Elder , Doc McGhee as Chip McGhoo , Jason Mewes as Worker 1 , Pauley Perrette as Delilah Domino and The Crimson Witch , Rachel Ramras as Shandi Strutter , Darius Rucker as The Destroyer and Kevin Smith as Worker 2.

Now then interms pf what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances in this very film which is something that does make sense for the regular Scooby-Doo actors as they have been playing their respective characters for at the very least a decade at the earliest and in Frank Welker's case he's been playing Fred since the sixties however the good acting also extends to this films guest actors as well with them all turning in some really decent performances in this film with it being hard to say just how the best actor was in this film as being realistically anyone of them could make that claim and it would make total sense but if push did come to shove the best actor in this film has to be Mindy Cohn as not only does this film mark her final voice performance as Velma but she also manages to turn in a good performance as the character as well as while Velma's plot line is the same one that she always gets in films like this with her having to come to terms with the fact that elements of supernatural are infact real hearing Mindy deliver these lines in such a wonderful does make you wonder why Warner Bros didn't bring her back when it turned out that she got better from her illness as she really did make for a good animated Velma with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this film is the legends and the really greats that are currently over at Digital eMation. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as this films animation much like the plot is alot more better then what it really had any right to be as by all rights this films animation should have been really bad as afterall it's a crossover movie made to promote a band and those don't typically require good or even great looking animation in them and yet because of the fact the animation studios working on this film went above and beyond what was asked of them we get animated sequences that actually feel really well thought out with the film mixing in 3D CGI elements with 2D elements really well with the films animation really taking off and becoming even better during the films truly insane third act with the animation there really coming alive with all of the characters getting these really nice an fluid movements to them and heck if this film had a bit more money thrown at it for it's animation it could pass for animation in a feature length film as it's just that good and while yes the film does some choppy looking animation in some places and while the characters thick outlines can be a bit distracting the animation is on the whole one of the more better aspects of the film and is so much more fun to look at as well with the film even being worth watching just for it's animation alone as that's just how good that this films animation really is alot of the time in this film.

As was mentioned at the very start of this review this film turns the band Kiss into superheroes complete with giving them super powers as well. Which is quite frankly a unique way to go with this crossover and it is something that does work really well in this films favour as it means that you never quite know just what it is that your going to be getting next and heck the film even takes some anime influence as well by straight up giving the band a Sailor Moon inspired transformation sequence which is as every bit as insane as it sounds and yet at the same time tho it's also something that does work really well with this film as this film is all about doing things that haven't quite been done with the Scooby-Doo franchise as this point and that does include turning characters into superheroes and giving them an anime style transformation sequence and heck it could have even be argued that the spaceship that Kiss and the Mystery Inc gang drive near the end of the film is a giant mecha as the ship is hidden in Kiss's own theme park but what doesn't work is the fact that even tho Velma herself sees all of this happening and actively takes part in it she still doesn't believe that any of it is real and given that in later films the Mystery Inc gang would straight up travel back in time this film could be argued is the one that started of the trend of pushing these more weird things into the movie but where as with the time travel element in The Sword And The Scoob here the superhero element is actually fun to watch as we get to see alot of the characters including Shaggy and Scooby do their best to fight of the witch on Kiss's home world.

With this film being a comedy it does work pretty good as the film does have alot of really solid jokes in it. Including a few solid running jokes like the fact that The Starchild always refers to Fred as Frank which could be seen as being a fun filled meta joke and the fact that every time Kiss use special effects there manage comes in to clean up after them whilst also complaining that there wasting money on those effects both of which are some really solid jokes however tho there is one thing that doesn't quite work as well and that's the fact that they turned The Demon into the films comic relief character with him spending alot of his screen time getting into scrapes with Shaggy and Scooby which fair enough Gene Simmons is the most well known member of the band and there for having him be the one to team up with Shaggy and Scooby does make sense in that regard but at the same time tho the film gives him nothing funny to say with the or do when he's with the two of them with alot of his best stuff coming from when he's interacting with the rest of the films characters and while he does get a few good jokes with Shaggy and Scooby like when they first meet him and Scooby thinks that he's one of those heads that you can squirt water into and does exactly that that's a decent joke as plays into the fact that Scooby Doo isn't the smartest person in the room and so it feels true to his personality but having The Demon always be with the two of them even to the point where he himself calls in out near the end of film just doesn't work as Scooby and Shaggy's comedy works as they don't need a straight man when they already have the Crimson Witch to fill in that role and therefor having two straight men to there funny men just doesn't work at all.

With this film being a Scooby-Doo film you'd think that alot of effort would be put into creating an actually good mystery. Well you'd be wrong as the film doesn't do that at all with the film instead putting more effort into action filled third act then it is into creating an actually good mystery as this films mystery doesn't give us any clues as to who or in this also what The Crimson Witch is thus meaning when they reveal who the fake witch is at the end of the movie it not only doesn't make sense but it also comes out of nowhere as nothing involving the character goes on to suggest that she would be The Crimson Witch with this being something that proves that this films mystery just doesn't work as not only is there technically two versions of The Crimson Witch as we also see The Starchild take her on on the band's home world but the film doesn't give us any clues so we can't work out who she really is in the first place let alone work out that there's technically two of them with this being an issue that very easily could have bee fixed with a re-write of the films script and having one of the characters confirm that there is two versions of the same character as that then would make the films mystery all the more intriguing as now the characters have to work out who both of them are something that both groups very easily could have done just by gathering clues both here on Earth and on the band's home world as well but for whatever reason the makers of this film thought that we come to a Scooby-Doo film to see some action and so they put alot more effort into giving us a truly insane third act action scene then they did into giving us a really good mystery to solve.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and eighteen minuets and forty three seconds. Which to be fair to this film is the bogstanderd running time for all of the direct to DVD animated Scooby-Doo films to have and to this films credit it does have the right amount of plot there to cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as the film doesn't take the the time to fully develop it's plot with it being hard at times to work out what the actual plot of the film is even meant to be alot of the time with it seeming like that the characters are just doing things for rando reasons alot of the time with the film not even taking the time to fully develop alot of it's characters either as while none of the Mystery Inc gang need to be that well developed since they've been around since the sixties but the film doesn't develop any of the Kiss characters with it seeming like that there just the same character alot of the time as that's how little the makers of this film add to those characters with even characters like the band's manager and the theme park owner being none characters as they add nothing to the plot of the film and yet the film expects us to by into them as red herrings something which just can't happen as the makers of the film don't develop there characters to make them feel alot more like three dimensional characters instead of being like the one dimensional characters that they are with these issues being things that could have been solved if the film was even just ten minuets longer but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is an action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. Which s something that you really wouldn't expect from a Scooby-Doo movie as these film are usually more comedy driven and yet with this film it seems to be more action driven and that is something that works so well for this film just due to how they present the band with all of the band having their own powers that goes along with there names which does allow for some really creative imagery during the films action and even tho this is something that really doesn't need saying but the films best action scene in the whole entire film is quite easily the entire third act of the film as that's where this films gets to be well and truly insane with the Scooby gang helping Kiss to take on The Crimson Witch on the bands home world with even Scooby and Shaggy learning how to breathe fire just like The Demon which is just as insane as you'd imagine that it would be but then it gets more insane as Kiss travel back to Earth lure this creature into this time stream where the Scooby gangs with the help of Kiss have to defeat not only threw the use of explosions but also due to the bands own powers all of which is done to one the bands actual songs with that sequence not only being a really good example of how to do an action scene with Scooby-Doo as it's just so insane and fun that you can't help but by into it but also because of the fact that it's just such a fun action scene in it's own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall out all of the direct to DVD animated Scooby- Doo films that are out there this film is easily one of the better ones just due to how insane that it gets where as The Sword And The Scooby just plays things a bit to safe even with the introduction of time travel and the fact that this film was so close to getting a sequel before it was cancelled is just a crime as this film is just that good in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad thigs that re in this film in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very film that I used in this very review being the really great the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very film with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! "Hassle In The Castle" Review

It's been quite a while since I last covered anything from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! which is such a shame as this sow is one that alot of us really did grow up watching. As such I thought that it was only about right that I put an end to this dry spell by reviewing the very next episode of the show with this episode being a really fun and creepy episode that really does bring the horror aspect of the show to the front and centre of the episode itself and so then join me as I review the episode that has alot of images from the shows intro in it with the episode in question being called simply just "Hassle In The Castle" enjoy.

The plot of this episode is when the gang find themselves stranded on a mysterious island they find themselves being haunted by a ghost and have to solve the mystery of who this ghost is before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual episode that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt tat the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad as thus episodes plot while it could be seen as being rather generic for this show it also was early enough in this shows run that it does get away with it as well with this episodes plot being a bit more horror focused then the rest of the sows plots had been up until this point in time which is something that does make this episodes plot more of a must watch for fans of supernatural horror films and yet still somehow being more kid friendly then what it really had any right to be but at the same time tho this episodes plot really isn't all that good as all it does is give you the bare bones of a plot and that's really it and while that might be par the course for this show it is something that is still an issue with the plot of this episode at it makes the plot of the episode as a whole come across as being really weak when that's simply not even close to being true at all with the plot of this episode also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Starring in this episode is voice acting legend Don Messick as Scooby-Doo , The Phantom , Bluestone The Great and The Police Officer. Also starring in this episode is Battle Of The Planets star Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers , voice acting royalty and legend Frank Welker as Fred Jones , Here Comes The Grump star Stefanianna Christopherson as Daphne Blake and The Trouble With Girls star Nicole Jaffe as Velma Dinkley.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty really good. Which is something that's not really all that surprising as all of this episodes actors are not only some really good voice actors in their own right but are so well known for voicing these characters that for many they simply are the voice of these characters and heck out of all of them only Frank Welker is still with the franchise to this very day and is still playing Fred Jones as well as that's just how good of a voice actor that he really is with the actors acting in this episode being just as good as you'd really want it to be with it being clear as day that there all getting alot more comfortable in their roles which is something that really does shine through in the final cut of the episode with the true stand out performer in this episode being Don Messick as he has to play several characters and make them all sound unique and distinct enough that your not going to get them confused with any other character and still put in a really good performance in this episode which is something that really does do really rather well in this episode with the acting that's in this episode really being helped by the fact that the script for this episode is just so good that all this episodes actors really have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very episode.

Doing the animation for this episode is the legends and the greats that are currently over at Hanna-Barbera Productions. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation thats actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty shockingly good with there not really being any animation errors in this episode and even more shockingly for a Hanna-Barbera project there was very few if any any repeating backgrounds with this episodes animation really making the creepy looking castle look gothic and quite creepy and while yes the characters do have there usual fluid animation when it comes to there walking they also get really fluid with the animation when Daphne falls down a trap a door which whilst it does look good it does also seem an odd place to put some really good animation but at the same time tho this episode does have one error that highlights just how cheap Hanna-Barbera really was as there is a room in this episodes main setting that despite being shown to match the color scheme of the whole castle in previous scenes for one brief shot with Scooby-Doo near the end of the episode it's shown to have these really garish pink walls and grey boards both of with nothing lighting it which is something that could have been fixed if the animators took another pass at that one simple and very easy to do shot but because of the fact that Hanna-Barbera was so cheap we do end up with alot of shots like this one in alot of there shows and movies as well.

As was mentioned at the very start of this review this episode does give us quite alot imagery from the shows opening intro. Be it Daphne walking away before a ghostly hand reaches out for her to the gang getting warned by The Phantom it's all in this one episode and it's all something that does make the episode worth watching if you were wondering where those scenes came from or even if you just someone who really loves Scooby-Doo as they are some great scenes and heck the the scene with gang getting a warning by The Phantom is so good that they makers of this episode chose to literally repeat the exact same scene which works for and against the episode as a whole it works for the episode as it does help to establish the fact that this character is meant to be a genuine threat to the gang but it against the episode for two reasons the first one being we just saw this exact same scene a few minuets ago and so of course we the audience are going to notice that it's really quite literally the exact same shot as before and secondly it makes Hanna-Barbera look even more cheap then what they already are as they could really could have fully animated a brand new scene to get across more of the fact that this character really is meant to be a threat to the gangs life with this having the added bonus of making the episode look better because of it and yet even really tho the fact that they repeated the scene really doesn't take away from the episode as a whole it still does add an air of cheapness to this episode as a whole as well.

There are some bad things about this episode tho like the fact that they don't really give The Phantom much in the way of personality. Heck we don't even get to find out why he's scaring people until right before the end credits start to role which again is pretty par the course for this show but the same time tho the other episodes usually have alot more supporting characters in them so you can kind of forgive them as there trying to make the mystery aspect of the episode as good as it could possibly be but here because of the fact that there are no supporting characters to make you wonder who it could be and heck we don't even get to meet who The Phantom is until he's unmasked and therefor the makers of this episode really should have put alot more effort into making The Phantom have more of a personality and while the episode does gets credit for at the vert least trying to make him creepy with the creepy looking castle and the fact that he's a ghost when you look at his costume however it doesn't make you scared of him it just makes you laugh at him as all it is is basically someone's bedding with eye holes and thats really it and while that might be great a Halloween costume for a Scooby-Doo villain where you can go and be a little bit more creepy and scary that's not enough and while granted this show is made for kids and so you can't really scare them all that much but at the same time tho kids love to be scared and therefor having a villain that looks a little bit more creepy would work really well in this episodes favor.

Oddly enough one of this episodes biggest weaknesses it's mystery aspect as they not only don't have anyone that you can say is a suspect in the episode but there's also no to build up with the gang realizing how The Phantom travels around the castle. With that part coming right at the end of the episode and it's right of nowhere almost as if it was more of an afterthought then something that the makers of this episode did intentionally while the episode does show the gang not only looking for but also finding clues they don't exactly set up for the main culprit of the episode is thus making it more of a surprise when they do the big reveal which is something that they do explain away in a way that does make some sort of sense for the episode but at the same time given the fact that a mystery does require suspects having the main villain be set up at the start of the episode outside of his Phantom disguise is something that would have made alot of sense even if he's just seen in the background somewhere and yet by not doing that there robbing us the audience of a chance to work it out for ourselves which does in turn make this mystery feel like the type of mystery that they'd put in a later Scooby-Doo movie rather then something that they would have done in an episode of the show as the movies don't typically set up who the main villain is either and yet the show would typically show of who the main villain is at the start of the episode which makes it all the more odd that they went and did it not only in this show as well but this early on in the shows run as it's something that doesn't really work not only for this show but for this franchise as a whole either.

Now then this episode has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly twenty minuets and fifty seven seconds. Which is pretty much the bogstandard running time for this shoe to have and to this episodes credit this episode really does have the right amount of plot there to really over that amount of running time however tho due to the fact that this episode really doesn't have any suspects to it whatsoever this episode really can't use it's running time all that wisely as not only do we not get to see more of the castle which would have been great to see as it would have made the episode feel alot more creepier and bigger then what it actually is but they also don't flesh out the mystery aspect of the episode by giving us suspects which would then allow for us the audience the chance to work out for ourselfs who did and to work why they did it as well and yet because of the fact that the episode didn't bother to do any of that it means that they have to pull something out of nothing when it would have made alot more sense for there to be more suspects and heck they could even have kept the same motivation because the police officer at the end of the episode even states that the gold that this episodes criminal was after is also really sought after by other people and so it would have made perfect sense for there to be alot more people there at the castle during this episode then what we ultimately ended up seeing but I really will admit that this episode really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a comedy that really means that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very episode was in all honesty not that bad. AS there some really funny moments to be found in this episode alot of which oddly enough do include Scooby-Doo himself with very few of them including quite literally anybody else in the gang which is something that does make sense as afterall the show is named after Scooby-Doo and it therefor does make sense that he would get alot of the episodes jokes with the best one being the joke where Scooby pretends to be ill just to avoid being bate for The Phantom which works not only because of the fact that it was set up earlier on in the episode where he tried a very similar tactic only this time it was avoid looking around a creepy looking room but also because of the fact that it does feel like it was in character for Scooby-Doo to do something like that and it's something that movies like Happy Halloween Scooby-Doo , Scooby-Doo . Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed and Scooby-Doo! And Kiss: Rock And Roll Mystery forgot to do despite alot of them being good films and having there own funny moment with Scooby-Doo in them where as here alot of his jokes felt in character for him and because of that they all came across as being really funny jokes in there own right in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall this episode was a decent but flawed episode as it doesn't really give the mystery part of the episode all that much attention when it's something that should have been getting more attention then what the actual comedy part of the episode was getting as people come to Scooby-Doo for the mystery and not the comedy in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very episode in this very review and a such that really does mean that this very episode really does earn itself grand old score of exactly a 6.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as for where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all o the images hat I personally used in this very review from the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get the images from this very episode that I used in this very review being the really great the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page really simply just due to the fact that really alot of if not really all of the images that are all really from this very episode with alot of them being better quality then what you'd really think of and all of the images are really of course up and really on the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page are also really all fairly high in quality and as well as them all being really fairly freaking high in definition.