A respectable outing for Shaggy, Scooby, and the Mystery, Inc. gang.
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Can anyone pinpoint the precise moment when Casey Kasem became less known for his American Top 40 countdown and more famous as the voice of Shaggy in the "Scooby-Doo" animated cartoons and films?
As successful as that pop music countdown was for D.J. Kasem, the Hanna-Barbera "Scooby" franchise has been even more phenomenal. It's hard to believe that Kasem's on-screen character has, like, had a Great Dane for a mystery-solving and binge-eating buddy for almost 40 years now. As Shaggy, Kasem remains a twenty-something who's a perpetual adolescent, with a '60s look and a voice that squeaks a bit like a sixteen year old still waiting for it to mature.
The actor, though, has plenty of maturity . . . and principles. In 1995 Kasem refused to be Shaggy for commercial purposes, and he also didn't participate when the Scooby franchise dipped into greater realism and scarier, real monsters for a series of four films made between 1998-2001 ("Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island," "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost," "Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders," "Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase"). Kasem thought the films ought to stay close to the spirit and style of the original series, and since 2003 at least, with Kasem back as his old Shaggy-self, they've been pretty consistently Scoobyish.
The tone has been fun-scary rather than YIKES-scary, as the Mystery, Inc. crew investigates various complaints of ghosts and monsters. The animation and backgrounds have been consistently decent, and, with the exception of "Pirates Ahoy!" (a turkey that seemed to be shamelessly plucked from the script-bin just to capitalize on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" craze), the scripts have also been consistently solid.
All of which is to say, the latest entry, "Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!," is of the same quality as "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?" (2005), "Scooby-Doo and the Loch Ness Monster" (2004), "Scooby-Doo: Aloha Scooby-Doo!" (2004), "Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire" (2003), and "Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico" (2003). In fact, it's directed by Joe Sichta, who was also behind the cameras for "Where's My Mummy?" and "Loch Ness Monster."
This time, Fred (Frank Welker), Daphne (Grey Delisle), and Velma (Mindy Cohn) interrupt their Paris vacation to head for the Himalayas after Scooby and Shaggy end up missing their connection and somehow get hijacked by a French big-game hunter en route to bag the biggest game of all: the legendary Abominable Snowmonster. Instead of ski lodges it's an ancient monastery and legends that the gang has to deal with, along with avalanches and chases through snow tunnels and caverns. Sorting out who the good guys and bad guys are is all part of the fun, and the rest of the formula is as familiar to fans as Scooby's inevitable craving for Scooby Snacks. At some point you know the gang is going to get separated, at some point they're going to hear from locals what's going on, at some point they'll try to engage the monster, at some point the monster will engage them, and after the unmasking comes the explanation behind the monster phenomenon. "Chill Out, Scooby-Doo" is absolutely formulaic, but still entertaining entry in the series. Some of the guest voices include Rene Auberjonois ("Boston Legal") and Alfred Molina ("Spider-Man 2").
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[release]22108[/release]