Review: Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own.

**** THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS SPOILERS ****

I bought Scooby-Doo! And the Return to Zombie Island on September 3^rd when it came out exclusively at Walmart. I held onto it, didn’t open it, and just let it sit on my shelf. I had heard many people say they didn’t like it and it was horrible and I just couldn’t bring myself to sit down and watch it.

Then Warner Bros. contacted me about doing a review of the movie. They even sent me a copy of the movie for free! Last night, I grabbed some cereal and my hubby and we sat down nervously and watched the movie.

Had I been expecting the movie to be the same amazing quality as the original Zombie Island movie, I would have been majorly disappointed. The movie lacked the scary tone of the original, the zombies and cat creatures didn’t look real, they failed to maintain the continuity from the original and most of the voice actors were different (Frank Welker as Fred is the only voice actor that is consistent between the 2 movies). It was not on the same level as the original, that is for sure!

So, I watched it from the perspective of it being its own entity with maybe some mention of the original movie. Since I was able to look at it that way, I think it helped me to enjoy the movie. Yes, the zombies didn’t look real and the scariness wasn’t really there, but there were quite a few references to past Scooby movies and other movies, and it was kind of funny.

In the original Zombie Island, the gang were adults with jobs (Daphne and Fred ran a successful television series, Velma was the owner of a book store, and Scooby and Shaggy bounced from job to job.) During a flashback in this movie, where you can see the difference in the animation from the original to the sequel, they said Daphne worked at the TV station for a school project. Also, in this movie they are being told they “forgot to be kids” by the Sheriff. He then told them to go on vacation and have some fun.

It was pretty cool that they got Elvira, voiced by Elvira herself Cassandra Peterson, to be in the movie. She happens to announce that Shaggy is the winner of the trip to a paradise island and he gets to bring 3 friends and a pet with him. I see Scooby more as Shaggy’s best friend, so calling him a pet is kind of degrading to Scooby.

The gang headed out on their vacation and they took the non-scenic route by ferry to get to the island, with the trees looking dead and blah. Fred, Daphne and Velma noticed things seemed a little odd, but Shaggy and Scooby were too busy sun-bathing and eating to notice anything.  They ate so many sausages, they threw up over the side of the ferry, which is unlike Shaggy and Scooby because they can eat like bottomless pits and they just make them look fat.

On the island, things get a little weird. The islanders warn them of zombies, but the gang dismiss anything they are saying and make it seem more like a joke. Fred, Daphne and Velma try to play dumb while they are on the island as they see the similarities between Moonstar Island and Moonscar Island, from the original, in order to uphold the contract they made with Shaggy and Scooby. The gang meet some people that look very similar to Simone, Lena, Jacques and Snakebite Scruggs, as well as Alan Smitthee, who introduces himself as the hotel manager. They eventually learn they are the stars of a movie and they get a little cheesy for the camera. Like the original, there are cats all over the island, cat people and some zombies, though the zombies don’t look real…because they aren’t real.  

Fred’s obsession with the Mystery Machine is a bit over-the-top. Velma can’t get enough of mystery solving and continuously brings up her blog ‘Big Blog of Mysteries,’ and Shaggy and Scooby eat more food than they can handle. I’m not really sure that Daphne had a thing in this movie other than making comments when the other gang members said something.

At one point, the gang dressed up like zombies, which I thought they all looked really good. This was one of the parts of the movie that I thought they did a good job with the animation.

After finding Moonscar’s treasure, Alan just walked off with some of it. No one even tried to stop him, he just said he was done with the movie, said he was rich and walked away. That was kind of a ‘WTF’ moment for me. They also left one of the cat people to continue to terrorize Moonscar Island…you know, for the next movie. Maybe they want a Scooby trilogy as they had referenced in the movie? Let’s hope not! Unless they plan on going back to real monsters and better animation, I think they should just let Zombie Island alone!

I wouldn’t say this movie was great, but if you watch it with an open mind, and don’t think of it as a sequel to one of the best Scooby movies ever made, you might find that it’s not horrible.