Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo! [DVD]

Director: Maxwell Atoms

Cast: Frank Welker, Grey Griffin, Matthew Lillard (VOICES)

Release Date: October 6, 2020

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

Scooby-Doo and Shaggy’s favorite holiday is upon us! With fake monsters and candy galore, Halloween is heaven for these hungry foodies going door-to-door. But this year, their sweet holiday turns sour when the neighborhood pumpkin patch is infected by toxic ooze, creating high-flying jack-o-lanters, and a king-sized pumpkin leader squashing everything in its path. It’s up to Scooby-Doo and the gang as they team up with their pals, Bill Nye the Science Guy and Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, to solve this mystery of gigantic proportions and save Crystal Cove!

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

The Scooby gang returns in an all-new mystery taking place at the spookiest time of year. ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ joins the Mystery Inc. team during the local Halloween festivities in Crystal Cove which are interrupted by an attack from the legendary Batman villain The Scarecrow. After quickly capturing the villain and seeing him sent on his way back to prison, the Scooby gang is confronted with pumpkins come to dangerous life and seemingly able to turn fellow citizens into pumpkin ghosts (for lack of a better term). Teaming up with the infamous Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Bill Nye The Science Guy, the team heads out after the government team transporting Crane when they realize he may be the only one with the answers they need to begin piecing together this peculiar chain of events.

‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ is a wonderfully entertaining, humorous and beautifully animated new Scooby-Doo adventure that integrates a few notable guest stars such as favorite science personality Bill Nye and the ever-popular Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and even a notable Batman baddie for good measure. Combined with some clever story elements and a unique threat in the form of ghostly, attacking pumpkins that are repeatedly used in the most amusing ways fathomable (including a few moments that almost channel the Mad Max franchise with laugh out loud results), it all helps to form the film into a surprisingly fresh new Scooby mystery that also still sticks to many of the expected basics that make the franchise so much fun. Fans should really have a great time with this one from start to finish and will definitely want to make a point of checking it out at some point this Halloween season if possible. Even while the release may not be jam-packed with extras, fans that might be itching for some more Halloween-themed Scooby fun after finishing the film should be thrilled to discover that the DVD release also includes 3 Halloween Themed Scooby-Doo Bonus Cartoons which should keep you (or the young ones) busy and in the seasonal spirit for at least a bit longer.

Overall, ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ is a splendid Halloween treat that should thrill Scooby fans young and old. Easily up there with the best animated Scooby features of the last few years, it bothers to try and find some smart new ways of tweaking the formula we all know and love, while still always keeping things in the tone and style fans want and additionally throwing in some fun guest stars for good measure. ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ is highly recommended for all of the Scooby fans out there (as well as parents of younger fans). It’s a smart, funny and surprisingly clever new animated adventure for the whole family to enjoy this Halloween season and should be well worth ninety minutes of your time and the cost of a rental at the absolute least, especially for all of you fellow Scooby fanatics.

VIDEO:

The DVD release of ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ is presented in a 16×9 friendly Widescreen presentation utilizing the film’s original 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great and delivers a smooth, sharp and vividly colored presentation with nice detail and no notable faults or troubles to be uncovered throughout. It holds up admirably even during the various fast moving and/or darkly lit sequences, never allowing anything onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible. Overall, this is a wonderful standard definition video presentation that looks downright impressive within the confines of quality that DVD is capable of achieving and should more than satisfy the fans, especially those who are generally pleased with the animated Scooby movies on DVD.

AUDIO:

The DVD release features a 384 kbps 5.1 channel Dolby Digital soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack is quite nice in its own right and provides a clean, smooth and quite active audio presentation throughout. It repeatedly takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send flying pumpkins, along with vehicles, action effects and plenty more zipping throughout the various speakers quite regularly, and never causing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible along the way. Overall, this is a great 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack that delivers without issue every step of the way and also contributes plenty of additional fun to the viewing experience.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The DVD release of ‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ features ‘3 Bonus Cartoons’ from various Scooby cartoons, all of which are fittingly Halloween-themed. The Bonus Cartoon episodes include: ‘Be Cool Scooby-Doo! “Halloween”’ (running approximately 22 minutes in length), ‘What’s New Scooby-Doo? “A Scooby-Doo Halloween”’ (running approximately 22 minutes) and ‘A Pup Named Scooby-Doo “Ghost Who’s Coming to Dinner”’ (approximately 23 minutes).

*Please note that the above images are taken from the DVD and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this DVD release are the property of their respective owners.

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 Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo!’ Arrives Home on DVD & Digital on October 6, 2020 from Hanna-Barbera & Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

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