‘These guys take the cake of strangeness,’ exclaims Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) as he attempts to describe the band KISS is this hybrid feature film that really does take the cake of strangeness when it comes to fusing kids cartoons with 70’s glam rock. Yes, this IS a feature-length adventure with Scooby Doo and the gang, and their encounter with KISS, and that sandbox mix of IP’s is often stimulating for pop-culture mavens, as those who saw and enjoyed 2010’s seminal Tom and Jerry Meet Sherlock Holmes can attest.
There’s an obvious match here; Scooby Doo and his gang generally investigate haunted theme parks, a subject previously considered in 1978’s tv movie Kiss Meet the Phantom of the Park. So when fearsome adversary The Crimson Witch appears above one of the rides at Kiss World, a fictional theme park devoted to ‘the world’s hottest band’, there’s only one team suited to this mission. We first meet Scoob and the gang donned in full Kiss make-up, which is something to behold, and they have to figure out what’s going on, with the help of the helpful band KISS, playing themselves in this film which I got from my local library.
At feature length, the solution has to be more than just an unmasked and disgruntled employee, and round about the 40 minute mark, this narrative ceases to be a solvable mystery and jumps into weird KISS lore; turns out the band are the descendants of ancient warriors from the land of KISSteria, and they are sworn to protect the Rock of KISSteria from the Crimson Witch. This means an all-out psychedelic freak-out that is then revealed to be Shaggy’s dream, or is it?
As a showcase for KISS, this is actually a pretty good juke-box musical featuring a handful of whole songs with trippy visuals that wouldn’t disgrace a Daft Punk feature. There’s also odd adverts for Kiss memorabilia, which is eventually revealed as some kind of pithy satire of consumer tie-ins, which seems a little out of place in a contrived tie-in with cartoon dog Scooby Doo. It’s all mad AF, and kind of resembles the results of the old parlour game Consequences or Mad Libs. Thus…Scooby Doo meets Kiss in a Haunted amusement park. Scooby said ‘We solve mysteries on a cosmic level. ‘Kiss said ‘Ah, spaceman, I heard your approach’ .And the result was, Scooby solved the mystery and Kiss played a celebratory concert that takes the cake of strangeness. The End.
My little sister used to collect all these direct-to-dvd movies, and the recent shows. Not a fan of “What’s New Scooby Doo?”, but I think “Mystery Incorporated” was pretty great.
These direct-to-dvd films are really hit or miss, with “Zombie Island”, “Witch’s Ghost”, “Cyber Chase” and “Alien Invaders” being the best I’ve seen.
I’m still bitter that Will Forte was chosen over Matthew Lillard for “Scoob!”, and I see that film bombing as karma, as I have a lot of respect for Lillard taking up the mantle of the voice of Shaggy from Casey Kasem.
I’m about to take a deep dive into Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster, Lillard is the biggest name in these films and I do think he gets the voice right!
A true classic!
Is the correct answer.
Wait, is this a comic book?
It’s barely a film.
I appreciate you taking one for the team!
No end to my desire to be taken seriously.
You are ending the year on a high note – of courage.
Always first with the big movies!
You should do Scooby Doo on Zombieland too! Just as barking.
If I hadn’t seen Scooby Doo and the Boo Brothers, I’d be tempted to think Alex was correct. However, all things Scooby means all things totally weird.
What a great choice for your final movie review of the year. Unless you’re going to post another one in a couple of hours?
Just written up tomorrow’s post, but I might do the kind of round-up/housekeeping post that you regularly break the internet with…
Scooby Doo and the Loch Ness Monster is also in the queue…
In Review posts are great. You can sneak in a lot of stats and brag without people realizing just what you’re doing 😀
Especially if you’re subtle about it.
Yup, a humblebrag might be in order…
And depending on just what you’re humblebragging about, you could always go for a braggingbrag. Nothing wrong with admitting how great you are as a blogger….
I’ll probably get a list of corrections from Alex…
Well, that’ll definitely help keep you humble then.
I have a lot to be humble about.
Well, if you ever feel like you’re not humble enough, the rest of the WP4 is here for you. We got your back 😀
I hear you, and my editorial should cover the rise and rise of the WP4.
I think you just made this up.
I got it from my local library. FAct!