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Wherever Shaggy, Scooby, and the gang go, a mystery is sure to follow. So when they try to take a little vacation in the latest animated Scooby-Doo movie, Chill Out Scooby-Doo!, it’s not long before they’re dropped down in the middle of another monstrous adventure.
While Freddy, Daphne, and Velma (voiced by Frank Welker, Grey DeLisle, and Mindy Cohn) begin their vacation in Paris, relaxing at a café in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, Shaggy and Scooby (Casey Kasem and Frank Welker) end up taking a detour. Their plane is manned by Alphonse LaFleur (Rene Auberjonois), a crazy French hunter whose latest target is the abominable snowman. And since the abominable snowman has been recently spotted on Mount Everest, the plane takes them not to Paris but to the Himalayas.
When Freddy and the girls find out, they hop in the Mystery Machine (don’t ask me how they got it to Paris in the first place) and head for the Himalayas to rescue their friends—and stop the snowman from terrorizing the mountain.
As a fan of the old Scooby-Doo cartoons (preferably pre-Scrappy-Doo), I was relieved to find that Chill Out Scooby-Doo! is pretty much the same kind of Scooby-Doo adventure that I loved as a kid. There’s nothing fancy about it (though Freddy and Shaggy do have some pretty fancy cell phones—which is good, since Shaggy and Scooby have always had a tendency to get themselves lost and/or in trouble), and it doesn’t try to be especially witty or hip. It’s just the same old Scooby-Doo. And for Scooby-Doo purists (and those who fear change in general), that’s a good thing.
Chill Out Scooby-Doo! looks and feels just like an episode of the old show—only it’s 73 minutes long, allowing the story to introduce all kinds of creepy characters and potential villains, from Monsieur LaFleur to the suspicious Professor Jeffries (Alfred Molina), who’s searching for the lost kingdom of Shangri-La But this straight-to-DVD release has all the same silly one-liners and the same Shaggy-and-Scooby antics as the show once did. And, as always, the storyline is totally contrived, and the end is as improbable as ever. But, well, that’s what made the show fun.
If you didn’t like the original cartoon series, there’s no need to check out Chill Out Scooby-Doo! But for fans of the old Scooby-Doo, Chill Out Scooby-Doo! is just good old-fashioned Scooby-Doo fun. Pick yourself up a copy—and let the kids think it’s for them.
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