Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003)

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

The return of the Hex Girls. Scooby Doo Down Under. Sharpen your pencils Pilgrims we are going in the Wayback Machine, second star to the left and straight on to the '80s.This would have been three shades of awesome if it were released in the 80s instead of when I was, you know, 23.It has the Crocodile Dundee 1980s obsession with everything Aussie appeal. And it has the Hex Girls, the New Age Wicca Eco-friendly Goth band that was...yeah, OK, they were totally '90s, but still, rip the arms off their jean jackets and draw a couple stars on their faces and they could pass for an '80s girl band rather than the '90s Grrrrl band thing they had going for them.It wasn't as awesome as The Witch's Ghost or the Rice inspired Zombie Island, but it was still fun, if uninspired.The Scooby Gang picked up their Archies roots and ran with it.The only problem is that it seemed to go in too many directions at once.Scooby Doo meets Burning Man...in Australia...meets Lollapalooza...with vampires....yeah, a few too many directions at once.

Legend of The Vampire isn't that bad, but it is a departure from the previous Scooby Doo movies, despite the clever references to Witch's Ghost and Cyber Chase. On its own merit, it is serviceable, compensated by the high-calibre voice cast, particularly Casey Kasem, and the surprisingly good animation. The script wasn't too bad if lacking in laughs at times, and the villains were good, if a little obvious at the end. It was lovely to see the Hex Girls back, and I liked Australia and the soundtrack, I love Witch's Ghost, and it is still my personal favourite of the Scooby Doo movies. Where Legend of the Vampire was lacking was with its rather formulaic plotting, the unusually slow pacing and the fact that despite the references to other Scooby movies, and the original series, it is a departure from the Scooby Doo we have come to know and love, and the ending was disappointing. Overall, despite the failings, it is serviceable entertainment, and certainly watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Not nearly as good as 'Zombie Island'. This movie was okay. It was kind of odd the way the characters had their old clothes, the theme music was similar to the original cartoon's music, and well, the story was kind of bad. I like 'Zombie' because it was original. I liked the way you see where the gang ended up after they split, not to mention a great storyline. Another thing that made that film great was the way they kind of spoofed the original cartoon (Fred's ascott consideration for his dinner clothes "nah"...excellent). This movie kind of throws the previous films of balance. But it's okay, not horrible, but just about watchable. Don't expect anything from the dvd (commentary by Fred, Scooby, and Shag) because it's not what you'd expect (would've been better for Zombie Island or The Witch's Ghost). Oh well. The movie is definetly the worst of all the latest Scooby Movies, all of which are excellent. But if you like Scooby, give the movie a chance. 5/10.

I've been an avid Scooby fan in the last five years. Ive followed the great dane from Zombie Island to the live action movie. Now we join him at Vampire Rock. After four quite successful animated films I had high hopes for Vampire Rock. However this film is a drastic departure from those films, as Zombie Island was from the original series. There is a nod to those films present in the form of the Hex Girls and the Cyber Chase game, but thats it. The mystery machine is now the old van and Fred has his ascot back. All that the previous films had built up has gone. On the plus side Velma's orginal voice is back and sounds fantastic. Also worth a mention is the excellent reengineering of the old Scooby Doo Where Are You? incidential music. Overall the piece feels like it is pandering too much to the general populous' preception of Scooby Doo and this does stiffle the creativity. One last thing though please if there is to be another film could have Scoot Innes back as Scooby?