Scooby-Doo! and the Cyber Chase (2001)

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I like this film a lot. It does have some nostalgic value, but I still feel that the film itself is one of the better Scooby-Doo movies, and possibly THE most re-watchable.Yes, the concept is kind of far-fetched and pretty wacky, but at the same time, I thought it was really cool. Scooby and the gang visit a friend from High School and see his cyber-space video game project. However, the "virus" gets loose and the gang get sent into the cyber world. They have to go through all the levels to make it out alive.Being a fan of video games myself, it was really fun to watch the gang go through many levels of peril and danger.The best part was the final 20 minutes, where the gang meet other versions of themselves in the cyber world. It was a treat to see them interact with their cyber-selves and to see them fight a bunch of old villains at the carnival.I'm not saying the film is perfect. The mystery was very predictable (they basically gave it away with the constant mention of "baseball"), and the "virus" wasn't really the most menacing villain.All in all though, I do think it's shortcomings can be forgiven because it's just a very fun movie. Obviously, it doesn't have the dark tone or mature themes of "Zombie Island," the intriguing mythology of "Witch's Ghost," or the emotional impact of "Alien Invaders", but it's still a very enjoyable entry for any Scooby-Doo fan.RATING: B

Scooby Doo and the gang get beamed into a video game by someone who doesn't want them to uncover their secret. A "phantom" virus is unleashed, stopping anyone in its path. The gang is forced to play all levels of the game to survive and solve the mystery. This is officially one of my favorite Scooby movies. This one fires on all cylinders, only becoming stagnant near the end. I love Scooby Doo, but I always thought the movies were hit and miss, because it's hard to stretch the material over 30 minutes. I hated how they had to rush some of the levels, but this movie really is cool. This one is for the die-hard fans. There are some great references to the TV series! (Scooby Doo: Where Are You?) They use some infamous villains they had defeated before. The Tar Monster and the Miner 49er are just a couple of examples. I'm not gonna spoil them all for you. The last level is a Scooby Fan's wet dream! Everything you could imagine is in it. The Phantom Virus is an awesome villain! He's very threatening and comes across like a family friendly version of Freddy Krueger with all the great one-liners. There is actually a decent twist at the end that I didn't see coming. I'm usually able to figure out who the villain is, but not this time. As a longtime Scooby fan, I can honestly say that you should love this one. It has a bit of everything! It's fun, exciting, and ingenious. They hit a home run with this creative film. 8/10

Cross Neuromancer with In the Mouth of Madness, add a little bit of Tron, Terminator, and set it in the Scooby-Doo universe and you pretty much have the basis for Cyber Chase.The Mystery Inc. gang go visit a college friend who has made a video game based on their exploits. But instead of enjoying the novelty they are terrorized by an entity born of a computer virus who has entered the real world. The gang are beamed into their own video game (called Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase) and are forced to play through the levels in order to catch the virus (so to speak), eventually encountering their digital selves and digital versions of classic villains from the past. Sharp viewers will recognize Cyber-Shaggy's alternate costume from the 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf.It's very clever, with loads of potential, most of which is not realized with the brisk run-time. At least you'll never get bored. It's certainly one of the most subversive and mind-bending Scooby adventures. A video game arcade featured towards the end of their titular Cyber Chase even features the Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase video game, thus making it self-referential meta-fiction within self-referential meta-fiction within self-referential fiction. Phew...get your head around that. And if that wasn't enough, it's the only Scooby-Doo animated feature to spawn its own real video game (for the PlayStation and Gameboy Advance), which would make that game self-referential fiction within...oh man, I'm getting dizzy.Smart and tightly-written, Cyber Chase's lack of scope is the only thing preventing it from being a classic.

Freddy, Daphne et al go to visit a friend in the computer lab of a well-known University. The day before they arrive though, a virus from a computer game comes to life and terrorises the staff. Investigating this appearance the gang find themselves sucked into the game and realise that they will have to play their way out if they are to survive. Along the way can they stop the virus and uncover who was behind it in the first place? With a plot that is pretty much lifted from Tron and a script that never has anything of interest for adults this film will be a hard sell to viewers who are not Scooby fans. The plot is a simple device for allowing the gang to be chased across all manner of places without the need for a mystery or story to develop. They have the usual unmasking at the end but it all seems like an afterthought rather than the conclusion of the build-up. The chases and monsters will amuse kids but their aren't many laughs for adults who will find the script lacking in all but the slightest touch of irony or knowing wit – and even that is pretty poor. However as a kids film it just about does enough even if there have been better Scooby films.The voice talent are all pretty good – I say "all" but really the lion's share of the work is dropped on Innes. He plays his many characters well and I like his voices. Alaskey is obvious; Ward is OK; Welker is convincing but I must admit that I found DeLisle to be quite bland and not suit the rest of the gang. Overall though it was OK; rather uninspired and full of pointless chases rather than a good mystery story but it'll work for children that like Scooby Doo even if the rest of the audience might start finding other things to do with their time.