Scooby-Doo! And the Curse of the 13th Ghost Review

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

Wow, it's been a while and then some. For those long time fans of Scooby-Doo, some might remember the incarnation of The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, where Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne and new-comers like Scrappy, Flim-Flam and Vincent Van Ghoul took on real ghosts. It had the most wonderful opening in which the story was explained. You see, Shaggy and Scooby opened the Chest of Demons, letting out the 13 most despicable ghosts, now they have to get them back in, because, as Vincent so eloquently put it, "You let them out!"

And, yes, in the original cartoon they got the real voice of horror legend Vincent Price. Sadly, the show ended before all the ghosts were captured...until now.

Fast forward to the year 2019, where Ultra Instinct Shaggy is a popular meme and Scooby Doo is still known to kids and adults all over the world. We also get the ending to The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, it just took a couple decades.

For little kids, this movie will fit into the catalog of all the straight to home video cartoons from Warner Bros. For those wanting an ending to their series from years and years ago, it's there, but with some updates and pacing that might be a bit annoying for grown-ups.

Scooby-Doo! And the Curse of the 13th has us within in the current stories of the home video version of the gang with Fred and Velma back in the fold. Scrappy ain't coming back anytime soon. In the first few minutes we have the gang taken off of being meddling kids and on adventure to find the last ghost from the chest. Fans will really enjoy the opening song that goes over all the past captured ghosts from the series. As the skeptical Velma meets up with Vincent Van Ghoul, now played by veteran voice actor Maurice LaMarche, as Vincent Price is off this mortal coil, you'll get the sense that's it's gonna take a while to get back into the groove of the old series. I would say it's not until the third and final acts of of the film that you're really getting the ending of the original show. It takes a long time to get to the chest.

They're are some definite highlights for fans with Vincent Van Ghoul and Flim-Flam coming back. There's some great merch options for the Chest of Demons that I wish were real. And a sense of resolve for the series that you might have liked growing up with as a kid.

For any fan of the original series, you"ll want to see this ending. If you now have kids, you can sit through the whole thing, but I might skip ahead as an adult. It's definitely worth a Scooby Snack or two.

Scooby-Doo! And the Curse of the 13th Ghost is out on DVD and Digital on Feb 5, 2019