Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost (2018) [The Deadly Doll's House of Horror Nonsense's The Shortening]

Scooby Doo is a property that rarely disappoints. Not every episode or every movie might be golden, but =. It's still got it, too! Even the newer movies are often great fun, regardless of what gimmicks they use, case in point Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost...

The Scooby Gang is invited to the Rocky Harbour Culinary Institute by Fred's uncle Bobby Flay. Everything goes well to begin with, as the gang meet the colourful set of people at the resort, but things take a turn for the worse when the sun goes down, and the Red Ghost comes knocking...

Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost is a funny entry in the long-running film series, showing no signs of age. The story is fresh, and typical. It has everything you expect, while enough new things to keep you amused and surprised. The humour always works, and there's never a dull moment.

The mystery in The Gourmet Ghost is very well done. It's not obvious from the get-go, and culminates with a reveal that's a surprise, and effective in all but one element (I'd exp[lain, but no spoilers!). You'll think it's the obvious party (possibly even thinking ill of the movie's script if they did stick with them as the culprit), never suspecting the ghost's true identity, and there's always enough intrigue to keep you on your toes, and enough suspects to sift through. Really the only problem is that some of these suspects don't appear nearly enough.

An area I feel the movie particularly excels is its mixing of old and new. The usage of technology in The Gourmet Ghost is really neat! Some of it is fanciful, some quite realistic, making for nice = [surprises] The idea of mentioning modern day technology in Scooby Doo can feel odd, as while the series has always had a floating timeline, mentioning cutting edge modern day = in such a 6-s style series can feel odd at times. Never = though, as these = always hit the mark.

The big gimmick to this film is its use of celebrity chefs, such as Bobby Flay and Giada de Laurentiis. I don't know a great deal about either of those two, so whether they're ok people in real life or = assholes I wouldn't know, but they acquit themselves pretty well here. The concept as a whole of using celebrity chef s= is gimmicky and pretty cheesy in places, with its fair share of clumsy namedropping, but overall it works pretty well, and they don't feel superfluous for the most part.

The main cast of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby are fun as always. They each get plenty to do, either together or separately, and you're never left with too much or too little of anyone. characters

Where The Gourmet Ghost does run the risk of losing its viewers is in some of the characters. They can border/verge on annoying at times! TV's Skip Taylor for example get sa few laughs, but most of the time I wanted him dead. Jeremiah Noseworthy is fine for the most part, although that kind of character, from his personality to his voice, could grate on others.

The acting here is all good. The Scooby Gang are perfect, with longtime cast member Frank Welker still providing the voices for both Fred and Scooby Doo. Matthew Lillard continues to be a perfect Shaggy, once again showing that not only is he a better actor than some people give him credit for, but that he's a much better Shaggy than those = live action movies made anyone think he was!

such as Marcus Samuelsson and Maya Haile, who I really liked. They don't have that big a role, but they're amusing, and they act well enough that I thought they were fictional characters rather than real people, made to act out of their wheelhouse.

The animation here is what you'd expect from Scooby Doo. Well-drawn, lively, and plenty of fun. Never a bad moent, it's still a shining example of 2D animation.

Scooby Doo and the Gourmet Ghost is a great time to be had, for kids and adults alike. It'll provide an entertaining experience, teach kids the importance of mysteries, and teach adults o respect talking dogs! Just because they might care too much about food, doesn't mean they can't help you out!...