As a huge Scooby Doo fan since childhood, 'Scooby Doo Where are You' still being the best of the incarnations, all the six direct to video specials are enjoyable. The best being 'Spooky Games' and 'Ghastly Goals' and the weakest being 'Beach Beastie' and 'Mecha Mutt Menace'.
There are a few letdowns in 'Scooby Doo and the Beach Beastie'. The Scooby subplot felt forced in and annoying, that the female dog is a generic and uninteresting character doesn't help. 'Scooby Doo and the Beach Beastie' is also one of those very rare times where I didn't care much for Scooby, adore him usually but his treatment of Shaggy here is a huge turn off and it really does strip him of his usual likability and charm.
'Scooby Doo and the Beach Beastie' to me does contain an iffy moment with Velma involving the necklace that would have made the gang look bad if she was wrong, and one does miss the charming and affecting friendship, usually done so well and the heart of the franchise, between Scooby and Shaggy, which is criminally underused that it's not memorable at all. Despite the very disappointing and over-obvious final solution, at least 'Mecha Mutt Menace got their friendship right and perfectly pitched, which is why it is considered a little better by me.
However, the animation is beautifully done, being vibrant and detailed, with a nice mix of classic and modern Scooby Doo, mostly it's the latter but there is evidence of the classic atmosphere. The other five direct-to-video specials have more memorable music, but the music at least is well composed and fits with the action. The dialogue is very funny, as ever endearingly goofy and perfectly natural, and apart from that one subplot and one scene that came over as iffy the story is well executed.
It moves quickly, the mystery is diverting with a great sense of fun and suspense, the Water creature is a very coolly designed and suitably scary villain without being too much and Fred's subplot which dominates 'Beach Beastie' provides a lot of heart without sentimentalising anything. Apart from Scooby and the female dog the characters are engaging, with a particularly great job done with Fred. Shaggy is also great fun. The voice acting is top-notch, Matthew Lillard proves himself yet again that he is an ideal replacement for the late Casey Kasem (who WAS Shaggy) which is no easy feat and Frank Welker, who has been involved with Scooby Doo since the very beginning in 1969 shows no signs of being long-in-the-tooth.
Overall, solid Scooby fun but the weakest of the direct-to-video specials. 6.5/10 Bethany Cox
