Underrated Doo: Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost (2018)

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Scooby-Doo fans are a contentious bunch. I suppose that can be true of any fanbase, ask a Star Wars fan what they think of The Last Jedi or KISS fan what the best lineup was, but you would imagine that since Scooby is largely a non-controversial, low-profile franchise there wouldn't be too many internal fractures.

You would be wrong. 

Ask a Scooby fan about the live-action films (excellent and underrated) or Velma (I don't believe that actually exists) or Scrappy-Doo himself (he ruins just about all of the '80s stuff, but my real-life pup now reminds me of him so he's grown on me) and you'll get a different answer from everyone. Scooby turns 55 this year, which not only means that there's been plenty to screw up along the way, it means multiple generations have started their relationship with the franchise at different entry points. 

I grew up in what I believe to be the Golden Era of Doo, the late '90s/early '00s, and although I do think I could bring some evidence to back up that claim, it's probably just because that's when I was a kid, (I wasn't a '90s kid, I was a Y2Kid!) Your favorite NFL team will never have a quarterback as good as the guy they had when you were a kid (Peyton Manning, but that's probably true) and your favorite SNL cast will always be the one that was on when you were 12 (people hated my cast member rankings for this very reason.)

But once a Scooby fan, always a Scooby fan. We keep up with the Mystery Gang's goings-on. I've seen eight of the last ten direct-to-video specials, for example. It's a franchise that endures largely because the fans endure. 

But I feel like I never hear people talking about the worthwhile entries of the past decade. And some are...pretty good!

Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost is one such entry. This 2018 movie sees the gang visiting Fred's uncle, celebrity chef and Food Network personality Bobby Flay. He's re-opening a Revolutionary War-era inn, which he's renovated and updated with the latest in cooking technology so he can host his tv shows and cooking competitions there. But when the (legitimately spooky) Red Ghost begins to haunt the resort, the gang has to step in to solve the mystery, save the inn, and protect Bobby Flay's reputation.

It's always the same basic setup. These kids can never go on a vacation without something going wrong. "I wish we could go one weekend without mysterious circumstances and disappearing acts," whines Shaggy in their first scene. They couldn't even relax on that all-inclusive vacation to that place called Spooky Island! Who would've guessed!

But it's what they do within that established framework that makes or breaks Doo. 

First of all, any situation that puts Scooby and Shaggy in food-related slapstick after food-related hijinx has a leg up in my book. We already knew that those boys had iron stomachs, often shoving Primanti Bros.-style sandwiches in their yappers whole. But when did they become such culinary snobs? When did they learn anything about French cooking? Or start eating lobster? "Can you make beef Wellington?" asks Shaggy in his first interaction with Bobby Flay. Sure, he's done it before. It's difficult and time-consuming and kinda Gordon Ramsey's thing, but yeah. "Sorry I meant, will you make beef Wellington? Like right now?"

I have also always loved the tradition of celebrity guest appearances. I grew up on the tapes of the Adam West Batman and Harlem Globetrotters collaborations and enjoyed reruns of Don Knotts and Tim Conway episodes. I skipped the WWE specials from a few years ago because I have no connection to those guys, but liked the KISS team-up more than I ever thought I would since I don't really know those guys either. My guilty pleasure is glossy, totally-fake Food Network crap, so seeing Scoob meet Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis, the folks who loom large in huge ads plastered on the sides of casinos, simultaneously feels ridiculous yet totally inevitable. 

I also have to say that I really appreciate this current voice cast. Frank Welker has been playing Fred since the beginning and Scooby for over 20 years and while he can occasionally sound, well, old, he's a legend. Grey DeLisle has played Daphne since I was a kid and Matthew Lillard made such a splash for his live-action rendition around the same time that he got the voice gig too. And although I have no nostalgia for Kate Micucci's performance since she only started in 2015, she's stepped in seamlessly. That's another reason we love Doo, the actors rarely change. 

Is the mystery obvious? Yes, it's for kids! Can the plot feel boilerplate? Sure, but it's that familiarity that feels comfortable. We should appreciate the ones that check off the musts of our own personal checklists and this movie does that for me.