SCOOBY-DOO AND THE GOBLIN KING [2008)

TONIGHT HALLOWEEN IS UNDER NEW MANAGEMENT!

  Scooby-Doo Round Two!  This one has a real Halloween vibe and look to it which is great!  And there's a voice cast crammed full of celebrities like an over-flowing trick-or-treat bag.  Visiting the Coolsville Halloween Carnival, Shaggy and Scooby see a performance by The Amazing Krudsky the magician (Wayne King) and basically expose all his tricks as a fraud.  They're actual real dicks about it!  Granted, they're getting even with Krudsky for previously banning them from his act but STILL!  Anywho, in Krudsky's dressing room/tent, the Fairy Princess Willow (Hayden Panettiere) for some reason enters and accidentally knocks a spellbook off a shelf -- which opens to the page featuring the Goblin Scepter (belonging to the fearsome Goblin King).  Krudsky decides he'll somehow acquire the scepter before Halloween is over.  He then flyswats Willow and, with the help of a spell from the book, steals Willow's magic power and goes off to find the Goblin Scepter.  While trick-or-treating, Shaggy and Scooby come to the magic shoppe of Mr. Gibbles (Wallace Shawn) who proves to them that magic exists.  Willow flies in with Krudsky close behind, changes Gibbles into a white rabbit and steals a bunch of magical equipment.  Gibbles warns Shaggy and Scooby that, if Krudsky possesses Willow's magic AND the Goblin Scepter, he will be able to turn everyone in the world into Halloween monsters.  Gibbles gives the pair a pack of magic spell cards and puts them on the Grim Reaper Railway which flies them to the Magic World.  Meanwhile, Krudsky has communicated with the Goblin King (Tim Curry) and makes a deal to exchange Willow for the scepter.  The Goblin King's monstrous toadies Glob and Glum (Jim Belushi and Larry Joe Campbell respectively) try to capture Shaggy and Scooby when a Halloween Jack O'Lantern (Jay Leno) thwarts the attack.  Turns out Jack is the former "head" of the Headless Horseman and they battle him for a while.  Jack sends the pair to the Witches' Hut where the meet the Grand Witch (Lauren Bacall) who lends them her broomstick which flies them to the Goblin King's castle.  Once there, Shaggy and Scooby somehow have to stop Krudsky from getting the Goblin Scepter!

There's a whole lot of Halloween action I'm leaving out so go watch the movie.  Casey Kasem is still around in one of his last gigs voicing Shaggy and THE FACT OF LIFE's Mindy Cohn voices Velma while veteran Frank Welker voices Fred & Scooby Doo.  A real treat for Scooby fans occurs during the "Bump In the Night" song where scads of monsters from classic episodes of Scooby Doo make an appearance.  See if you can spot them all.  A scorecard provided by Wikipedia will help:  the Werewolf from "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Werewolf", The Phantom Shadow from "A Night of Fright is No Delight", the Creeper from "Jeepers!  It's the Creeper!", the Mummy of Ankha from "Scooby-Doo and a Mummy Too", the Snow Ghost from "That's Snow Ghost", Mr. Hyde from "Nowhere to Hyde", the Zombie from "The No-Faced Zombie Chase Case", the Ozark Witch from "The Ozark Witch Switch", The Penguin's Troll disguise from "The Caped Crusader Caper", a blue version of Roller Ghoster from "The Roller Ghoster Ride", the Kelp Monster from "Scooby-Doo, Where's the Crew?", the Specter of Ebenezer Crabbe from "High Rise Hair Raiser" and the Great Haldane from "The Sorcerer's a Menace".  You will also see the Black Knight from "What a Night for a Night" while Mr. Gibble's is singing "Who's At the Door".  Yeah, all this and it's a musical too!

While not as good as yesterday's SCOOBY-DOO & BATMAN:  THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD, SCOOBY-DOO & THE GOBLIN KING is just the ticket for Halloween viewing.  The film really looks good with deep, saturated colours all over the place and the Halloween atmosphere is nicely conveyed through the drawings.  This is one I could quite easily revisit every year when the ghosts and goblins start to roam.  Scooby-Doo is always a treat in October and this one makes a pretty good treat for your trick-or-treat bag!