Scooby-Doo! au pays des pharaons

My son adores Scooby-Doo and I grew up with the cartoons, so of course I do sit down to watch all the Scooby-Doo animated movies with my son that we come across. The latest find turned out to be "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?"

And I must say that this was actually one of the better animated Scooby-Doo movies that I have seen in a while. And it is a combination of the setting of the adventure and my love for ancient Egypt that came together in a greater unity and worked out so well for me.

This time the gang travels to Egypt to assist Velma in her archaeological work in the Egyptian deserts. Here they run afoul mummies, curses and traps in abundance.

Sure, "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?" does follow the traditional formula of how to make a Scooby-Doo adventure. So you know what you are getting yourself into here prior to sitting down to watching it. And I say that with the best of intentions, because there is something fun and lovable about these adventures. And despite every adventure is essentially the same, they are still fun to watch.

The animation is good in "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?" and the art style is very much in tune with the classic Scooby-Doo. So again, there is something comforting in the familiarity.

I did like the mummies and the design of Cleopatra. And the overall atmosphere there was in this animated movie was just great.

It is always a treat to have Frank Welker, Casey Kasem, Mindy Cohn and Grey DeLisle. Furthermore, there were some other nice voice talents to showcase their skills in this animated movie, which included Ron Perlman and Oded Fehr.

The storyline in "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?", while very much the same as all other story lines in the Scooby-Doo collection, then there was still a very good plot twist reveal at the end of the movie. I liked that particular turn of events, because I hadn't seen that one coming.

If you enjoy Scooby-Doo animated movies, then "Scooby-Doo in Where's My Mummy?" is definitely well worth the time and effort to sit down and watch. I thoroughly enjoyed this particular adventure.

I won't go to say this is the best of the Scooby Doo movies, but it was a very good watch. The animation is very bright and colourful, and the score and songs were quite catchy and memorable. The story has its predictable parts admittedly, but I loved the twist which was different and I certainly wouldn't have guessed it. The film moves quickly, though some of it particularly in the build up towards the climax was a little rushed. The dialogue is very humorous and fun, while the characters are likable and the sound effects decent. The voice acting is excellent on the whole. Frank Welker doesn't have that much to do as Scooby sadly, but Casey Kasem is a hoot as Shaggy, while Christine Baranski is very effective, Oded Fehr does a good job with a nice character and Ron Perlman is fun. The best of the lot comes from Virginia Madsen who is just brilliant as Cleopatra. She doesn't have as much to do, but she is both sinister and mysterious. All in all, a fun Scooby Doo film. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Well let me start off by saying I always look forward to watching any Scooby-Doo cartoon and by the time I was finished with this one I couldn't stop laughing, smiling, and I was begging for more. This cartoon is filled with hilarious jokes, twists and turns, great voice acting, and an ending you will never see coming.

Scooby and the gang head to Egypt to meet up with their good old friend Velma, who has been there for six months renovating the ancient Sphinx. Upon arriving in the desert the gang find out that in the tomb of Cleapatra there is a curse that will doom who ever enters. When treasure thieves arrive the gang is on the case and they must try and break the curse and solve the mystery.

First off let me say the voice over cast does a tremendous job in this cartoon, I don't remember the last time I heard so many great actors do such a good job in one cartoon. Once again we get Frank Welker as Fred and Scooby-Doo, Casey Kasem as Shaggy, Mindy Cohn as Velma, and Grey DeLisle as Daphne, who all once again do a great and wonderful job. Joining the cast we have Christine Baranski as Amelia Von Butch, Ajay Naidu, Ron Perlman as Hotep, Jeremy Piven as Rocky Rivers, Oded Fehr as Amahl Ali Akbar and Virginia Madsen as Cleopatra.

The storyline this movie follows is smart, funny, and very enjoyable for the entire family. It's very interesting to see how the gang has to explore the tomb to avoid traps and stick together to find clues to solve the mystery but of course they some how gets split up and Scooby-Doo and Shaggy wind up on their own wacky adventure. I have to say when the movie ended I didn't see the twist coming at all, it was the biggest shock of them all.

In the end I wish the movie wasn't over it was so funny and great and I promise you will not be disappointed and you will be crying for more. So make sure you rent or buy Scooby-Doo wheres my mummy, because you just have to see this cartoon.

Overall rating: ********* out of **********

****1/2 out of *****

Okay, we understand that a Scooby-Doo mystery is not going to be in the same league as a Citizen Kane mystery. But Scooby has good movies and bad movies just like any other Mega-Star. I'm pleased to say that Where's My Mummy is in the former category.

Velma is assisting an archaeological dig in Egypt (on the Sphinx no less) when she finds a mysterious necklace which could be the key to Cleopatra's lost treasure. I've never heard of such treasure, but for the sake of the movie, we'll pretend it exists. The rest of the Mystery Inc. gang turn up to visit her but the site is promptly taken over by Amelia von Butch (Christine Baranski), a gun-ho Lara Croft-type and her band of cohorts.

Despite warnings of ancient curses she forces the Mystery Inc. gang and an obnoxious reality-TV host (Jeremy Piven) to enter the tomb with her to solve it's secrets and find the treasure. Immediately setting-off traps, Shaggy and Scooby are separated from the rest of the gang (not on purpose for a change) and get involved in their own mystery of a deranged Hotep (Ron Pearlman) and his followers who worship a strange God known as Scoobis and his servant Shagman.

Both stories are kept lively and entertaining until they merge into one. There's not a moment of boredom and, as usual, a couple of cool original songs too. But sadly, no new version of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You at all. To compare it with similar films like Indiana Jones, Tomb Raider or even The Goonies would be pointless. Yes, we've seen this kind of thing before but animation is a medium that present more opportunities than live-action and there's loads of inventive set-pieces and imaginative locations that have become the standard of modern Scooby-Doo outings.

And what do you know? It even manages to provide a rather surprising twist at the end. We know it's far-fetched and unbelievable as always, but it ties together pretty well, thus making the film a little bit better a little bit more.

As long as their is imagination behind this franchise, Scooby-Doo could go on forever. He may deliver a few duds from time to time (Monster of Mexico was extremely crap after all) but he still a very important character in modern animation and will always come out on top if we believe in him.

Or am I taking this too seriously?

Scooby and the Gang decide to visit Velma in Egypt. What starts out as a vacation turns into a supernatural mystery inside the Pyramid. I love Scooby Doo, which means I'll watch mostly anything of Scooby. I was bored one evening and decided to give this a look. I got what I expected for the most part. This is fairly entertaining stuff that doesn't hurt anyone in the process. The animation is really cool and I dug the look of Egypt. It was a really good setting. My favorite thing was probably the giant sand scorpion. It was pretty creepy for an animation. The storyline was fairly simple, but well- done. Like most stuff that involves Scooby, the mystery isn't hard to figure out. It tried to get way too clever in the end, throwing in twists that got way too convoluted. It got too cute. I also hate how they make Freddy into an arrogant buffoon. Freddy was always sure of himself, but not cocky. I hate how they make him like that in the new stuff. As you may expect, Shaggy and Scooby steal the show in many scenes. Some of the side characters were kinda cool! Amelia von Butch was really cool and rather bad-ass as a weasel. In the end, I had an OK time with it. Scooby fans will likely get some satisfaction out of it

6/10