Scooby-Doo! au pays des pharaons

"Scooby-Doo! in Where's My Mummy?" is probably the best Scooby-Doo movie ever made. "Where's My Mummy?" combines the classic shenanigans of Shaggy and Scooby with myths, curses, and legends, making it ever more interesting to watch. It also gives insight into multiple African/Middle Eastern cultures, which increase the quality of the film.

The legends and curses of Ancient Egyptian mythology have always fascinated me, as well as the life of the pharaoh Cleopatra VII, and I grew up watching Scooby-Doo, so this was the perfect combination.

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

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

This Scooby movie was way better than the two before it. It kept my attention and had awesome animation. The side characters this time around were interesting and added a nice touch to the plot. The plot was fun and that twist at the end was shocking and fun. It didn't make me angry when I found out who the bad guy was, it just made me find the movie more intriguing. Overall this is a great Scooby movie and I hope they make more like this.