Am a big Scooby Doo fan and have been for goodness knows how long. Like to love most of the franchise's shows, especially 'Scooby Doo Where are You?' and 'The Scooby Doo Show', and also like to love most of the animated Scooby Doo films (including the newer ones). When hearing that there was a sequel to 'Scooby Doo on Zombie Island', the best Scooby Doo film with 'Witch's Ghost' close behind, part of me was very intrigued but another part of me questioned its point.
'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' ended up not being of high quality and struck me as unnecessary. Really do have to agree with everything negative that has been said and am saying this with regret and a want to like it. It is a disgrace as a sequel and is not a good Scooby Doo film on its own terms, the worst since 'Monster of Mexico' (except worse than that) and one of the worst films of the franchise overall. As heavily flawed 'Curse of the 13th Ghost' (though didn't hate it as much as others did) was this made me appreciate that film.
Having said that, 'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' didn't strike as that awful. It did have good things. The animation is very colourful and atmospheric, the attention to detail in the backgrounds is beautifully done. Did like that some of the music did pay homage to the 60s that had a very nostalgic quality.
The film actually started off very well, with a great opening that paid homage to familiar ghosts from earlier incarnations (including rarely seen since Spooky Space Kook). Elvira is a fun kooky character and makes a cameo that makes one nostalgic for the macabre. The black cat creature was an interesting idea.
Which is why it was so sad that 'Scooby Doo Return to Zombie Island' went drastically downhill halfway through and got worse with each minute. It gets too hectically paced and tries to cram in too much content, all of which veering on ridiculously silly and muddled. Managing to do so without generating any tension or suspense (the zombies looking more goofy than creepy) and the truth wasn't even that much of a surprise, as well as feeling over-stretched. What started off so promising is practically discarded halfway through as well, with near-non-existent continuity and the one that showed the most potential is inexplicably left as a loose end.
Dialogue is often cheesy, too much of the music jars (especially the very outdated chase scene music) and most of the characters are either dull or annoying. The film nails Shaggy and Scooby and also liked Daphne and Elvira, but the supporting characters are either too cartoonish or have too little to do and Fred is far too sappily written. Worst of all is Velma, who practically feels like the main character and is incredibly over the top annoying. Lets not get started on that theory she had, which did not any sense, very contradictory for her character and was like raising the middle finger to continuity (which it pretty much denounces just like that).
Really cannot agree with the ignorant review that said the voice acting is better here. Other than Matthew Lillard (spot on as Shaggy), Grey Griffin and Cassandra Peterson's wonderfully mysterious cameo, to me the voice acting was not very good here (a rare occurance for the animated Scooby Doo films) and nothing in the delivery is on par with Adrienne Barbeau's beautiful delivery of the Simone and Lena backstory flashback in the original. Frank Welker sounds tired and borderline depressed while John Michael Higgins and Kate Micucci overdo it horribly. Nobody else stands out with their limited material.
Concluding, not awful but disappointing and the worst Scooby Doo film in a long time. 4/10
