Watch Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire For Free

Why so much hype?

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The return of the Hex Girls. Scooby Doo Down Under. Sharpen your pencils Pilgrims we are going in the Wayback Machine, second star to the left and straight on to the '80s.This would have been three shades of awesome if it were released in the 80s instead of when I was, you know, 23.It has the Crocodile Dundee 1980s obsession with everything Aussie appeal. And it has the Hex Girls, the New Age Wicca Eco-friendly Goth band that was...yeah, OK, they were totally '90s, but still, rip the arms off their jean jackets and draw a couple stars on their faces and they could pass for an '80s girl band rather than the '90s Grrrrl band thing they had going for them.It wasn't as awesome as The Witch's Ghost or the Rice inspired Zombie Island, but it was still fun, if uninspired.The Scooby Gang picked up their Archies roots and ran with it.The only problem is that it seemed to go in too many directions at once.Scooby Doo meets Burning Man...in Australia...meets Lollapalooza...with vampires....yeah, a few too many directions at once.

Legend of The Vampire isn't that bad, but it is a departure from the previous Scooby Doo movies, despite the clever references to Witch's Ghost and Cyber Chase. On its own merit, it is serviceable, compensated by the high-calibre voice cast, particularly Casey Kasem, and the surprisingly good animation. The script wasn't too bad if lacking in laughs at times, and the villains were good, if a little obvious at the end. It was lovely to see the Hex Girls back, and I liked Australia and the soundtrack, I love Witch's Ghost, and it is still my personal favourite of the Scooby Doo movies. Where Legend of the Vampire was lacking was with its rather formulaic plotting, the unusually slow pacing and the fact that despite the references to other Scooby movies, and the original series, it is a departure from the Scooby Doo we have come to know and love, and the ending was disappointing. Overall, despite the failings, it is serviceable entertainment, and certainly watchable. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire (2003) * 1/2 (out of 4) I was always a fan of the TV show so I thought I'd check out one of the movies since this is the only month that seems fitting. Scooby and the gang go to Australia for a rock concert but band members start turning into vampires. I was really, really disappointed in this thing because everything that made the TV show entertaining is missing here. I guess you could say this movie was dumbed down for kids but expanding this out of a 30-minute running time also hurts thing because often times the mystery is put on the back burner while we see stupid stuff ranging from concerts to other items. The actual mystery that is here seems watered down and gets boring after the first twenty minutes. I wasn't too impressed with the vocals either, which is strange since four of the original members were together again for this.

Voice actor Frank Welker is to voice acting what Lon Chaney & Lon Chaney Jr. were to acting through layers of makeup. But while Frank has done just about everything from people to animals to special creature vocalizations to killer robots (he voiced 13 of the original Decepticons on "Transformers"), to some people Frank will ALWAYS be the voice of Fred from "Scooby-Doo". But for some reason, Frank has been pulling double duty lately as both Fred and Scooby, who was previously voiced by Scott Innes, who got the job after the original voice of Scooby, Don Messick, died. Frank's still a good Fred, but despite his considerable vocal talent, his Scooby is something of a disappointment: he never quite captures Don's Scooby pitch the way Scott did and for the most part his Scooby sounds too much like Fred. Which is strange considering that Frank's been with Scooby from the beginning. That's just one of the dis-pleasures of this entry.The gang heads down under for vacation and ends up investigating the goings on at a rock festival which leads to a group of alleged vampires. Though colorfully drawn and full of gags, it never reaches the height of "Zombie Island", "Witch's Ghost", "Alien Invaders" and even the original show itself. The best bit is probably Fred carrying the whole gang across a rope bridge. Velma also sings with the voice of Jennifer Love Hewitt.Still, it's nice to have the old crew back together - Nicole Jaffe as Velma, Heather North as Daphne (though technically Daphne #2) and Casey Kasem as Shaggy (who was absent from the previous entries). The "commentary" by Fred, Shaggy and Scooby is mildly amusing.