Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire

'Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire' is the fifth of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was completed in 2002, and released on March 4, 2003 and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (though it included a copyright for Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. and a recreation of the 1968 Hanna-Barbera "Zooming Box" logo at the end).

This is the first direct-to-video movie to have the flatter, bright animation style of the What's New, Scooby-Doo? TV series, departing from the darker shading and effects used in the four prior released movies. It is also the first Scooby-Doo movie to return to the original format where the monster isn't real. The series returned to a lighter tone than that of the prior four grim and darker movies.

Plot
The film takes place in Australia and Vampire Rock, a rock formation shaped like a vampire head. There is a legend of a vampire named the Yowie Yahoo, who lives in the rock. The film starts at Vampire Rock where the "Vampire Rock Music Festival" is being set up. Many people are excited for it, but some don't think it should take place because it would anger the Yowie Yahoo. One such person is Malcolm Illiwara, even though his own grandson Daniel is the manager of the contest. One night, as Malcolm and his grandson watch a sure-to-win performer named Matt Marvelous, the Yowie Yahoo appears. The Yowie Yahoo and its three vampire minions capture Matt Marvelous and take him away. Everybody is scared, and Malcolm blames the contest for what happened.

Meanwhile, Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. have arrive in Australia for a vacation after solving the mystery of the Sea Serpent Smugglers on a cruise ship. After seeing the harbor, the gang decides to go to the outback and see the music festival. When they arrive, they meet The Hex Girls, (the band the gang had met before in Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost) who are the opening act. They also see Daniel, Malcolm, and Russell, who runs the contest with Daniel. Malcolm says he has warned Daniel about what has happened and drives off. Daniel tells them that most of the performers have left because they are too scared of the vampires. Daniel and Russell then tell them about Wildwind, a musical group who performed at the Vampire Rock Music Festival the year before. They tell the gang Wildwind put on a great performance, but only got third place. They then went into Vampire Rock to camp, but were never heard from again. There were three performers, Dark Skull, Stormy Weather, and Lightning Strikes. Legend says that they have been turned into Vampires by the Yowie Yahoo. Daniel says he does not believe it, but then Russell reminded him that the three vampires who were with the Yowie Yahoo when it kidnapped Matt Marvelous looked just like the members of Wildwind.

Fred decides the best way to solve the mystery is to enter the contest as a band, in order to drive the Yowie Yahoo to capture them. Russell is skeptical, but Daniel thinks it is a good idea. The Hex Girls make them look like rock stars, and soon they are on stage. While they are practicing (but not very well), a golf cart approaches them. In it are Jasper Ridgeway, a snotty manager, and his band, the Bad Omens, who have three performers. They criticize the gangs playing and make them leave the stage so they can practice. Then the gang learns that Ridgeway was once the manager of Wildwind. Jasper says Wildwind was the greatest band he ever managed and is still haunted by their disappearance. He then complains about the head and camping, and goes back to his "trailer", leaving his band to practice. The gang grows suspicious of Ridgeway and thinks he might have put his band up to masquerading as vampires and getting rid of all the other performers. They split up, with Fred, Velma, and Daphne going to Jasper's trailer and Shaggy and Scooby staying at the food stands.

At the trailer, Fred, Velma, and Daphne find that Jasper has lots of mementos of Wildwind, including three copies of the suits the band members used. They also wonder why Jasper did not come to his trailer, (as they have been there); when he said he was going to. Meanwhile, Scooby and Shaggy get chased by the Wildwind Vampires, but eventually lose them. They end up back at the stage, where the Bad Omens are rehearsing. There, they witness the Yowie Yahoo and the Wildwind vampires capture the Bad Omens is the same way they captured Matt Marvelous. They tell the others. Jasper is sad they are gone, but then he says he shouldn't have gone back to his trailer, when in fact he was never there at all. Fred decides that everyone should sleep at the same place, so no one gets taken.

During the night, a band named Two Skinny Dudes arrives. They say they have been staying in Vampire Rock, but have not seen any. Jasper quickly forgets the Bad Omens and asks Two Skinny Dudes if they wanted him to be their manager, which makes the gang suspicious. The next day the gang and Daniel go to see Malcolm. He explains how Wildwind was foolish to go into Vampire Rock. He also says how vampires hate the sun, cannot run over running water, and cannot be seen in a picture. That night is the performance, and the Hex Girls start things off. However, the Yowie Yahoo and the Wildwind vampires appear and capture the Hex Girls. The crowd thinks it was an act, but the gang decides to investigate the rock.

Inside, Fred, Velma, and Daphne find lots of special effects equipment like fans and lights. However, they find the Wildwind vampires and get chased. Scooby and Shaggy get trapped by a group of dingoes. The sound of Fred, Velma and Daphne running scares off the Dingoes, but then the whole gang gets trapped by the vampires and the Yowie Yahoo. The gang is able to avoid them until the sun comes up. The sun reflects off Scooby-Doo's collar, which shines on the Yowie Yahoo and destroys him. However, the Wildwind vampires are not affected by the sun or running over water, and give chase to the gang. The Wildwind Vampires chase them until the gang and Daniel unleash a trap and capture the "vampires". Jasper and Daniel are confused, wondering who did it, but the gang knows. After splashing water on the faces to get rid of the makeup, the gang shows that it was Two Skinny Dudes and Russell. Daniel and Jasper are surprised, but get even more surprised when the gang unmasks them and it is shown that the members of Wildwind are the actual vampires. They explain how they wanted to start up their career, so they posed as dead and were planning to perform again. They used special effects to make the Yowie Yahoo and climbing equipment to fly around. When asked about the missing performers, they said they gave them free Great Barrier Reef Scuba diving tours and sent them away. Then the Hex Girls and Malcolm show up. They say they were left in the Outback because they did not want the trip, but Malcolm found them.

The members of Wildwind are arrested sent to jail. Daniel realizes that since all the other bands are out of the competition, that makes Scooby and the gang the winners by default. The film ends with the gang performing to the crowd and getting their band name, The Meddling Kids, joined by the Hex Girls.

Featured Villains

 * The Yowie Yahoo-an Australian vampire in the film. He appears to be a parody of Chernabog from the Walt Disney film, Fantasia (which Marti mentioned about the film). He could breathe fire, throw exploding fireballs, blow hurricanes, emit powerful shock waves by clapping and various other feats.
 * As the films title suggests, the Yowie Yahoo is described as an Australian equivalent to the Vampire, but this is inaccurate, as the Yowie is more comparable to the American Sasquatch. A more accurate Australian cryptid, would have been the Yara-ma-yha-who, which are in fact said to suck blood.
 * Wildwind-Dark Skull, Stormy Weathers & Lightning Strikes in vampire versions of themselves to scare the pants off everyone to have their revenge for not winning the music contest set a year before the events of this movie happened. They even utilized a Chernabog-style version of the Yowie Yahoo to pull their heist.

Cast

 * Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred. Welker voices Scooby-Doo in all direct to video movies from here on in.
 * Casey Kasem as Shaggy. He continues in this role until Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword.
 * Nicole Jaffe as Velma, after thirty years of retirement from acting
 * Heather North as Daphne
 * Phil LaMarr as Daniel Illiwara and King
 * Jeff Bennett as Jasper Ridgeway, Jack and Lifeguard #1
 * Kevin Michael Richardson as Malcolm Illiwara, the Yowie Yahoo and the crocodile
 * Jennifer Hale as Thorn and Queen
 * Jane Wiedlin as Dusk
 * Kimberly Brooks as Luna
 * Michael Neill as Russell/Dark Skull and Matt Marvelous
 * Tom Kenny as Harry/Stormy Weathers and Barry/Lightning Strikes and Lifeguard #2

This was the first time since The New Scooby-Doo Movies that Frank Welker, Casey Kasem, Nicole Jaffe, and Heather North were all featured on a Scooby-Doo project. Frank Welker voices both Fred Jones and Scooby-Doo, because of Don Messick's death in 1997. Casey Kasem and Frank Welker do a commentary as Shaggy, Scooby, and Fred, for one of the DVD's special features. (During the opening credits, Shaggy humorously remarks, "Who's this, Casey Kasem, as Shaggy; I'm me, and I play myself, and Scooby wants to know who this, Frank Welker is.")

Significance
This was the first animated Scooby-Doo film to be filmed in widescreen, although the Region 1 DVD was in full screen (cropping the left and right of the image), though not pan and scan as the camera stays directly in the center of the image. Like other television shows filmed in high-definition (such as American Idol, Father of the Pride, Curious George, and Out of Jimmy's Head) and other films filmed in high-definition (such as The Proud Family Movie, Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry, High School Musical, and The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers), the monitor the animation team would have worked from would have 16:9 and 4:3 safe areas so that the full screen version would not crop off too much of any important visual elements (such as characters). The film is available in widescreen (and HD) on Blu-ray, iTunes, and similar services in the USA.

Additionally, this is the first Scooby-Doo film to be colored using digital ink and paint, as opposed to the more traditional cel animation. However, What's New, Scooby-Doo? had already been colored using this process prior to this movie.

Follow-up film
Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico, which was also released in 2003.