“The Legend of the Vampire” is a bittersweet occasion. As it is one of the many, many “Scooby Doo” animated movies, it is also apparently the first Scooby-Doo movie to feature Casey Kasem, Heather North, Nicole Jaffe and Frank Welker together since 1973. The gang are back together to bring what is a pretty strong and fun mixing of the usual Mystery Inc. exploits and some great rock and roll music. Once again, we see the appearance of The Hex Girls who should, by all rights, have their own animated spin off by now. Ah well, a man can dream.
On vacation in Australia, Scooby and the whole Mystery Incorporated gang attend the Vampire Rock Music Festival, a music contest held at Vampire Rock—where the legendary ‘Yowie Yahoo’ Vampire is said to lurk and begins kidnapping the musical acts, including the Hex Girls. Masquerading as heavy-metal band ‘Those Meddling Kids,’ Scooby and the others must discover the identity of the Vampire’s minions before anyone else becomes a victim of the alleged mythical monster.
“The Legend of the Vampire” is a pretty fun film directed by Scott Jeralds that features the entire group of voice actors giving their all in one of their final movies. While their voices are noticeably aged, that doesn’t detract from the usual energetic turns when reprising characters like Shaggy, Scooby, and Freddy. The mystery is as usual steeped heavily in folklore involving a vampire hiding in the mountains. Unlike many of the other Scooby Doo movies, though, this one actually involves a mystery involving potential culprits and not actually monsters. The producers manage to deliver on some fun rock and pop music (I like the new chase song “Getaway, Yeah” from Holland Greco), even turning the Scooby Gang in to their own rock band.
The highlight though is, yes, The Hex Girls. Jane Wiedlin, Kimberly Brooks, and Jennifer Hale are as great as always and manage to compliment the Scooby Doo gang as they have since “The Witches Ghost.” I know the Hex Girls were invented as a way of giving us “Josie and the Pussycats” without actually infringing on copyrights, but I’ve always found them to be one of the bigger stand out supporting heroines of the Scooby-Doo mythos. Along with them there are some fun voice performances by Tom Kenny, Phil Lamarr, and Kevin Michael Richardson, respectively. The animation is also darn good, offering some crisp and colorful character work that keeps “Scooby Doo” spooky but light enough for kids, as is the tradition.
“The Legend of the Vampire” is fun and it’s nice hearing the old group of original voice actors taking on these iconic Hanna Barbera characters.