8/10
Happy Halloween Scooby-Doo has the Mystery Inc. crew on the run from a horde of man-eating Jack-O-Lanterns. This was fun and definitely one of the stronger Scooby-Doo films.
Though I like the recent run (2010-) of Scooby made-for-DVD movies, which was a definite improvement over the frequently mediocre run (2003-2009) before it. However, it feels like the series has been losing a little steam as some of the more recent titles have felt a little paint-by-the-numbers. This was a breath of fresh air. Happy Halloween is a lot more action heavy than most Scoob films. Rather than having the characters wander around looking for clues, they have to make do with figuring things out while being constantly chased. Think of this as a sort of zombies meet Mad Max scenario. It definitely feels like the stakes were higher. (If you're worried about this breaking the spirit of Scooby-Doo, yeah it's edgier but it never crosses the line.)
Innovative part is that the big reveal at the end is a little bit different than usual.
This appears to be the third of the loosely connected trilogy that I believe was created in honor of Scooby's 50th anniversary. While I thought the last two (13th Ghost and Return to Zombie Island) were decent and disappointing respectively, Happy Halloween justifies the setup and is a great finale.
This is also one of the funnier entries. Happy Halloween is written, directed, and produced by Maxwell Atoms, creator of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and the Bunnicula series, given his preference for the humorously spooky, he was a good choice. (The threat is very similar to the killer pumpkins from the Halloween episode of GAoBaM, but I'll give him a pass.) He took a page from the recent show Be Cool Scooby-Doo and decided to make Daphne (voiced by Grey Griffin) quirkier, and she has a string of great lines.
In the past, Mystery Inc. has had movie team-ups with Kiss, the WWE, and celebrity chefs, but this one has got to be the weirdest: horror movie host Elvira, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Batman villain the Scarecrow (voiced by Dwight Schultz, who was Barclay on Star Trek the Next Generation). It strangely works. Bill Nye is pretty funny as an eccentric version of himself. Scarecrow serves as a Hannibal Lecter-type, serving as an intellectual rival for Velma (Kate Micucci). Elvira is the only one who doesn't pan out. Yeah, the actress herself is game, but her lines often don't work. We also get one of the better guest Scooby characters in the form of a dad who gets wrapped up in the chase and definitely wishes he was elsewhere.
The tone is a little rougher by Scooby standards as there are some mild insults thrown by characters. Unusual for the series, but again, nothing breaks the spirit of SD, and it's not like the film is mean-spirited. Happy Halloween does carry the same issue of the last few films of Velma being so logic obsessed that she's become a bit of a pill. She does something at the beginning that definitely feels a bit too far. However, after that she does have a pretty good character journey. She's practically the star of this.
The animation doesn't feel on the same level of the previous films. Not an extreme stepdown, but something feels off. There are too many basic camera angles and backgrounds. It might be because of interference due to COVID-19 (the second Phineas and Ferb movie had the same issues). It also may be because Atoms' experience is mostly in the more hectic output of television. (There are definitely some more cartoony eye movements that are definitely the director's stylistic choice.)
I strongly recommend this for kids or Scooby fans.