Greetings, my friends.

This is your friendly group contributor here with another review.

Today, for my 10th review on an installment of the Scooby-Doo franchise, I'm gonna give you guys my take of "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost".

Here's the rundown of it:

In the wake of solving another mystery, Scooby-Doo and the gang meet a famous horror writer named Ben Ravencroft, whom Velma is a big fan of. Being a fan of the Mystery Inc. gang in return, Ravencroft invites the gang to his hometown of Oakhaven, Massachusetts.

Upon arriving in Oakhaven, the group discovers that the town has become quite a popular tourist spot. The mayor of the town tells them that the reason for the tourism is because a ghost has been showing up every night. That ghost being Ben's ancestor, Sarah Ravencroft, who was believed to be a witch despite Ben's insistence that she was really a Wiccan.

Will Scooby and friends figure out what's going on? Or will this be one mystery left unsolved?

Similar to "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island", this film was something I didn't really pay much attention to. I remember seeing it at my cousins' place when I was a child, though. I even remember getting scared at some points, especially when the actual ghost of Sarah Ravencroft was coming into play.

Having watched the film again recently after so long, I do still think that certain elements were creepy in an intense sort of way. However...I also found the film as a whole to be an improvement over Zombie Island. It was unexpectedly enjoyable, and it had a greater sense of fun as well.

For instance, the voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were nicely done.

In my review of Zombie Island, I commented that I wasn't a big fan of the performances of Scott Innes, B.J. Ward, and Mary Kay Bergman as Scooby, Velma, and Daphne. The reason for that was because, to me, they sounded kinda whiny and annoying. In contrast, I hardly found that to be the case with this movie. Their performances sounded much more calm and collected in this one, and that was something I loved. Plus, Scott Innes was a much better Shaggy than Billy West was, and his comedic-timings were great too.

Tim Curry, might I add, was an excellent choice for the part of Ben Ravencroft. I'm not sure how many think the same as I do on this, but I believe Curry and Scooby mix perfectly together. Along with that, Curry gave Ravencroft an astounding sense of unpredictability and complexity, each of which deeply contributed into making him a three-dimensional character.

To top it all off, none of the characters felt out of place in this movie. They didn't overshadow each other, and they each had a role that gave them important purpose.

The direction by Jim Stenstrum, and the story by Rick Copp, David A. Goodman, Glenn Leopold, and Davis Doi, were quite compelling as well.

Among the most awesome things about the film was that the team came up with a much more intriguing plot compared to the film's predecessor. I was particularly impressed with how well everything tied together after reading that Doi and Leopold rewrote the third act of the film while Copp and Goodman's vision of the first and second acts remained the same. Along with that, the humor was much more sharp and inspired in this film, something that I can't help but note was obviously influenced by the involvements of William Hanna and Joseph Barbara as executive producers. To boot, there was a great amount of genuine thrills and emotion to help it come alive.

The animation of this movie was impressive too. In many ways, the film maintained the same kind of level as its predecessor did, but yet...the animators were able to push themselves creatively, making great use of their budget while going bigger than ever before.

Finally, the music by Louis Febre was melodiously magnificent. Taking the place of Steve Bramson, Febre did an excellent job at getting emotionally invested as this film's composer, and the songs by the Hex Girls were likewise fun.

In the end, "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost" is a lot better than Zombie Island. The ambition and creativity behind it isn't lost, the team brilliantly captured the spirit of the franchise while incorporating their own flair, everything! Why it currently has a 50% rotten on Rotten Tomatoes is something I can hardly understand, if I may add.

So, I rate "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost" 4½ out of 5 stars.

I'm surprised you didn't mention how the Hex Girls became franchise staples due to the success of this film.

As for Shaggy, Billy West was busy with Futrama but I agree that Scott Innes was a much better Shaggy voice. It helps that, like Casey Kasem, he was a radio personality.

7171947
Yeah, like, its thanks to this film the Hex Girls became breakout characters and became their own thing

7334995 Yup. They would go on to appear in both What's New Scooby-Doo? where they got to sing their own cover of the theme song, and Mystery Incorporated.

7335303
Yup Didn't they get own spinoff? They were also in a few movies