Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery (2015) – Review

Scooby-Doo and the gang have been hooking up with celebrities since the 70s in their series The New Scooby-Doo Movies, where they teamed up with such notables as the Harlem Globetrotters, Sandy Duncan, Don Knotts, and Tim Conway, and it didn’t matter if they were fictional characters or not as they also hooked up with Batman & Robin, The Addams Family, and Josey and the Pussycats. Then in 2015, for the twenty-fifth entry in their direct-to-video movie series, the rock group Kiss was brought into the world of Mystery Incorporated, and with this installment, Scooby and the gang learn how to rock and roll all night and party every day.

The rock group Kiss is no stranger to the world of Hanna-Barbera; back in 1978, they partnered with the renowned animation house to create a live-action made-for-television musical-fantasy film called Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park, where the legendary rock group used their superpowers to defeat a disgruntled inventor to save an amusement park. What is interesting about Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery is that this animated movie is also about the famous rock group using their superpowers to save an amusement park, which is doubly odd when you consider the fact that the group hated how Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park turned out, as it made them look buffoonish and goofy, and for years no one who worked for the group was even allowed to mention the film in their presence. Gene Simmons has since stated, “It’s a classic movie… a classic movie if you’re on drugs.”

Was this the group’s chance to right a cosmic wrong?

The plot of Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery deals with a particularly nasty entity called the Crimson Witch, who has been terrorizing both guests and employees of the Kiss World amusement park. Mystery Incorporated arrives on the scene to team up with Kiss to not only save the park from financial ruin but also to ensure that their Halloween concert is allowed to go on as scheduled. Of the group, Daphne (Grey Griffin) is the more excited member when it comes to this particular mystery, what with her having a super crush on Starchild (Paul Stanley), much to the dismay of Fred Jones (Frank Welker) whose not-so-hidden jealousy puts him at odds with the rockstar. Not to mention the fact that rock and roll isn’t exactly Fred’s bag, as he repeatedly touts the brilliance of his favourite acapella group The Ascot Five, over that of the group Kiss.

I’m kind of with Fred on this one.

The film starts out as your typical Scooby-Doo mystery, with the gang arriving on the scene and encountering the spectre/witch, Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby (Frank Welker) bounce back and forth from running in fear and feeding their apparently bottomless stomachs, but there are two key elements which will make this particular Scooby-Doo movie stand out. First, there is the aforementioned jealous Fred, with him constantly trying to get between Daphne and her uber-crush on Starchild, but we also have the dilemma of whether or not there is an actual supernatural threat on hand, rather than some dude in a mask. Now, the gang running into actual ghosts is nothing new, that idea was even the basic premise of the short-lived series The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo, and their first straight-to-DVD movie Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, which had Fred trying to take the “mask” off a real zombie. In the case of Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery, it’s not only a matter of whether or not the Crimson Witch is fake or the real deal, but it also puts into question the possibility that Kiss themselves are some sort of cosmic-powered super beings.

Could the fate of the world be in the hands of Kiss?

The voice of reason is once again Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn), who constantly points out rational explanations to the events around her — which does kind of put her at odds with past movies and shows where the supernatural beings were revealed to be real — but her debunking and pointing out the obvious in this movie is one of the show’s best elements. So who exactly is behind the Crimson Witch? Is it Chip McGhoo (Doc McGhee), the band’s concert manager, who would like to see the park fail so that the boys would spend more time touring? Could it be Delilah Domino (Pauley Perrette), the park’s head of security, who from the start was very much against meddling kids helping with the mystery? What about Chikara (Jennifer Carpenter), the park’s resident fortune teller, who thinks Velma is a doubting fool whose blindness could doom them all? Is the befuddled park manager Manny Goldman (Garry Marshall) trying to cover up the park’s problems for his own nefarious reasons? Or is it the special effects wizard Shandi Strutter (Rachel Ramras), whose technical abilities would make creating a demonic witch rather easy?

Is it Rita Repulsa from the Power Rangers?

What is decidedly weird about Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery is the insane cosmic backstory given to us by fortune-telling Chikara, that the members of the rock group Kiss are descendants of an alien race of super-powered beings from the mystic realm of Kissteria, where they are the protectors of the mythical Black Diamond, an all-powerful jewel that if the Crimson Witch were to get her evil claws on, would allow her the power to release The Destroyer, a creature of unimaginable power that could end the universe. Yeah, that’s not the usual supernatural backstory Scooby-Doo and the gang are used to coming across. It’s so out there and bizarre that I have to give bonus points to the writers of this movie for coming up with a batshit mythology that makes Scientology look sensible by comparison. Velma, of course, thinks this is all razzle-dazzle hokum, part of the Kiss World propaganda, but when the Crimson Witch tears a hole in the fabric of reality, and Kiss and the gang end up battling for their lives in another dimension, she starts to doubt her previous held staunch beliefs.

This other dimension clearly owes a lot to comic book legend Jack Kirby.

In this movie, the key member of the group is clearly Starchild, what with his relationship with Daphne being a primary running joke, but what about the other three band members? Well, never fear, they do have some time to shine. We get The Demon (Gene Simmons) breathing fire and basically acting like a bully and an ass for most of the picture, of course, there is also The Spaceman (Tommy Thayer) and The Catman (Eric Singer), who are both here just to add their particular powers and voices to the cosmic battle, and though they all have a few fun moments, we are still left with a more important question: “Does this film make up for the abomination that was Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park?” Well, let’s just say that both fans of Scooby-Doo and the group Kiss will most likely get a kick out of Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery. It has the group singing a few of their classic songs, the Scooby gang have some nice characteristic interplay — once again, the jealous Fred being a highlight — and the animation ranges from good to simply spectacular, with, as mentioned, a definite comic book feel to it, which is fitting considering Kiss did appear in a Marvel Comic back in the day.

Seriously, I’m surprised Marvel didn’t sue over this. That’s bloody Galactus!

As an installment in the ever-growing canon of animated movies, starring everyone’s favourite mystery-solving Great Dane, Scooby-Doo! and Kiss: Rock and Roll Mystery is a solid entry for fans of all ages to enjoy. The look of the film is leaps and bounds above many of its predecessors — only on par with the series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated — and overall, it’s one of the funniest entries, not to mention trippiest. I missed this movie when it was originally released, so I’m just glad I took the time to go back and give it a look, and if you haven’t seen this little rock and roll gem, I recommend you take the time as well.

 You can find all my reviews of the various Scooby-Doo shows and movies collected here: The Wonderful World of Scooby-Doo.