Aloha, Scooby-Doo (2005)

 Aloha, Scooby-Doo (2005) **/*****

Before we get started, I have to give a shout out to a fantastic resource for screencaps I stumbled upon while looking for pics for this review.

Animation Screencaps.com

Over on IMDB, I gave this a 4, but I honestly don't remember a lot about it. I have some vague recollections but nothing definitive. Lets see if this viewing can change my mind.  For those keeping track this is DTV #8 of 35.

The gang get an all-expense paid trip to Hawaii, thanks to Daphne's new fashion designs for Goha Aloha. But their vacation is cut short when they find the local surfing contest attacked by the vengeful Wiki-Tiki and its little tiki-minions.

Oh, boy... cgi dolphins the opening title sequence.. well they look terrible.  Almost as if they were ripped from a late 90's video game. Just embarrassing  and utterly out of place.

No, this is not a N64/PS1 game screen cap. 

Moving past the opening titles we get to a few cool surfing scenes that sets up the mystery at the heart of the movie.  Basically, you have the Wiki Tiki against mainlanders ruining the native traditions that he feels rightfully belong only to the islanders. Xenophobia of sorts. Or is it something else? (It's a land grab scheme)

Daphne actually is proactive against the Wiki Tiki and manages to hold her own against him on the waves. Hopefully she gets a few more movies where she holds her own. She doesn't always need to be the damsel in distress. She's also quite resourceful.

Although, I am beginning to think her and Fred share a brain cell. Because they are never smart/stupid at the same time. One movie, Fred is smart and Daphne is clueless, next movie the roles are reversed. At least the other three are fairly consistent.  

It's rather a pointless observation, but I think they shrunk and slimmed down Velma in this. I Don't remember her being so diminutive, I don't think I like it.

The voice cast is filled with nostalgic favorites from the preceding 4 decades, Mario Lopez from Saved by the Bell, Tia Carrere from Wayne's World, Teri Garr from Young Frankenstein, and the legendary Adam West as Jared Moon

Adam West as Jared Moon

Again it is just a dude in a rubber suit trying to drive down the real estate prices. Same motive, different island. 

While the CGI is terribly integrated, this has beautiful backgrounds.

Aside from the dolphins, the most jarring use of CGI was when the Tiny Tiki's showed up at the end and started dancing. 

I absolutely had no recollection of ever watching this movie, which considering how middle of the road this is, isn't too surprising. It's not bad, but's not great either. They could have probably shaved off 15-20 minutes and not lose any coherency. It would've put it around 55-60 minutes. So I bumped my IMDB rating up to a 5/10, a perfectly average rating for an average movie. 

The main reason I was looking forward to revisiting this was Adam West, but he only has a few lines near the beginning and the end of the  movie. And aside from it being Adam West, it's a completely forgettable throw away role that only exists to justify why Mystery Inc. is on the island in the first place. A terrible use of his comedic potential.    

 Of course most of the characters are one dimensional and exist only to move the plot along. Although the wild pig that arbitrarily decided it was part of the gang and drove Shaggy and Scooby to the shore on their jet ski made me laugh quite hard. But alas... that was his last major scene. 

The music really wasn't my thing here either, lacking  memorable chase music and just overall being a real bland selection overall. It's identifiable as islandy music, but that's it. Even the titular song fails to do much but check a few boxes. Don Ho's song is pretty though, I recommend giving that one a listen. 

 

"That's the Way the Islands Say Aloha"	Written by Thomas Chase Jones	Don Ho
"Wiki Tiki Land Surfin"		Thomas Chase Jones
"Surfin' With Wiki"	Written by Thomas Chase Jones and Tim Torrance	Dick Dale
"Monaloa Surfin"
"Aloha, Scooby-Doo!"	Written by Thomas Chase Jones and Dan Sawyer	Tia Carrere

Mystery Inc. (No change)

• Frank Welker as Fred Jones, Scooby-Doo, Wiki-Tiki
• Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
• Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake, Auntie Mahina, Local Woman #2
• Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley

Guest Cast                                                                 Other Scooby Projects

Mario Lopez as Manu Tuiama
Ray Bumatai as Little Jim
Teri Garr as Mayor Molly Quinn                    What's New, Scooby-Doo?
Adam West as Jared Moon                          Scooby-Doo! Unmasked, And the Beach Beastie

Tom Kenny as Ruben Laluna                       and the Legend of the Vampire, Lego Scooby, & Batman, 

                                                                                                What's New?, Mystery Inc., Be Cool, Guess Who

Dee Bradley Baker as Additional Voices          Too many to list here
Tia Carrere as Snookie^[3]                                      Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated

Updated rankings. 

1. Zombie Island
2. Alien Invaders
3. Monster of Mexico
4. Witch's Ghost
5. Aloha, Scooby-Doo
6. Loch Ness Monster
7. Cyberchase 
8. Legend of the Vampire 

The next entry is "Where's My Mummy?"

I cannot state enough how much I love the Scoobypedia... so once again I am going to give them a shout out.

Animation Screencaps.com