Scooby-Doo Return To Zombie Island: Release Date ,Poster, Screens, & Synopsis

[Blueknight V2.0]

https://www.animationmagazine.net/top-stories/mystery-inc-has-an-unrestful-vacation-in-scooby-doo-return-to-zombie-island/

"Pack up the Scooby Snacks: The Mystery, Inc. gang is embarking on a spooky new adventure in the animated original Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island. Produced by Warner Bros. Animation, the sequel to Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island arrives from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Digital ($14.99 SRP) starting September 3, and on DVD ($19.98 SRP) on October 1."

*Well I was right about the DVD release month.

"In Return to Zombie Island, Scooby-Doo and his pals win an all-expense paid vacation and embark on a trip of a lifetime to a tropical paradise. Their destination however, turns out to be Zombie Island. As soon as they arrive, they realize the place looks strangely familiar and is reminiscent of a trip they took years ago, in which they became wrapped up in an undead mystery. The gang soon learns that their trip to paradise comes with a price when the zombies re-emerge and attack their hotel. Will Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. gang finally solve the mystery behind Zombie Island?"

Okay, so it still seems like it'll be somewhat like the original in terms of plot. I still can't give my full thoughts on this until a trailer releases. The poster, I don't know. I'm a little mixed on it.

But what do you guys think about this?

[SenEDDtor Missile]

It sounds like a nostalgic cash grab at the moment. I'm a bit confused as to whether this is a new Zombie Island that just inexplicably has similarities to Moonscar Island from the original, or if they forgot that Zombie Island was in a BAYOU, not a tropical area.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Already, two major issues with this - firstly - the animation being the standard style sucks. Zombie Island has one of the best art-styles in the whole series, and I wish they would've replicated it's hand-drawn, and darkly shaded style as opposed to this.

Secondly - the zombies weren't the villains in Zombie Island, the major twist was that they were victims of the actual villains that were trying to warn the Scooby gang so they don't end up sharing their fate, and at the end of Zombie Island, their souls were freed, destroying the zombies. It makes no sense for them to be back, nor for them to be attacking the gang.

[Blueknight V2.0]

https://sdccblog.com/2019/07/warner-bros-home-entertainment-premieres-batman-hush-teen-titans-go-more-at-san-diego-comic-con-2019/

Here's a link to the SDCC description that has some details that weren't in the main article. Example being "cat people".

But I'm personally thinking this'll be a different Zombie island than the 1st one.

As for the animation, I like it. I do admit that Zombie Island's animation was great for it's time, but after seeing the current animation used in film's like Camp Scare. They could add an even more of a scary/creepy factor into this one.

As for the Zombies, I think they'll have the same role as last time. Possibly.

[DiamondX]

Did we really need this to be honest?

As far as I recall Zombie Island ended on a positive note with all the cat monsters defeated and the Zombies having a happy end.

I loved the original a lot (probably my favourite Scooby Doo movie) but I don't think this will raise to that level.

[Menace2Society]

Zombie Island was a pretty good movie, but honestly, there really shouldn’t have been a return to it’s concepts. It only really works the first time around, and trying to replicate it just makes it lose it’s charm a little and comes off as nostalgia-pandering.

I don’t know, though. Maybe I’m just biased since I haven’t liked any of these movies since Cyber Chase, but who really knows?

[Blueknight V2.0]

Trailer.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

How the hell is this even unsolved? Everything about Zombie Island was wrapped up in a bow. The zombies were the victims of the cat-people's brutal attack, innocent bystanders were being lured to the island by Lena to fuel their immortal abilities, and the zombies in the end were peaceful, and were laid to rest.

Screw nostalgia pandering, this is literally one of the movies I loved and watched over and over again as a child, and still quite enjoy it to this day, and I think this looks like the biggest cash-in load of crap yet.

Also, gotta love how they didn't acknowledge the fact that the original Zombie Island took place when everyone was an adult, and had long since stopped taking mysteries. Fred and Daphne were making a paranormal TV show, Velma ran a book store, and Shaggy and Scooby were working airport security. Yet this is taking place during their career, very clearly in the classic era.

[Tara]

I wanted to say this film looks like garbage but honestly it just doesn't look like anything to me.  They clearly didn't know anything about the original movie aside from the title and maybe some of the core zombie designs.  But it doesn't even look like they tried to replicate the tonality or atmosphere of the original and just went about making the standard DTV shlock that we've been getting from Hannah Barbara cartoons for the past decade or so.  I'd be so much more offended if I weren't already so numb to these movies by now.

At this point, the only thing I want to ask is if John Cena is in it.

[Tornado]

I'm amused because they took made it a tie in to the movie held on the pedestal as perhaps the one thing that truly tried to make the Scooby Doo series go beyond the schlocky fun that it had been trapped in since the beginning. The movie that realized that EVEN THE IDEA of character development in a Scooby Doo property was just insane, but decided to completely run with it anyway as the framing device for much of the plot.

 

And then they made it look pretty much like an episode of Scooby Doo Where Are You anyway. It's not good when you can tell from the thumbnail of the trailer alone that they missed the point.

 

 

 

 

 

Frank Welker is increasingly a treasure to the franchise though. Even the shittiest of these movies it seems like he's the only one who knows what he's in and has fun with it (probably because he knows he's the only one who they couldn't just replace with increasingly bad soundalikes).

[Ryannumber1gamer]

The thing that frustrates me most about the movie is it misses the point of Zombie Island on a foundational level. The original movie was such a massive departure from the norm because the franchise by that point was overmarketed, oversaturated, and was on the verge of dying out because of so many bad attempts to keep it going. Zombie Island as said not only ran with the idea of character development, but did it while also just making everything else radically different.

The jokes made a lot more attempts at being wittier, the shading, animation, and tone is legitimately atmospheric and creepy, the villains aren't just one-dimensional and actually have a pretty sad backstory to them, there's a genuinely smart twist surrounding the mystery of the island, and the zombies' actions, and there's the fact that quite a lot of it has a hugely dark tone, akin to something a horror movie, and it's played straight, especially when you get to some of the body-horror aspects of the zombies, and Jacques' bloodlust and attempt to kill Shaggy and Scooby later in the movie. It's such a radical departure done so right, and was so different, and proved what could be done with this stale formula, it was literally what jolted the franchise back to life and resurgence for the first time in about ten years.

It really does suck how much the creators of this sequel have missed the point of the original and what made it so special.

[Kuzu]

I feel like an old person if I were to complain about this. This movie feels completely at odds with the original but they're insisting it's totally related 

[Ryannumber1gamer]

If you need an idea of how off this is tonally, all you need to do is watch the original trailer used for Cartoon Theatre's premiere of the movie in 98. 

 

[Blueknight V2.0]

My thoughts on the new trailer.

https://constant-thinker.com/2019/07/14/scooby-doo-return-to-zombie-island-1st-trailer-release-dates-poster/

[Meta77]

The first one was perfect for its time. It was actually good. I like darker scooby tales. Sure I like goofy things every now and again like the best movies boo brothers, reluctant warewolf and ghoul school films, but noting will top how near perfection Mystery incorp was. Not on any fanboyism but that series hit every nail on the head. great goofy mysterys t hat lead to other deeper real threats. I mean they went for Real shock value. Having a character mowed down with a chain gun was unexpected levels of dark.

[DabigRG]

You know, I deliberately ignored this thread because I didn't think it was true. Now I see that they are legit trying to make another except in some alternate continuity or something.

What is even the point?

[Tara]

1 hour ago, DabigRG said:

You know, I deliberately ignored this thread because I didn't think it was true. Now I see that they are legit trying to make another except in some alternate continuity or something.

What is even the point? 

 

Same reason for all those pointless, baffling, and downright bizarre WWE crossover movies, I suppose.

[DabigRG]

1 minute ago, Tara said:

 

Same reason for all those pointless, baffling, and downright bizarre WWE crossover movies, I suppose.

Hey, at least one of those had John Cena jump a chasm with his theme song going.

 

[Tara]

2 minutes ago, DabigRG said:

Hey, at least one of those had John Cena jump a chasm with his theme song going.

 

Can't even argue with that.  Honestly best moment in animation history.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

1 hour ago, Tara said:

 

Same reason for all those pointless, baffling, and downright bizarre WWE crossover movies, I suppose.

Adding onto this, this seems to be Warner's new plan for movies, taking older Scooby properties, making a half-hearted sequel to them, and banking on nostalgia. The last movie did the exact same thing (Curse of the 13th Ghost), which was meant to be the long awaited conclusion to one of the few Scooby shows with a legit story arc over the whole show (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo). 

Not only did the 13 Ghosts also have a small bank on the "real ghosts" idea before Zombie Island did it, but it's also notorious for ruining the premise of the series. Basically, where the original show was based on Scooby and co tracking down 13 of the strongest and most real ghosts ever, the conclusion movie literally chocked it up to the usual guy in a mask trying to get something or other as the 13th Ghost. This is further screwed by Velma claiming that the other 12 ghosts were hallucinations, and basically invalidating the show premise.

That's a big reason a lot of people have concerns over this as well. They're half-expecting them to fart out some kind of insane explanation that somehow reverts the real zombies, the were-cats, or even the cat-god from the original movie into being your typical Scooby affair where the bad guys were guys in a mask this whole time.

[Tara]

14 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

That's a big reason a lot of people have concerns over this as well. They're half-expecting them to fart out some kind of insane explanation that somehow reverts the real zombies, the were-cats, or even the cat-god from the original movie into being your typical Scooby affair where the bad guys were guys in a mask this whole time. 

Well, at least they understood that the reason Barbara Gordon stopped being Batgirl was because she had an awkward one-night stand with Batman and not because she suffered a career-ending injury at the hands of the most notorious villain in the series' history.  So, it's not like WB is COMPLETELY inept when it comes to arbitrary edits that fundamentally destroy the works that came before it.

Wait, sorry.  I meant the opposite.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

11 minutes ago, Tara said:

Well, at least they understood that the reason Barbara Gordon stopped being Batgirl was because she had an awkward one-night stand with Batman and not because she suffered a career-ending injury at the hands of the most notorious villain in the series' history.  So, it's not like WB is COMPLETELY inept when it comes to arbitrary edits that fundamentally destroy the works that came before it.

Wait, sorry.  I meant the opposite.

Personally, I'm just happy that they understood Dick Grayson never had a interest in Barbara Gordon whatsoever and instead he always had a fling with Harley Quinn. Because that's always been a thing and wasn't needlessly added for no reason whatsoever.

------------------------------

So, on another note - and I want to contextualise this by fully admitting - I'm biased as all hell here. The original Zombie Island is legitimately one of the few films I can remember watching a lot as a child, along with Tim Burton's Batman, Raimi's Spider-Man, Cyber Chase, and among others, but I used to watch Zombie Island non-stop as a kid. 

That's why I rewatched it tonight for the first time in what must be at least five years at this point, because the last time I saw it was during a SSMB animation stream years ago. But if you would indulge me, I would like to explain why I feel like Zombie Island was such a unique film.

I think the important thing to understand with the original Zombie Island is that not only was it a series definer, but it was a gamble as well. Scooby Doo, by the point this film released was dead for six years, and his popularity had long since worn out. After so many years of running the same plotline and formula over and over again, and trying publicity stunts to revitalise the series, it was dead.

That was until Zombie Island was pitched. The interesting history of Zombie Island is it started life as a SWAT Kats episode concept, which is why there's so many cat elements in the movie, as well as having a lot more violence than your standard Scooby story, but when the plans fell threw, the story was remade into the pre-existing Zombie Island. Instead of changing the SWAT Kats aspects, they seemed to run with it fully, allowing it to make way to a new story for the movie.

There's so many aspects that tie into what makes this movie into such a unique one. The atmosphere this time around is legitimately dark, and tense, with a sense of unease. The animation is much slicker, having been handed out to a Japanese studio this time around, the shading, lighting, and all-around art style underwent a massive twist, having much more detail and consideration placed into it, and this causes two huge advantages in two areas - it allows the atmosphere to be set incredibly well, and it allows for the expressions to get really detailed, like seeing the eye-colour of Shaggy and Scooby on several closeups, including when they're absolutely terrified.

The story has tons of twists and actually feels like a properly mystery for once, why are the zombies arising? What is up with this island? Why does Moonscar's ship pieces appear as parts of the house, etc. I love how it hides hints to the actual happenings of the mystery behind cliched Scooby jokes. The best example - a zombie handing Shaggy a rope to save Scooby from quicksand. On first watch, it's a good gag, it's a classic Scooby gag, the monsters doing something friendly, which causes Shaggy and Scooby to run off terrified when they realise who did it for them. But here, it's a critical clue towards the true nature of the zombies. It's the same for things like the villains' hatred of Scooby - on the first glance, it appears to be a general dislike against dogs, on second watch, it's a massive hint towards the fact that Lena and Semone are apart of the cat-cult that's been draining the life-force of people for centuries. 

Even the villains have so much more effort put into them this time. It's not a simple situation of scaring the kids off for some greedy purpose, it is filled completely with grey mortality and drawing the lines between good and bad. Morgan Moonscar is a villain, he killed tons of innocent people for no reason as he looted and pillaged as much as he pleased, but he and his crew also spent 200 years as undead, restless zombies who dedicate themselves to trying to warn others, as if to earn redemption for their past crimes.

Lena and Semone appear to be sympathetic because they were once innocent and peaceful people, until they were forced to watch the murder of their own townspeople at the hands of Morgan Moonscar, which drove them into a fury of revenge until they became cursed to do the exact same thing that Moonscar did before - hunting down innocent people and killing them for their own selfish purposes. The villains this time around feel not only threatening, but hard to completely call total evil as well. It's hard to call the villains completely evil, it's hard to call the victims completely innocent, it's a very interesting change of pace.

There's also just the general story stuff, I just love how much it subverts, plays around with and twists so many Scooby cliches, and previous series. The gang are older, and have gotten bored of the same formula of a bad guy in a mask, reflecting the staleness that had been gathering around the franchise for the better part of a decade or two by that stage, the gang was split up for years, reflecting the long hiatus, and now in this movie, they're in a movie that's far darker than the usual Scooby affair, with actual danger, death, and consequences for what they do.

It isn't just a simple mystery to solve, we see death on screen, and pretty brutal death at that, given we see the zombies, and cat creatures literally melt into dust. The movie starts out with Velma and Daphne nearly getting thrown off a cliff edge, and Fred receiving a brutal swipe to his back from a monster, and hell - as I said earlier - we literally see Shaggy and Scooby hunted down by one of the cat creatures later in the film for little purpose than trying to kill the both of them. The movie seriously gets dark at points, especially in the climax where we get lovely images of the gang nearly being melted alive due to their voodoo dolls being thrown next to a torch - or Scooby and Shaggy literally getting the life drained out of them barely being saved in time. 

But all that said, I think the best aspect is how well it balances all the tones out. Call it a bit random, but I think I would most compare it to the Samurai Jack revival more than anything else. Obviously Zombie Island didn't get to that level of adult tones, with suicide, blood, and what have you, but both weren't afraid to allow the characters to grow up and tackle more tense subjects. It doesn't use the chance of darker material to just go full-blown with it, but rather uses it to it's full advantage to keep what made the original series so beloved, but evolve it into something smarter.

Zombie Island keeps a lot of the gags from the original series, you've got Scooby's running gag of not realising he is in fact a dog, you've got the food gags, the chase scenes, etc, but there's all a dry wit to it this time around. It always feels like there's a winking nudge that points out some of the ridiculous aspects of the series. You've got the monster in the beginning of the movie not playing along with the usual door-chase that's present in Scooby material, you've got a lot of jokes pointing out how corny Fred is, you've got some more sarcastic humour, a ton of good visual humour, as well as just some really funny slapstick at points as well. That's the key thing I really like about this film, it holds what worked well with the original series, evolves the series into something a bit more serious, and darker, breaks up the formula, all while keeping the spirit of the show in-tact. 

There's a reason the original Zombie Island basically resurrected Scooby Doo into the still-going media giant that he is to date. It's also a big reason why this film is almost definitely going to suck if the trailer is any indication. It feels like the complete opposite of what the original stood for. The original film stood for a breaking of the formula, an evolution of everything that came before it, keeping the spirit alive while deciding to take the darker themes up a notch and to aim for an all-around audience. The original Zombie Island represents a massive risk that revamped everything to revitalise the series for a new generation, this sequel so far seems to represent just taking everything Zombie Island did and revert it back to your standard boring Scooby affair.

The darker animation and atmosphere is gone, the tense setting is gone, the relatable villains seem to be gone, and the sense of actual danger seems to be gone. One film had the gang being chased through a dangerous swamp, running for their lives against an actual dangerous threat, while this one has Fred turning the mystery machine into a monster truck and driving up a massive ramp over a house. I think that says it all really.

[Balding Spider]

On a related note I've been meaning to watch Zombie Island again, think I'll catch it over the weekend.

[Myst]

14 hours ago, Meta77 said:

Having a character mowed down with a chain gun was unexpected levels of dark.

Wait, WHAT?!

[Meta77]

11 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Adding onto this, this seems to be Warner's new plan for movies, taking older Scooby properties, making a half-hearted sequel to them, and banking on nostalgia. The last movie did the exact same thing (Curse of the 13th Ghost), which was meant to be the long awaited conclusion to one of the few Scooby shows with a legit story arc over the whole show (The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo). 

Not only did the 13 Ghosts also have a small bank on the "real ghosts" idea before Zombie Island did it, but it's also notorious for ruining the premise of the series. Basically, where the original show was based on Scooby and co tracking down 13 of the strongest and most real ghosts ever, the conclusion movie literally chocked it up to the usual guy in a mask trying to get something or other as the 13th Ghost. This is further screwed by Velma claiming that the other 12 ghosts were hallucinations, and basically invalidating the show premise.

That's a big reason a lot of people have concerns over this as well. They're half-expecting them to fart out some kind of insane explanation that somehow reverts the real zombies, the were-cats, or even the cat-god from the original movie into being your typical Scooby affair where the bad guys were guys in a mask this whole time.

The fuck. They said they were fake? How? When many interacted in the real world. Lord my childhood hnng

1 hour ago, Myst said:

Wait, WHAT?!

Second to last episode HDW tries to help the gang as she and some of their town is held hostage by the prof.  He has her shot to death with a gatling gun