The wheel was merciful this time, and actually gave me the movie that I thought Stage Fright was going to be, although I also thought this movie was going to be something entirely different, likely because of this episode of What's New Scooby Doo, which features a magician ghost. Seems to be a recurring theme, magic acts. I suppose it does generally lend itself well to the idea of a wacky ghost costume ruse.

Abracadabra-Doo, thankfully, is also the first movie of the lot that I would call actually good. It's no masterpiece, but its mostly enjoyable and has some nice aesthetics at points. The plot follows the gang as they go to a school for stage magic to visit Velma's sister, who is studying there to become a stage magician herself. The magic school is this old castle, apparently brought over brick-by-brick from Ireland and rebuilt by the old owner, who was rumored to be a practitioner of black magic, having summoned a fearsome Gryphon in the past to defend his land.

This is where the story begins.

After a scene at the start of the gryphon attacking a birdwatching couple, the movie opens on a differently-animated intro featuring the gang capturing a monster in a chemical plant. The accompanying song frankly sucks and is nowhere near as catchy as Stage Fright's intro, though the segment is fine for what it is. I'll link it but I don't really recommend doing much more than skimming it if you want.

After that, they're off to the magic school, guided by Fred's GPS that constantly shits on his driving, having been invited by Velma's sister Madelyn, who has a notable crush on Shaggy.

Normally I would find a character like this annoying, but she's relatively competent on her own and her design is cute, so she's alright. I don't know if she ever shows up in another one of these movies, but considering the rather loose continuity, I doubt it. Upon arrival, they also meet Whirlen Merlin (famous magician and school founder), his brother Marlon Merlin (VFX guy behind the scenes for the magic shows), Ms. Rumblebuns (large, scary maid who has worked at the castle her whole life), and a mean old caretaker up to some sketchy business with an ice cream mogul named Calvin Curdles, who wants to buy the castle at a discount due to the fact that every time the fog descends, the Gryphon shows up to wreak havoc.

This movie is different from the past few in that I can actually remember the character names, mostly because this one spends a lot more time on the gang talking to the characters, gathering info and lore about the castle and its mysterious past, and all that. It's refreshing honestly, and while the mystery itself isn't the best here, there's enough to keep you relatively invested in the characters to some degree. Unlike Stage Fright where every character besides the gang was either useless comic relief or another Phantom, each character in this one mostly has some form of arc or at least significance to the greater plot.

Scooby, Shaggy, and Madelyn head out at night to explore some ancient ruins nearby where they learn about a magical staff held by the castle's lord, said to be used to control the Gryphon. That very same creature attacks them, causing them to flee through a secret passage and back to the castle. Unlike the Phantom and Inferno, this Gryphon is a big monster and is much more threatening due to the fact that it's not just a dude in a shitty costume. It's also a rather cool design and I enjoy how its eyes glow yellow in the fog.

After Whirlen Merlin explains the Gryphon problem, the gang does some lore searching and learns that the staff that controls the Gryphon is being held at the old magician's tomb on the island in the lake, guarded by a banshee. The gang also learns that the ice cream guy who wants to buy the castle used to work there and was in a relationship with the maid a long time ago. Marlon Merlin also shows off his cool VFX, puppetry, and projection tech, as the gang agrees to learn more about stage magic to try and understand the mystery.

The gang sets off to the island in hopes of getting the staff, but are confronted by the banshee, which chases them around for a bit. They do get the staff though, and they return to the mainland as Calvin Curdles arrives to try and get Whirlen Merlin to sign the sales contract so he can own the castle. The gang ascends the old abandoned tower where the Gryphon is said to roost, and discovers that the Banshee is just a projection, using fog machines in order to appear solid and three dimensional. They eventually are attacked by the Gryphon, but the staff does nothing because it's not real, idiots.

After a fight, they expose the Gryphon as a work of animatronics and puppetry, the cables and mechanisms controlling it hidden from view by the built-in fog machines that sprayed the mist that always accompanied the beast's appearances. The man behind the ruse is revealed to the Marlon Merlin, the VFX guy, upset that his brother got all the credit for the magic when he was the one who worked behind the scenes to pull everything off. Whirlen Merlin, being a genuinely nice guy, apologizes to his brother, not knowing that he was bothered by any of this. They make up, and Calvin Curdles reveals that he wanted to buy the castle to give it to the maid, who he still cared about, so that she could own the place she's worked to take care of her entire life.

And that's about that. The brothers, now working together on stage, put on a final magic show for the gang and everyone lives happily ever after now that they've talked out their beef.

This movie was a pleasant surprise. Between the eerie atmosphere, a threatening monster, and a cast of characters that while relatively standard, were somewhat memorable and tied to the main plotline, I think I actually enjoyed this one overall. It was not stellar, but its easily the best so far. Much like pretty much every movie on this list, I don't know if I'd recommend watching it necessarily as it's still a Scooby-Doo movie for kids, but this is far from the worst you could do, and in my opinion one of the best Scooby-Doo movies since the era of Zombie Island to Cyber Chase. The worst you could do, meanwhile, would be Curse of the Speed Demon.

I'm giving this one a solid score of...

7.5/10

Ranking:
#1 - Scooby Doo: Abracadabra-Doo - 7.5/10
#2 - Scooby Doo: Stage Fright - 5/10
#3 - Scooby Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon - 3/10

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Also, while doing my research, I learned that the guy who did Stage Fright's intro was actually Stephen Silver, the artist and character designer behind Kim Possible, which makes a lot of sense when you actually watch it I think. As I didn't bother linking that movie's intro cinematic in the review, I'm dumping it here. I might start ranking these intros too, if anyone wants me to.

I will not be linking WWE's intro as it sucks donkey nuts.

wow it actually sounds like this was a decent approach at the usual scooby doo deal

i dunno why that seems to be hard but hey, good shit

its always the vfx guy

its always the vfx guy

I mean FWD did say the mystery wasn't the best, it was everything else that worked.