Scooby-Doo On Zombie Island & Return To Zombie Island Double Feature
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
N/A
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
The menus is a static screen, with spilt screen artwork from both films. No animations or music is present. Options are as follows: play either film, a subtitle on/off toggle, and special features. The special features lets you choose the trailers for either film. Chapters marks are present, despite there being no menu to select them. You have to use your remote to skip to any chapter you'd like.
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
The Blu-Ray is using the same transfer that was made available digitally around 2019. There's no major debris or compression artifacts. The colors are so much more vibrant than the DVD, making it look rather dull in comparison. Contrast is good, with no crushing or clipping. Grain management seemed fine for the most part, maybe a bit digitally reduced at times. There is one scene in particular in which it appears Daphne's hand was accidently digitally removed. I also noted two brief scenes during the climax that were upscaled. I'm guessing the elements they were remastering were too damaged or something? Overall I think it's a great presentation.
​
Return is a digitally animated film from just a few years ago, so it looks fine from a technical standpoint. Sharp & clear, with decent colors, contrast, and compression. Sometimes the line art can look the littlest bit jagged, but other than that its got no issues. Compared to the original, the colors & detail here are much more subdued. I much prefer the moody look of the older cel animated film.
AUDIO
-_-_-
​
Despite the DVDs having multiple dubs, all that is present here is uncompressed English. This goes for subtitles too. While Return is a discrete 5.1 mix, Zombie Island is 2.0. The credits mention Dolby Surround, and if you have the equipment to do so you can get a decent Dolby Surround mix from this. Aside from being louder and more crisp, the sound is mostly the same compared to the DVDs. I was hoping for a discrete mix but Zombie Island has always been presented in a 2.0 format, and it seems a 4.0 (or 5.1 remix) track isn't available.
​
EXTRAS:
-_-_-_-
​
The bulk of the DVD extras of Zombie Island were trailers, and the main one is carried over. It's still a rough quality tape master, but is decently upscaled. (Weirdly, one of the scenes isn't finished & is simply a sketch. This scene was finished on the DVD version, and implies they were using a slightly older master for the featurette here on the Blu-Ray.) The DVD menus features are, obviously, absent. The trivia game & Mystery Inc. bios will forever remain a DVD exclusive.
​
The DVD extras of Return consist of bonus episodes, from some Scooby-Doo series, that revolve around Zombies. These are absent on the Blu-Ray, but replaced with a trailer. This trailer isn't on the DVD.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
I, along with most of the fan base, despise Return. It's easily the worst Scooby-Doo film & the cherry on top is that it's a sequel to the best Scooby-Doo film. WB clearly didn't understand the assignment and failed big time.
​
I think of this more-so as a Zombie Island Blu-Ray with Return as an extra, rather than a double feature.
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.33:1/1.78:1 (Original Full/Widescreen)
VIDEO CODEC: AVC (34 Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Dual-Layer
REGION CODE: ?
SUBTITLES: English SDH
RUN-TIME: 2 Hour 35 Minutes (Total Runtime Of Both)
AUDIO: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 (3.7 MB/s | Zombie Island)
English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (6.1 MB/s | Return)
Scooby-Doo & The Cyber Chase
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
In front of a green-ish blue cyber looking background, we have render of Shaggy & Scooby being chased out of the computer monitor by the main villain of the film. Fred, Velma & Daphne are also featured in the background. The back of the box features the same green/blue style with a description of the film at the top and technical aspects at the bottom. In the middle are an extras list, and various renders of Shaggy & Scooby dressed in attire reflecting the different areas they visit throughout the film.
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
Like most Warner titles a simple overlay with all of the options: Play, Audio/Subtitles, Chapters, Extras, Trailers. Unlike newer titles however, it doesn't have that, "unified," look like all modern Warner Bros. Blu-rays.
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
The animation is sharp, clean, and colorful! No compression issues were seen either. This was the first movie to be animated digitally, and as such, has a very distinct & different look than the previous one yet still has a familiar style. This film was the first to be made available on Blu-ray, and is also the only film to be in 4:3.
AUDIO
-_-_-
​
The main track here is a DTS-HD MA 5.1 track at 24 bit. A full bit-rate Spanish 5.1 Dolby track is also available, which is exclusive to the Blu-Ray version as the DVD didn't have any dubs.
This film introduces a new voice for Daphne, one that will eventually become her new permanent voice. Despite Daphne receiving a new voice, this is the last film to feature Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby's current voices before being changed again in the following film.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
This is the final film to be solely a Hanna-Barbera production. While WB purchased Hanna-Barbera in the early ninety's, they were a subsidiary until 2001 when William Hanna passed. After this, the studio was shut down and WB Animation studios took over.
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.33:1 (Original Full-Screen)
VIDEO CODEC: AVC (17.80 Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Single-Layer
REGION CODE: A
SUBTITLES: English, Spanish
RUN-TIME: 1 Hour 13 Minutes
AUDIO: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (-- Mb/s)
Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 Kb/s)
Scooby-Doo & The Legend Of The Vampire
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
With the outback as the backdrop, we have renders of the entire gang being chased off by the vampire. On the back we see the cast struggling to maneuver their canoe, with a description of the film to the above, and an extras list at the side. The usual technical detail are below.
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
Like most Warner titles a simple overlay with all of you options: Play, Audio/Subtitles, Chapters, Extras, Trailers. Unlike newer titles however, it doesn't have that, "unified," look like all modern Warner Bros. Blu-rays.
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
This is the first film to be animated by Warner Brothers. Unlike the previous movies, Warner has actually future proofed themselves and produced the film in widescreen! It was, however, protected for 4:3 since most TV's were still using that aspect ratio at the time. The next ten films are animated this way with both aspect ratios in mind, until 16:9 becomes the norm with the 2010 release of Scooby-Doo Camp Scare.
​
The Blu-Ray version is presented in the original un-matted 16:9.​ Compression, colors, brightness, all seem fine. It's a great looking presentation!
AUDIO
-_-_-
The main track is a 24 Bit DTS-HD MA 5.1 mix. Three Dolby Digital stereo dubs are also included at 192 Kb/s. Like the previous film, the Spanish & Swedish tracks were not on the DVD version and are Blu-Ray exclusive.
The film features the original 1969 cast in their respective roles, with the exception of Scooby-Doo whose original voice actor passed away. This cast would remain for the following film before shifting once again.
​
The mix is front heavy, with most dialogue and sound effects coming from the center. The front left & right is mostly music, and the rear surrounds are rather echo-y sounding. It's very Dolby Surround-ish, but the credits specifically mention Dolby Digital. It was definitely mixed with 5.1 in mind, I'm guessing it's just not a super directional mix.
​
EXTRAS
-_-_-
​
Aside from some trailers & music videos, the only other special feature is the commentary, featuring Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby, from the 2003 DVD version. Some extras are 1080p and some are only 480i.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
I feel like this film did a decent job replicating the feel of the original Scooby-Doo Where Are You series, with the dark spooky atmosphere. They got the original actors, and even used new versions of the original background music. The mystery itself was OK, even if the real life legend it was based on was incorrect. My only real complaint is that the artwork looks rather...cheap. I mean, the original was like that too, but it was hand painted artwork. These digital ones kind of look like clip art stitched together in Photoshop or something. (I'm not bashing it, It's just not my taste.)
​
I think as WB's first foray, it was good. Some of their later stuff is kind of...meh, but I enjoyed this one and have nostalgic memories of it.
I love having these films in 16:9 HD, and it's a shame so many of them aren't. This and a few other DTV movies from the What's New, Scooby-Doo era were released on Blu-Ray, but then they just sort of skipped a bunch and moved on to the newer movies. I'm not sure if they just weren't selling well enough, or if they were just way behind and decided to skip them. Lastly, as of 9/10/21, there seems to be no attempt from WB to release any more of the films on Blu-Ray. Even the most recent ones just stopped around 2017 or so, leaving everything DVD or digital!
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1 (Open Matte Widescreen)
VIDEO CODEC: AVC (18 Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Single-Layer
REGION CODE: A
SUBTITLES: English, French, Spanish, Swedish
RUN-TIME: 1 hour 12 Minutes
AUDIO: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (5.4 Mb/s)
Spanish, French, Swedish Dolby Surround 2.0 (192 Kb/s)
Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection
​
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
*Despite the back stating the aspect ratio as 1.85:1, it is actually slightly opened to 1.78:1.
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
N/A
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
Both films have a very processed look. Also, the CGI hasn't exactly held up, it's just...okay.
The first film looks like it has been over sharpened. There's some issues with clipping in the white levels, mostly during bright and/or outdoor scenes. Colors are decent, a little on the undersaturated side. Something tells me the colors don't quite look the best they could. While compression isn't terrible, the are some very light artifacts if you look closely. Film grain is present, so at least it hasn't been DNR'd. The image isn't exactly sharp, but isn't really blurry either. It very much looks like the same transfer used for the DVD & VHS releases, so you can't expect too much from material mastered for technology in the early 2000s!
​
While colors & contrast fair better, the second film also looks rough. Almost no film grain is visible and it looks rather waxy & smooth at times, suggesting this one was DNR'd. This one also seems rather soft and, again, like the same master is being used as the DVD/VHS.
AUDIO
-_-_-
​
The first film uses only lossy Dolby 5.1 tracks at full bit-rate. Rather disappointing, but there was simply no room on the disc for uncompressed audio. WB did this with many of there early Blu-Rays, and compressed everything to fit onto a single-layer disc. They also were doing dual releases on HD-DVD & Blu-Ray, so I'm assuming they were working with the extra space limitations of HD-DVD & simply copy-pasted data for Blu-Ray.
​
The second film, luckily, uses a lossless DTS-HD MA at 24 bits! This disc was mastered later, so I'm guessing they didn't have the HD-DVD space limitation to think about.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
*The only way to get Monsters Unleashed on Blu-Ray is with the double pack, it never got a standalone release.
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1 (Open Matte Widescreen)
VIDEO CODEC: VC-1 (? Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 2
DISC SIZE: Single-Layer
REGION CODE: Region Free
SUBTITLES: English SDH, French, Spanish
AUDIO: English, French, *Spanish 5.1 (640 Kb/s | *Film 1 Only)
24 Bit DTS-HD MA English 5.1 (5.6 Mb/s)
RUN-TIME: 2 Hour 59 Minutes
Scooby-Doo & The Loch Ness Monster
​
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
The cover features a render of Shaggy & Scooby, in a flimsy looking boat, trying to escape the monster in the loch. It's a dark fogy night, with the castle looming in the background, while the rest of the Mystery Inc is coming to the rescue in a ship.
​
The back has a render of Shaggy & Scooby wearing kilts and playing bagpipes. The loch is in the background behind them. A green & blue blurb next to them has a list of extras, all of which are actually absent from the disc! Also, the tech specs at the bottom are incorrect!
​
The extras listed are a copy/paste of the DVD's artwork, but are not really here. The only extras on the disc are trailers. The back also lists the film are being in a 1.37:1 aspect ratio which is wrong as it's 1.78:1. Lastly, it lists Latin & Castilian Spanish Dolby 2.0, but there is only Latin Spanish in Dolby 5.1.
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
Like most Warner titles a simple overlay with all of you options: Play, Audio/Subtitles, Chapters, Extras, Trailers. No animations or music is played.
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
The video here looks identical to the previous one, with great color, contrast, and compression. This film is also in it's original un-matted 16:9 aspect ratio.
AUDIO
-_-_-
​
The main track is 5.1 DTS-HD MA at 24 Bits, with two full bit-rate 5.1 Dolby dubs.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
N/A
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1 (Open Matte Widescreen)
VIDEO CODEC: AVC (15.90 Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Single-Layer
REGION CODE: A
SUBTITLES: English, French, Spanish
RUN-TIME: 1 hour 15 Minutes
AUDIO: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (5.17 Mb/s)
Spanish, French Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 Kb/s)
Aloha Scooby-Doo
BOX-ART
-_-_-_-
​
N/A
​
MENUS:
-_-_-_-
​
Like most Warner titles a simple overlay with all of you options: Play, Audio/Subtitles, Chapters, Extras, Trailers. Unlike newer titles however, it doesn't have that, "unified," look like all modern Warner Bros. Blu-rays.
​
VIDEO
-_-_-
​
This film is presented in the original un-matted 16:9.
AUDIO
-_-_-
​
The English is a 5.1 DTS-HD MA at 24 Bit mix, with four Dolby 2.0 tracks at 192 Kb/s. Like The Legend of The Vampire Blu-Ray, two of these dubs are only available on the Blu-Ray version of the film and not the DVD.
​
FINAL THOUGHTS
-_-_-_-_-_-_-
​
For the time being, I'm only going to have reviews of these four films. Only two other films from the 2000s were released on Blu-Ray: The Monster of Mexico, which is quite difficult to find for a decent price since it went out of print and sky rocketed; and The Samurai Sword which I just didn't like very well so I don't have it. I may get the newer films (from 2010 onward) eventually, but for now, I already have reviews on them on DVD.
​
TECH. SPECS.
-_-_-_-_-_-
​
ASPECT RATIO: 1.78:1 (Open Matte Widescreen)
VIDEO CODEC: AVC (17.7 Mb/s)
NUMBER OF DISCS: 1
DISC SIZE: Single-Layer
REGION CODE: A
SUBTITLES: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian
RUN-TIME: 1 hour 12 Minutes
AUDIO: English DTS-HD MA 5.1 (? Mb/s)
Spanish, French, Portuguese, Norwegian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192 Kb/s)
