Friday, October 22, 2010

Review: Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!" is Half Brilliant, Half Ridiculous


TRASH IN MY EYE No. 19 (of 2002) by Leroy Douresseaux

Moulin Rouge! (2001)
Running time: 127 minutes (2 hours, 7 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for sexual content
DIRECTOR: Baz Luhrmann
WRITERS: Craig Pearce and Baz Luhrmann
PRODUCERS: Fred Baron, Martin Brown, and Baz Luhrmann
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Donald M. McAlpine (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Jill Bilcock
Academy Award winner

MUSICAL/ROMANCE

Starring: Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor, John Leguizamo, Jim Broadbent, Richard Roxburgh, Garry McDonald, Jacek Koman, Matthew Whittet, and Kerry Walker

Christian (Ewan McGregor), an impoverished young poet from Scotland, arrives in Montmarte, France and falls in with a group of Bohemians led by Henri Ramone de Toulouse-Lautrec (John Leguizamo), against the wishes of his father. Like the young poet, the Bohemians believe in freedom, truth, beauty, and most of all love, and they want to stage a show in the legendary Moulin Rouge, the home of the Paris’s colorful and diverse underworld where the wealthy rub shoulders with the working class, artists, bohemians, actresses, and courtesans.

Harold Zidler (Jim Broadbent, Iris), the impresario of the Moulin Rouge, wants a backer so that he could turn his haven of sex and drugs into a proper theatre. His wealthy quarry is The Duke of Monroth (Richard Roxburgh) who is willing to give the money for the renovation, but, in return, he wants for his possession the Moulin Rouge’s most popular attraction, the beautiful courtesan and the stuff of which dreams are made, Satine (Nicole Kidman). The stop in Zidler’s plans and in the Duke's desires comes in the form of Christian. He becomes the playwright of the show that would transform the Moulin Rouge, and he falls hopelessly in love with Satine, much the chagrin of the vindictive Duke.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann (William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet), Moulin Rouge! is an extravaganza of modern popular music, flashing lights, sumptuous sets, colorful costumes, and dazzling production numbers. Like the title of the Bohemians’ play that Christian composes, Moulin Rouge! is a “spectacular spectacular.” As beautiful and as breathtaking as everything is, Moulin is more about visual noise than it is about visual storytelling.

At some moments, the cacophony of music and songs intertwined like drunken snakes is quite nice, at other moments, it is a melding of pretension, misfires, and nonsense. However, even in those moments excess, Moulin Rouge! remains engaging and beautiful. Even when you’re bored, you can’t take your eyes away from the gorgeous sights, nor can your ear not seek out the secrets of the sonic mélange. The cinematography (Donald McAlpine who also worked on Luhrmann’s Romeo) captures the rich palette with the flare of a romantic classical painter. Production design (Catherine Martin), art direction (Ann-Marie Beauchamp), and set decoration (Brigitte Broch) are not only some of the best of the year, but some of the best ever.

Kudos to the actors for maintaining their crafts amidst the energy of Luhrmann’s film. Ms. Kidman has never been more beautiful (and she is always beautiful), her face a luminous globe in Moulin Rouge!’s dance of colors. She is a swooning siren, an intoxicating temptress, and gorgeous martyr. Ewan McGregor is the young poet eager to teach the world his overriding belief in truth, beauty, freedom, and love, but he is able to turn jealous and angry at a moment’s notice. It is in his face that we can see the overwhelming optimism of “love conquerors all: that seems to be a theme of this film. Even in sadness, there remains in young Christian’s face, the strength of love.

Moulin Rouge! is in its execution meant to be a cinematic experience like no other. That it is. It seeks to overwhelm the viewer with sound and images, though the images and sounds are often static and junk. It looks so good on the screen, and the movie moves madly about the screen. It loses the story amidst the sound and the spectacle, so sometimes it seems nonsensical. Moulin Rouge! tries the patience of the viewer, and the film hints that it could have been something more. Better luck next time.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
2002 Academy Awards: 2 wins: “Art Direction-Set Decoration” (Catherine Martin-art director and Brigitte Broch-set decorator) and “Best Costume Design” (Catherine Martin, Angus Strathie); 6 nominations: “Best Actress in a Leading Role” (Nicole Kidman), “Best Cinematography” (Donald McAlpine), “Best Editing” (Jill Bilcock), “Best Makeup” (Maurizio Silvi and Aldo Signoretti” “Best Picture” (Fred Baron, Martin Brown, and Baz Luhrmann), “Best Sound” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, and Guntis Sics)

2002 BAFTA Awards: 3 wins: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (Craig Armstrong and Marius De Vries), “BAFTA Film Award Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role” (Jim Broadbent), and “Best Sound” (Andy Nelson, Anna Behlmer, Roger Savage, Guntis Sics, Gareth Vanderhope, and Antony Gray); 9 nominations: “Best Achievement in Special Visual Effects” (Chris Godfrey, Andy Brown, Nathan McGuinness, and Brian Cox), “Best Cinematography” (Donald McAlpine), “Best Costume Design” (Catherine Martin and Angus Strathie), “Best Editing” (Jill Bilcock), “Best Film” (Martin Brown, Baz Luhrmann, and Fred Baron), “Best Make Up/Hair” (Maurizio Silvi and Aldo Signoretti), “Best Production Design” (Catherine Martin), “Best Screenplay – Original” (Baz Luhrmann and Craig Pearce) and “David Lean Award for Direction” (Baz Luhrmann)

2002 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy,” “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Craig Armstrong), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Nicole Kidman); 3 nominations: “Best Director - Motion Picture” (Baz Luhrmann) and “Best Original Song - Motion Picture” (David Baerwald for the song "Come What May") and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Ewan McGregor)

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Thursday, October 21, 2010

Thousands Waited for Chance to See "Paranormal Activity 2"

Press release:

THOUSANDS OF FANS LINE UP FOR HOURS IN CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY FOR SOLD OUT SCREENINGS OF PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 – CAPACITY CROWDS ARE AMONG THE FIRST TO SEE THE FILM IN THEIR HOMETOWN ON THE EVE OF THE HIGHLY ANTICIPATED MOVIE’S RELEASE AT MIDNIGHT TONIGHT

HOLLYWOOD, CA (October 21, 2010) – On the eve of the North American release of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2, thousands turned out to be among the first to see the highly anticipated movie at sold out free preview screenings hosted by Paramount Pictures.

Fans across the country stood on line for up to 8 hours to guarantee they would be among the first to experience the second chapter of the movie Bloody-Disgusting.com called “one of the scariest movies of all time." Playing to capacity crowds at special midnight screenings held around the country last night, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 will open in theaters across the U.S. and Canada beginning today Thursday, October 21, 2010 at midnight.

Standing room only crowds were reported in all 20 cities where the film played including: Los Angeles, CA (Arclight Hollywood); New York, NY (AMC 34th St.); Chicago, IL (AMC East River); Dallas, TX (AMC Northpark); Houston, TX (Regal Grand Palace Greenway); Phoenix, AZ (Harkins Tempe Marketplace); San Diego, CA (AMC Mission Valley); Miami, FL (AMC Aventura); Philadelphia, PA (Regal King Of Prussia); Atlanta, GA (Regal Atlantic Station); San Francisco, CA (AMC Metreon); Boston, MA (AMC Boston Common); San Antonio, TX (Santikos Palladium); Detroit, MI (MJR Marketplace); Las Vegas, NV (Rave Town Square); Seattle, WA (Landmark Neptune); Orlando, FL (AMC Universal); Denver, CO (Regal Continental); Austin, TX (Alamo South Lamar); and Toronto, ON (AMC Yonge & Dundas).

Follow PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/TweetYourScream for audience reactions and important announcements.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 is produced by Jason Blum and Oren Peli with story by Michael R. Perry and screenplay by Michael R. Perry, Christopher Landon, and Tom Pabst. The movie is directed by Tod Williams.


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films, and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

Review: First "Paranormal Activity" Flick a Goose Flesh Generator

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 11 (of 2009) by Leroy Douresseaux

Paranormal Activity (2007/2009)
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
MPAA – R for language
EDITOR/WRITER/DIRECTOR: Oren Peli
PRODUCERS: Oren Peli and Jason Blue

HORROR

Starring: Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat, Mark Fredrichs, Ashley Palmer, and Amber Armstrong

Late summer, 10 years ago, The Blair Witch Project, a very low-budget horror flick, hit movie theatres after several months of buzz about it being one of the scariest movies ever. Ten years later, another micro-budget, handmade horror film hit theatres. Made for $11,000 and shot in the director’s house, Paranormal Activity, a thoroughly modern haunted house thriller, delivers more chills than Blair Witch – at least for me.

Paranormal Activity takes place in the two-story San Diego home of day trader, Micah (Micah Sloat), and his college student, live-in girlfriend, Katie (Katie Featherston). Katie claims that she has been plagued by a demonic spirit, on and off, since she was a child. Lately, this spirit seems to have returned, so Micah decides to use a video camera to record evidence that this spirit is real. The couple joke and bicker, but as we watch them sleep, via the camera mounted at a fixed angle in their sparsely lit bedroom, we see that something is wrong in that house. The time-code on the camera races by, except when it stops to a crawl and records freaky disturbances.

In a slow-building, but relentless way, director Oren Peli makes sure the viewer sees more than audiences ever saw in Blair Witch. Of course, Paranormal Activity is shot on a video camera (sometimes hand-held and other times stationary). Unlike other movies shot with hand-held cameras carried by the actors, the jerky movement is not distracting. The camera always seems to capture the environment in a way that makes it interesting. To make things chilling, creepy, freaky, and terrifying, Peli dabs his little-film-that-could with troublesome light switches and are-they-really-there shadows. He layers that with a clever use of sound – creeks, bumps, footsteps, and mumbling – which recalls two 1973 fear flicks, The Exorcist and The Legend of Hell House.

This narrative, however, is not executed with perfection. Without giving away the story, some of the action is implausible, not the supernatural elements, but the way the characters react to the supernatural. Sometimes Micah and Katie are incomprehensibly blasé about things that should have them running for the hills.

On the other hand, I found Micah and Katie to be extremely likable characters (something I didn’t find with the Blair Witch characters). Micah, obnoxious in an endearing way, is supremely confident both in his ability to find out things and in the decisions he makes. Katie is both sweet and bristly, but seems like a young woman who is used to getting by the bumps in life. Micah seems like a bump in her life, and because she’s gotten by his less attractive traits, the two actually seem to work as a couple. Those who buy into this two will certainly buy into their struggle with the paranormal that has come into their normal.

So a novice director with a shoestring of a shoestring budget and two semi-pro actors have given us one of the best scary movies in recent years. The atmosphere of fear is so real, and Paranormal Activity is so the real deal.

7 of 10
B+

Sunday, November 15, 2009

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Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sopranos Creator to Direct His Feature Film Debut for Paramount Pictures

Press release:

CHASE REUNITES WITH VAN ZANDT AND UNVEILS CASTING FOR HIS FEATURE FILM DEBUT AT PARAMOUNT

Movie to Begin Production in January 2011 in New York

HOLLYWOOD, CA (October 15, 2010) - David Chase, the creator and producer of the multiple Emmy® and Golden Globe® winning critically acclaimed series The Sopranos, announced today that legendary musician, and Sopranos star, Steven Van Zandt will produce and supervise the music, as well as serving as an Executive Producer, for the director’s music-driven coming of age story set in 1960’s suburbia.

Chase, who is making his feature film directorial debut, simultaneously announced that actors John Magaro, Jack Huston and Will Brill will star in the movie, to be released by Paramount Vantage. Principal photography is set to begin this January in New York.

Chase, who wrote the original script, will produce alongside Oscar® winning producer Mark Johnson (“Rain Man,” “The Chronicles of Narnia”).

Said Chase, “It’s exciting to be working with Brad Grey again, doing my first feature. I look back with pleasure on our last outing. I am also thrilled to be working with Steven again, especially on this particular subject. It’s not just that we both worship the same songs and bands from the era----it’s that he obviously knows so much. About every aspect. He embodies a particular spirit of a particular kind of rock and roll. He actually is that spirit.”

“Everyone at Paramount is proud that our studio will be the home of David’s first feature,” said Paramount Chairman and CEO Brad Grey. “He is a gifted story-teller and a great friend. His talent, along with Steven’s, promises something uniquely insightful and entertaining. We are all looking forward to a great picture and I am personally looking forward to working with them both again.”

Best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen’s famed E Street Band, and more recently as one of the stars of Chase’s acclaimed HBO series The Sopranos, Van Zandt grew up amidst the Jersey Shore music scene, beginning first as a journeyman guitarist and subsequently becoming a songwriter and producer for fellow Jersey shore act Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. Van Zandt later went on to join Springteen’s E Street Band, eventually serving as the arranger for the classic album Darkness on the Edge of Town, and later production credits on The River, and Born in the U.S.A. Van Zandt has hosted Little Steven’s Underground Garage, a weekly syndicated radio show, since 2002.

Rising stars Magaro, Huston and Brill landed the coveted roles after a nationwide search. Magaro, repped by Abrams Artists Agency and Authentic Talent and Literary Management, most recently appeared in Wes Craven’s “My Soul to Take”. Huston most recently appeared in “Twilight: Eclipse” and is repped by UTA, The Collective, and by Ken McReddie Associates in the UK. Brill, repped by Stewart Talent Agency in New York, makes his feature film debut.

A veteran writer, producer, and director, Chase has been recognized by the WGA, DGA, PGA, Golden Globes®, and received a total of 7 Emmy® Awards in his career.

Paramount Vantage has previously released the Oscar® nominated “Babel” and “There Will Be Blood,” as well as the Oscar® -winning documentary “An Inconvenient Truth.” The label recently released the Sundance Film Festival award-winning documentary “Waiting for Superman” from Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott, the Academy Award®-winning director and producer of “An Inconvenient Truth.”


About Paramount Pictures Corporation
Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company's labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, Insurge Pictures, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

Review: Viggo Mortensen is Incredible in "Eastern Promises" (Happy B'day, Viggo Mortensen)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 8 (of 2008) by Leroy Douresseaux

Eastern Promises (2007)
Running time: 100 minutes (1 hour, 40 minutes)
MPAA – R for strong brutal and bloody violence, some graphic sexuality, and nudity
DIRECTOR: David Cronenberg
WRITER: Steven Knight
PRODUCERS: Robert Lantos and Paul Webster
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Peter Suschitzky (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Ronald Sanders
Academy Award nominee

CRIME/DRAMA with elements of a thriller

Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Naomi Watts, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent Cassell, Sinead Cusak, Jerzy Skolimowski, and Tatiana Maslany (voice)

What makes a great performance is more than just the ability of the actor to crawl into the skin of the character he is playing. It’s also the ability to give the character depth and weight – the illusion of belonging in the time and place in which the film is set. This is the kind of performance that Viggo Mortensen gives in Eastern Promises, and that performance has resulted in a 2008 Best Actor Oscar nomination.

Eastern Promises is set in London and revolves around the mysterious and charismatic Russian-born Nikolai Luzhin (Viggo Mortensen), a driver for one of London's most notorious organized crime families of Eastern European origin. The family, itself a part of the Vory V Zakone (thieves in law) criminal brotherhood, is headed by Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl). Semyon exudes courtly charm as the welcoming proprietor of the plush Trans-Siberian restaurant, but that is an impeccable mask to cover a cold and brutal core. Semyon's volatile son and enforcer, Kirill (Vincent Cassel), is more tightly bound to Nikolai than to his own father, and Kirill uses Nikolai as his clean-up guy – disposing off bodies and killing at Kirill’s command.

Nikolai's carefully maintained existence is jarred once he crosses paths at Christmastime with Anna Khitrova (Naomi Watts), a midwife at a North London hospital and a child of Russian immigrants. Anna has possession of a diary belonging to Tatiana, a young teenager who dies while giving birth to a baby girl. Anna resolves to use the diary to try to trace the baby's lineage and relatives, and also to perhaps discover who harmed Tatiana.

Semyon wants the diary. When Nikolia learns that Anna has discovered incriminating evidence against his “family,” he finds his normally steely resolve compromised. Nikolia unexpectedly finds his loyalties divided, wanting to protect Anna, for whom he is developing strong feelings, and wanting to be loyal to Vory V Zakone. This begins a harrowing chain of murder, deceit, and retribution that will reverberate through the darkest corners of Zemyon’s criminal empire and through the London Russian underworld.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Viggo Mortensen, so will remember for his role as “Aragorn” in The Lord of the Rings, has come of age as both an actor and a movie star. His turn as Nikolai is not an ordinary crime thriller performance; he simply isn’t just another film thug. Mortensen creates an aura of deep mystery and daunting ruthlessness around Nikolai, and being the center of the film, this rich character makes Eastern Promises an unusually strong crime thriller.

The measured, smoldering confrontations that shape and define Eastern Promises come from the well of Nikolai’s soul, a soul given to a fictional character by a great actor coming into his own.

8 of 10
A

NOTES:
2008 Academy Awards: 1 nomination for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Viggo Mortensen)

2008 BAFTA Awards: 2 nominations: “Best British Film” (Paul Webster, Robert Lantos, David Cronenberg, and Steven Knight) and “Best Leading Actor” (Viggo Mortensen)

2008 Golden Globes: 3 nominations: “Best Motion Picture – Drama. “Best Original Score - Motion Picture” (Howard Shore), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama” (Viggo Mortensen)

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Spread the Dead - The Walking Dead

I received the following from the guy doing online promotions for AMC's upcoming, "The Walking Dead" television series, based upon the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman:

Spread The Dead http://www.amcspreadthedead.com/ is an online promotion that will incentivize fans to spread the word about the premiere of The Walking Dead on October 31st at 10/9c. Users earn points by sharing badges with their friends online through their own custom URL. These points can add up to amazing cash prizes.

Once registered, users must share their unique URL with friends. Every time a person reaches the Spread The Dead homepage through this link the associated user receives a point. Top competing fans will get highlighted on a leader-board. The first place prize is $5000, there are two $2500 second place prizes and the top 15 on the leader-board at the end of the promotion will win Walking Dead prize packs.

Each person arriving to http://www.amcspreadthedead.com/ through one of these shared links will be tracked and highlighted on a stylized U.S. map generating a visualization of the growing fan base. The contest comes to a close on November 19, 2010.

Please sign up and encourage your readers to do the same. I promise it will not disappoint. Please also inform them to follow the official The Walking Dead Facebook and Twitter pages as more exciting information will be released through those outlets very soon.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Walking-Dead/110475388978628?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/#!/WalkingDead_AMC

Here’s a link to the official rules: http://www.amcspreadthedead.com/rules.html


Review: "Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare" a Great New Spin on Classic Scooby-Doo

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 84 (of 2010) by Leroy Douresseaux

Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare (2010) – Video
Running time: 72 minutes (1 hour, 12 minutes)
DIRECTORS: Ethan Spaulding with Kirk Tingblad (animation director)
WRITERS: Jed Elinoff and Scott Thomas
PRODUCERS: Spike Brandt and Tom Cervone
EDITOR: Joseph Molinari

ANIMATION/ADVENTURE/COMEDY/MYSTERY

Starring: (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Dee Bradley Baker, Mark Hamill, Phil LeMarr, Scott Menville, Stephen Root, Tara Strong, Lauren Tom, Grant Goodeve, and Neve Campbell

Beginning in 1998 with Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, Warner Bros. has released direct-to-video animated movies based on the Scooby-Doo cartoon franchise. There has been at least one per year (except for 2003 and 2005, when two movies were released in both years). Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare is the 15th in this direct-to-video series.

Fred Jones (Frank Welker), Daphne Blake (Grey DeLisle), Velma Dinkley (Mindy Cohn), Shaggy Rogers (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) take their summer vacation at Camp Little Moose, Fred’s old summer camp. Fred can’t wait to be a camp counselor, but he learns from the head counselor, a jolly old fellow named Burt (Stephen Root), that the monsters that were the stars in many Little Moose campfire stories have come to life.

The Woodsman (Dee Bradley Baker) was a green-faced, ax-wielding creep, and favorite of campfire tales. Now, he is a real monster running around the woods, threatening campers with his ax, destroying the camp grounds, and demanding that everyone leave Little Moose. The Fishman (Dee Bradley Baker) haunts the nearby, man-made Big Moose Lake, and the Spectre of Shadow Canyon (Dee Bradley Baker) threatens death on anyone who enters the Shadow Canyon.

Burt and three newly-arrived campers: Trudy (Tara Strong), Luke (Grant Goodeve), and Deacon (Mark Hamill) stick it out. They join Fred, Daphne, Velma, and (reluctantly) Shaggy and Scooby in trying to solve a wide-ranging mystery that revolves around Camp Little Moose. But the Woodsman and his spooky cohorts are ready to deliver bodily harm if they don’t leave.

After the back-to-basics approach of Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo, this Scooby-Doo animated movie series has new life. The main characters are back to wearing their original outfits, and the two most recent films are just as fun and enjoyable as the 1969 series that started it all, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! The ghost chasing, mystery solving, and action comedy is as good as ever.

Camp Scare, like Abracadabra-Doo, reveals differences from the original Scooby-Doo cartoons. Now, the ghosts, monsters, and general supernatural adversaries are darker and edgier. They certainly act as if they would like to seriously hurt (if not kill) the Mystery Inc. gang and the other good characters. Daphne’s attraction to Fred is more obvious than ever, and she is openly jealous of and hostile to rivals for his attention and affection. Velma is a little more taciturn and sardonic, but she is also more aware of what other people think and how they feel. Shaggy and Scooby are happily still the same – always looking for a meal and a way out of ghost chasing.

Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare is not only classic Scooby-Doo; it is also simply good. Very well done with quality animation (especially the beginning and end credits), it is honestly a must-see for fans of Scooby and the gang.

8 of 10
A

The Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare DVD has two extras. First, in “Scooby-Doo! Spooky Camp Stories, an actor telling campfire stories. The second extra is “Beware the Beast From Below,” the pilot episode of the new series, “Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.” The gang takes on a slime mutant that lives in the caves below Crystal Cove, the hometown of the Mystery Inc. gang. They also encounter their new nemesis, “Mr. E.”

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