Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood

Movie review by Renee Longstreet, Common Sense Media
Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood Poster Image

Common Sense says

age 6+

Two franchises merge; fewer scares, more tie-ins.

NR 2016 75 minutes
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Parents say

age 5+

Based on 2 reviews

Kids say

age 5+

Based on 4 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Lego Scooby-Doo! Haunted Hollywood is the first DVD teaming the popular building toy with the classic Hanna-Barbera characters. Some of the familiar characters are voiced by regular Scooby-Doo voice actors, while others are new to this Lego release, but all retain the bright, upbeat qualities of the originals. It's set in an old film studio famous for its monster movies, with some suspense and mild action. The villains and monsters are less scary than the usual series evildoers given the constraints of Lego building-brick construction. Still there are zombies, mummies, and even a glowing headless horseman to threaten the heroes and give them a mystery to solve. Following the 2015 release of Lego Minifigure Scooby-Doo play sets, it's a cross-promotion effort expected to enhance sales. OK for all but the youngest kids who are not yet comfortable with cartoon violence.

Community Reviews

Tiffany L.
Tiffany L. Adult
October 23, 2022
age 5+

An ok Lego film without a lot of violence

Neither great nor horrible. It's hard to find Lego movies without a lot of violence. This one has some scary scenes but it's not the non-stop action you see in other Lego films. I take this as a plus. Because it was a bit long for our 5 yo we split it up into two parts which also made it not as scary for him. Great fun Halloween time film if your kid is really into legos and you don't want too much violence. We let our 2yo sit in on the first 20minutes but finished the movie when they were napping.
nduns
nduns Adult
June 18, 2016
age 4+

One of the weaker lego films

Usually, even at their worst, the lego movies are still usually entertaining, what with their self-aware humor and how they actually use the fact that the characters are made of lego for some very clever visual gags. Such is not the case here as while the film starts up with a few decent gags and forth wall jokes, the majority of it just feels like a typical Scooby Doo film, like there's no real reason to have the characters made of lego. Sometimes they take advantage of it, like a ton of instances involving characters' hair falling off (Which is only funny the first couple of times, by the way) and the beginning bit where the culprit's real face was on the other side of her head, but that's pretty much it. (Well, okay, there is a scene where Velma accidentally pries someone's head off. That got a chuckle out of me) Otherwise, they didn't take enough advantage of this. Shaggy's enjoyable as he normally is in these films and Velma gets some good lines too. Fred was pretty funny at first but then slowly deteriorated as the film progressed and he became a film director. After that, the jokes involving him became more worth of an eye-roll. On the whole, this had no reason to be a lego film and even as a Scooby Doo movie, there's nothing special about it. It's just a lengthened episode of the show.

This title has:

Great messages
Great role models
Too much consumerism
See all 2 parent reviews

What's the Story?

The gang is excited when Shaggy and Scooby win a hamburger-eating contest in LEGO SCOOBY-DOO! HAUNTED HOLLYWOOD. First prize is an all-expenses paid trip to Hollywood, where they'll tour Brickton Studios, famous for some of filmdom's greatest classic monster movies. What awaits them, however, is a studio that has fallen on hard times; Chet Brickton, its movie mogul owner, is being forced to sell. The studio appears to be haunted by the monster creations of a deceased movie star, and Brickton's effort to release romantic comedies is going nowhere. Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), Velma (Kate Micucci), Daphne (Grey Griffin), Fred, and Scooby (Frank Welker) are quickly caught up in the "creative process" -- Fred is even slated to direct! Daphne, totally starstruck, will play a role! Unfortunately, the hauntings accelerate, and the date upon which Brickton will sign away his business to an eager developer is fast approaching. The Mystery, Inc. team finds itself with an unexpected mystery to solve, even while they're on vacation. Can they get to the bottom of the supernatural chaos in Hollywood in time to save Chet Brickton's studio?

Is It Any Good?

It must be difficult to retain the camaraderie and silly tone of the Scooby-Doo clan using hard-edged Lego bricks, and these filmmakers have not quite mastered it. The story, generic and predictable though it is, works well enough. But there's something off about this effort, particularly the creation of the "monsters." Ghosts and otherworldly beings in the franchise cartoons have a larger-than-life, shadowy, and fluid feel to them; these little boxy monsters are simply small molded toys. And, of course, expressiveness and emotions are hard to draw on plastic, so the well-loved characters lose something in the translation. Still, fans (and their families who don't mind a continuing onslaught of new toys and DVDs to buy in ever-changing incarnations) may enjoy the usual antics of Scooby and company, even in this latest "acrylonitrile butadiene styrene" form. Not very scary, so OK for most kids.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about how Lego has teamed up with a number of classic toys and superheroes to make movies and new building sets. Franchises seem to get bigger and bigger. How much is too much? Why?

  • How does this movie market to kids?

  • It's fun to watch movies about movie-making, especially about monsters. With which classic legends of the past are you familiar (Dracula, Frankenstein, and so on)? Why do they still engage audiences generation after generation? Can you create (draw and/or write about) such a creature? How would you make it scary?

  • Think about the Lego-bricks format versus the usual Scooby-Doo cartoons. Did the new structure change characters' attitudes? Their appeal? Their individual traits? If you have a preference for one or the other, what is it you like or dislike?

Movie Details

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