Scooby-Doo!: Stage Fright

My daughter (7, soon to turn 8) loved this movie. The phantom is very spooky. There are a total of 4 phantoms. The gang keeps solving the mystery over and over. The mask that the phantoms wear are not the plain white mask that the true Phantom of the Opera wears, but a scary green skull mask that most children under six would be terrified by. I did not like the whole "disfigurements leads to madness" slant, nor that one phantom ends up changing his whole persona once he realizes he has no disfigurement. (Hello??? What is it teaching kids. As long as you look okay, you'll BE okay?) However, it does make for a good discussion with your children after the movie, how appearance and character are two separate things.) The romance was fine, though seeing Daphne is a skimpy little nightie that increased her bust size had my eyebrows lifting. So, in order to represent feelings of love a girl has to wear a push up bra and a piece of lingerie that barely covers her butt? Uh? (Again, it is a vehicle for discussion, an opportunity to discuss double standards, media distortion) Then, you've got a little girl singing a song about "her man." At least the gang comments that the song is not appropriate for a child to sing (the irony that the song is included in a cartoon movie for young children is apparently either lost on the movie's producers or they think, meh, who cares?) One character says, "I'm hot." Now, the rest of the movie is the typical Scooby-Doo and you can enjoy laughing at Shaggy and his dog. Lots of funny chase scenes, typical slapstick (thumbs up here. ) The romance was kept uber-sweet, a whole crush scenario which would appeal to 8 and over girls. ("I like him!" ) Also, this is a good introduction to the Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux and may spark some interest in other books or movies about opera and the phantom.

I adore this movie, I bought it the day it was released and watched it that day and fell in love with this movie. It is based on the Phantom of the Opera, obviously, they have a phantom in an old opera theatre, but you don't need to be familiar with the Phantom of the Opera to understand it's haunted by who they call the Phantom. However they are there because Daphne and Fred are at a talent contest, competing to win X amount of money, when this phantom keeps popping up and scaring away the talent, so of course the Scooby Gang are on the case. This movie has to have one of the best endings a Scooby-Doo movie could have and it is super hard to pinpoint who the Phantom actually is, they did a good job with creating the storyline. It may be a little confusing for younger viewers, but I really do not think that will be much of an issue as it does wrap itself up at the end and they do explain it vocally through the movie. I recommend it, I don't think the Phantom is frightening enough to give anyone nightmares, especially since at the end, it is a person beneath the mask.