The kids ran out of mysteries. What seemed obvious the minute they started making Scooby-Doo movies became a major theme for the first half of this one; the Scooby crew caught the monster (who turned out to be a guy in a monster suit!) five minutes in and the screenplay looked around and said, “What do we do now? How about some character development?” Sure, why not change it up a little, right? I mean, the Scooby-Doo quintet has been catching a bad-guy-in-a-monster-suit for literally fifty years now. Maybe it’s time to explore the characters a little, right?
It is standard at this time of year to make holiday-themed television. The reasons are simple: it’s fun, it’s easy to write, and the audience is already attuned to the theme. Of course, outside of The Simpsons “Tree House of Horror” episodes, watching Halloween stuff in, say, June, can be painful. And, hence, the script in any given show is generally geared towards a situational aberration, but the characters remain the same.
Here, we have the opposite. When the gang runs out of mysteries, the film decides to show us a little more about who these people really are … so when the mystery shows up again, well, we have a little more than usual to talk about, don’t we? Or … maybe not.
What am I talking about? With varied acknowledgment, Velma (voice of Kate Micucci) is now officially LGBTQ. I didn’t see that one coming. Not in a kids show. Not in something that’s been around since the 1960s. Velma is clearly gaga over villainess Coco Diablo (Myrna Velasco). As the kids catch Coco early on, you might wish to change that Chanel, but that would be a mistake as you’d miss Velma falling over herself in an effort to get noticed by the diabolic femme fatale. Coco isn’t your standard “I would have gotten away with it if not for these meddling kids” villain; she’s the costumer. She’s the one who outfits all the “scary” ghosts Scooby and Shaggy hide from.
Coco gets sent to Coolsville State Prison (right next to Coolsville Elementary, snicker) and Fred (Frank Welker) immediately undergoes an identity crisis. You see, the gang has put away all the bad guys and even caught their outfitter. I believe we refer to this as the dog catching the car. Fred and the gang don’t have a calling without their nemeses. Meanwhile, Daphne (Grey DeLisle) is feeling extra useless; she had already been nursing an inferiority complex; their lack-of-work exacerbated matters.
Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby remain the same, of course.
Well, well, well, check out dimension #2 from 60% of Mystery Machine occupants. Say, Ms. 
Dinkley, as long as you’re into women, have you thought about getting into anime?
Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! Made me laugh out loud more often than I thought I would. It was clear from early on the writers were going for something a little different with this iteration. Unfortunately, modern animation has also led me to different expectations. If you can put a shitty movie like Scoob! In hi-def 3D, what’s the deal with 1960s-looking animation on a 2022 production? And while there were some good comic moments and I like that we explored the characters a little, this is still just another episode of Scooby-Doo. A long one. There was no great reason this had to be movie length. You think your 7-year-old into Scooby-Doo is gonna light up at Velma making goo-goo eyes at Coco Diablo? If that’s the case, Scooby-Doo is probably not going to be their favorite form of entertainment for long.
Velma always seemed set in her ways
Yet it turns out her affection displays
Could be seen as woke peddling
In a villain’s business meddling
Or is that just what the kids are calling it these days?
Rated G, 72 Minutes
Director: Audie Harrison
Writer: Audie Harrison, Laura Pollak, Daniel McLellan
Genre: Is this still on?
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The throng of LGBTQ Scooby fans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Anybody who would go to war over a cartoon; I’m looking at you, MAGA
