Scooby-Doo! Shaggy's Showdown

In this latest addition to the contemporary animated film series, talking Great Dane Scooby-Doo and friends arrive at Shaggy's cousin Tawny's dude ranch after she finds him on a genealogy website. The Crazy Q Ranch in Sorghum City is a pretty cool place, except for the mysterious scary ghost Dapper Jake (a historical robber who did awful things such as “returned his library books late”), who terrorizes the guests with a morphing skull face and fiery green flames emanating from his Yosemite Sam-style guns. The twist here is that Scooby's BFF Shaggy happens to be a descendant of the notorious criminal (and looks like a doppelganger), which freaks out the other visitors to the resort, including two TV producers, prank-playing adult sisters, and a family whose young son is the famous musician Buddy G (think a country-style Justin Bieber), who is preparing to play for an upcoming rodeo. Featuring customary Mystery Inc. gags—Scooby and Shaggy annihilating the buffet and being scaredy-cats, Velma nerding it up with chemistry and historical data, etc.—but with cowboy themes (Scooby does tricks on a horse and lassos a criminal at one point), this solid entry in the series also adds plenty of tongue-in-cheek nuance for adults. Bonus features include additional episodes. Recommended. Aud: P. (J. Williams-Wood)