This is the first film in the series where theatrical Shaggy, Matthew Lillard, does the voice of Shaggy.
Velma receives a call to check on her sister, Madelyn, who's attending school at the Whirlen Merlin Magic Academy. Unfortunately, there are rumors of a Gryphon terrorizing students, and Madelyn remains one of the only students left. When Mystery Inc. arrives, the school requests their help to solve the mystery of the gryphon attacks. Could it be Calvin Curdles, a wealthy businessman who wants the castle for himself? Or maybe Amos, the creepy groundskeeper for the castle? And what about Alma, the maid? And what's with the way Madelyn looks at Shaggy? And is Fred falling for Whirlen's former stage assistant, Crystal?
Tropes:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The Mystery Machine and most other vehicles are rendered out using CGI.
- Aloof Big Brother: Age-inverted, since Whirlin is actually the younger of the pair. He may not mean to do so, but he does hog the spotlight and take his big brother for granted.
- Art Shift: Anyone can tell that the animation has changed from the previous film, Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword, complete with a change in animation studio from Dong Woo Animation to Digital eMation.
- Badass Bystander: In the climax, Amos and Whirlin help face the griffin with a pitchfork and a torch. Granted Amos knew that the griffin was fake already, but it still could have been dangerous anyway from what he knew.
- Batman Cold Open: The title sequence concludes with Mystery Incorporated wrapping up a current case in a chemical company.
- Big Shadow, Little Creature: The ominous griffin shadow turns out to be that of Wherlin's performing lion with some show birds sitting on his back.
- Brick Joke: Daphne and Velma are both squicked when they see an old photo of Curdles and Ms. Rumblebuns kissing. Near the ending, the pair are kissing again and everyone who sees it are all squicked.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Curdles' idea of promising new ice cream flavors includes liver, onion, broccoli, and buttered brussels sprouts.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Curdles has a spy informing him about any struggles suffered by the owner of the castle he wants to buy to turn into a restaurant. Subverted when it turns out his real reason to want the castle has nothing to do with business.
- Daddy's Girl: One of the magic academy students, based on a phone call to her father when the gryphon attacks.
- Darker and Edgier: Is noticeably creepier, alongside an Art Shift, in comparison to the What's New-era films.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the prologue, two friends are out in the forest trying to birdwatch, the man having invited a woman friend of his. She flirts with him, asking if birdwatching is really the only thing he came to look at, as the view focuses on her as she walks seductively in his direction. She asks if he brought her here to go on a movie date (though one thing can still come to another after watching a movie, even after getting away from the gryphon...).
- Drives Like Crazy: Fred's new GPS system seems to be sentient enough to crack jokes and laugh at his expense, while intentionally sending the gang on a scenic route and giving turn directions at the last second solely to invoke this. Somehow Fred nails every single turn no matter how ridiculous or dangerous, implying he's used to driving like a madman.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Marlon has a lot of this, like when the gang is gushing about how Merlin made delicious food appear on their plates and he points out that he's the one who cooked it.
- Exact Words: One student tells Alma that some of the students would like permission to go to their rooms early after a creepy incident. When she gives it, all of the students go taking off for their rooms faster than she can turn her head.
- Fanservice:
- Daphne in her ballet costume gets several Male Gaze.
- During Madelyn's magic show in the finale, she essentially dresses like Zatanna, complete with stockings and heels.
- The short shorts and Daisy Duke-style knotted shirt worn by Treena the birdwatcher in the teaser, complete with a Male Gaze moment and some suggestive dialogue.
- The Lovely Assistant Crystal.
- Flanderization: Daphne's clumsiness. It gets to be worse than Shaggy's, in fact.
- Foreign Queasine: Vegetable and other... unusual... flavors of ice cream are a thing in Japan and other parts of Asia.
- Glove Snap: Velma does this before unmasking the Chemical Creep.
- Hartman Hips: Treena from the teaser.
- Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Marlon to his brother, designing the tricks and doing a lot of the work at the academy.
- Hypocritical Humor: Velma thinks of Madelyn as a nerd, and talks about why that is while doing the things Madelyn is talking about.
- I Just Want to Be Special: Curdles worked hard to become a wealthy ice cream businessman, so Alma would fall for him. But she loves him anyway.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: Early in the film, Shaggy panics over having to deal with a gryphon before asking what a gryphon is.
- Jump Scare: When the banshee screams for the first time, transforming from a beautiful woman to a hideous monster.
- Kavorka Man: Shaggy, for whom Madelyn has the hots.
- The birdwatcher Sherman from the teaser counts as well. He looks like the archetypal nerd, and well, he's a birdwatcher, and yet he has a very attractive girlfriend.
- The Klutz: One could say this about Daphne more than any other adaptation. It's even mentioned by her as motivation for practising ballet.
- Lampshade Hanging: When Velma's mom phones her just after the Starter Villain is unmasked and as Velma is describing the motive, she tells mom that she's calling during the exposition and then asks Fred to continue the wrap-up for her.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Shaggy dressed up in armor and grabs a lot of magical flash bombs during the efforts to rescue Madelyn.
- Lovable Coward: In addition to Shaggy and Scooby, there's the various students at the academy who act scared of their own shadows but do stay until their parents drag them home after finding out about the monster.
- Luck-Based Search Technique: Used twice. First when Daphne stumbles on a secret passageway inside the castle, and secondly when Scooby accidentally figures out where the secret passageway to O’Flannery’s grave is. Never used by Shaggy.
- Male Gaze:
- At the beginning, the camera focused more on Treena's butt than the monster that attacks her and Sherman.
- When Velma finds Daphne practicing ballet, the camera focuses on Daphne's rear several times.
- Meaningful Name: Whirlen and Marlon Merlin, who are part of running the Magic Academy, are obviously named after Merlin (a magical wizard) from the famous King Arthur story.
- The Mole:
- The "Chemical Creep" (the monster from the beginning segment) turns out to be a corporate spy for another unidentified company, using her monster disguise to scare others away and give her the opportunity to rob the Karloff Chemical Company of its secret formulas.
- Amos the gardener is revealed early on to be a spy for Calvin, reporting the school's troubles to him so he'll know when Whirlen is most ready to sell.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Marlon Whirlen, after confessing that he tried to get his brother to sell the castle out of jealousy for not getting any attention. He realized his mistake when he realized he let their students down.
- Mythology Gag:
- During the opening credits, the gang stops running around and starts dancing, with the Chemical Creep joining in before they stop and go back to being chased by it. This same thing happened regularly in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.
- The gang looking up from a book when the creepy caretaker enters the library is staged exactly like a shot from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'s opening credits. It's done very abruptly, mimicking the choppy animation of the classic episodes. Also, Scooby licking a dessert covering his face, from the same.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The girl who takes a picture of the gryphon, proving its existence, causes the parent of every student but Madelyn to yank their kids out of the school.
- Our Banshees Are Louder: Scooby and the gang face a number of threats, including a banshee that was imported to America because the castle it had been associated with in Ireland had been brought, brick by brick, to the U.S. In the Scooby-Doo tradition, it turned out to be a fake.
- Perpetual Frowner: Alma mostly, due to being unhappy with the castle's occupants.
- Running Gag: Curdles hates it when Velma ruins his plan to buy the castle.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- When they encounter the gryphon, Sherman grabs Treena to take her to that movie after all.
- Whirlin's students, after a few griffin attacks, although it was somewhat of their parents choice instead.
- Self-Made Man: Curdles' background. He used to struggle with an ice cream cart and now, thanks to his hard work, owns a big ice cream business.
- Shipper on Deck: Scooby seems to be this for Shaggy/Madelyn.
- Shout-Out:
- The Batman Cold Open takes place at the "Karloff Chemical Company".
- When the Mystery Machine jumps across a gorge, there's the car-jump sound effect from Speed Racer.
- When Shaggy confronts the griffon on a bridge (while holding a staff), he says "Like, you shall not pass, man," and strikes the bridge with the butt of the staff for emphasis.
- During the final clash with the griffin, Shaggy does this on purpose when he points the staff at it and says "I totally command you. By the powers of Houdini, the Wizard of Oz... and, um, the English kid with the glasses... to put us down."
- Sibling Yin-Yang: Whirlen Merlin is a showy person who acts as the face of his magic show, while Marlon Merlin is more quiet and works behind the scenes.
- Small Role, Big Impact: The girl who takes a picture of the gryphon and causes the school to nearly be abandoned has no name and only one line.
- The Stinger: At the very end, after the credits, it cuts to a scene of the Mystery Machine with the GPS telling the audience that the movie's over and it's time for them to go. Also, he needs some oil.
- Unable to Support a Wife: Calvin fell in love with Ms. Rumblebuns while a simple ice cream peddler and felt unworthy of her, striving to become rich and successful for her sake.
- Unwitting Pawn: Marlon turns out to be this to Calvin Curdles, who is aware of his activities as the griffin due to Amos's spying and allowing it to further his plans to buy the castle.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Scooby sternly rebukes Shaggy for wanting to wait until the others get back to help Madelyn in one scene.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Shaggy tries this on the Griffin. Needless to say, it doesn't work.
