Scooby-Doo! and the Gourmet Ghost is the 28th entry in the Scooby-Doo direct-to-DVD movie lineup. The movie is as follows:
"The film follows the gang as they travel to Newport Cove for the opening of a special resort by Fred's uncle, world famous chef Bobby Flay, who plans to put on a special program to promote it. It's there that they run into a villain known as The Red Ghost, a colonial ghost believed to be involved in Chef Edward DuFlay's disappearance. The specter threatens to shut down the resort. Now the gang has to work with Bobby Flay and Giada De Laurentiis to figure out what's going on."
The movie made its debut at Comic Con on July 22, 2018 before its release date on August 28 (Digital) and September 11 (DVD).
The movie contains examples of:
- Action Girl: Apparently, Giada took up martial arts lessons (among other pursuits) during her cooking career.
- Advertised Extra: Bobby and Giada are the only celebrity chefs with any relevance to the plot. Any other chef that isn't created specifically for the movie is mainly there for humor.
- All for Nothing: Said word for word by Henry Metcalf after his unmasking as the Red Ghost/Bradley Brass when the Gang reveals that his attempted cover-up of Edward DuFlay being a British spy was all for naught as DuFlay was a double agent for George Washington that fed the British false information before being found out. Though the Gang does point out that Metcalf's actions acted as pretty good publicity for the resort.
- Anti-Villain: Henry Metcalf can count this as this. He apparently found information that showed that Chef Edward DuFlay, the famous chef from colonial times, was actually in support of British soldiers and tried to cover it up by scaring everyone out of the resort to preserve its good name. Unfortunately, little did he know that Edward was giving the British false information and was actually a patriot all along.
- Ax-Crazy: Sue the sous-chef threatens anyone who makes the obvious joke about her name and throws a knife at Shaggy and Scooby for goofing around too much and eating the food they're supposed to cook.
- The Cameo: One of the invited guests is Ellen Yin from The Batman (or at least looks like her).note
- Cassandra Truth: Fred, Daphne and Velma don't believe Shaggy and Scooby's story that Giada DeLaurentis asked them to give a speech about sandwich building architecture. Then the scene cuts to Giada standing in front of a room of grouchy students saying, "The talking dog said they'd be here".
- Cast as a Mask: As per usual with the Scooby-Doo franchise, the monster and the actual criminal wearing the disguise have separate voice actors, but we have a twist this time. Jim Cummings voices the Red Ghost while Jason Spisak voices his human identity, Bradley Blass. Even then, it turns out that Bobby is really just a disguise for Henry Metcalf, who's voiced by David Kaye.
- Casting Gag:
- Grey Griffin voicing Rocky is another instance where she voices a friendly, mechanical character.
- We have a chef named Skip Taylor who's rather comical and worrisome, he's voiced by Dana Snyder. This isn't the only food-related project he's been on where he voices a character like that.
- Cats Are Mean: Averted with Nacho and Bella, both of whom are civil towards Scooby. Nacho shares his midnight snack with Shaggy and Scooby and happily sits on Scooby's back while everyone splits up in search of clues.
- Chekhov's Gun: Giada pokes fun at Bobby Flay always carrying tongs and he retorts that Giada always carries fennel. But both end up being useful in the showdown later with the Red Ghost.
- Fictional Fan, Real Celebrity: Guest-stars Bobby Flay and Giada DeLaurentis, whom the gang (especially Shaggy and Scooby) admire. Giada is in fact a fan of Shaggy and Scooby's as well, as she asked them to give a speech about sandwich building architecture. In addition, Bobby happens to be Fred Jones's uncle in this story, just to make the fictional/real person distinction weirder.
- Head Pet: A newswoman compliments Giada on her hat, which then uncurls, revealing that it's her cat, Bella.
- I Take Offense to That Last One: Skip Taylor, when Shaggy revealed that they added him among the list of suspects.
- Ink-Suit Actor: Bobby Flay and Giada DeLaurentiis, of course.
- Invisible Writing: This was how Edward DuFlay passed along false information to the British at George Washington's orders through the writing on the parchment he wrapped the leftover food in. This is discovered when Bobby accidentally uses a parchment as a baking sheet for cookiees and also leads to Velma's "Eureka!" Moment.
- Jerkass: Jeremiah Noseworthy, especially with his insistence that Chef DuFlay was a traitor. Though it may have changed when it's revealed he wasn't after all.
- Lampshade Hanging: Daphne finally asks Velma if she's considered laser eye surgery so she wouldn't need to worry about her glasses falling off. Velma sadly reveals she's not a candidate.
- Mistaken for Betrayal: When Velma originally finds the secret writing on Chef DuFlay's parchment, she discovers colonial army plans, leading her to believe he was a traitor. However, on further analysis, she notes that the plans don't match up with the ones in the history books. DuFlay was "feeding" the British false information.
- Mondegreen Gag: Shaggy asks what Chef DuFlay was yelling the night he disappeared if the Red Ghost was a hoax. Velma theorizes that he was actually yelling "redcoats", a term for British soldiers.
- Mythology Gag: During one of the hallway scenes the gang pass a painting of Moonscar Mansion from Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.
- Pronouncing My Name for You: Jeremiah Noseworthy constantly reminds us that his last name is pronounced No-Say-Worthy. Daphne ends up just trying his first name, which he then tells her is pronounced Jer-eh-Me-ah.
- Sheep in Sheep's Clothing: Chef Edward DuFlay was believed to be secretly working for the British, but he purposely gave them false information, proving he's an American through and through. Unfortunately, the British found out and presumably killed him.
- Truce Zone: The Newport Cove resort when Chef Edward DuFlay was running it. Encouraging both the Americans and the British to come eat. However, this led to accusations, especially by the Noseworthy family, that he's secretly working for the British.
- Tangled Family Tree: Bobby Flay is revealed as Fred's uncle, and both are descended from Chef Edward DuFlay.
- Verbal Tic: The Red Ghost constantly makes a shushing sound. Someone suggests it's the ghost of a librarian, but it's actually a drone, the engine of which makes a "shhh" sound.
