Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
For anyone who remembers how much fun the campy KISS special from the 1970s titled KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park was, I’ve got some good news for you that you’ll want to shout out loud. KISS is back in animated form, and this time, they’ve teamed up with those meddling kids from the Mystery Inc. gang on Scooby-Doo! Scooby-Doo! And KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery is now available on Blu-ray and DVD from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, which graciously provided an early review copy.
This isn’t the first time KISS and Scooby-Doo have shared the screen, as the band also appeared on a 2003 Halloween episode of What’s New, Scooby-Doo? However, this marks an all-new chapter for both franchises with a full-length animated feature. You wanted the best? Well, you got the best animated sleuths around in this vibrant crossover featuring six classic KISS songs, including “Shout It Out Loud,” “Rock & Roll All Nite,” “Love Gun,” “I Was Made for Loving You,” “Detroit Rock City” and “Modern Day Delilah,” as well as a special new song recorded by the band just for the film. (Yes, that’s KISS doubling as Fred’s favorite group, The Ascot Five, singing “Don’t Touch My Ascot” over the end credits.)
The plot is a very familiar one – KISS finds themselves once again in an amusement park with a mystery that needs solving and apparently they like solving mysteries in their spare time. Hey, every band needs a hobby, right? This time around, the amusement park in question is KISS World, a park featuring wild décor and thrilling rides designed by the members of the band. From The Demon’s Brimstone BBQ (“The hottest ride in the park!”) and The Space Man’s psychedelic Electric Alley to The Catman’s Whirly Wildcats and The Starchild’s giant Ferris wheel, the rides look like something any member of the dedicated KISS Army would be enthusiastic to ride. I especially enjoyed the Rockin’ Flume ride, a boat ride that goes directly into Gene Simmon’s mouth via his well-endowed tongue featuring spotlights, instruments, fire, larger-than-life KISS members and stars plastered all over the ceilings. For a brief moment in time, it was like it was 1988 all over again and I was visiting King’s Island Amusement Park for the first time as a 6-year-old obsessed with their Smurfs boat ride, which featured a giant Gargamel lurching nefariously over the boat. Ah, to be young again. I’m honestly surprised we don’t have a KISS World theme park yet – I feel like it would be enormously popular and they’re not exactly shy about promotional items featuring their likenesses!
The park’s wickedest ride, The Destroyer, is featured at the beginning of the film when two amusement park workers are scared senseless by an evil entity known as the Crimson Witch. It’s up to KISS and Mystery Inc. to solve the mystery before the Crimson Witch scares away all the spectators for KISS’ huge sold-out Halloween concert at the park. However, they soon discover that the Crimson Witch has come to the park hell-bent on something far more sinister than just ruining a rock concert – she wants to summon The Destroyer, an evil being from the alternate dimension of Kissteria, who bears a certain resemblance to Marvel’s Galactus, to destroy and swallow the Earth. Only the combined brainpower of Mystery Inc. and the power of KISS’ rock ‘n’ roll chords (along with the Rock of Kissteria) can prevent this from happening! One might say their rock ‘n’ roll is their gift to mankind and the world.
What I love most about this film is how badass KISS still manages to look and sound after all these years. They’re like rock star super hero demi-gods, with The Demon being able to breathe fire, The Catman having powerful claws, The Space Man being able to throw lightning bolts and The Starchild being able to shoot laser beams out of his all-seeing eye. The plot is so campy and over-the-top that they end up in an alternate dimension known as Kissteria and in outer space, but you won’t even care as you rock out to all the classic songs. I thought the animation was awesome, and I loved seeing the members of KISS fly through the cosmos, glowing like comic book heroes and belting out their iconic songs in what can probably best be described as animated music videos. And where else can you see Paul Stanley share a kiss with Daphne or Gene Simmons lick Scooby-Doo with his infamous tongue? The entire gang (minus Fred) also appears in KISS make-up while cruising along in The Mystery Machine, which was a treat.
The other amusing thing is the band’s promotional manager, who pops up from time to time trying to shill various KISS merchandise to the Mystery Inc. gang, ranging from a talking Gene Simmons toilet to KISS batteries, flashlights, smelling salts and even KISS Kakes, now with Space Man Sprinkles! He always cautions the band every time they use a confetti bomb to make a showy entrance or exit, saying those confetti bombs aren’t getting any cheaper. It’s hilarious to anyone who’s been to see the band live (myself included – I saw ‘em on their Psycho Circus 3D Tour when I was a teenager). And it wouldn’t be Scooby-Doo if there weren’t also some valuable lessons for your kids: the secret to breathing fire is to swallow your fears, according to Gene. Teamwork is the only way the group could defeat the Crimson Witch – Paul Stanley tries to defeat her on his own, but learns the hard way that he has to have help.
Scooby-Doo! And KISS: Rock and Roll Mystery features the voice talents of KISS (Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer), as well as Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes, Darius Rucker, Garry Marshall, Penny Marshall, Jennifer Carpenter and Pauley Perrette. Bonus features include two additional Scooby-Doo cartoons, a KISS Cut Ups Blooper Reel and “Are You a Scooby or a Shaggy?” – a fun look at the guest stars discussing if they tend to take after Scooby-Doo or Shaggy more in real life. Most of KISS sided with Scooby, except Eric Singer, who said Scrappy-Doo, while Darius Rucker sided with Shaggy. Jason Mewes said he was like Scooby, but his pal Kevin Smith begged to differ, saying that Jason was like the embodiment of Shaggy and that he’s spent his entire life trying to emulate his laid-back lifestyle.
It’s more than obvious that someone on the Scooby-Doo staff really adored KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park as a child and decided to pay homage to it with this fun-filled film. God gave rock ‘n’ roll to you, but Warner Bros. and Scooby-Doo have given you the chance to relive the magic of a KISS concert – with pyrotechnics and confetti – from the safety of your own home so your kids can enjoy it too. I believe this is destined to become another cult classic, and it seems as if this time it has KISS’ stamp of approval. They apparently don’t mind being campy, animated versions of themselves these days.
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