I wasn't so keen on watching this Scooby adventure as it has the shortest running time of all of them so far and I figured that it couldn't possibly have a substantial mystery worth taking an interest in.

And while that's true for the most part, they do make a huge effort to keep the viewer guessing by throwing in lots of distractions, more so than any other Scooby adventure. And despite it's brief running time it does manage pack in a fair amount of characters and guest voices, so in a sense they give more AND less.

The Mystery Inc. gang head off on a tropical cruise for Fred's birthday but things turn sinister when they pick-up a drifter floating in the water. No one believes his tale of ghost pirates (they're on a "mystery cruise" and are becoming quite jaded to the novelty), but only when said pirates show up do they gradually accept that it's real.

There's a few more in-jokes than normal in this one too. And while I usually hate in-jokes it's forgivable, and perhaps welcome, in a Scooby-Doo mystery. I am aware that the infamous Bermuda Triangle was the focus of a lower-wattage mystery in the third season of Scooby-Doo back in the early 70s, but this one is considerably better.

It looses points for being short, but it's still a worthy mystery.

If you don't like the What's New Scooby-Doo? series, you probably won't like this much. I'm pleased to say I love the series, and this film was one of the best I've seen.

It's Fred's birthday, and his parents have invited him and the rest of Mystery Inc. along on a 'Mystery' cruise, but are suspicious travellers joining them? As the title suggests, pirates are not far behind - and they're of the ghostly variety.

The recent Scooby-Doo films (from 2000 onwards) combine quality animation and great voice acting. What I've come to expect from Scooby-Doo films is the storyline involving real ghosts or magic of some sort, like 'Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King'. What on earth was that film all about? Pardon me for being a party pooper, but isn't that sort of completely the opposite of what Scooby-Doo is all about? Scooby-Doo is about finding a logical explanation; finding clues and using intuition. It's like a watered down version of Miss Marple; small mysteries that the audience can try and solve before the gang do. The mystery in this film, and one of the main reasons why I liked it so much, has a logical explanation. It's just like old times with the gang - like a real episode.

This film is for all ages too. The colourful animation and slapstick should appeal to younger viewers - though they usually miss most of the dialogue. If you're older, you'll be able to appreciate it - because it sure needs appreciating. It involves much more Scooby than most of the other films, but each member of Mystery Inc is represented equally and all are hilarious - I mean, isn't Daphne usually the picky, whiny one? One of the funniest scenes is down to her. And Fred is beautifully protective of his 'Fred-ness'; many moments are fan based jokes, which I must say I felt very special to be able to understand.

I know this is different from the old Scooby-Doo series, but I can't help thinking that this is much, much funnier and so much better put together; the animation is so smooth. The facial expressions are, well, expressive, and the gang are so much more lovable this way; they're silly and human (even Scooby, if you think about it) and it's a breath of fresh air to watch a mystery that seems to make some kind of sense (another hint that this isn't just for kids - they never understand the story line anyway).

Again, let me say that if you don't like the new Scooby-Doo, then you probably won't want to try this. But if you think that Mystery Inc. are supposed to be funny, endearing and above all, logical, you may as well give it a go. So, What's New Scooby-Doo? A pretty good straight to DVD film, that's what.

I really enjoyed Scooby Doo: Pirates Ahoy! and I honestly think it is one of the better movies in the Scooby Doo franchise. Like any film with pirates, it was fun, colourful and hugely enjoyable, and my only complaints are that it is too short, and I wasn't hugely keen on Frank Welker's Scooby voice, I much prefer Don Messick. Still, the animation is very colourful, and the music is great. I loved the plot, about the gang cruising in the Bermuda Triangle, and falling foul of ghost pirates. The voice acting was fantastic, Casey Kasem is just a hoot as Shaggy, and Dan Castallenetta was excellent as Magician Mysterio. Ron Perlman was not only charming as Biff Wellington, but deliciously sinister as the villainous pirate captain, and his laugh was quite scary- and I thought Tim Curry's Pennywise's laugh was scary. All in all, despite a couple of minor flaws, an unexpected delight for Scooby Doo fans, a similar thing I said about last year's Goblin King, and I do recommend it. 8/10 Bethany Cox