Scooby-Doo! Return to Zombie Island is an American animateddirect-to-videosupernaturalcomedy mystery film produced by Warner Bros. Animation and distributed by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. It is the thirty-third entry in the direct-to-video series of Scooby-Doo films and a direct sequel to the 1998 direct-to-video animated film Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, the first film in the Scooby-Doo direct-to-video franchise. The film premiered at the San Diego Comic-Con on July 21, 2019, followed by a digital release on September 3, 2019, and a DVD release on October 1, 2019.
Plot
A few months have passed since the events from the last film, and Fred is still depressed about selling the Mystery Machine. A TV show hosted by Elvira announces that Shaggy has won a trip to a tropical paradise on an island and is allowed to bring the gang along. Due to their previous experiences and the sheriff forcing the gang to retire from mystery-solving following the incident with Farmer Morgan, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo make the gang promise that they will not solve any more mysteries and will actually relax on this vacation. As the gang sail toward the island, they realize the surroundings are more swamp-like than tropical. The captain says that zombies inhabit the island, which reminds them of the last time, years ago, when they visited an island with zombies on it. Two people greet them off the boat but warn them to get out. A mysterious dark cat creature slashes one of the palm trees, which nearly crushes the car they are taking to the hotel. The gang continuously note strange things but due to their promise, refuse to look too much into it, determined to relax. However, the hotel is called "Moonstar Island Resort", eerily similar to "Moonscar Island" with the zombies, and the hotel itself looks exactly like the plantation house they had stayed in. They meet the hotel manager, "Alan Smithee", and other employees who look similar to the people they met on Moonscar Island. Scooby and Shaggy later get attacked by zombies and hide in a cupboard in the kitchen. In the cupboard, they accidentally press a button, causing them to fall into a cave below the house. The cave looks similar to the one from Moonscar Island, and has statues of the cat creatures. That night, zombies begin attacking the hotel. Scooby and Shaggy finally give the rest of the mystery-starved gang permission to solve mysteries again. After capturing the zombies, revealed to be the other hotel workers, Velma states the island is Moonscar Island and they have been lured there to film a movie. Alan is actually a famous film director, and the hotel employees are actors. Alan had lured the gang back with the competition Shaggy won in order to recreate a film similar to the gang's real zombie adventure. The gang agrees to continue making the film for fun. They also discover an upgraded monster truck version of the Mystery Machine, driven by Fred's stunt double. Alan reveals he has Simone's pendant, which he found on the island. Several of the island's cats and three cat creatures attack the gang. They try to escape by ferry but Alan burns it in a crazed moment, stating they must finish the movie first. They get into the Mystery Machine and Fred drives away from the creatures, even jumping over a river. The cat creatures attempt to take Simone's pendant, causing Velma to suspect that they are after the pirate Morgan Moonscar's treasure. They escape the creatures by the cupboard. In the cave, they find the dial that Simone and Lena used to drain the gang. They draw the three cat creatures into the cave, and it turns out to be the ferry driver and the two people who greeted them off the boat; they were looking for Moonscar's treasure. However, the identity of the fourth cat creature, the dark one responsible for slashing the tree, remains a mystery, causing Alan to suspect that that one is actually real. Velma, who is obsessed with coming up with a rational explanation for what happened on Moonscar Island last time, decides that the cat creatures had always been fake and the zombies were a hallucination caused by swamp gas. Fred and Daphne are hesitant to believe this theory, as they had decapitated a zombie last time, which proved it was real. However, they decide to let Velma have her moment. As the authorities arrive to arrest the ferry captain and his accomplices, the sheriff demands why they are solving mysteries again. The gang makes an impassioned plea, saying that this is their true calling in life, causing the sheriff to allow Mystery Inc. to be back in business once again. In the mid-credits, Elvira talks about the film "Zombie Teenagers and the Island of Doom" which also includes a trailer and outtakes during the production of it.
