I just saw both 2012's Big Top and 2010's Abracadabra-Doo in the past week and I have to say that Big Top was probably the best Scooby Doo episode made in the 21st century--2002's The Cyber Chase. Unlike Abracadabra-Doo where one could guess who the true villain was from miles away--since only he had the technical know how to pull off all the stunts with the griffin in that episode--with Big Top, a werewolf is terrorizing a circus and his identity is not obvious to the viewer until minutes before he is finally captured.
In Big Top, the gang discover that the circus is not a very friendly place and almost all the circus ringleader's employees have an axe to grind with their new circus ringleader--Marius Brancusi--who just inherited "the greatest place on earth" from his uncle. Therefore, the villain could be anyone and discovering his identity turns out to be a difficult job which is great for the plot. Doubleday, in the end, is revealed, to be the werewolf villain partly because he is disgruntled that he didn't get the chance to run the circus after Marius' uncle left the circus even though he had been helping running the circus for years unlike Marius. But something is not right: the jewels the Werewolf stole have not been recovered and Doubleday can't talk since he has been tranquilized. Then the gang realise that Doubleday had an accomplice all along and must give chase to catch this second person before he gets away. So, the plot is quite intriguing and is lots of fun and this episode at 80 minutes...is the longest Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie ever made and certainly one of the best too since the Witch's Ghost and Zombie Island. Recommended.
In Big Top, the gang discover that the circus is not a very friendly place and almost all the circus ringleader's employees have an axe to grind with their new circus ringleader--Marius Brancusi--who just inherited "the greatest place on earth" from his uncle. Therefore, the villain could be anyone and discovering his identity turns out to be a difficult job which is great for the plot. Doubleday, in the end, is revealed, to be the werewolf villain partly because he is disgruntled that he didn't get the chance to run the circus after Marius' uncle left the circus even though he had been helping running the circus for years unlike Marius. But something is not right: the jewels the Werewolf stole have not been recovered and Doubleday can't talk since he has been tranquilized. Then the gang realise that Doubleday had an accomplice all along and must give chase to catch this second person before he gets away. So, the plot is quite intriguing and is lots of fun and this episode at 80 minutes...is the longest Scooby-Doo direct-to-video movie ever made and certainly one of the best too since the Witch's Ghost and Zombie Island. Recommended.