Scoob! - Movie Review

Written by Shiggins

Ruh-roh!

I always loved Scooby-Doo, and I probably always will. I grew up with reruns of the 1969 original and I've always made sure to at least check out some of the newer iterations over the years, including What's New, Scooby Doo? and Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated. On top of that, I still own my favourite movie of the franchise, Scooby Doo and the Zombie Island, and I think I have the old Scooby Doo and the Cyber Chase PS1 video game lying around somewhere, so it's probably safe to say I've got some nostalgia for the franchise. And that is very much to the film's benefit... and determent. 

Note: Some light spoilers.

Awful title, by the way. Awful.

Unlike the barrage of straight-to-dvd films the series has had over the recent years, Scoob! is a full reboot of the Scooby Doo story that literally starts with the meeting of talking canine Scooby Doo (Frank Welker) and his constant companion Shaggy Rogers (Will Forte). Years pass, the two join up with a trio of friends, and the gang have become famous for their mystery-solving ways. Scooby and Shaggy find themselves targets of the criminal mastermind Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs), but luckily they are saved by the superhero Blue Falcon (Mark Whalberg) and his companions Dynomutt (Ken Jeong) and Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons).

Good thing I like dogs. I'd never be able to watch a film or play a game ever again otherwise.

If you're familiar with Hanna-Barbara, the animation studio responsible for creating Scooby Doo, you'll probably be a bit confused by all the names that just came up in that paragraph. Dick Dastardly from Wacky Races? Dynomutt from... Dynomutt? What do these characters have to do with Scooby Doo? Well, in the spirit of the MCU, it appears Warner Bros is trying to create a Hanna-Barbera universe from which they can make a full franchise of connected and shared films. And I'd be lying if I said the idea of a Wacky Races movie in full 3D didn't excite me, but with how clumsily some of these properties are displayed, I'm not holding out much hope.

For starters, who even is the Blue Falcon? I didn't watch Dynomutt as a kid and the series hasn't had any significance since the 70s, with the exceptions of some crossovers with Scooby Doo, but the film acts as if we're supposed to just know who these people are. I get that we don't need this explanation with Scooby Doo since, like Spider-Man or Batman, we're all familiar with him and his ten billion iterations so we don't need the explanation, but you need to sit down and tell me who Blue Falcon and Dynomutt are because I didn't have a clue going in and... I still don't. "They're superheroes" is all we're really given and meant to accept.

Okay, I finally admit it - There's too many superheroes.

Like I said, they don't really need to spend time showing us who Scooby and the gang are or what they do because everyone knows that by now. It's a quick introduction to each of them as kids and solving their first mystery, which is a cute scene and it works well. You have Fred Jones (Zac Efron) as the brave but shallow fighter, Daphne Blake (Amanda Seyfried) as the people-person, and Velma Dinkley (Gina Rodriguez) as the genius nerd. Unfortunately, that's all this trio gets when it comes to development. It's clear they were an afterthought and despite being part of the main gang, they fell less-wanted than the Blue Falcon. None of them have an arc, or spend quality time with Scooby and Shaggy, or do much for the story either. It's a very weird choice to have your big Scooby Doo film not prioritise the whole gang, and I think I know why, but we'll get to that later.

How can something be so right and so wrong at the same time?

Scooby and Shaggy are the main focus here, and I'll admit that they've actually come out of this fairly unscathed and accurate. They love each other, they eat together, they wear disguises in an amusing fashion during a chase scene, and they eat together. However, while I'm glad that the irreplaceable Frank Welker reprises his role as Scooby, I'm not happy that Matthew Lillard wasn't brought back, (but I think we all know Warner Bros wanted a bigger name attached so here we are...) and I admit to a sigh of disappointment when they showed Shaggy is no longer a vegetarian, which was something the very original actor, Casey Kasem, added to the character that I thought was a very clever character-building idea. Of course the guy who talks to an animal wouldn't eat meat! However, with all that said, Will Forte is good as Shaggy. Too high-pitched, yes, but I thought he did a fine enough job.

Edit: Of course, Matthew Lillard is not the only person replaced from the original cast of the past 20 years. Frank Welker isn't voicing Fred for the first time (I guess we should be thankful he's still Scooby), Grey DeLisle is no longer Daphne which is honestly as big a shock as Matthew Lillard, and Kate Micucci is no longer Velma. The reasons for these changes is obviously purely marketing, and I'm not saying that to spite the actors who were given these roles, but it is a completely ridiculous decision made by Corporate Masters™ that perfectly highlights what the priority of this film was. 

Amazingly, besides from Scooby himself, it's Dick Dastardly who has transitioned best to 3D. He looks diabolical, has lots of energy for the slapstick and ridiculousness, a sinister side tweaked to perfection, and while the voice is different from the original, it's still really fitting to the character for both the malice and the ridiculous moments. In fact, I should stress that nobody is giving a bad performance in this movie, (despite what my earlier grievances might make you assume), with the exception of one character... who I won't spoil but is also from the history of Hanna-Barbara. And even then, I'm not sure I can blame the actor for such a horribly-written portrayal of that classic. Again though, Dick Dastardly = Fick Fantastically... oh, I'm sorry for that joke. 

Finally, the moustache makes it's glorious return!

In terms of looks, most of the characters are updated enough for the modern age but have managed to keep their classic feel despite the change from 2D to 3D. I have almost zero complaints in that factor, although I do find it odd how much they sexified Velma. Maybe it's just me, but when Velma looks more attractive than both Dee Dee and Daphne, I can't help but feel a mistake was made. That nitpick aside, everyone looks great and the different locations are as bright and colourful as you'd hope, with an abandoned theme park being my personal highlight. And for the most part, the characters move as quickly and energetically as they should, which really helps for the amount of chase scenes one should expect from this franchise.

However, it's time to address the big problem. The really big problem, that you've no doubt been confused about since I told you the plot to this story. There's no easy way to say it so I'll just be blunt... 

There's no mystery.

Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?!

And this isn't like Detective Pikachu, where the mystery is obvious and I figured it out in seconds. No, there is zero mystery whatsoever. No masks, no suspects, no trickery, no haunted house, no ghost that can't exist and will later be revealed to have been faked by technology and costume... Nothing. And while my nostalgia has most likely been a problem throughout this review, I think we can all agree that removing the very premise of a mystery from Scooby Doo is a terrible idea. Mystery is the very soul of the franchise, arguably the biggest reason the series has lasted as long as it has. The van they drive around in is literally called The Mystery Machine! Why would you remove what makes the series so engaging?!

It's because they wanted to focus on the other characters, or to put it more accurately, the other franchise characters. Dynomutt, the Blue Falcon, Dick Dastardly and that mystery character I teased earlier are all from other Hanna-Barbara properties and could easily slot into other films, be it sequels or spin-offs. With the right amount of time, patience and care, you could make a great universe of timeless animated characters but instead, the film has opted to remove the mystery and have Scooby Doo run into all these different people in the hopes that kids will like them enough to want more. And that tragically, is the film's biggest failing. That it was so focused on "what would the kids like?" that it did what so many other failed films have done, and went full-corporate in both it's vision and it's writing. That would also explain why the soundtrack was so crap.

I'm going to find that famous air horn noise, and burn it. To the ground.

Before my final notes, I want to quickly bring your attention to the worst scene in the film: The celebrity cameo. Now, I think this might be intended to be a playful jab at the unnecessary and awkward celebrity cameos in the past, which sometimes still happens today, but that doesn't change how unnecessary and awkward this celebrity cameo is. He looks super-duper creepy in this film, even more so than Dastardly, and it feels so... obvious. "We need a celebrity to say this to Scooby and Shaggy. Well, whenever you need something like that said, you get ???". Couldn't you have gone really out-there with the celebrity, had some proper fun with them? Just last week, I saw The Weeknd appear in American Dad and he was very funny with it because he acted so differently to what you'd expect. 

Scoob! is not the worst film of the year, but it might be the most disappointing for me personally. Over the years, the Scooby Doo franchise has had it's major ups and horrific downs, so I'm not going to say this is the worst version or anything dramatic like that. It's colourful, it's got some great acting, I laughed a few times at the comedy and slapstick, and the friendship of Scooby and Shaggy is still as wonderful as ever, but the bizarre creative choices and clear corporate influence makes Scoob! feel hollow whenever it's not focused on the duo, and removing the mystery element and most of the gang almost makes me wonder if there's any point to this being a Scooby Doo film at all. 

Bit of a dog's breakfast, this one.

Moving Rating: 5/10

Best Performance: Frank Welker as Scooby Doo.

Best Part: Scooby and Shaggy.

Worst Part: That celebrity.

What horrific car accident created you?

Shiggins:[Admin]
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Born under the stars of the Dark Gods, Shiggins owns the power of the Great Eye and is utterly magnificent in his omniscience. If you dare to discover more about someone as great as him, then go ahead. And to all my friends and family members, YOU are wrong and I should be disappointed! Not the other way round!,. You can find out about him or ask him stuff on ask.fm/shigginsishere or go to his tumblr page http://otakugajeel.tumblr.com/