THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The franchise of Scooby Doo has been a phenomenon since its first animated series in 1969, Scooby Doo, Where Are You? While remaining relavent with direct to video animated films and more animated shows, they failed to hit their mark on cinema when their two live action adaptations have not aged well after their release in the 2000s. Knowing this, I did wonder how come they never released an animated film in theaters. It was almost a reality in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the theaters, leading for the film to be a video on demand exclusive, until getting released on disc and getting streamed on (HBO)Max. While things shifted significantly for this movie, it didn't change my mind on checking this movie out, as I was one of many fans that grew up watching a fair majority of their animated programs. And if you ask me, this beats what we got in the 2000s.
PLOT
The film Scoob! shows the gang of Mystery Inc. who have been successful solving crime together since their childhood: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and the titular talking dog. They want to go into business with entrepreneur Simon Cowell, but he refuses to do business with Shaggy Rogers and Scooby Doo. This disheartens the group, leaving to the excluded two quit the gang. The following evening, they get attacked by robots dubbed ‘Rottens’ but are rescued by the superhero group of the AI dog Dynomutt (Ken Jeong), human sidekick Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons) and the second generation superhero Blue Falcon who Shaggy & Scoob have idolized since they were kids. The heroes are chased by the robots’ maker, supercriminal Dick Dastardly who wants to retrieve the three skulls of Cerberus. With already getting one down, the heroes plan to prevent him from getting the others. Based on the skulls' heat signature, Dee Dee suggests going to Gobi Desert, but Falcon prefers going to Romania due to anonymous tip. When they get there, they get chased by Dastardly who was able to get the second skull from the said desert. Before fleeing from him, Scooby is told by Dick that he is the key. When Fred, Velma & Daphne Blake discover who Dastardly is, they search for their friends but are abducted by the villain himself. They are aided by one of Dastardly’s bots and make contact with Dee Dee via Dynomutt. Velma explains that they’re going to Messick Mountain, where the third skull of Cerberus is located. Datasrdly explains to them that he wants to enter the Underworld where he originally left his dog Muttley behind, after originally stealing treasure. He needs Scooby because only he can unlock the gates of the Underworld. When the heroes go to Messick Mountain first, they find the last skull guarded by Captain Caveman, leading them to fight for it. When Shaggy stays behind, he encounters Fred and they catch up with the others but Fred reveals himself to be Dastardly in disguise. Daphne, Velma and the real Fred get thrown off his airship and Falcon's ship ‘Falcon Fury’ is destroyed by the villain. He also abducts Scooby Doo before leaving, in order to open the gate. Every protagonist dispute on who to blame but Shaggy motivates everyone to put their differences aside to save the world, taking the blame for Scooby's capture as jealousy grew during the adventure. They all reconstruct the Mystery Machine and head to Athens, where the gate will be. When they catch up, they get shot down by Dastardly's airship but Dynomutt is able to land everyone safely. With the three skulls and Scooby's paw, the gate opens and Cerberus emerges. Dastardly reunites with Muttley and they attempt to steal treasure of the Underworld. His Rottens help the gang fight Cerberus while Velma disovers how to close the gate. Once the Greek hound is pushed back in, she reveals that someone has to lock the gate from the inside. Shaggy volunteers to do it but thankfully, they find another exit to free him. When they find Dastardly again, Shaggy unmasks him, revealed to be Simon Cowell. Knowing that it makes no sense, Velma unmasks him again, revealing to still be Dastardly, implying that he was causing the friction between Mystery Inc. from the beginning. After he and Muttley are arrested, the film ends with the gang unveiling their new headquarters and Blue Falcon gives them a brand new Mystery Machine after the prior was destroyed during the conflict in Athens.
THOUGHTS
I'm always gonna have soft spot for Scooby Doo, no matter how much I dislike the 2000 live action adaptations, because it's arguably guaranteed to give a good time for kids and adults alike. I feel this way since I'm regularly smiling by the end of it. This one was no exception especially since this came out in a time period where we needed a distraction from a troubling reality. Obviously Tony Cervone doesn't aim for perfection, but what he easily does better than the past is know what it is, an over the top adventure. It was a matter of time for us to get a computerized version of this franchise and it suited the story very well within its mold. Since this is one of the oldest animated franchises, I am very surprised it didn't exactly rely on nostalgia the way people would think. Apart from recreating the classic series intro, it takes a different turn by crossing over with other characters from Hanna Barbera Productions. The only time it didn't really work was Tracy Morgan's cameo as Captain Caveman from Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels. No matter how much I respect the actor and adore the character, I don't think this fit into the story compared to the other characters. It's not a perfect use of it, yet it mostly acts clever to tie in with the story. It' easy to see it as unnecessary since Mystery Inc. is mostly known for solving mysteries without outside characters. In the end, it doesn't take away the overall fun of it. As many would expect, the core of this movie will always be the friendship between Shaggy & Scooby. You cannot go wrong with Frank Welker who was the original voice of the iconic dog when the original series first aired Since I was always comfortable with Matthew Lillard, it was refreshing for another actor to voice Shaggy. Will Forte has grown to be a fine choice in making the guy whose known to be laid back. Apart from being a food lover, we get a different approach and see how overprotective he is of his best friend. Since they changed each other's lives, I do not blame how afraid he is of losing him. You would think that meeting Blue Falcon & Dynomutt would put them on the same page, due to loving the hero since their youth, but it becomes tragic for the adventure to put them in a rift. Once Shaggy realized he was pushing Scoob away, he understood that you need to give your friends space or you'll never be able to let them grow. His attempt to sacrifice himself was his way let him do so and luckily, they had it both ways when they found a way fro him to be free. In the end, these two still gave me a fair share of laughs when they sang 'Shallow' in front of Simon Cowell, mistook Falcon Fury as IKEA and didn't recognize Velma as RBG. I don't blame them for the latter because I wouldn't have known either. Because I had such an investment between these two, I didn't put too much thought on who I would want to play the rest of the gang with modern casting. Surprisingly, we had a good mix of talent. I can't believe it never slipped my mind that Zac Efron would be a good Fred because apart from how I can now imagine him doing it in live action, he's still good from the voice alone in making him the ideal lionheart of the group for still taking the stakes serious and be willing to put himself on the line for his friends. He gave me a fair share of laughs when realizing he had to pay for Netflix and said Dick's female cop disguise was attractive. Gina Rodriguez was was a good choice for voicing Velma thanks to portraying her as one who is modest yet takes always put good use of her brilliant mind. You already know all the past cases would not be a success without her involvement. I also enjoyed Amanda Seyfried as Daphne because apart from making her the most nurturing of the group, she made her stand out for being more diligent. She was so thoughtful about Shaggy & Scooby that she would remind the others what they would do in certain scenarios. And that's a lot to pull off from the voice alone. Since the trend in Hollywood, it made a lot of sense for Scooby Doo with an actual superhero from Hanna Barbera Productions and it felt like jackpot knowing there was one. I wasn't too sure who would play Blue Falcon, but Mark Wahlberg was surprisingly a good choice to play this character. You can't help relating to his childish attitude because he is in a position that ain't as comfortable as he hoped. Following someone else's footsteps, like his retired father, is not easy because the expectations were high for him to reach. With Dynomutt and Dee Dee being naturally more responsible, it was hard for him to gain the confidence he needed to lead like he had to. Once he realized believing in himself is enough to be a good hero, he gave his all in putting his gadgets to best use. And I didn't wanna exaggerate, but I was cool for him to be a DJ in the end to surprise the gang with a new van. Last but not least, I was not expecting Wacky Races character Dick Dastardly to fit into this franchise as the main villain, but Jason Isaacs is so great at voicing him to be as devious and manipulative he's known for, it becomes so hard to hate on it. I've given this movie a lot of credit, but it does not excuse the issues that I noticed along the way. If I gotta go from the top, I gotta say it's a weird ass law for a dog's middle name to drop charges of damages/theft. I know this is a kids movie, but that don't make it any better. And am I the only one creeped out of Shaggy's dummy doll in his bedroom? Since he didn't seem to practice being a ventriloquist, I'm thrown off on how he would sleep with that staring at him. Also, how come Fred, Daph & Velma don't have candy bags on them when they met Shaggy & Scooby? It is so unreal for me to believe they don't have any on them. If they left their bags at home, I wish that was clarified. And they definitely destroyed continuity when they chose to have the house's windows boarded by one shot, only for it to not be by the next. I can't even buy it for the candy bag to be in the middle of the house when the bully tossed it in the right hand sided window. And if the neighbor wanted people to stay away from his house, to keep secret of stealing electronics, he should've not left the gate open. It's even too big of a coincidence for the bowling alley to be empty because if more people were there besides Shaggy & Scooby, the Rottens would've made a bigger mess. Even during the chase, I felt like the two could've had a better job avoiding those robots had they got around the trash truck because it looked like they had the room to do it. I also refuse to believe that bowling alley employee knew what happened to them both when she wasn't even paying attention what happened inside the alley. And where did she even find a damaged Rotten? I'm so confused just by seeing that. Considering how Dee Dee & Dynomutt are smarter than Dynomutt, I'm surprised how it took a food montage from Shaggy & Scooby to realize heat signatures can track the skulls. It even gets weirder on how they only track Dick and don't do it again afterwards. I know Velma is smart, but how do two wires of an old radio hack into Dynomutt? This is a weird excuse to get these characters to unite. Blue Falcon may have had a point that he needs Scoob, but I'm very disappointed how neither Dee Dee nor Dynomutt commented that Scoob should've considered him to stay with Shaggy on the ship Whether or not they knew Dick would disguise himself as Fred, it would've been a smarter decision for Scoob to stay away from the action. And whose idea was it for Scooby's collar to be incinerated? I felt like Shaggy would've been given it back immediately once Scooby took it off. I want to believe Dick when he says Cerberus was more than he bargained for, but he should've remembered that would be a problem if it was on his obsession wall. And lastly, how does the Rotten Dusty watch over the new headquarters? That place looks too big for a bot so small to look over. However, I do think this one is easier to ignore in comparison to the crap I put up with in the 2000s. To wrap up, Scoob! was not 2020's best film but never needed to be because it succeeded in keeping us smiling when we needed it the most. If you love the Scooby Doo franchise overall, you'll enjoy this one as well.
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