Scoob! Review
Scoob! is the latest take on the Scooby-Doo series, and a film that doesn’t at all seem to understand what Scooby-Doo actually is. This is just a mismatched series of action sequences with a shoehorned inclusion of the Blue Falcon squad. I assume it’s a rather poor attempt at kickstarting yet another universe and likely failing to do so within its first entry. It opens up with such a charming little look at a little Shaggy and Scooby meeting for the first time. We then get this solid opening that showcases the whole group meeting and dealing with their first case.
From there it’s a glorious montage of their growth over the years. That part was great, showcasing some of the biggest moments, and then we get into the modern times. It’s all downhill from there, which is so crushingly disappointing as the opening showcased that this could have been a really cool classic, perhaps new mystery for the team even. I liked that we got this more mature squad, at the same time there really wasn’t any growth. At least, any growth that made sense as the apparent lessons in this are either skipped by or so muddled that it’s a murky disgusting little storm pond.
They tried to stuff so many characters and moments into this that’s just a never ending sequence of action scenes. It’s a constant battle between the dark Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs) and Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg). Blue Falcon is the cowardly son of the original iteration, with that character working directly with Shaggy (Will Forte) and Scooby (Frank Welker) for the most part. The latter of which was solid, and the former basically just being Will Forte making a Shaggy impression. At times it was alright, but for the most part it did not sound right at all. I’m also quite fine with Will Forte in general; though this was just entirely off the whole way through, it was seriously distracting.
Aside from the plot generally being uninteresting with some themes that didn’t match up, the animation was mostly alright. I thought they did a great job with the movement, and style of the characters. That being said, it did come across as slightly bland and there wasn’t a whole lot of detail in the background. It also lacked a sense of scale that we’ve been seeing with animation efforts as of recent, and it comes across as being a really budget effort.
I did generally find most of the cast to be fine for their roles. It was a bit bloated though, and I still have no idea about what function some of the characters fill. This included Dee Dee Skyes (Kiersey Clemons) and Captain Caveman (Tracy Morgan). I think they’re important, and while watching you get zero idea who these characters actually are. Its world building that came across as pointless, the former being even more important since she’s in almost every scene.
The regular Mystery Inc. crew is very much sidelined here, which is a shame. That includes Fred (Zac Efron); Velma (Gina Rodriguez) and Daphne (Amanda Seyfried). I suppose Ken Jeong’s Dynomutt was fine, but if you don’t know much about the character the dog’s abilities will seem weird. I also have zero idea as to why Simon Cowell is in this; but he is, as himself. I guess I laughed a few times at some of the jokes, but a number of the references were odd and I’m not sure the target audience will be treated to many laughs.
The Conclusion
Scoob! was a heartless film that attempted to shove yet another cinematic universe down our throats, with the real mystery being where was the actual mystery? This was not at all a Scooby-Doo property despite having the iconic characters. It’s a shame as I might have been more appreciative of this if it wasn’t the first take on these characters. It unfairly expects the audience to know a lot, or just to go with things which to me equals poor execution.
They whip by the best parts of the movie for an over cluttered waste of time. It was about halfway through that I just became bored of it, entirely bored. I kept on going to finish it, but this was just a waste of time quite honestly. I think the target audience might like it, or watch it. It doesn’t really hold a candle to what any of the other Scooby-Doo entries have done. I’m actually now interested in going back to watch those live action ones which I’m certain won’t hold up. Those movies at least understood what the characters were about though.
This doesn’t feel like Scooby-Doo in the slightest while parading itself as such. I wish that montage at the start could have been a whole movie, that looked really cool. They make some sad attempts at modernized jokes with various references that I really don’t think most will understand. It really did come across as generic, muddled and missing any semblance of a heart.
Scoob! Review at Home with Standard Viewing
Rating Overall: 3.8
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