At the risk of making a potentially unpopular opinion know, I like HBO Max. I have long thought the Warner Brothers Entertainment streaming service, whatever it was going to be, would be perhaps the one entertainment conglomerate that could challenge Disney in the streaming wars with a service that wasn’t limited to family-friendly kids stuff. And while the end result isn’t that, for a movie lover like me, the actual service gives me access to whatever is currently on the HBO catalogue, Studio Ghibli animated features, Criterion Collection foreign flicks, Turner Classic Movies older films, and a host of other things. Now, since I stream my TV through a Roku stick, if they’d only seal a deal there so I wouldn’t have to watch the service on either my laptop or my iPad, two options I don’t really care for, well, I’d be pretty happy then.
And then I saw the new animated feature Scoob! showed up there recently. I probably would have used my AMC Stubbs A-List pass to see that movie in theaters given the opportunity, and I can’t bring myself to pay $20 for any movie I will watch at home alone, but this option worked out well for me all the same. And if the movie is any good, well, so much the better.
Unfortunately, the movie is stunningly mediocre. After a prologue showing how Scooby Doo (Frank Welker, the only original cast member still involved in the franchise though he started as Fred and only got to play Scooby after the death of original voice Don Messick)) met a young Shaggy (Iain Armitage as a child, Will Forte as a teenager/adult), followed by a first criminal-disguised-as-a-ghost case on Halloween during their first meetings with Fred, Velma, and Daphne, the characters age up to their more familiar forms. An attempt to get an investor for their services goes poorly, for while Simon Cowell as himself recognizes talent in Fred (Zac Efron), Daphne (Amanda Seyfried), and Velma (Gina Rodriguez), there seems to be nothing of value given to the team by Shaggy and Scooby. Dejected, the pair wander off to a bowling alley where they are attacked by shape-changing robots. It seems that Dick Dastardly (Jason Issacs) needs Scooby for…something, and the only hope for Shaggy and Scooby is to team up with the Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), Dynomutt (Ken Jeong), and their pilot Dee Dee Sykes (Kiersey Clemons) to figure out what Dastardly wants and stops him since Dick’s a supervillain, and whatever he wants can’t be good.
Meanwhile, Fred, Daphne, and Velma follow a series of clues to find their missing friends.
As a property, Scooby Doo was an unexpected hit. Hanna-Barbera just somewhat threw it together originally, and the company had sought to make Fred Flintstone or Yogi Bear. Instead, Scooby Doo became so popular the character has basically never gone off the air, inspiring numerous rip-offs that all used the same basic Scooby Doo formula. And, truth be told, there’s been some really fun and cool Scooby Doo shows. I would advise checking out Mystery Incorporated some time.
Except, the thing is, Scooby Doo works best when his adventures do stick to or at least acknowledge that formula in some manner. Scoob! feints in that general direction but never quite goes there. Fred, Velma, and Daphne are almost in a different movie for most of the plot, and somehow, Scooby Doo trying to stop a supervillain seems wrong. The whole thing, given the guest stars, looks to be to set up a Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe. That could potentially be fun–I grew up on many of these cartoons and can see the potential–but it just doesn’t seem to work here. The jokes are at best OK, the Scooby Doo characters seems to be out of their element, and there isn’t really a mystery for Mystery Inc to solve. We know who the bad guy is.
Now, there are a lot of nice Easter Eggs in the backgrounds and during the closing credits of other Hanna-Barbera characters, and I did actually enjoy Tracy Morgan’s Captain Caveman, here for an extended cameo, but I think that’s due to the character being more Tracy Morgan than Captain Caveman. Ultimately, this was a forgettable experience. Scooby Doo might deserve better.
Grade: C-
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