SCOOB!
review by Bobby Blakey
For years Scooby-Doo and the gang have been a mainstay of kids cartoon watching offering up zany adventures and some pretty fun crossovers with other properties. There have also been numerous straight to home release original movies as well, but now he is getting an all-new big screen animated feature with Scoob! The film features a great voice cast including Zac Efron, Will Forte, Jason Isaacs, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan, Gina Rodriguez, Amanda, Mark Wahlberg, and Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo. Could this new chapter in the Scooby-Doo franchise bring something new to the fans or will it be a mystery not worth solving?
Scoob! tells the never-before told stories of Scooby-Doo’s origins and the greatest mystery in the career of Mystery Inc. “SCOOB!” reveals how lifelong friends Scooby and Shaggy first met and how they joined with young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to form the famous Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop this global “dogpocalypse,” the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined.
I have repeatedly said I was never a big Scooby-Doo fan and while I thought this film looked like it could be a lot of fun, it was the inclusion of The Blue Falcon that had me most interested. I guess I am going to have to stop saying I’m not a fan of Scooby now because the last few things that have come out I enjoyed and this one was no different. I had a blast with this film with not only the new and old aspects to Mystery Inc, but the inclusion of so many nods to the varying characters in the Hanna Barbara universe. There is clearly a plan here to expand more of these characters and I hope it moves forward.
This film serves as a reboot to the film franchise complete with an origin story of the meeting of Shaggy and Scoob along with the formation of the Mystery Inc. They waste no time in getting to the old school cases and an awesome recreation of the original opening theme sequence from the show. From there
they step things up to a bigger level when they bring in the all-new version of the Blue Falcon and for those wondering about the new look they address that too. This takes the film into a bigger adventure than just another ghost story, but opens up the universe to so much more.
Sure hardcore fans of the Scooby-Doo might not like the different direction, but I found enough of the old villains and nods to the history of Mystery Inc. that it worked for me. In addition to some great other characters showing up which I will not disclose here just in case you haven’t seen any of the info, there are so many easter eggs of the Hanna Barbara Universe sprinkled throughout that got me excited to where the franchise could go in the future.
Filled with great animation that is vibrant and fun to watch, laughs, nostalgia and more of my childhood than I ever expected smashed into one adventure this movie was way more fun than I thought it would be. I know it won’t work for everyone, but it did for me and I am holding out for not only more from Scooby and the gang, but also the rest of the Hanna Barbara Universe to return to the big screen.
In addition to the film this release offers up bonus content including bloopers, deleted scenes, featurettes and more. Team up with Mystery Inc., and grab your copy of Scoob! when it hits 4K, Blu-ray and DVD on July 21st from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment.
