“Scoob!” is Just Another Bland Modern Animated Movie
By: Ethan Parker
Tags: Film, Animation, Diversity, Movie Review, Movies

In what has to be the fourteen-millionth incarnation of Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Incorporated gang, Scoob! finally sees our quirky, animated heroes presented on (what was supposed to be) the big screen. While Scooby-Doo as a franchise has been mostly relegated to television, even with their longer, feature-length endeavors, the only times we ever saw the gang in a more big-budget affair was with the admittedly terrible live-action films from the early 2000s. To seemingly break away from the rather rancid reputation big-budget Scooby-Doo movies rightfully left behind, Scoob! attempts to mold its own path while still paying homage to its more humble roots; while the effort is admirable, and the movie strikes out with a couple good gags and other noteworthy moments, Scoob! as a whole fails to live up to expectations, at least from the perspective of a long-time Scooby-Doo fan.

I should admit that I had my expectations set a little higher than what I should have for Scoob!. I thought that since we were traveling back to an old, established property that we’d maybe be able to spice up the rather bland western 3D animated movie formula. What I should’ve figured from the beginning was that Warner Bros. Animation has been far more of a trend chaser, than a trendsetter, with rarely a notable film to break the mold of the typical, annoying kids movie formulas studios like Blue Sky and Illumination paved the way for. All of this negativity and utter disappointment doesn’t mean that Scoob! is an all-out failure — far from it, but the highlights are few and far between for a more adult audience, yet kids will more than likely have fun watching the same movie every other major animation studio has made for the past ten-or-so-years.

For an adult audience, the more you know about Hanna-Barbera cartoons, the more your enjoyment will be. As per usual with kids films, there are a few adult-centric jokes that’ll easily pass over the heads of small children, but may get a few chuckles out of an older audience (I sure found a few of those gags amusing), but the real enjoyment will come from the references to cartoons they grew up on. It seems that no matter the generation, almost everyone who knows anything about TV animation has seen at least some of the original 1969–1970 Scooby-Doo series; its place in American culture is undeniable, and remains enjoyable to this day despite its many, many flaws. So, anyone with at least a basic understanding of Scooby-Doo’s origins and even a bit about its later incarnations may get some enjoyment by seeing some old references. The problem is, is that Scoob! fails to maintain a true balancing act between sticking to its guns and presenting just another Scooby-Doo movie and attempting to be its own thing. Scoob! often leans too hard into references and sight gags for old fans to pick up on, and not enough on the story, itself, because the story is as simplistic and frankly patronizing as they come.

Attempting to find complexities within a modern kids movie is often a losing battle, and I’ve understood that for years. My problem with the lack of any real new or interesting ideas, as well as how blatant the messaging and paint-by-numbers the story is, is that kids are far smarter than what major studios like to believe. Scoob! often tells the audience to their faces what the meaning of the story is in unsubtle ways, and additionally plays itself out in the most generic formula possible; you’ve got the typical boy and his dog story (which is an understandable foundation to the story), but it never breaks away from that, following through the usual tropes of the second-act-breakup, hero man has to learn to be a hero and not a total chicken, as well as a search for three magical MacGuffins to tie it all together. There’s nothing original nor all too interesting in Scoob!, leading you into the usual stale plot formulas we’ve seen far too much of by this point. At least the animation, itself isn’t a blatant rip of the more modern aesthetic styles we’re used to by now, still honing in on the more iconic character designs we’ve grown fond of over the past fifty-years, just in three dimensions.

With jokes that bounce around from painfully unfunny to somewhat “okay”, and a story that flounders around the typical checklist of family adventure films, it’s also a shame that the voice acting never “wows”, either. In typical big-budget animated film fashion, people who’re far more trained for voice performances are cast to the side in favor of big-name stars. The likes of Zac Efron, Will Forte, and Mark Wahlberg stud up the cast (there’s even a pointless and obnoxious Simon Cowell cameo-thing), which is fine in terms of marketability, but it leads to frankly generic performances (the director also has to take some blame for that). While it’s admirable that a tad bit of diversity spices up the cast in some ways with the additions of Gina Rodrigues as Velma, Kiersey Clemons as Dee Dee Skyes, Ken Jeong as Dynomutt, and a small role I won’t spoil from Tracy Morgan are appreciated, it’s funny that this more diverse cast makes for the far more interesting and dynamic performances.

Thankfully, even if the performances land on being more bland than entertaining, the character building has seen quite the overhaul from Scooby-Doo’s more generic and stereotypical past. Fred breaks away from his usual meat-head archetypes to be a bit more interesting in his dynamic. While still head-strong, and certainly acting like the leader-type, Fred is far more collaborative with his team instead of taking on all the responsibility for himself. Although Velma remains mostly the same from where she was, before, the most admirably changed character is Daphne, who for the longest time, has been nothing but ditzy eye-candy for the audience. Daphne becomes a more heartwarming figure who gets things done, is caring for her team, and acts more as a glue between our characters to keep the peace than to be the damsel in distress like she’s been for far too long. It’s honestly nice to see subtle, yet important character retooling for such a long-running franchise that’s been stuck in the 70s mindset for a bit too long.

I’m honestly saddened to say that Scoob! is a bit of an overall dud. Despite the scant, yet enjoyable gags, decent but not particularly stunning animation, and character reworking, there’s not a whole lot to pull from in terms of “wow factor” for Scoob!. While I remain hopeful that with the sequel baiting and possible universe expansion, we can see tired formulas replaced with a bit more originality, that requires a risk modern animation studios seemingly don’t want to take.

Scoob! is available for both digital rental and purchase at all major digital movie retailers.