‘Scoob!’ Blu-ray Review
Features the voices of: Will Forte, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan, Frank Welker | Written by Matt Lieberman, Adam Sztykiel, Jack Donaldson, Derek Elliott | Directed by Tony Cervone
Since childhood, Shaggy Rogers, Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, and Daphne Blake have been solving mysteries across the globe accompanied by Shaggy’s pet dog, Scooby-Doo. But their greatest mystery together comes in a turn of events when they run into the Blue Falcon, who is trying to stop his arch-rival, Dick Dastardly, from causing a global “dogpocalypse” by unleashing the great Cerberus upon the world.
A reboot of the Scooby-Doo franchise, Scoob! starts right back at the beginning, when Shaggy and Scooby first met, then the Mystery Incorporated gang were, well… incorporated, Though to be fair, you hear the phrase reboot these days and audiences tend to zone out – after all there’s only so many times you can re-tell an origin story right?
Well in the case of Scooby-Doo you’d be wrong.
Scoob! actually plays more like a greatest hits of Hanna Barbera’s classic cartoon line-up, with more “guest stars” than the entire Scooby-Doo back catalogue, with character like Dick Dastardly, Blue Falcon, Dynomutt and Captain Caveman and more, all appearing within the films 90-odd minute runtime. There are also nods to Scooby-Doo of old, with references to old Hanna Barbara voice actors like Nicole Jaffe, Heather North and the original Shaggy and Scooby duo of Casey Kasem and Don Messick.
Where Scoob! does vary from the traditional cartoon formula, post-opening credits, is that it updates the Mystery Incorporated gang into more of a superhero-like team, taking on real monsters – in this case Cerberus – rather than guys wearing rubber mask and committing larceny. Which may be sacrilege for some older viewers but goes some way to explain the appearance of the aforementioned roster of Hanna Barbera characters too. Scooby-Doo has officially taken a leaf out of the Marvel universe building playbook, from featuring a wide cast of characters who’ve appeared in, in this case, cartoons before, right down to the idea of self-sacrifice for the good of the world. Yes, Scoob! is the Scooby gangs Endgame…
Though, like a lot of kids movies, at its centre is a story of friendship rather than action-spectacle. The friendship between Shaggy and Scooby – which is truly put to its test here; after all the two are, at their core, a pair of loners who found each other and as such their friendship, whilst a strong bond, is still based on the relationship they made as kids and as grown-ups we all know things change and people move on… Yet, as Scoob! points out, friendship – true friendship – lasts forever. It’s a strong moral centre for a film which is otherwise packed with stupid jokes, daft humour, even crazier action and a bizarre cameo role for Simon Cowell. Which, honestly, altogether makes this perfect family-friendly viewing.
*** 3/5
Scoob! is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Monday September 28th.
