Movie Review - Scoob!

This film is based on the Scooby-Doo franchise, which started as a cartoon in 1969 and has endured for over 50 years in pop culture. In a lot of ways, this film, directed by Tony Cervone, a veteran in animation since the 90's, references or brings in a lot from those past 50 years. Ironically, this film doesn't feel like it has enough history or any weight or gravity to it to make it feel any more real or substantive than the original 1969 cartoon. That would be fine, if the film wasn't trying to be about the history, the weight or gravity of the relationship between what are the two main characters.

As a mainstream, animated film, that's mostly aimed at children, it's almost obligated to be about friendship or family, as most of these mainstream, animated films are. If a film wants to be about friendship or family, that's fine, but it has to put in the work to build and develop those relationships. Pixar's films typically do that work. Pixar in fact has a formula that might be hackneyed but is effective. The most recent example is Onward (2020), which came out a couple of months before this film did. Onward does the work, building and developing the relationship between the two main characters. This film doesn't. It assumes that the franchise's 50-year history is information that many will bring into this film, so all Cervone has to use is short-hand. He doesn't have to put in the work.

It starts with a little boy who is walking by himself on the boardwalk in Venice, California. That little boy is Norville Rogers aka "Shaggy." Through the music and podcast playing in his headphones, it's clear that he's lonely. He has trouble making friends. He even talks to himself and pretends like he's talking to people when he's really not. One day, he meets a talking dog with no name who then becomes his friend. It's supposed to be this significant thing, but immediately after, he makes friends with three other children with no trouble at all. If it was so easy for Shaggy to make friends, then it's not clear what the problem is. In Onward, the main character has a bit of an issue with making friends, but that film establishes why that is the case. Again, this film doesn't put in the work to establish what Shaggy's issue is. There's a throwaway line about him liking foods of unlikely ingredients, but even that isn't developed enough to be significant.

The aforementioned, talking dog is a brown, Great Dane whom Shaggy names Scooby-Doo. He didn't have a name or apparently an owner. Unfortunately, the film doesn't put in the work of explaining where this dog originated. Apparently, he just magically appears out of nowhere, no parents, no dog family. Apparently, the dog is homeless, which we assume because when we first see the dog, he's stealing food from a vendor on the Venice boardwalk. The cartoon back in 1969 started with Shaggy and Scooby already together and their history prior to that doesn't matter. By showing Shaggy and Scooby as two separate beings who then come together from loneliness and isolation spotlights that loneliness and isolation in a way that the film then doesn't want to address in a meaningful way.

This could be dismissed because throughout the film the adventures that Shaggy and Scooby have are supposed to reinforce their friendship or show what kind of a bond the two have. That's what happened in Onward, but the way it did so was through dialogue and more still moments in between action to develop that friendship or that bond. This film doesn't have that dialogue or more still moments. The plot kicks in rather quickly and then it diverts into being a super-hero story and more about other characters than Shaggy and Scooby.

In the 70's, Hanna-Barbera created Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, a cartoon series that was about a super-hero version of Scooby and Shaggy. Dynomutt was the super-hero version of Scooby and Blue Falcon was the super-hero version of Shaggy. This film diverts to Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, becoming more focused on them, which in this case feels like it's taking away from Scooby and Shaggy's story about their friendship than anything else.

Scooby and Shaggy are part of a group that solves crimes called Mystery Inc. The other people in that group include Fred, Daphne and Velma. However, this film renders them virtually useless or pointless. There is one scene that they get, which is meant to deliver exposition as to why Scooby and Shaggy's friendship is as special as it is, but that scene felt tacked on rather than integral. The whole thing ends with a climactic scene that's supposed to pull at the heartstrings and make us feel for Scooby and Shaggy, but it falls a bit flat. There are some clever one-liners and jokes for adults like references to Tinder, but it's not worth the time. You'd be better off watching Onward or watching it again.

Rated PG for some action, language and rude/suggestive humor.

Running Time: 1 hr. and 34 mins.

Available on HBO Max and VOD.