Scooby-Doo has encapsulated my attention for nearly two decades, inspiring me with laughter, teaching me how to indecisively count on clues to solve an issue and showing me that the only true monsters in this world are bad people.
For 50 inspiring years Scooby, and the rest of Mystery Incorporated have umasked countless villains, faced up against numerous supernatural forces and joined in the ranks of pop culture legends from veritable sources.
When “SCOOB!” was announced, my inner child freaked out. Excitement washed over me and my anticipation skyrocketed. After watching the movie the minute it was released, I’m sorry to say that my inner child was slightly disappointed. But only slightly.
In an obvious universe builder for a modern take on classic Hanna-Barbera cartoons, Scoob and the gang face a villain thats after one of their own, meeting many classic characters along the way.
While watching the film I had to constantly remind myself that this technically is a reboot building off of the classic 1969 series “Scooby-Doo: Where Are You?”
Once recognizing this, I started to enjoy the movie more. I kept an open mind.
“SCOOB!” Was a necessity for universe building and enabled my beloved childhood characters a chance to grace the big screen once again.
The film left the old world of 1969 behind and brought Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo into the modern era in a respectful way.
This is a kids movie after all. Kids of 2020 differ then generations before.
In saying that, “SCOOB!” felt foreign to me. Characters were visually stunning but appeared starkly different than those I grew up with. Not to mention the voices were drastically contrast compared to previous incarnations, with the exception of Scooby-Doo.
Personality traits were somewhat askew and the story was all over the place. But it wasn’t terrible.
The main issue I had with the feature was the lack of one necessarily essential element. “SCOOB!” drew from the source material but it forgot to include the mystery.
For the entire storyline the antagonist was already revealed and the great unmasking was extremely anticlimactic.
The only time “SCOOB!” felt like the true Scooby-Doo was in the beginning when the members of Mystery Inc. were kids.
After the introduction, all that seemed important was the need to build an entire universe in one single film.
Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie. The animation was rich, filled with vibrant colors and that ending tore me apart.
The refreshing look made my heart go aflutter. Seeing my beloved characters brought into the modern world was fantastic. I just felt like that key mystery component was needed to bring the film to its proper ranking.
Knowing that I’d not be granted the satisfaction of a appropriate unmasking was disheartening.
Half the fun of watching Scooby-Doo is attempting to piece the clues together in an effort to uncover the true culprit. Having a theory in mind and learning that you were either right or wrong was the best part.
But I digress. This movie wasn’t mainly made for people like me. It was made for people like my nieces and nephew and, during my living room premiere, I discovered that they loved it.
These kids have been growing up sharing in the same Scooby-Doo exposure as I did. They enjoyed the humor, the friendship and the overall storyline of the new movie.
Because of their love for the film I’m giving “SCOOB!” four out of five stars. Not because it’s a great Scooby-Doo movie (in some ways, it is) but because it’s a great film to watch with your family.
