SCOOB!

"There's nothing new or interesting about this movie."

- Chris Stuckmann

SCOOB! is a 2020 American 3D computer-animated mystery comedy film based on the Scooby-Doo! franchise, and is the first segment of the Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe with Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels, all created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, and based off characters created over at Hanna-Barbera Productions, as well as a reboot of the Scooby-Doo film series. It was produced by mh:greatestmovies:Warner Animation Group, and distributed by mh:greatestmovies:Warner Bros. Pictures, with the film's animation being provided by Reel FX Creative Studios, and was also directed by Tony Cervone. It stars the voices of Frank Welker as the titular character (the only current television cast member to feature), as well as Will Forte, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, and Amanda Seyfried as Shaggy, Velma, Fred and Daphne respectively, and also features the voices of Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong, and Tracy Morgan as other Hanna-Barbera animated characters as well as Simon Cowell voices himself.

SCOOB! was released on May 15 on Video-On-Demand due to the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic that closed down movie theatres across the globe. To make up for its intended worldwide theatrical release, the film was then theatrically released in select international countries, beginning in July 2020. The film subsequently received a secondary theatrical release in the United States beginning on May 21, 2021. A sequel is in development.

Plot
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 dog-pocalypse, the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone could have imagined.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Although the original two theatrical live-action Scooby-Doo! movies aren't very good films, SCOOB! isn't exactly anything better, due to the fact that the main issue is that the movie is a standard "find the MacGuffin" trope film with more focus put on action and comedy like most modern cinematic universes with very little of mystery solving, the story also suffers from some plot clichés. Particularly when Shaggy and Scooby-Doo's friendship breaks apart, coming off playing the "jealous best friend forces friend to choose sides" cliché.
 * 2) *Furthermore, what makes the film even pointless is that giving Scooby-Doo a heritage as a plot element is nothing really new in the franchise as mh:besttvshows:Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has already done this plot element that was very complex and also ties well into the concept of Mystery, Inc as a whole, and it also ties well into Scooby's relationship with the members of Mystery, Inc. The heritage in this movie is more based on typical sacrificing the chosen one to make things right that's been done in many movies already.
 * 3) The film focuses on the idea of setting up a Cinematic Universe for Hanna-Barbera, rather than being a actual movie, the film feels cluttered as it tries to throw in a lot of Hanna-Barbara elements without taking that much time to explore much more of those elements, particularly with Captain Caveman's appearance, who didn't end up getting that much more amount of screen time and is then left out and forgotten about after being defeated by Dynomutt into protecting the third skull of Cerberus (though he does appear in end credits).
 * 4) While most of the characters were funny and likable, the new character, Brian Crown/Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg's character) was very annoying and unlikeable, instead of being a serious and competent hero, as many fans were disappointed that the classic Blue Falcon are rarely appeared in this movie.
 * 5) *However, the classic Blue Falcon does makes a cameo appearance and it was later revealed that Radley Crown has retired to Palm Beach, Florida.
 * 6) Despite being part of the main cast, the three Mystery Inc. members, Fred, Velma, and Daphne (while likable) feels rather pointless and forgettable, as they spend most of the film away from Scooby-Doo and Shaggy ending up getting kidnapped by Dick Dastardly in the process of trying to find them and severed no purpose to the actual story. It also rip-off the elements scene of mh:greatestmovies:The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, another film produced by Warner Animation Group, as both friends got captured by villains, but unlike Dick Dastardly however, General Mayhem isn't a actual villain, since she was revealed that she just wanted to make peace with the citizens of Apocalypsburg, just like the rest of The Systar System.
 * 7) *In fact, they actually did get the least more amount of screen time and wasted out of the major characters (with the exception of Captain Caveman, who knocked out by Dynomutt) as Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are the characters that the story gives the most focus to; they could have been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference. It wouldn't even be that much of an issue to cut them from the story since they didn't appear in several movies and shows in the 1980's.
 * 8) Much like the 2016 reboot of The Powerpuff Girls, the Mystery Inc. members (except for Scooby-Doo, which is voiced by Frank Welker) were terribly recast with different voice actors for no discernible reason. The recurring voice actors for the main cast, like Matthew Lillard (Shaggy) and Grey Griffin (Daphne), were even expressed their disappointment at not being contacted when the filmmakers decided to recast the Mystery Inc. gang. Despite that, the recurring voice actor still continues for the role including video games, TV shows, and even current direct-to-video films, aside of Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe.
 * 9) *In addition, one of the best example is that Will Forte's voice performance as Shaggy is obviously mediocre, not very impressive and lacks the charm, compared to the rest of Shaggy actors, like Matthew Lillard, even though he was trying his best to make it familiar to Casey Kasem's impression, to which he considers Kasem an icon.
 * 10) *Gina Rodriguez does not gives good voice performance as Velma.
 * 11) While the animation is great for Reel FX Creative Studios, it tends to look uncanny like Simon Cowell's incredibly realistic rendering design that doesn't get age well with the Tex Avery-esque cartoony designs of the other characters, who only appears at the first and third act.
 * 12) There are too many unnecessary dated pop culture references, modern teen slang, and product placement used in the film. Such as Brian Crown/Blue Falcon dabbing in one scene after he was introduced in the Falcon Fury, the scene where Captain Caveman referred the Mystery Machine as some "dope" wheels, the mention of toxic masculinity from Velma that comes out of nowhere, and the mentions of IKEA, Netflix, Tinder and Walmart.
 * 13) Even though this isn't the first time the franchise has done crossovers, this film's crossover is not done too well as there are too many Hanna-Barbara characters in the film, resulting in Mystery Inc. not getting a lot of focus as Scooby.
 * 14) *Also, even though Scooby-Doo crossovers with Blue Falcon before, it was done way better because the primary focus of the film was kept on Mystery Inc. interacting with Blue Falcon, giving them an even number of screen time, and mystery solving was the main theme instead of typical superhero action and adventure.
 * 15) The story can get rather generic and cliche. Particularly when Shaggy and Scooby-Doo's friendship breaks apart, as it plays the jealous best friend forces friend to chose sides cliche.
 * 16) Some of the characters wasn't that accurate from their cartoon shows, especially in this case of Dynomutt and Captain Caveman. As Dynomutt was bumbling silly robot dog sidekick in cartoon shows; he is a rather more sarcastic and smarter in the movie. And Captain Caveman just spoke normally words rather than his "cave-talk" dialogue.
 * 17) The unnecessary faster pacing can make the movie rather cluttered and hard to follow at times.
 * 18) While the film does pay homage to many Easter eggs, in-jokes and references, the cameos and references of other Hanna-Barbera characters, like Dee Dee Skyes and Captain Caveman, were out of place and intrusive. As the result, Only older audiences and cartoon nerds will know who the characters are.
 * 19) The friendship between Shaggy and Scooby-Doo is pretty much forced, mean-spirited and childish, because Blue Falcon just chose Scooby over Shaggy.

Good Qualities

 * 1) It doesn't have the same spirit to the live-action Scooby Doo films, it tends to steer away from its usual mystery genre, and it manages to stay rather faithful to the Scooby-Doo! franchise through its heart and comedy.
 * 2) It does has some good messages about friendship and teamwork; two of the main themes of the source material, and yet this movie takes them to the most elaborate, with examples such as how friendship can live on and how teamwork can lead to more than just the sake of pairing up with one another, which are positive influences on the film's character development and for its target audience.
 * 3) The CGI animation is great, it works well with the film's tone, and it creates very spooky-themed aesthetics, all thanks to Reel FX Creative Studios.
 * 4) It does have an amount of fast and thrilling action that ties into the film's cartoony and adventure-like tone, especially the air chase scene when Dick Dastardly's ship battles against the Falcon Fury in the beginning.
 * 5) The voice acting isn't all that bad, despite the Mystery Inc. members being recasted.
 * 6) * In particular, Jason Issacs did a awesome job for voicing Dick Dastardly, which makes him an impressive villain.
 * 7) * Frank Welker reprises his 18 year role of of Scooby-Doo (except for Fred, who is voiced by Zac Efron), and is still as great as ever.
 * 8) Good score by Tom Holkenborg.
 * 9) Like mentioned before, most of the characters are likeable and funny like Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Crew themselves, despite Fred, Velma, and Daphne being pointless and forgettable.
 * 10) There is over 340+ Easter Eggs and references, In-Jokes and Homages to the original source material, which make the film rather fun and interesting to watch, despite being out of place and intrusive.
 * 11) This hilarious and memorable line: "Oh please, my friends call me... Dick."
 * 12) *"Okay... Rick."

Reception
SCOOB! receiving mixed reviews from critics and audiences, who praise the callbacks to the franchise, animation, origin story and Issacs and Welker's performance, but criticized for the pacing, voice acting (particularly the recasting of the Mystery Inc. members, mainly Forte) and reliance on pop culture references. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 48% based on 149 reviews, with an average rating of 5.30/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Scoob! is fun enough for youthful viewers and some hardcore fans, but never quite solves the mystery of why audiences shouldn't watch old episodes instead.". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 43 out of 100 based on 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Despite the mixed reviews, it received favorable reviews by the fans of Scooby-Doo and Hanna-Barbera in general alike. Though some fans claimed it's a great installment of the Scooby-Doo franchise, others dismissed that it's a bad, and disappointing installment, and it's a disappointing way to start the cinematic universe, and it was later stated that many people are now re-evaluated the movie more positively for mh:greatestmovies:The Lego Ninjago Movie.

Chris Stuckmann earned this movie a rating of D, saying how there's nothing new or interesting about this movie.

However, despite receiving mixed reception, it topped the digital rental charts in its first three weekends of release.

Upcoming sequel
In June 2021, SCOOB! director Tony Cervone said that a sequel to the film is in development. It is unclear whether it will be a theatrical release or an HBO Max exclusive film.

Videos
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Trivia

 * This movie is the first installment of the Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe from the Warner Animation Group.
 * It spawned several internet memes, such as "My friends call me, Dick." and the plot twist of Officer Jaffe being revealed to be Dick Dastardly in disguise.
 * This is the first Warner Animation Group movie to have a reboot and adaptation of particular source material from Warner Bros.
 * This was the first and last film to use the standard Warner Animation Group logo.
 * However, the trailers and posters still use the old Warner Animation Group logo at all, until Tom & Jerry, when its the last film to use the logo in trailers.
 * This is the seventh overall film from the Warner Animation Group.
 * The movie was hinted of next Warner Animation Group film for release date. In The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Velma Dinkley talks to Emmet about leading us for mission, even through the voice actor is different.
 * Simon Cowell does guest star in the movie as himself, with his son Eric Cowell involved in the voice work as well.
 * With introductions of Dynomutt and Blue Falcon in the film, their first appearances were tied together to "The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour".
 * Overtime during production, Atom Ant, Jabberjaw, and Grape Ape were cut, because, they served no purpose to the movie itself, cluttered the film's storytelling and events, and, had many tendencies of stealing the spotlight from Scooby-Doo. In fact, the film started off as an Avengers-esque team-up film with the Hanna-Barbera canon's use, until the final film became more about the friendships involving Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Machine gang (including Scooby-Doo and Shaggy's idolization of The Falcon Force, since childhood) testing their bond and investigating the titular character's supernatural lineage that ties in with his true purpose and how he's the core symbolism of the source material's themes and the gang's dynamic, with Scooby as the film's protagonist.
 * The final film, according to Tony Cervone, even did take a lot of inspiration from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as a result of it being the Scooby-Doo equivalent to that film.
 * Upon release, due to COVID-19 causing the cancellation of this movie's theatrical release worldwide, WB followed the Trolls World Tour rental strategy and changed it so that not only could you rent the movie for $20, for $5 more, you could buy the movie.
 * On September 9, 2016, Dax Shepard was attached as a director and co-writer during early development, despite his lack of experience with animation.
 * This was Warner Animation Group's first film to not be animated by Animal Logic and/or Sony Pictures Imageworks. Instead, it was provided by Reel FX Animation Studios.