Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins

Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins (also known as Scooby-Doo 3: The Mystery Begins) is a 2009 American made-for-television comedy film. It is the third installment in the Scooby-Doo live-action film series, directed by Brian Levant, produced by Warner Premiere and distributed by Warner Home Video. It is set before the event of the first film, revealing how the Mystery Inc. gang met and the events of their very first case.

The film stars Robbie Amell, Kate Melton, Hayley Kiyoko and Nick Palatas.

Plot
During their high school years, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and his newly adopted dog, Scooby-Doo, join forces to investigate a haunting at their school.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The Mystery Inc. gang (except for Shaggy and Scooby) look nothing like their own original designs.
 * 2) Much like The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas, the plot is a mish-mash of references to the cartoon, and tries to shoehorn in the origins of all the famous traits, such as how and when Shaggy met Scooby, how the gang met each other, how they solved their very first case, how they got the Mystery Machine, etc.
 * 3) The Mystery Inc. gang are depicted as generic, bland high school stereotypes; Fred is the jock, Daphne is the spoiled rich girl, Velma is the nerd, and Shaggy is the loser.
 * 4) Robbie Amell and Hayley Kiyoko are badly casted as Fred and Velma, because Robbie isn't blonde like Fred and Velma isn't Asian.
 * 5) Similar to Garfield: The Movie, while the CGI used for Scooby-Doo is decent, he looks way too cartoony for a live-action environment, which makes him stand out and nosedives headfirst into the Uncanny Valley.
 * 6) The way the people reacted when Scooby licked the guy’s face was over the top, then Scooby was presumed dangerous.
 * 7) The villain, Principal Deedle, is extremely obvious as he points out his desires for the misprinted stamps in the beginning of the film.
 * 8) Poor acting.
 * 9) Some immature jokes, like where Scooby farts and Shaggy smells it, but at least it's the only fart joke of the entire film.
 * 10) At times, it feels more like a generic teen comedy rather than a mystery film.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Some connections to the source material.
 * 2) Some bits can get a chuckle.
 * 3) The ending has some references to Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?, The Scooby-Doo Show, and What's New, Scooby Doo?.
 * 4) Even if this film came out in 2009, in the midst of Cartoon Network's first dark age, it’s still pretty enjoyable.
 * 5) It’s at least an improvement over the previous films.
 * 6) Frank Welker, who currently is the voice of Scooby-Doo, got to voice him in the movie, which was cool to see in the film.
 * 7) As mentioned above; there is only 1 fart joke in the entire movie, now THAT is impressive.

Video
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