SCOOB (2020)

Studio:      Warner Bros. Animation
Director:    Tony Cervone
Writer:      Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott, Matt Lieberman
Producer:  Pam Coats, Allison Abbate
Stars:     Will Forte, Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Kiersey Clemons, Ken Jeong, Tracy Morgan, Frank Welker

Review Score:

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Summary:

Scooby and the gang team up with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt to stop Dick Dastardly from opening a portal to the underworld.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

As a lonely child, Shaggy Rogers bonds over their mutual love of food with a stray puppy hiding from a cop on Venice Beach. Forced to improvise a name for the dog when the cop confronts them, Shaggy names him ‘Scooby Dooby Doo’ after a box of Scooby Snacks. Shaggy gifts Scooby with a keepsake collar and they become best friends.

Bullies throw Shaggy and Scooby’s bag of candy into a supposedly haunted neighborhood house while they trick-or-treat on Halloween. Fred Jones, Velma Dinkley, and Daphne Blake pass by and decide to help the duo retrieve their candy. The five kids encounter a ghost inside the house, but discover it is actually an elaborate ruse created by Mr. Rigby to keep people away from his stash of stolen electronics. After the police arrest Rigby, the new friends agree to team up again to solve more mysteries.

Ten years later, Simon Cowell considers investing in Mystery Incorporated, but only on the condition that Shaggy and Scooby are not involved because he considers them unreliable weak links. Shaggy and Scooby slink off alone to a bowling alley where they are attacked by small shapeshifting robots.

Shaggy and Scooby get rescued when they are suddenly beamed aboard the Falcon Fury. In addition to Dee Dee Skyes, Shaggy and Scooby meet their superhero idols Dynomutt and Blue Falcon, who is actually the original Blue Falcon’s bumbling son Brian.

Dick Dastardly and his robots chase the Falcon Fury in Dastardly’s airship. The heroes explain that Dastardly is trying to collect two more of the three skulls of Cerberus to open a mystical portal, although they do not know why Dastardly is also after Scooby. Dee Dee identifies that the second skull is in the Gobi Desert, but Blue Falcon falls for a trap that leads them to an abandoned amusement park in Romania instead.

Fred, Velma, and Daphne interview the bowling alley attendant to find out what happened to Shaggy and Scooby. They also recover a malfunctioning robot with a stray mustache hair. Velma’s research related to the clues reveals Dick Dastardly wants Scooby because Scooby is the last known descendant of Peritas, Alexander the Great’s dog.

After retrieving the Cerberus skull from the Gobi Desert, Dastardly and his robots pursue the heroes through the Romanian amusement park. Upon their escape, the heroes give Scooby a hero suit to highlight his importance to Dastardly. Because Scooby has to remove Shaggy’s keepsake collar to wear the suit, and because Dastardly told him he was expendable, Shaggy begins feeling like he is unneeded and losing Scooby’s friendship.

Dastardly impersonates an attractive cop to capture Fred, Velma, and Daphne. Aboard his airship, the trio learns Dastardly needs Scooby to unlock a gate to the underworld where Alexander and Peritas hid their treasure. Dastardly additionally reveals that his dog Muttley became trapped in the underworld treasure room and he wants to retrieve him.

Velma hotwires a radio rig to communicate to the Falcon Fury that Dastardly is headed toward Messick Mountain to retrieve the final Cerberus skull. Blue Falcon’s team gets to Messick Mountain first, but discovers they have to defeat Captain Caveman in ritualistic combat to acquire the skull.

Having stayed in the Falcon Fury to be by himself, Shaggy retrieves Scooby’s collar and remembers his childhood promise to never leave Scooby. Disguised as Fred, Dastardly arrives and tricks Shaggy into taking him to Scooby. Dastardly kidnaps Scooby, collects the Cerberus skull, and destroys the Falcon Fury, but releases Fred, Velma, Daphne, and the Mystery Machine.

In Athens, Dastardly uses the three skulls in tandem with Scooby’s paw to resurrect Cerberus and magically build a mystical recreation of ancient Greece. Dastardly unlocks the underworld gate and reunites with Muttley.

Shaggy rallies everyone by realizing his jealousy was unfounded. The heroes upgrade the Mystery Machine with the Falcon Fury’s engines to fly to Athens. Dastardly shoots down and destroys the Mystery Machine, but Dynomutt rescues everyone. Scooby rejoins the gang. Blue Falcon finally demonstrates his heroism by helping defeat Cerberus, who is sent back to the underworld.

A riddle reveals that the underworld portal can only be sealed by the friendship between a human and a dog. The catch is that one of the two has to remain on the underworld side of the gate. Shaggy and Scooby both volunteer to make the sacrifice, but Shaggy ultimately locks himself on the other side.

A statue appears and reveals a secret backdoor Alexander and Peritas created so they could be reunited. Shaggy emerges from the hidden door and returns to Scooby. Shaggy replaces his collar around Scooby’s neck. With help from the robots, Blue Falcon’s team captures Dick Dastardly and Muttley.

Scooby and the gang open a Mystery Inc. office in Venice. Blue Falcon’s team celebrates the grand opening by gifting the kids with a futuristic Mystery Machine. Scooby and the gang prepare to embark on their next case.

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Review:

Hold up. Some people are unwilling to give “Scoob” a fair shake because stubbornness forbids them from accepting anyone other than Matthew Lillard as the voice of Shaggy? They do know a grumpier generation similarly folded their arms and harrumphed at Lillard because they could only associate the role with Casey Kasem, right?

To a degree, I get it. I initially slumped my shoulders with some rashly prejudicial disappointment when Kate Micucci took over Velma duties on newer cartoons. My ears had grown so invested in Mindy Cohn’s tone, I ultimately forgot what previous Velmas even sounded like. Cohn was Velma to me.

Micucci made the part her own though. More importantly, she reminded me that when we’re talking about a 50-year-old multimedia monster that’s been through as many evolutions as Scooby-Doo has, the characters matter more than the actors who portray them.

Dismissing “Scoob” for not being whatever the property was in the past is shortsightedly foolish, not to mention a bad faith denial of one of Scooby’s greatest talents: the ability to adapt to new eras and new audiences while still retaining the familiar flavor of the franchise. Growing up doesn’t have to mean growing apart, which funnily enough happens to be one of the movie’s main themes. Trust in reliable pals to have your back. They always come through in the end, just like “Scoob” does.

“Scoob” starts with a flashback where sad little loner Shaggy encounters stray puppy Scooby for the first time. Their meet-cute moments are beyond adorable, possessing the kind of heartstring-ripping schmaltz that could bring an affectionate tear to even the hardest Sons of Anarchy outlaw’s hairy cheek.

While out trick-or-treating on Halloween, the dogtastic duo runs into Fred, Velma, and Daphne. They’re meeting for the first time too. Daphne wears a Wonder Woman costume. Velma dresses as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who Shaggy first confuses for a Harry Potter character, then refers to as Judge Judy. Jokes like these aren’t exactly dealing in cutting edge humor, but pop culture references hone gags to be plenty sharp for a contemporary family film aiming for inoffensively broad appeal.

Meta material winks at anyone who isn’t impressed by kid-friendly laughs. Mark Wahlberg may or may not be taking a good-humored shot at brother Donny when he talks about two buddies realizing “one of them is destined for greatness and the other one is destined for… other stuff.” Zac Efron seems to definitely be taking a sarcastically self-effacing route when Fred makes a comment alluding to getting by on good looks.

“Scoob” adds another layer for longtime enthusiasts too. Deep cut drops have Shaggy and Scooby hitting the lanes at (Iwao) Takamoto Bowl, named after the legendary animator who designed Scooby. Opening credits reimagine the original “Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?” intro with terrific recreations of those classic shots. End credits pile on even more Hanna-Barbera nods, offering an epilogue stacked with cartoon cameos as well as another adventure told entirely in still frames.

The main story involves Dick Dastardly seeking to resurrect the mythological creature Cerberus in order to open a portal to the underworld. The real reason why Dastardly needs to get there so badly will definitely delight “Wacky Races” fans. To do so, Dastardly needs Scooby. But standing in his way are superheroes Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, who team up with Shaggy and Scoob after Simon Cowell causes a rift that inadvertently separates the members of Mystery Incorporated.

Regardless of anyone’s personal feelings on casting, there’s no denying that “Scoob” assembles a Murderer’s Row of talent. Will Forte melts into Shaggy immediately. Flat jokes receive instant inflation simply because Forte’s inherently cartoony charm makes any badness more bearable. Surprisingly, Ken Jeong might be the only person who underperforms, as his Dynomutt serves as a subdued straight man who rolls eyes with a sigh more than he does anything explosive.

Even actors I had reservations about quickly warmed up to win me over. In particular, I wasn’t enthusiastic about Mark Wahlberg playing Blue Falcon. But Wahlberg’s Falcon turns out to be the original’s slightly arrogant, slightly clueless, but well-meaning son Brian. In other words, it’s a part perfectly suited to Wahlberg’s persona.

I also worried that the stone cold seriousness Jason Isaacs brought to shows like “Awake” and “Star Trek: Discovery” might make his Dick Dastardly too sinister instead of silly. Not at all. Whenever Dastardly enters frame, you can practically picture Isaacs’ face impossibly ballooning like his animated counterpart as he contorts to express the venerable villain’s characteristic inflections and rolled R’s.

What does anyone have to really complain about? Simon Cowell’s cameo? That’s totally in step with the odd, often dated guest stars like Don Knotts, The Three Stooges, and Phyllis Diller who were the whole hook of “The New Scooby-Doo Movies.” Plus, “Scoob” squeezes one last great gag out of Cowell’s inclusion by cleverly incorporating him into the ending.

What else? “Scoob” separates the gang for much of the movie, filling the space with a bunch of other Hanna-Barbera properties instead? The Scooby gang always splits up during escapades. Besides, what fun-loving fan doesn’t enjoy seeing folks like Dick Dastardly, Dynomutt, and Captain Caveman? Hanna-Barbera mashups were a staple of old school shows like “Laff-A-Lympics.” Outside characters like Blue Falcon weave organically into the storyline line too. Okay, maybe Captain Caveman gets shoehorned into an arguably unnecessary sequence. But why would anyone complain about getting to hear Tracy Morgan shout Cavey’s signature battle cry?

Valid quibbles are mostly minor, proving how much more the movie does overwhelmingly well. Dee Dee Skyes gets crowded out by an already full roster. A copout conclusion (serendipitous statue, really?) suggests someone simply invented the quickest solution to a problem one of the other five scriptwriters created in a different draft. Music supervisor Gabe Hilfer also goes way overboard on needle drops. Tupac’s “California Love” has been licensed so many times by now, I think it appears in more movies than “Happy Birthday.”

What “Scoob” does deliver far outweighs what it doesn’t. Morals about it being okay to be scared and accepting that relationships change offer wholesome value without overbearingly getting in the way of Saturday morning antics. “Scoob” stays incredibly fast-paced, cramming in a ton of quips and content with barely a lull long enough to break for the bathroom. It’s a movie loaded with hijinks, heroics, humor, and a little horror that can etch ear-to-ear smiles on Scooby fans of all ages. Shouldn’t that always be what Scooby-Doo is all about?

Review Score: 85

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