Movie Review: Scoob! (2020)

[Please note: this is a Scooby-Doo movie in the same way The Lego Batman Movie was a movie about Lego Batman — that is to say, very loosely. If all you want is a Scooby-Doo movie here, this is not for you.]

Equal parts origin story and spin-off of all other established versions of this character, Scoob! is a 2020 animated feature film based on the Hanna-Barbera character and series, Scooby-Doo. Shaggy (Will Forte) and Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) join up with Fred (Zac Efron), Daphne (Amada Seyfried), and Velma (Gina Rodriguez) and become a paranormal mystery solving team, but soon find themselves embroiled in the middle of a potentially world-ending mystery. Scoob! also features voice work from Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Ken Jeong and Tracy Morgan.

+ all of the voices are great, though Shaggy not being voiced by Matthew Lillard was a big loss. Wahlberg and Isaacs are the standouts for me, which is funny as they are none of the Mystery Inc. quintet. Jeong was funny as always (especially as I’ve just finished another full viewing of Community) and it was a joy to see him play a character most would not associate him with. Of the main team, Gina Rodriguez was probably my favourite though I freely admit I never thought of Velma as being Latina before
+ there were a couple of laughs, but they were very few and far between. Most things that I found funny will go over younger viewers’ heads

– I found the animation to be clean and smooth, but totally lifeless. Shaggy just looks like Flint Lockwood, from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, with a different haircut, complete with the same big mouth, rounded teeth, wobbly jaw ‘goofy’ faces. There was no ‘character’ to the characters, for example in the same way Scooby/Shaggy running in place to try and get away from a monster works in 2D
– the plot is certainly not difficult to follow (for older viewers, at least) but there sure is a lot going on. I’m not sure why this couldn’t just have been about new friends solving would-be supernatural mysteries. Now, it feels likes Avengers, before there were introductions, or doing a Justice League movie before doing solo flicks (how dumb, imagine that!)

Should you see this film: I did not care for this. The loss of Lillard as Shaggy was a rough hit from the beginning, but as the movie went on and things were less like the Scooby-Doo we know, I lost interest. Don’t bother with this.