This movie is Ghostbusters meets Superheroes but no way shape or form is a Scooby Doo and company movie.
It is a prime example of producers not knowing anything about the original material and what made it special and fun, theyjust thought that a talking dog and super heroes would appeal to kids and thats exacly what you get, a lazy writen, directed and voiced movie.
Hannah Barbera characters get trown in just because they coudnt thing of anything else to use and they are completely wasted.
There is no mystery at all and Fred, Daphne and Velma are barely in the movie and they are useless. Shaggy and Scoob only have terrible jokes and they just become unlikable and not like the lovable bafoons of the classic series.
The use of pop culture in this movie makes it feel dated and it is also a massive eye roll everytime something show up become it is not cleverly made. WHY IS SIMON COWELL IN THIS MOVIE AND WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE THEY REUSED THE ANIMATION FROM SHREK 2 FAR FAR AWAY IDOL????? Also the ending with the horrible song that comes from nowhere with all the flying discs and DJ FALCON.... please!
It is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen because it really is an insult to what Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Inc. is.
Welcome to the World of Reboots that don't understand what people love about the original, episode 238.
Seriously though, this is not a bad movie per se. It is fine as a fast paced animated adventure to entertain kids for a while, but it is not more than that. Now, I don't say it has to be, but animated movies have endless possibilities and this one came with a lot of potential that unfortunately didn't unfold. Or, you know, lazy writing.
At best this is a Hanna Barbera crossover movie (because everything needs to be a cinematic universe now) and at worst this is a film with an identity crisis that pretends to be one thing (a Scooby Doo film) but actually wants to be another (a superhero adventure).
Why they didn't just make an origin story about Blue Falcon Jr. and Dynomutt (Mark Wahlberg and Ken Jeong were excellent in the roles) is beyond me, because that's obviously what they wanted to do here, but I assume Scooby Doo just beat them out by sheer popularity.
The first 15 minutes or so are actually great. It starts as an origin story about how young Shaggy and puppy Scooby meet and befriend the rest of Mystery Inc and honestly if the movie just had been about that it would have been fine. Or well, just be a Scooby Doo mystery, like at all.
Twenty minutes in and the plot completely lost me. What started as a Scooby Doo film with potential turned into a supernatural superhero movie with ancient prophecies, spaceships (airships? I don't even care), robots and Hanna Barbera characters randomly thrown in. Honestly, the whole story about Scooby and his destiny felt so random, you could've replaced any character from the franchise with an original one, tweak some things and make this just an original action adventure film and I guarantee you no one had complained about it. Sure, it would've been a tad unoriginal and bland but fine for what it is, but using Scooby Doo and it's characters cheapens the whole thing because it is so obvious that the tie-in is just used a quick cash grab, it's embarrassing on WB's side.
Fred, Velma and Daphne are only in this film because they are required to be, they add literally nothing to the story and could've been easily cut out. Which is a shame. What makes Scooby Doo great is these characters together, something that only briefly occurs in the beginning and the end of the film. Shaggy gets more to do, because the plot says so but his conflict with Scooby is set up in the first five minutes of the film and comes and goes as expected and even a six year old can guess it's development and outcome. Shaggy and Scooby are also not their most likable versions here (except when they're children, because they're so adorable).
The shame is, I really enjoy the brief moments with Fred, Daphne and Velma. Fred is a glorious himbo (I still credit Freddie Prinze Jr for that take on Fred), Daphne is smart and resourceful and Velma not only the one to figure things out but also very good with technology in this version. I would've enjoyed these characters in another scenario, especially since their dynamic was also a lot of fun.
As said before, the Blue Falcon Team was also fun to watch. What didn't work was those two tossed together in a movie that has nothing to do with it's actually source material. If I want to watch a superhero movie, I watch a superhero movie. If I watch a Scooby Doo movie, I want a mystery and whacky shenanigans.
What's also a downside is a clearly wasted great voice cast. Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried and Gina Rodriguez were great as more modern versions of Fred, Daphne and Velma. Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs and especially Ken Jeong stole every scene they were in. I just wish they had gotten a better movie around those performances. What sticks out like a sore thumb however is Will Forte as Shaggy. I'm sorry, but why not let Matthew Lillard voice him like he has been for the last couple of years?
The humor is a lot hit or miss. Some of the pop culture references work really well and the physical comedy also has its moments. Some jokes however feel forced and are already pretty dated. I also can't wrap my mind around everything regarding Simon Cowell in this film. Like why?
The animation is decent enough, but sometimes very stale and feels unpolished. I don't know if this is another case of animators didn't get enough time to do it properly or it Warner Bros just didn't care, because style-wise it feels a lot like trying to ride the Illumination kool-aid but without the love for details and actual care.
This movie was a very frustrating experience. I can tell there could've been a good (maybe even great) Scooby Doo buried deep deep inside the finish product, but it just tries too hard to follow current trends and jump on the superhero movie wave to be stand on its own. Too bad, really. Unfortunately this makes it just one of many instead of its own unique individual film.
I’m a big fan of Scooby-Doo cartoons. I grew up watching them and still to this day I find them really fun. Even though I knew I should not be expecting much from this movie I had a little hope I’d like this movie. Sadly, I really didn’t.
The whole movie and plot are boring. You know what’s going to happen right from the start. You already know what the conflict by Scooby and Shaggy will be. Like I said, boring. By the way, from the trailer I had watched, I expected this film to be like an origin story to the gang. Not that I liked this idea, but I guess it would be better than what we got.
The sad part is that this movie have the Scooby gang reunited in its fully for so little time. It’s a really bad and strange decision. The best aspect of why Scooby-Doo is great is absent here. Instead there’s a bad super hero story that makes me lazy even to describe it. I have no idea why they did that — yeah, they probably wanted to follow the super heroes boom, but really, did the filmmakers or executives really expected that this would work?
Also, there’s an appearance of some Hannah-Barbera characters, like Muttley, Dick Dastardly and Captain Caveman. Not sure why they were put here, definitely wasn’t aware they would be here. This film is mix of everything and not one element in this is actually good.
Overall, a forgettable movie that has nothing special and new.
Review by Bunny HarvestmanBlockedParent2020-08-10T00:09:11Z
So, some main complaints about this movie are the pop culture references and it supposedly having a political agenda. I found the pop culture references to be overall great. They were funny and fun! As far as it having some political agenda; I dug and dug looking for anyone to tell me specifically how and no one has actually really explained, so I call bull. If hearing the words “toxic masculinity” in this movie got you all bent out of shape and disliking this movie in its entirety then perhaps you're being just as stupidly extreme as those whose radical views you are against. You're just looking for something to be offended about; just like they're accused of constantly doing. The statement fit well enough in context to when it was said and it could be amusing either way you feel about it. I think it depends on how you, as the viewer, take it. Personally I'm in the middle about a lot and feel I can understand views from both sides. Is toxic masculinity a thing? Yeah. So is toxic femininity, and sadly, it's been less talked about in today's societal climate. I'll give you that much. But, I'm not about to let that one single completely-relevant-to-the-current-world-around-us comment have me judge the whole movie so harshly. If you can accept that in past movies there were things that admittedly weren't so great that fit right in because of the time period, then you can accept the same here. Anyway! Moving on to what I thought of the movie outside all of that.
I absolutely adored the younger versions of everyone. I kind of wish that the movie went on to focus on a big adventure they had as kids that lead to Mystery, Inc being created as adults, rather than the majority of it being a story unfolding once they were all grown up; but maybe even better would be if a new series based on hundreds of their adventures together as kids were to be made. (Maybe if feedback on Scoob from huge Scooby Doo fans was taken into serious consideration, then a really cool, long-running television series could be done!) I didn't dislike the grown up characters though. Simon Cowell was an interesting choice that did feel a little outdated, but I guess at least it was unexpectedly humorous. Further into the movie I remember feeling like the music was too much and too loud in some areas. The robotic creatures, when they weren't transformed into scary scorpion, alien looking beings, were quite cute and vaguely remind me of the Grungees from the 1990 Jetsons movie. Considering that Hanna-Barbera characters were a part of this, maybe they were even inspired from there somewhat. I watched and loved many Hanna-Barbera cartoons as a kid, so that was a fun aspect. Overall, I thought it was a fun film surrounding the bonds of friendship; and it had laughs for both kids and adults.