Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? ‘Scoob!’ Misses the Point

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Scooby-Doo, Where are You! was my all-time favorite cartoon when I was a child. I wanted so badly to be one of the gang investigating haunted houses and other mysteries.

That wonderful, cowardly dog and his friends sowed the seeds of my love for the horror genre.

So you can imagine my trepidation when I starting watching Scoob!, the first 3D animated film for the cartoon franchise.

Well, the renditions of the main characters weren’t bad. I liked the re-imagined Fred, Daphne and Velma. I loved the Mystery Machine, which was a 1960s-era van in the cartoon. There wasn’t much change to Shaggy. As for Scooby, he talked way too much compared to his cartoon self. But after a while, I was fine with it.

However, I found the movie a little too frenetic and incoherent. One-third of it revolves around how Shaggy, Scooby and the rest of the Mystery Gang find each other. After that it’s a mishmash of robotic killer drones, the Blue Falcon’s backstory, and Greek mythology.

The movie also features too many characters from the forthcoming Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe. A few of the characters (such as Captain Caveman) don’t get enough airtime to really introduce them to today’s kids, so I’m not sure what the filmmakers hoped to achieve by including them.

A simpler plot would have been better. The old Scooby-Doo cartoons were popular because of their linear and formulaic storylines. I think they’d work for today’s younger audience as well.

And the fact that the gang had to tangle with Cerberus, the giant, three-headed guardian dog of the Greek Underworld? I don’t know. I just wasn’t feeling it. The villains in the Scooby-Doo cartoons were scarier, in my opinion.

In short, Scoob! made me really miss the old Scooby-Doo.


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