Scoob! (2020) | Film Review

At this point in time, Scooby-Doo has been rebooted more times than Spider-Man. Since the late sixties, every few years a new property in either film or television comes along to once again reinvent our beloved Great Dane and his friends at Mystery, Inc. in 2020 is no exception, as we now have the digital release of his origin story in Scoob!

Utilizing modern day CGI animation for this go-round, Scoob! opens with how a hungry hippie named Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte) met up with a wily and equally hungry pup soon-to-be known as Scooby-Doo (voiced by legend Frank Welker). After a typical Shaggy/Scooby food romp escapade, the duo find themselves engrossed in the mystery of an abandoned haunted house where they also meet Fred, Daphne, and Velma (Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Gina Rodriguez). A friendship begins, a team forms, and the rest is history.

Flash forward several years, and Mystery, Inc. is looking to branch out into a legitimate business venture. To do so they need investors, and in an incredibly forced “star” cameo from Simon Cowell, our team breaks up as no one can seem to put their finger on what it is exactly that Shaggy and Scooby bring to the table. As they drown their sorrows in bowling and munchies, Scooby and Shaggy become targets who are pursued relentlessly, eventually turning to the Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg) and his cohorts to save them. From here on out, explaining the plot’s direction would be akin to spending too much time deciphering the Matrix, and somehow making even less sense.

As a life-long Scooby-Doo fan (yes, I personally own the entire box set of this mutt’s numerous adventures), I will say this first and foremost: Scoob! is not a typical Scooby-Doo film. At least, not after the first 30 minutes or so. In all honesty, it feels more like a weird hybrid of Pixar and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and not at all as though the filmmakers were attempting to honor the legacy of one of television and film’s most iconic animals.

It is not an issue with production: the animation is visually stunning and exciting. It’s fun zipping around this world and I have little doubt that young children unaware of the property will eat Scoob! up. It also isn’t an issue with the voice cast, as almost everyone handles their roles amicably. The only true exception is Will Forte, and I mean no disrespect to Forte as he does his best, but Matthew Lillard is a far stronger Shaggy. Forte feels like a paid performance, where Lillard wore the soul of that character on his shoulders in much the same way Casey Kasem did throughout the original run.

The dilemma here is strictly with the insanely bonkers script. After the initial setup with numerous well-timed nods to the franchise (including a beautifully recaptured opening credits montage), Scoob! decides to ditch its supernatural mystery roots and utilize occasional supporting characters from the franchise to completely reinvent itself – along with its lead character – as some type of superhero journey in the making…which ultimately culminates in opening and closing a gateway to Hell. Yes, you read that right. Zoinks and jinkies all wrapped up in one. How many Scooby Snacks do you have to be on to assemble a script so far removed from the source material it’s nearly unrecognizable?

Expanding the franchise is one thing. Acknowledging and then completely abolishing that history in the span of 90 minutes is another. Wanting nothing more than to love this new vision, it is sad that I have to report my extreme disappointment in the story the filmmakers ultimately elected to tell. There is so much promise here – the character moments between Shaggy and Scooby, as well as the collective of Mystery, Inc. moments, truly do shine – but by the end the film just oozes with wasted potential. Instead of leaving audiences clamoring for more, the only question Scoob! truly left hanging is this: Scooby-Doo, where ARE you?