Movie Review: ‘Scoob!’ brings laughs and a bit of nostalgic fun home

“Scoob!” gives us the origin story of how Shaggy met Scooby, and then the rest of the gang, then leads us on a globe-trotting adventure (sorry Shaggy). It’s a fun, funny, family film, but may take it too far from the usual Scooby-Doo mystery for some old-school fans.

“Scoob!” starts out when Scooby-Doo had no name and was just a pup, and Shaggy was a lonely kid. We know they become best buds and good friends with Velma, Fred and Daphne, but it’s fun to see just how. The movie quickly moves on to the characters as you remember them, having put many bad guys away and looking to expand Mystery Inc. Enter Dick Dastardly!

If you’re not familiar with many of the various Hanna-Barbera cartoons, then you may not know who Dick Dastardly is. Scoob and the gang don’t. I’m not sure if Dastardly was ever in a Scooby-Doo cartoon, but if he was, it wasn’t often. “Scoob!” brings together a few different Hanna-Barbera characters for no other reason than to appeal to the nostalgia factor of older fans. But I guess if you need a bad guy, why not Dastardly?

The Mystery Inc. gang end up teaming up with Blue Falcon and Dynomut … well, a new version of the superhero duo, along with an unknown girl member of the team who seems to now run the show, Dee Dee. In the old cartoon, Falcon was the straight man and Dynomutt was pretty much a robot version of Scooby-Doo. Now it’s the opposite, with Blue Falcon being the bumbling one and Dynomutt playing the straight man. In fact, I’m not even sure why they had funnyman Ken Jeong do his voice, as Dynomutt really isn’t funny at all.

Captain Caveman also makes an appearance, but not the Captain you may remember. This version is voiced by Tracy Morgan, and while he has some of the same characteristics as the old character, he sounds nothing like him. He just sounds like Tracy Morgan.

The other voices in the film fit the characters they were playing. It has an all-star voice cast with Zac Efron as Fred, Amanda Seyfried as Daphne, Will Forte as Shaggy, Gina Rodriguez as Velma (adding some diversity to the gang without changing things too much), Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo, Mark Walberg as Blue Falcon and Jason Isaacs as Dick Dastardly. There’s also a celebrity playing himself that seemed a bit out of place.

I really enjoyed the film overall and it has a lot of laughs with a few nostalgia nods for the adults. But the classic character changes and the fact that these characters turn it into more of a team-up movie than an old school Scooby-Doo mystery made it less enjoyable. I watched it with my family with ages 21 to 60 and we all agreed we would have liked to have just seen a new “typical” Scooby-Doo and the Gang mystery.

“Scoob!” is rated PG and is out now on digital to rent for $20 or purchase for $25. It was originally supposed to be released in theaters, which is why the price is so high to start. It would have been fun to see it on a huge screen, but watching it on your television doesn’t take away from it. I suggest you spend the extra $5 to purchase it if you have young kids who may want to watch it more than once. There are no end credit scenes, but there is some cool art with a couple of more Hanna-Barbera characters at the start of the credits. 

PS. You may want to download a “Scoob!” Watch-At-Home Party Pack before you start the movie. There’s an online premier party at 7 p.m. Eastern on May 15, 2020. Audiences are invited to join the Movie Night Premiere Event and Twitter Watch Party with a dedicated red carpet pre-show with talent appearances, exclusive content, and more. Once the watch party begins, audiences will be engaging in a live watch party hosted on the official Scoob Twitter handle using the hashtag, #SCOOBMovieNight.

In The Parks

You can meet Scooby and the gang at both Universal Studios Florida and Universal Studios Hollywood when the parks reopen. 

You can ride Scooby-Doo – The Museum of Mysteries trackless dark ride at Warner Bros World theme park in Abu Dhabi. (Video Below)

Escapeology in Orlando has a Scooby-Doo-themed escape room.

Sally Dark Rides used to have Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Scary Swamp at Six Flags St. Louis. Watch the ride-through with John Wood, CEO of Sally Dark Rides and Jim Harig, COO of Six Flags St. Louis, below.

You may also remember when The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera ride was at Universal Studios Florida. It featured many of the characters in “Scoob!”. (Video Below)

PS. Theres a fun abandoned carnival/theme park scene in “Scoob!”.

The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera:

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery of the Scary Swamp:

Scooby-Doo – The Museum of Mysteries at Warner Bros World:

Scooby-Doo and other Universal Studios Florida characters dance in a Mardi Gras show: