Latest ‘Scoob!’ lets down its iconic talking pooch
Jinkies! After more than 50 years of Scooby-Doo shenanigans, you’d think they have the franchise template pretty much down by now: Take a snack-loving talking dog, add in his hippie best friend, their mystery-solving teen pals, a groovy van, middle-aged bad guys in rubber masks and unbelievably large sandwiches aplenty, and then stick to the script.
Directed by Tony Cervone, the animated reboot “Scoob!” (★★g☆; rated PG; on streaming platforms Friday) takes all that and overcomplicates it to a frustrating degree, especially for a movie introducing a classic concept to a new generation. The all-star voice cast (including Zac Efron, Gina Rodriguez and Mark Wahlberg) mostly works, old characters have gotten a needed cartoon makeover, and it’s hard to go wrong including an iconic canine with a strange speech pattern. But after a super-fun opening, it’s all “Ruh-roh” from there.
The film opens with an origin story, first with a meet-cute between young, lonely Shaggy and stray pup Scooby on the Venice Beach boardwalk involving a slab of stolen gyro meat, and then a Halloween run-in with their fellow meddling kids who will become their partners and confidantes.
Ten years later, Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte), Scoob (Frank Welker), Fred (Efron), Daphne (Amanda Seyfried) and Velma (Rodriguez) are hundreds of cases deep as Mystery Inc. but want to take it to the next level. Enter Simon Cowell (playing himself ) as a potential investor, though he has the gall to call out Scooby and Shaggy as the group’s weak links: “When it comes down to it, friendship won’t save the day.”
Feelings hurt, Scoob and Shaggy head to a bowling alley, where they’re attacked by transforming Rottens.
Splitting up the team for much of the movie is fine for a sequel but in a reimagining it doesn’t really work because you miss the magic of the Mystery Inc. chemistry and how each member contributes to the whole.
Visually, however, the movie pops with its animation, and for old-school fans, there are so many Easter eggs and gags from the past that look good in a modern reinvention. The puns and popculture shout-outs are also fairly clever: An odd jab at the Supreme Court will go over some children’s heads.
Shag and Scoob are fittingly goofy, Fred’s a likable dim bulb, but the female characters receive an upgrade from their classic personas: Daphne’s no distressed damsel anymore, and Velma exudes thoughtful sass as well as hightech smarts. Wahlberg brings a fun macho insecurity to Falcon Jr., and Tracy Morgan should be only Captain Caveman from now on. Cowell’s the only weird choice, not timely enough to be relevant and not exactly timeless for a franchise where, over the years, where Scooby-Doo has guested with Batman, the Harlem Globetrotters, Dick Van Dyke and Cher.
Scooby has quite a history to which “Scoob!” pays homage, though it seems to have missed the most basic lessons.