Movie Man Darian Watching All Night Long

Scoob!

This film is a disgrace! This film spits in the face of any fan of the beloved franchise that is Scooby-Doo. This is a film that had such potential but went off the rails quick. This films’s story was messy the portrayal of the characters that were hollow and the plot was paper thin. It isn’t that difficult to make an entertaining Scooby - Doo film as their are tons and tons of cartoon features that are released every year and this film has a very hard time finding its footing in where the hell it wants to go. One moment it is trying to be emotional and impactful the next it has these action elements and heavy pop culture references every five minutes. The film never really knows what it wants to be and it’s sad because this film had such potential. As the Animation looks fantastic but the story was just poorly structured and poorly executed. 

Firstly, The film was  trying too hard to be modern. Now a lot of films especially the cartoon films that are being released now are trying to be carful of how they say a joke and try to be safe with how they represent their characters. Now I understand that but their gets to a point where the social environment bleeds into the frame of this film in a very uncomfortably cringe way that just seemed very forced. Their are countless pop culture references to like hashtags and even the song Shallow from a Star is born. And without spoiling the film their is an actual sub plot about something Simon Cowell said to the gang that offends Scooby and Shaggy and the film just tried to cram so many pop culture references and be relevant that it seemed to be so exhausting by the time the film finished. It never tried to just enjoy the moment it was so wrapped up in this political awareness and if you wanna have one or two jokes sure go ahead but don’t bang my head with it repeatedly scene after scene unless it has actual relevance to the story. The jokes fell flat and theirs probably one joke I laughed at in this film which is sad because I did want to have a good time with this film but the way the film presented itself was just so poorly done. The jokes were mediocre and it was way to reliant on current trends to make the audience laugh which you shouldn’t do you can use it as the overall style of humour for the film if that’s what your going for but it just didn’t work here and it was unfunny and incredibly painful to watch at times due to it’s forced nature of humour. 

Secondly, The Voice cast was ok but could of been so much better. The films voice cast was mediocre at best as the voices didn’t stand out in any way that really made them engaging in any sense the only person that did  a good job was the legendary voice actor Frank Welker. The voice cast was a very odd voice for the most part I love Zac Efron but he just didn’t fit in this film at all as well Will Forte as Shaggy was another odd choice and just didn’t fit for me. The original voice cast Matthew Lillard, Grey Griffin and Frank Welker all should of been used as the key voice cast as those guys have been doing the voices for the characters for years in countless direct to DVD movies and the many TV series that have aired as well. For them not to be back for the big animated film by Warner Brothers was very weird as I don’t know why they didn’t just use them as a lot of people myself included identify those actors as those loveable characters and to recast the whole film with popular actors that people may know a bit better was such a insult to the cast that have poured their heart and souls into these characters. Now don’t get me wrong I love Zac Efron and Will Forte but they didn’t fit these characters the charisma that was needed just wasn’t their and I give them credit for trying but their performances in this film was Hollow and the only saving grace was the brilliance of Frank Welker and not even Mark Wahlberg who actually wasn’t that bad could save this film. Overall the cast could of been just so much better next time Warner Brothers why not just use the actors that have been carrying this franchise on their back for years instead of hiring popular actors just to be relevant. 

Lastly, Scoob! Was a horrible film that had potential to be great if they recast the film and rewrote the script this Would of been a freaking fun film but instead we ended up with Shaggy and Scooby singing shallows to Simon Cowell. The film was a insult to any fans of the beloved Scooby - Doo name it was uncomfortably unfunny and the plot was wired and paper thin with no engaging points at all Scoob! Was surprisingly one of the worst films I’ve seen all year and I really wanted to like this film too. 

This film centres on how The mystery inc gang got to know one another and become what is mystery inc Incorporated. When they get older and when Scooby and Shaggy get beamed you to a unknown place they learn that Scoob has great importance and must protect him before far darker forces use him for quite sinister intentions 

Rated PG : for some action, language and rude/suggestive humor

Frank Welker : Frank you are the saving grace of this film! Welker as everyone knows is known for playing Fred Rogers for many years and I did find it odd he was not playing the role. I will say though I’m glad one of the original voice actors were cast in the film even though he’s voicing Scooby- Doo he did a fantastic job at portraying the loveable dog. Frank brings a fantastic voice performance that captures the incredible energy and pure fun of scooby. I found it odd that he spoke to much but since Frank was the one who did all the dialogue for the film it worked because of his great energy he brought to the screen. Whenever he would speak the lines would jump off the page and deliver this really cute and over energetic sound to Scoob that was perfect and every sound and word of dialogue he spoke was great as he brought a fantastic depth to scooby as well. Their have been many films before this one that have shown the depth of scooby before but the amount of emotion he was able to bring to this lifeless script was amazing as he brings great range of amazing humour and sadness as well as anger and all are felt fantastically throughout the course of the film as Scoob does go on quite the character arc. Frank is single handily carrying this entire film on his shoulders as he brings the fun energetic emotion of Scooby resulting in great laughs and enjoyable moments onscreen but as well brings a good amount of heart to the humour giving the best performance of the film and a performance that is definitely one I enjoyed watching every moment of Frank did a fantastic voice over performance for Scooby and is the one positive I can give this film their May be a ton of issues I had with the film but Frank delivered on all levels. 

Tony Cervone : Tony what happened?! This film is brought to us by a filmmaker that has Scooby - Doo films before and done well may I add. So either this was all due to Studio interference because I don’t understand how Tony Cervone who’s brought some solid Scooby films can deliver such a mediocre film on these beloved characters. What I didn’t like that he bought here was that the film was more focused on the fact that it was trying to be to relevant and modern and full of popular Actors and being in such awe of that it took away from the main focus. The plot was so freaking confusing to follow which should be pretty straight forward as many Scooby - Doo films follow a formula that is easy to follow but this films premise was so convoluted and messy that I can’t remember half the stuff that happened In the film he  should of trimmed the over amount of pop culture references the muddled plot and instead should of focused on the characters which is why we’re watching the film. As the film for the majority of the film doesn’t even half the team together solving it together their apart for half the film which sucks so we don’t get that crime solving dynamic until the third act of the film. Then the film also ran on for far to long it could of easily been an hour and fifteen minutes because it’s around an hour and thirtyish minutes and theirs a ton of filler scenes that has no importance or value that moves the plot along and if they trimmed it down it could of also done for a faster and smoother runtime. The spirit of what Scooby - Doo is was not here the pure joy and fun of what we have come to love was non existent it seemed more interested in using Scooby as a product compared to actually telling a solid story. Tony you really dropped the ball with this film and you’ve done so much better and I know you can but this is just so disappointing.