Scoob! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

Scoob! Blu-ray Movie Review

Ruh-roh.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III July 23, 2020

With a history spanning more than 50 years in a wide variety of media, it's almost mind-boggling that the Scooby-Doo franchise has never before made it to the big screen in fully animated form. It's a series ripe with possibilities, flexible in its construction and, like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and The Fast and the Furious, just ludicrous enough to work. On May 15, Tony Cervone's Scoob! rightfully skipped the box office and went right to digital VOD, hit HBO Max a month later, landed in European theaters on July 8, and now gets the home video treatment. Despite its unorthodox release schedule, now Scoob! is finally available for everyone to see how amazing and original it really...isn't.

But hey, at least the first 15 minutes are decent. Scoob! starts off with a kinda doofy but at least sweet origin story for the titular pup and his BFF Shaggy, who meet on the beach and later forge a fast friendship with Fred, Velma, and Daphne on Halloween night. It even segues into the movie proper with a fun CGI remake of the original 1969 series opening. But boy oh boy, does everything nosedive hard from there on out. We catch up with Mystery Incorporated 10 years later, enjoying a quick lunch when they're approached by Simon Cowell who wants to invest in their group. It's the first WTF moment in a movie absolutely filled with them, which later includes deadly robotic bowling pins, a UFO abduction, Shaggy and Scooby meeting their idols Blue Falcon (actually his son, Brian) and Dyno-Mutt, a chance encounter with Captain Caveman, repeated attacks by Dick Dastardly, and other complete left turns that are either nonsensical, deus ex machinas, or just cheap attempts at building a quick-and-dirty cinematic universe.

Words cannot properly describe how much the film's sudden and seemingly random detours work against it. There's a reason for that, though: no less than five separate individuals were credited with either the original story or screenplay, and it's hard to imagine that anyone got what they wanted here. Scoob! feels entirely like a film that's been hampered by committee; made with too broad of an audience in mind while simultaneously pleasing almost no one. Had they kept it simple -- maybe just stuck to a pure origin story with the younger versions of Scooby and the gang -- this 94-minute slog might have actually felt like a worthy installment of the long-running franchise. Scoob! may not quite be the worst iteration of the Mystery Incorporated gang...but pound for pound, it's probably the least essential.

So, the plot's pretty bad. The script is filled DOA pop culture references. Anything else? How about the bone-headed decision to sub out established Scooby-Doo voice actors for celebrity guests? This isn't a knock on "new" characters like Brian Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), Dyno-Mutt (Ken Jeong), or Captain Caveman (Tracy Morgan), but trading in established performers like Matthew Lillard and Grey DeLisle -- who have voiced Shaggy and Daphne for almost two decades -- for Will Forte and Amanda Seyfried? Not a good look. Even the legendary Frank Welker, who voiced Fred as far back as 1969 and Scooby since 2002, only got the latter role. While their replacements aren't horrible, they're a distraction that no one really asked for and, like most other aspects of this film, just seem like short-sighted decisions that really end up hurting the final product. And if there's one word that best describes Scoob!, it's "product".

In case you didn't catch it on VOD or HBO Max, now's your chance to watch Scoob! exactly once and stick it back on the shelf...unless your kids actually flip for it. (They probably won't.) In addition to a more beefed-up 4K UHD combo pack, it's also available as a standard Blu-ray edition to match its native 2K source material. No matter which version you choose, A/V quality is easily the most impressive element since there are almost no worthwhile extras.

For an alternate (but equally unenthusiastic) take on the film, please read my colleague Brian Orndorf's review.

Scoob! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Since Scoob! was finished with a 2K digital intermediate, this Blu-ray represents a very faithful presentation of its source material. Sure, the separately-available 4K UHD edition offers a beefier picture in all the expected areas -- color saturation (thanks to outstanding use of HDR), overall smoothness and line quality, a much higher bit rate, and fewer compression-related issues -- but this 1080p transfer will be good enough for anyone with a more modest setup and no desire to upgrade to 4K in the near future. As mentioned in my 4K review, the film's visual style relies largely on softer shapes and swaths of color and lighting to create a smooth, vivid appearance that doesn't feature heavily defined edges. The colors look great with solid saturation, greatly varied hues, strong black levels, and only trace amounts of banding with a few slight compression artifacts. There are also a few signs of mild black crush, but these are few and far between as Scoob! also does not feature the blown-out contrast style of similar CGI productions.

In a direct comparison to the 4K disc, this Blu-ray obviously gets edged out or beaten handily in most departments, but if you're not a regular viewer of that higher-resolution format you probably won't notice any sort of glaring deficiencies here. It's simply a great-looking disc that does just fine within the format's visual boundaries.

Scoob! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

It's a shame that a full 7.1 mix -- or better yet, Dolby Atmos -- is not offered on the Blu-ray, but its default DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio track is no slouch. Dialogue is very crisp and often placed right up front, and the film takes almost every opportunity to make use of surround channels to add thoughtful little touches...even when the scenes aren't all that crowded. Environments play a key role in overall sonic effectiveness, of course: Scooby and Shaggy's chat in an empty bowling alley sounds fine, but not nearly as impressive as Dick Dastardly's villainous monologue in his cavernous industrial factory. Yet everything feels appropriately dialed up (or down) as needed, while its strong dynamic range is well-balanced and won't have you grabbing for the volume control every five minutes. Other elements of the mix, such as its original score and pop-infused soundtrack, obviously offer the most immediate sense of power from all channels, as does the massive showdown during Scoob!'s final act in Athens. But it's all good work from start to finish and, though not quite as consistently impressive as the visuals, this 5.1 mix easily gets the job done.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are offered during the main feature; these are formatted perfectly, fit just inside the 2.39:1 frame, and do not have any sync issues. A Spanish dub is also provided during the film only.

Scoob! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release arrives in an eco-friendly keepcase with bland cover artwork, a matching slipcover, and two inserts including a Digital Copy. Extras are pretty by-the-book but some are at least worth a run-through.

• Bloopers (3:58) - Fun with the voice cast, for better or worse (mostly worse). I'm just here for Frank Welker and Tracy Morgan...and maybe Ken Jeong, but just barely. Bonus fact: most of these blunders probably wouldn't have happened if they, you know, actually hired professional voice actors.

• Deleted Scenes (19:48) - Ten short deleted and extended scenes, presented as either sequential black-and-white storyboards or in rough animatic form. Highlights include "Shaggy and Scooby Meet", "Dastardly in Peru", "Mischievous Mustache", "Chef Shaggy", "Night Hounds", and more.

• How To Draw Scooby Doo (10:16) - Director Tony Cervone serves up a step-by-step drawing lesson.

• New Friends, Newer Villains (6:21) - This featurette offers a quick overview of new characters including Brian Falcon and Dee Dee Skyes as well as classic H-B faces such as Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, and Dick Dastardly, including a few comments from their respective voice actors and other key crew members.

• Puppies!! (1:05) - Voice actors play with puppies. Yep, that's pretty much it.

Scoob! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Tony Cervone's Scoob! is a hot mess. The plot careens wildly but never finds a confident groove, other elements of the story feel generic, it's not very funny, and many of the franchise's longest-tenured voice actors have been replaced by celebrity guests. Aside from the cute intro and a couple of yuks along the way, Scoob! has few redeeming qualities aside from terrific visuals. Warner Bros.' Blu-ray clearly supports that side of the coin, as its great 1080p transfer and lossless audio at least ensure your eyes and ears won't be bored. But you can't polish a turd, so I won't endorse this as a solid blind buy. If you saw and enjoyed it already, I'd still recommend the 4K disc if you've got the equipment.