Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		3.0
Overall		3.0

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie Review

Scraps from the WWE's Table

Reviewed by Michael Reuben August 9, 2016

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon (or just "Speed Demon") is the twenty-sixth direct-to-video Scooby-Doo film and the third joint undertaking between the WWE and Warner Animation. The film is a sequel (of sorts) to Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery, and things haven't improved since then.

The latest adventure for Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), Fred (Frank Welker), Velma (Kate Micucci), Daphne (Grey Griffin) and, of course, Scooby-Doo (Welker again) involves a WWE-sponsored off-road racing competition that is attacked by a skull-headed ghost driver calling himself "Inferno". WWE CEO Vince McMahon (voicing himself) hires Mystery Inc. to save the day, and eventually they do, but not before we're treated to prolonged sequences of animated motorcar mayhem and puffed-up confrontations between wrestlers-turned-drivers, who leap in and out of their vehicles as if they were in the ring. A roster of WWE stars—including The Undertaker, Triple H, Paige, Sheamus, Lana, Rusev, The Miz, Kofi Kingston, and Goldust—provide voices to animated alter egos, while our heroes, including Scooby-Doo himself, are reduced to the status of a bit players in their own movie.

Although I am not in a position to kid-test this latest Warner Animation effort at cross-promotion, I suspect Scooby-Doo fans will be disappointed to see their favorite characters shoved aside in favor of extreme sports and WWE stars. And wresting fans would undoubtedly prefer watching the real thing.

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Curse of the Demon's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray is consistent with previous Scooby-Doo entries: crisp and colorful with solid blacks and only occasional instances of banding or other artifacts, some of which might be avoided if Warner Animation would get with the program and use more of the digital real estate on a Blu-ray disc to achieve less aggressive compression. The average bitrate clocks in at an anemic 14.99 Mbps, which is inexcusable when over nine GB of empty space remains empty on the BD-25.

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Curse of the Demon arrives with a capable 5.1 mix encoded in lossless DTS-HD MA. The jokes are thin, but the dialogue is clear, and the sounds of engines roaring and vehicles colliding are loud enough to make the point, without rising to the level of action movie mayhem.

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!: "Mystery 101" (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 22:36).



• Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: "The Secret of the Ghost Rig" (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 23:05).



• REVVED up with the Monster Jam Scooby-Doo Truck (720p; 1.78:1; 9:03): There really is a Scooby-Doo monster truck.



• Trailers (1080p; 1.78:1)
• LEGO Scooby-Doo!
• Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz
• LEGO Friends (Girlz 4 Life)

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Warner's Scooby-Doo discs must be selling, or they wouldn't keep cranking them out. But imagine if the studio were to remaster Scooby-Doo's classic TV shows in 1080p instead of doling them out as standard-definition extras. Now those would fly off the shelves. As for this forgettable entry in the series, skip it and wait for next year's Scooby-Doo! Wild West, which sounds more promising.