Young Shaggy befriends puppy Scooby-Doo and even gives him his name. They are bullied during Halloween. Velma Dinkley, Fred Jones, and Daphne Blake come to their rescue and solve a case in the process. They start solving cases together. Scooby becomes a target for an ancient quest. Scooby and Shaggy meet their superhero hero Blue Falcon while fighting off supervillain Dick Dastardly.

It starts as a modern origins story for the Scooby gang. I am getting a little tired of the name origin game but at least, Scooby Snacks make a lot of sense. I'm fine with doing a young Scooby gang movie. Scooby jr.'s voice sounds a bit old but otherwise, everything looks pretty good. It could have been a Monster House but then they grow up. The movie loses me as soon as Simon Cowell shows up. He's annoying in real life and in cartoon form. It turns into a supernatural superhero super-complicated movie. Are they trying to make a new Avengers cinematic universe? I don't know. I don't know what's happening anymore. Some of this is almost funny but mostly it's a convoluted mess. I wish that it's actually Simon Cowell. At least, that would mean that he gets locked away for life.

"Scoob!" is a co-production from the United States and Canada from 2020, so these slightly over 1.5 hours are a pretty recent release. The director is Tony Cervone, a pretty experienced filmmaker, who has also delivered in other fields that are/were part of film production, mostly the animation department, but this should not surprise anybody because this movie here is of course an animated movie from beginning to end. What it is too, is a Warner Bros and Hanna Barbera production. Very appropriate that Cervone has worked on many Tom and Jerry projects, but this one here focuses of course on Scooby Doo and the gang as you can already see from the title. The photo I really find a bit misleading because not even the first ten minutes are about Scooby as a child, so the shadow character is far more dominant. Also if you take a look at the credits here, you will find many, many names of writers. This surprised me a bit, but then again not too much because it is sometimes the case for films based on characters that have existed for a long, long time. The Marvel movies are the best examples. One who is not part of the list is Joe Ruby and he died a few days ago, but his contribution to the Scooby Doo franchise will always be on our minds. And for many also in their hearts. Now it must be said that these over 90 minutes here were created in a way that has a bit to do with the old show, but not that much really. I liked the old show, didn't love it. Of course, each of the three supporting characters from the gang get their moments too. Velma can contribute something technical when she uses the other dog to inform the characters about being kidnapped. Fred is the hunk who admittedly has not too much material here other than jumping Cerberus towards the end on his own to show us how courageous he is. And Daphne, well, she has the least material. All we find out about her really is that she is good with people and could work as an influencer. I must admit I was crushing on her back when I watched the show in my younger years and it has not changed until today. The voice actors who portray these three are also kinda fitting character-wise I suppose. And their inclusions also show us that this is/was a pretty big project. Scooby and Shaggy are still very likable after all these years. That much is safe. I must say I was a bit confused though by Scooby calling Shaggy Raggy all the time, but it was okay with the explanation. I already mentioned that the first seven minutes or so take place ten years earlier. We see how Scooby and Shaggy meet each other for the first time and how the human helps out the dog that is being chased by police. And we find out that Shaggy was a bit of a loner apparently. I think it was a nice introduction, also what followed immediately afterwards when the gang solve their first mystery. Now that was for once typical in terms of the story with what they did back then for the old show. A human antagonist disguises himself as a monster or ghost this time to chase the kids away from a collection of electronic devices that he stole and hid inside a creepy house. But the kids deliver and the bad guy is caught. So much for the introduction.

A little later, we are in the now and the action movies forward. Simon Cowell (voicing himself) gets a most random, but still somewhat entertaining inclusion here that was still kinda funny. It may not have served to create the key conflict, a story about friendship, but it was alright nonetheless. I thought this film was always the best when it did not take itself too seriously, so the idea about the ailing friendship between Scooby and Shaggy before realizing they are made for each other again was not among the film's highlights, but something else was: The comedy. I smiled and laughed quite a bit here, which is also why I would never say this movie is weak, let alone a failure. The Harry Potter reference early on is fun and let's be honest RBG is perfect for Velma. I still did not like her German voice. Way too deep. Luckily, she did not exactly have too many lines. There are more inclusions about Facebook (Facedog) or Netflix too that were kinda funny. But not only the dialogue writing is pretty good and entertaining for the most part, I also liked the slapstick comedy really, which was among the biggest strengths of the old show and is good here as well. I could mention a dozen examples, but let me just mention one, namely at the very end when apparently our two heroes are forced to split up and have these areas for their hand/paw to launch the application we see them go back and forth and at one point the speed gets so high that one character accidentally slaps the other for two or three seconds. But not in a hateful way, just in a playful accident kind of way. I am sure not too many recognized this scene/moment, but for me it was pretty memorable and funny. As for the main antagonist, he was alright I suppose. Not too great, but tolerable. His transformation into Fred was especially interesting because the indicators that it was not the real Fred were pretty amazing for younger audience members to see and figure out it is the bad guy, especially after they knew he had that ability with the hot police woman scene from earlier. By the way, one thing I forgot to mention when I talked about the voice actors is that Scooby is once again voiced by Frank Welker. For everybody else, they got new people, but he is kind of an institution like J.K. Simmons for Jonah Jameson and made the character his own. Speaking of the dog character, it surprised me a bit how there were so many dogs in this movie. Definitely no coincidence. Besides Scooby, we have the one who is part of the hero team, we have the bad guy's companion (certainly reminding me of another somewhat iconic film dog with his laugh),maybe the only one who can warm his heart and finally we even have the Cerberus that may count for one or even three dogs. Up to you to decide. Normally, you did not really see other dogs than Scooby on the show, but then again the episodes were only 20 minutes or so. And as I said in the title here, comparisons are not the greatest choice anyway. There are parallels here and there, especially when they take care of the stolen goods hoarder early on or also when Scooby and Shaggy dress up as employees of a restaurant when they are chased by these metallic creatures at the bowling alley. The duo dressed up a lot on the original show. But there are also major differences, actually too many to name. But as these differences are nonetheless a success from the creative perspective, I am not mad about/at them one bit. On the contrary: Had they just copied style and story of the old shows, maybe the movie would have gotten a better reception, but I would have liked it less I'm sure. I am perfectly fine with the bold new approach here in the second half. Also these little metallic creatures at the bowling alley scene felt like taken from a nightmare sequence and I honestly thought this would be one. Scooby and Shaggy are pretty good in ditching these robots and also the bad guy's laser shots later on. Anyway, what I also wanted to say is that these robot creatures reminded me a bit of the Minions from "Despicable Me" here and there. Well, in the widest sense really, but they do not seem downright evil. Okay, finally a few more snippets: The neckband inclusion was decent, one of the better aspects from the rather forgettable drama plot about friendship. The final inclusion of Cowell again. It's him. Oh no, it's not him. This was funny too. Scooby seemed to be a lot more courageous than he was on the show. Shaggy was more his former self. Scooby is blood-related to the beloved dog of Alexander the Great? Hear, hear. The Scooby snacks could have been included more here, not just briefly early on when it is about the name and late when we see Daphne has two hidden, even if both inclusions made me laugh. Okay, I think that would be all then. Pretty sad that I was the only one in my viewing. The movie is good and deserves better, even if it is not great either. Of course, the animation is fairly decent too, which needs to be added and should not be taken for granted, even if it is the case with all big studio animated films these days. So in short, I give this film a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out. Go watch. This will most likely not have a chance to get an Oscar nomination in the animated feature category and probably also not be featured too prominently with the upcoming Annie Awards, but I feel that for me personally it could make the top5 animated movies of 2020 and I would watch a sequel if they make one. The ending certainly implies the possibility that it could happen if it is enough of a hit commercially. After the mission is before the mission. Positively recommended.

It is the Hanna Barbera cinematic universe. Already familiar with me, as a kid I used to watch the All Star Laff-A-Lympics cartoons.

Made in CGI, you have the origins of how Shaggy met Scooby Doo. They even recreate the original title sequence in CGI.

If you are eagle eyed you will spot references to Scooby Doo and other Hanna Barbera carton characters such as a poster of Hong Kong Phooey.

More prominent is Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, Captain Caveman, the villain is Dick Dastardly and in due course Muttley makes an appearance.

Dastardly is after Scooby Doo who is the last descendant of a dog that belonged to a famous warrior. Dastardly plans to use Scooby Doo to unleash the three headed Cerberus.

The fun is Scooby Doo, Shaggy and the rest of the Mystery Machine gang. It is updated with plenty of pop cultural references.

I thought Blue Falcon was the weak link, the plot was a bit naff but my children enjoyed it.