Scooby-Doo!: Mask of the Blue Falcon is a wonderful entry into the long-running franchise. The voice casting is well done as always and the story for once holds at least a little mystery, albeit by the third act it’s pretty obvious who the culprit is.
Scooby-Doo!: Mask of the Blue Falcon (2013)
Genre(s): Animation, Comedy, Mystery
Warner Bros. | NR – 77 min. – $24.98 | February 26, 2013
MOVIE INFO:
Directed by: Michael Goguen
Writer(s): Marly Halpern-Graser (story), Michael F. Ryan (teleplay)
Cast: Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle, Matthew Lillard
DISC INFO:
Features: 3 Bonus Cartoons, DVD Copy, UltraViolet Digital Copy
Number of Discs: 2
Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital Stereo Surround), Polish (Dolby Digital 5.1)
Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish, Polish
Disc Size: 15.1 GB
Codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Region(s): A, B, C
THE MOVIE – 4.0/5
The long-running Scooby-Doo franchise keeps chugging along with another direct-to-video release, the latest is perhaps their best in the animated feature realm (well, any feature I suppose) with Scooby Doo Mask of the Blue Falcon which brings back many of the sometimes forgotten characters and putting a satirical on the story.
The movie begins like many of the others with the Mystery Incorporated gang – Fred Jones (FRANK WELKER), Velma Dinkley (MINDY COHN), Daphne Blake (GREY DELISLE), Shaggy Rogers (MATTHEW LILLARD) and Scooby-Doo – solving another crime, unmasking the latest culprit and receiving accolades from the townsfolk and media. But Shaggy and Scooby couldn’t care less about any of that because it’s ComicCon time (it’s got a fake name, but that’s what it is) and their favorite superhero the Blue Falcon, performed by actor Owen Garrison, who has aged and his portrayal of the BF has taken a backseat to a darker, broodier feature film version and with the original 1960s show not available on DVD or “Green-ray”, Garrison has been largely forgotten.
But as with any Scooby-Doo movie, something sinister lurks and this time it’s a villain named Mr. Hyde, who, as it turns out, was Blue Falcon’s arch nemesis on the TV series. Mr. Hyde begins terrorizing those at the Con putting and Mystery Inc. tries to put the pieces together gathering up clues and compiling a list of suspects. Along with Garrison there’s the producer of the Blue Falcon movie, Jennifer Severin who is willing to do anything to promote the movie, Brad Adams, the actor playing Blue Falcon and is somebody who has no interest in being in the franchise looking for an excuse to exit and finally Hank Prince, owner of a comic book shop Shaggy frequents.
One of the things I’ve always liked about Scooby-Doo, mostly the movies and newer shows versus the 1960s version, is that it’s never overcomplicated and instead, it is mindless entertainment with good humor that will make you laugh even if the jokes are obvious. But with Mask of the Blue Falcon, thanks to the satire elements and some wonderful voice work by Jeff Bennett doing a fantastic impression of Adam West (at least to my ears) and John Di Maggio voicing Mr. Hyde, this is one of the better outings in the Scooby animated movie line in quite some time. The story feels fresh and there are many in-jokes which Hanna Barbara and comic book fans will appreciate. It’s also nice that unlike the old show, and its different incarnations throughout the 80s and 90s, this one did have a mystery element even if it became obvious who the unmasked villain was by the third act.
With many in-jokes and some truly funny lines, not to mention a somewhat mysterious storyline, Scooby-Doo Mask of the Blue Falcon is a fun DTV movie that both feverish and casual fans of the characters will enjoy. The animation is still pretty basic but rather than reinventing the wheel, the animators just made minor tweaks but stuck to the classic look that’s worked for decades now.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 0.5/5
This release comes with a front-cover embossed slip cover, 3 Bonus Cartoons and an UltraViolet Digital Copy download code.
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Mask of the Blue Falcon arrives on Blu-ray with a 1080p high-definition transfer. As with most traditional animation movies (and shows), they come out fairly well in HD with bright colors and a clean all around picture. There is some minor bouts of banding in places but it’s nothing profound while the color array looks well balanced. This more or less matches the other Scooby-Doo movies originally released on Blu-ray (vs. the catalogs Warner has and will be releasing).
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track provided is a little heavy in the low frequency arena but the dialogue levels sound clear and any action that occurs shows a little depth from the surround speakers. This isn’t a wow-inspiring lossless track or anything but for the medium and audience, it’s more than adequate and certainly has better balance compared with a standard Dolby Digital track.
OVERALL – 3.25/5
Overall, Scooby-Doo!: Mask of the Blue Falcon is a wonderful entry into the long-running franchise. The voice casting is well done as always and the story for once holds at least a little mystery, albeit by the third act it’s pretty obvious who the culprit is. Unfortunately, the Blu-ray, while having nice video and audio transfers, is void of any substantive features.
The Movieman
Published: 02/20/2013