Scoob may not satisfy hard-core fans of this long-running franchise but I found it mildly entertaining and the CGI animation was pretty good and for the most part liked the voice casting.
Scoob!
(2020)
Genre(s): Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Warner Bros. | PG – 94 min. – $44.95 | July 21, 2020
Date Published: 07/28/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: The screen captures were taken from the Blu-ray disc and do not represent the 4K Ultra HD transfer.
THE MOVIE — 3.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: With hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby (FRANK WELKER) and the gang — Fred (ZAC EFRON), Daphne (AMANDA SEYFRIEND), Velma (GINA RODRIGUEZ) and Shaggy (WILL FORTE) — face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop this global dog-pocalypse, along with the legendary Blue Falcon (MARK WAHLBERG), the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone could have imagined. Review: I can’t really call myself a big fan of the “Scooby-Doo” franchise, sporadically watching the various 1960s/70s shows in syndication back in the 80s, plus the different animated movies over the years. Of the stories, I generally enjoyed the human villains versus the more supernatural element ones that have permeated some of the more recent incarnations. In any case, the franchise, in spite of what seems like 100+ shows and movies, is still going relatively strong and the latest is Scoob!, a CGI animated film that, pre-pandemic, was set for the big screen, the first since the live action Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed in 2004. This new animated movie isn’t half bad actually, a little generic in terms of the story and does have the supernatural element I’m not a fan of, but the animation itself looked nice and for the most part the voice acting, especially by Zac Efron as Fred, was rather good as were Amanda Seyfried as Daphne and Gina Rodriguez playing Velma. Will Forte’s Shaggy was a step down the job Matthew Lillard has done since his live action stint and subsequent work on the animated shows and movies dating back to 2010 with Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo and Scooby-Doo! Camp Scare. I realize the producers wanted someone with a bigger social media presence, but a real shame they didn’t go with Lillard here (and that the actor apparently found out through media reports). The big name amongst this voice cast is Mark Wahlberg and he’s perfectly fine as the Blue Falcon. Nothing noteworthy but fine especially for his first foray into voice acting. Ken Jeong and Kiersey Clemons were also both fine contributions as Blue Falcon’s team members, Dynomutt and Dee Dee Skyes respectively. Also lending himself well, is Jason Isaac as the villain, pretty easy role given how devious he was in the Harry Potter franchise. All in all, SCOOB! was relatively entertaining for what it is, but it is understandable why the passionate fanbase might not accept it, personally I wasn’t a fan of the supernatural aspect preferring the more human villains in the past. Still, thought this is worth a rental. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 2.5/5 |
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This release comes with a glossy slip cover and inside a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Bloopers (3:58) containing some outtake lines with the voice cast. Deleted Scenes (19:48) — There are 10 scenes here, in rough form, that were nixed. Included are introductions by director Tony Cervone. How to Draw Scooby-Doo (10:16) — Cervone teaches to draw Scooby-Doo. New Friends, New Villains (6:21) introduces us to the “new” characters coming to the big screen for the first time including Blue Falcon, Dynomutt and others. Puppies (1:05) — Short featurette with the Scooby voice cast playing with puppies. Random. |
4K VIDEO – 5.0/5, BD VIDEO – 5.0/5 |
| Warner Bros. releases Scoob! onto 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray, presented with a 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and 2160p and 1080p high-definition transfers respectively. No real surprise here that a new, relatively budgeted, CGI film would look great in both formats. Detail is sharp throughout and colors, in keeping with the more kid-friendly story and characters, are bright and vibrant. Can’t completely speak to the Blu-ray as I only tested some scenes, but the 4K UHD showed no obvious signs of artifacts or aliasing making for a clean looking transfer. |
AUDIO – 4.5/5 |
| Both the 4K and Blu-ray come with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track. As animated flicks go, I generally don’t find these lossless tracks to sound amazing, however here it’s pretty strong, dialogue does come through the center channel with nice clarity while the front and rear speakers gives the film some fine depth during the action-centric scenes. |
OVERALL – 3.5/5 |
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Overall, Scoob may not satisfy hard-core fans of this long-running franchise but I found it mildly entertaining and the CGI animation was pretty good and for the most part liked the voice casting. This 4K/Blu-ray combo pack offers up great video and audio transfers but features were a bit lacking. |