‘Scoob!’ A Better Hanna Barbera Revival Than A Mystery With the Gang

     The Hanna-Barbera name has almost become synonymous with the idea of Saturday morning cartoons for more than half a century. They have brought so many wonderful and colorful characters to life and easily their most popular of them is their lovable talking dog and his gang of meddling kids. Scooby Doo is back in brand new animated film for this new generation of nostalgic revivals. This time he’s not alone, as a ton of classic cartoon icons are also thrown into the mix of Warner Animation Group’s Scoob!. For what it is, Scoob! is a solid and enjoyable attempt at bringing back the Mystery Inc. Gang, despite taking some deviations of its original source material.

Unique Fan Service Makes Up for Lack of Mystery

     Scoob! brings back the whole Mystery Inc. gang of Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, Velma and of course, Scooby Doo. However, Shaggy and Scooby actually get separated from the gang as they end up teaming up with the legendary Blue Falcon and his companion Dyno-Mutt: The Dog Wonder. Their mission is to take down the evil Dick Dastardly, of Wacky Races fame, and his plan to take over the world, through various hi-jinxes and gags that these characters have been made famous for. As an adaptation of the Scooby-Doo mythos, some fans might be disappointed that the whole mystery aspect rather downplayed in the film’s story. It starts out with an excellent set-up giving origins to how these characters met with a nice little tribute to the original series from 1969. Though once that opening ends, it starts to do its own thing that tends to be fixated on building a universe for Hanna-Barbera characters.

     With the characters being separated, we don’t get that same comradery that we’re used to in most Scooby Doo adaptations. While that does sound rather underwhelming for longtime Scooby Doo fans, one thing to consider is that Scooby Doo is a franchise that is the definition of formulaic. 90% of all Scooby Doo related media is almost always “the guy in the mask” formula with typical gags and set pieces to be expected. Of course there is a charm to a formula like this and sometimes the execution can make it refreshing, however this formula being done so much can be a detriment. Them not focusing on the mystery aspect isn’t seen so bad when you considered how much they’ve relied on this repetitive mystery formula, so it’s more so how this new take is executed. For the most part, this is handled with serviceable effort with it being a showcase of a Hanna-Barbera universe with still a lot humor in the mix. There are definitely jokes that miss the mark and feel as they’re striving to be very trendy to be cool for the kids, but it still manages to be enjoyable seeing some solid visual gags and even some decent action set pieces. It can seem a bit off putting at first to have a Scooby Doo story not as fixated on mysteries and crossover with different characters. Yet, considering this is the same franchise that crossed over with Batman and John Cena, Scooby’s new adventure is not too far off from what can be expected from the series.

A Scooby Adventure With Some Neat Re-Introductions

     As this being a reintroduction of some very iconic characters, one can only hope that Scooby and the gang still feel like their normal selves that we’ve come to know and love over the past 50 years. In the case of this film, they serve as fairly faithful renditions of the original mystery gang. We still get decent moments with these characters, though outside of Scooby Doo and Shaggy, we don’t see much of Velma, Daphne and Fred as one would expect from a Scooby movie. But when we do see them, they don’t seem too out of character with Velma still being the brains, Daphne the fashionista, and Fred’s leadership still being intact. The film’s focus is on the friendship of Scooby and Shaggy and their characterizations are fairly faithful. The downside is that the voice acting, while not bad, doesn’t feel as up to par as other series. Will Forte’s rendition of Shaggy, while serviceable and decent, still sounds more like an impression and the film also has an odd direction of having Frank Welker’s Scooby Doo saying more full on sentences than we’re used to from him. Despite that though, the characters are written fine and the voice actors deliver the dialogue well. One of the biggest drawbacks on the script end is that the character relationships are bogged by some clichéd conflicts and misunderstandings that have been done in a ton of kids movies before. It is meant to add tension, but here it feels rather hollow and is just there to stall the plot. Still, the friendship between Shaggy and Scoob still feels believable with a nice amount of fun moments with the characters, especially with their meeting in the beginning of the film.

     One aspect that helps makes the film an entertaining ride are the new renditions of longtime Hanna-Barbara characters that haven’t been around for decades. Characters like the Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt serve as great new renditions of lesser known characters, being the type of over the top superhero we would expect from a world like this. Yet the highlight regarding Hanna-Barbera characters is easily Dick Dastardly. He is every bit of a mustache twirling villain like the original in a way that’s completely appropriate in this universe. He provides some of the film’s funniest jokes and most memorable action set pieces. Considering he is a cartoonish villain, he works very well against all the other cartoony characters the film has to offer. If there is a sequel to, hopefully they’ll be able to have more unique lesser known characters in the limelight again. Though for now, Scoob serves as a decent set up to what may come in the future.

Fitting Animation Style Done Better in Other Films

     Seeing this is the first CGI adaptation of Scoob and the gang, fans can be rest assured that the animation in this film does serve as one of the film’s highlights. It goes the typical route of mixing 2D designs and overtly exaggerated characters with detailed computer animation. The characters look fantastic with so many of them still as cartoonish as we expect them to be, and with today’s modern animation techniques, they’re able to have more life in them now than how they were in the original series. The movement and variety is especially apparent during the action sequences where they manage to do a lot with the camera movements and effects. The downside though is that there are some moments where the animation can be a bit lacking. Some of the human designs for the extras and even some of the backgrounds can look bland in the less expressive parts of the movie. Despite that, it manages to be a stylistically good-looking animated film with both good character and background animation, giving the film to cartoonish and fun personality it strives to be.

Far From Fantastic But Serves as Fine Fun

     Scoob! is not a flawless revival of an iconic cartoon series. Its lack of focus on the series’ most well-known aspects and its clichés in terms of plot do hold it back from being something truly outstanding, but it as a nice little adventure featuring some great characters including some lesser known ones, Scoob! still manages to be a very cute film. As a film to introduce kids to Scooby Doo, it manages to be a serviceable and pleasant adventure with Scooby Doo and friends.

‘Onward’ A Solid Animated Film That’s Classic Pixar

     With the decade just starting out, of course many are excited for what new exciting films Pixar animation will have to offer. Fortunately, their first major release of the 2020s has come early with the release of Onward. A fantasy adventure with modern day elements, Onward feels like a very traditional film from Pixar that may not go as above and beyond their other works, but has enough character and maturity to make it a great animated adventure.

Classic Pixar with an Excellent Third Act

     Onward’s story centers around a young Elf named Ian Lightfoot who has always wanted to meet his father who passed away shortly after he was born. Luckily, Ian ends up casting a spell to help bring him back, the only issue that the spell half works, literally as only half of his dad is there. With that in mind it’s up to him and his older brother Bartley to go on a quest to cast the spell in its entirety. This adventure serves a very classic premise for Pixar with two friends going on an adventure to achieve a particular goal that often deals with another third character in the mix, and for the most part, this film is very much in line with Pixar’s earlier works. It is an incredibly fun adventure that although feels oddly familiar is given a lot of personality to it that makes it feel a lot stronger than it actually is. It is filled with some really fun set pieces and does a great job with its world building by taking various aspects of fantastical mythical tales and creatures, and having them interact with modern day appliances in a more clever way than most films. The downside is, Onward, for the most part never goes the full on Pixar like many of their best films. The film does not quite have a huge emotional punch compared to something like Coco nor does it go fully ambitious with its storytelling in the same vein of Wall-E. That is however, until the third act which without spoiling too much, elevates the movie big time. The film ends very strongly with a very exciting climax that’s filled with some inventive ideas and a very mature conclusion that adds so much to the film’s themes about the importance of the type of people who raise you. The ending never goes fully cliché or ridiculous with its ending and instead gives audiences a fairly emotional end that feels satisfying and mature in all the right ways.

An Expressive Memorable Cast of Characters

     A Pixar movie is truly nothing without a great cast of characters the film has as their main focus and fortunately, this cast is quite a strong one. The films leads of Ian and Bartley Lightfoot are a great duo that is very much on the line of other great Pixar character dynamics. What makes their relationship strong in this movie is that the film emphasizes a lot on brotherly love in a very similar way films like Lilo and Stitch and Frozen focus on sister love. It is showcases the importance throughout the entire film thanks to some great performances by both Tom Holland and Chris Pratt respectively as both actors fit their characters very well and work off each other greatly. You truly believe in their brotherly bond and interaction with one another and as mentioned earlier the ending has this relationship pay off in a fantastic way. Of course they come across other different types of characters who are memorable in their own right thanks to some very expressive character animation that makes this movie pretty funny in a comedic sense. Characters like Corey the Manticore and even Ian and Bartley’s dad manage to be very expressive characters just through a lot of the great movement these characters having and great comedic timing as well. It’s not Pixar’s strongest from a comedic standpoint but has enough really good laughs to keep you entertained throughout thanks to a lot of personality done with the animation.

Visually Feast For the Eyes

     Being one of the most well recognized animation studios out there, it’s not surprise that Pixar always delivers with its animation in Onward as well. The film looks very much like an updated Pixar film with some great looking environments that look almost real in terms of textures. The film doesn’t quite have as many stunningly amazing looking shots compared to something like Toy Story 4, yet it is a great looking movie that also is enhanced by a unique world mixing the modern with the fantastical. Throughout the film you witness a lot of neat designs of the world they are in and it all makes for a visually engaging movie. What also helps the animation stand out is as mentioned earlier are the character animation, which is so expressive and full of energy that you would expect from a project from Pixar. If they can manage something as simple as legs being so expressive and have such a personality to them, then Pixar managed to bring their A game to creating an animated world like this.

An Enjoyable Quest That is Exclusively from Pixar

     Onward is feels like one of Pixar’s earlier films in the best way possible. It is a film filled with a ton of charm thanks to some great animation and characters that is made all the more worth it thanks to an incredible conclusion. Even despite being far from their very best, Onward still comes highly recommended giving animation lovers and audiences in general a very entertaining adventure that you can only find from a company as creative as Pixar.