May 15, 2020

Critics have been harsh, but how the audience responds to the "scoop!""Arrived at VOD today

Scoob! comes out today, not quite as originally planned. Following the lead of Universal's Trolls World Tour, Warner Bros. is releasing the all-barking, all-woofing reboot of the Scooby-Doo franchise on video-on-demand (VOD) platforms.

Like Trolls World Tour, the film is well suited to this distribution model: it's a light-hearted family flick designed to provide much-needed escapism. Scoob! serves as an origin story for the pooch and his crime-solving Mystery Inc. gang. It's the first feature in the franchise since 2004's hybrid Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed - and the very first to be fully cg-animated. Watch the trailer and read the official synopsis below:

The film is available for a 48-hour rental for $19.99 or digital ownership for $24.99. Warner Bros. are actually going one further than Universal: they aren't even releasing the feature simultaneously in those few drive-ins and indoor theaters that are open in North America.

Whereas Trolls World Tour had already received a full-blown theatrical marketing push when Universal decided to switch to VOD, Warner Bros. has had the time to plan a savvy online campaign, including a viral dance video on the Tiktok platform.

Theater owners were enraged by the VOD release of Trolls World Tour (and subsequent comments by NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell). Their response to Scoob! has been relatively muted. As the exhibition sector is now tentatively reopening in places, it is arguably more vulnerable than it was when Trolls World Tour came out a month ago, and theaters may not want to play a new day-and-date VOD release for fear of inadvertently proving that the model works. This Indiewire article probes the subject.

The film has received middling reviews so far with a weak 52% critics' rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of this moment. Critics have pointed out flaws in the script in particular. Here's what they're saying:

Kate Erbland awarded the film a B- grade in Indiewire, writing one of the film's more positive appraisals:

While praising the cartoonish visuals, the Los Angeles Times's Justin Chang laments the wink-wink humor:

Writing in The Hollywood Reporter, Justin Lowe expresses mixed feelings about the film's design:

Alison Willmore in Vulture hones in on the film's labored dialogue which attempts to appeal to older audiences:

Benjamin Lee awards the film two stars in The Guardian, singling out the story for criticism:

Scoob! is directed by Tony Cervone, a Warner Animation veteran who's been closely involved with the Scooby-Doo franchise over the years. Warner Animation Group produced the film, but Reel FX, which is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, handled the animation under Bill Haller's supervision, with much of it being produced out of the company's Montreal studio. The next episode of Cartoon Brew's podcast will feature an in-depth conversation with Cervone and Haller.

The film is produced by Pam Coats and Allison Abbate. Serving as executive producers are Adam Sztykiel, Charles Roven, Richard Suckle, Jesse Ehrman, Dan Povenmire, and Chris Columbus. The screenplay is by Adam Sztykiel, Jack C. Donaldson, Derek Elliott, and Matt Lieberman, from a story by Matt Lieberman, Eyal Podell, and Jonathon E. Stewart.

Frank Welker, who was the original voice of Fred Jones in the 1969 Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! tv series, voices Scooby-Doo, as he has done since 2002. Will Forte joins him as Shaggy. The cast also includes Zac Efron (Fred Jones), Gina Rodriguez (Velma Dinkley), and Amanda Seyfried (Daphne Blake), as well as Tracy Morgan, Ken Jeong, Kiersey Clemons, Mark Wahlberg, and Jason Isaacs.