I remember the two live-action films that weren't good on the whole. But they certainly contained enough charm of the TV series to give them a guilty pleasure vibe.
A 2020 release of a new one surprised me. But after hearing this to be the beginning of a Hanna Barbera cinematic universe had me somewhat excited. I could see the potential. But I could picture it failing as miserably as Universal Studios' Dark Universe.
Sadly, it seemed to more like the latter. While the animation style was a pleasing introduction, there were moments within the story especially at the very beginning that had me confused trying to work out what time period. Certain pieces of technology that I noticed conflicted with others that I could see on screen. Plus, a lot of the content the trailer suggested the story it was going for we only saw in the opening scene.
After that, it looked as if we were going to have another bog-standard Scooby-Doo adventure. Then came the moment that I feared, and that is world building. While it was nice seeing characters from other Hanna Barbera creations, it just seemed that the film-makers don't own feel confident with its own property of Scooby-Doo. It's a safe and entertaining formula. But instead, we get an unnecessary convoluted story that is also structured in a way that expects the audience to know its characters and it never capitalises on the fresh start its been given to introduce this property to a new audience.
The writing and gags is pretty basic, even by the standards of its very young target audience. It has moments that can please fans of all ages. But it didn't feel enough for me to give it a pass.
There is one particular gag that uses a pop culture reference that felt about 16 years too late of it being relevant.
I also noticed some topical references thrown in rather than making it smart and maybe giving the tone of the film a benefitial edge. All of that just came across as the film-makers lookign desperate to appeal to today's kids.
While I did mention before about it being a problem. It was also great seeing some of the additional characters from some of my favourite Hanna Barbera shows as a kid. Plus, there is also a nice little Easter Egg in there for the hardcore fans that I noticed.
Also, I loved the use of the old school Looney Tunes style sound effects.
The voice acting was pretty solid. I would check out the entire cast list. It's more impressive then you might imagine. Frank Welker and Will Forte were good in the main roles and portrayed their characters as you would expect to act. Mark Wahlberg's performance was so good that I actually thought it was Ryan Reynolds the whole time.
So while I admired it's vision. It's execution quite have me giving it a pass. I remain interested to see where Warner Animation go with their next Hanna Barbera installment as well as seeing their ultimate vision for their cinematic universe. If it does well enough financially, it can still win me over in the long term.
I can't see this working well with fans of the traditional show as it does seem to lack that Scooby-Doo magic, mystery and intrigue that now makes me appreciate the 2002 version a lot more now. Instead, it went for the superhero angle that every other mainstream kids film is trying to do just for the sake of being typical. Doing that just makes it more forgettable and lost in a now endlessly growing pile of mediocre imitations. Plus, the modern references it used at times didn't feel right with the characters involved.
I thought it was ok and was mildly intriguing on the attempt of building a universe. But I just feel this could have been much better and make it feel more like a standalone Scooby-Doo film whilst also introducing us to a potential Hanna Barbera universe.
Rating: 6/10
No comments:
Post a Comment