Scoob! reveals the never-before-told story of Scooby-Doo’s origins. The film shows how one of history’s most famous friendships began when an adorable, homeless puppy met a lonesome young boy named Shaggy, and how the two of them joined forces with aspiring young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to become the celebrated Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face the biggest and most challenging mystery of their careers: a plot that will unleash the legendary ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop this “dogpocalypse,” they discover that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined...

Scoob! manages to balance the fine line between remaining faithful to the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the '60s/'70s - in fact, older fans of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! will smile when they see that Scoob! pays homage to the original TV series' opening credits - while also bringing the story up to date for an entirely new generation of young viewers.

The movie opens with a young Shaggy and Scooby meeting for the first time, before they stumble on another friendship, and their first ghostly/criminal investigation when they bump into a young Fred, Velma and Daphne. They enter the local haunted house, to discover that the owner has spread the rumour that his house is home to ghostly ghouls so that he can use it as a base for criminal activity without anyone poking around.

The story then moves to modern day where we discover that the Scooby gang are now known for unmasking criminal gangs (all of whom for some reason use ghosts to deter investigators). But their next investigation will put them up against Dick Dastardly who has discovered that Scooby-Doo is the missing link he needs to open a portal to another realm that contains richest beyond his wildest dreams.

Aiding Scooby and Co., are the new Blue Falcon (while he's the son of the original superhero, he's not quite up to the task of being a hero), Falcon Fury Pilot Dee Dee Skyes (a character that cartoon aficionados will spot as one of the three girls from Captain Caveman) and the Falcon Forces Dynomutt. There are also a few surprise appearances from other Hanna-Barbera characters of old.

Extras include Bloopers (3 min, 58 sec of deleted scenes of the voice actors fluffing their lines); Deleted Scenes (19 min, 48 sec - rough animatics of deleted scenes introduced by the director); How to draw Scooby-Doo (10 min, 16 sec featurette with the director showing you how he draws Scooby-Doo); New Friends, Newer Villains (6 min, 21 sec look at the new characters and voice artists); and Puppies!! (1 min, 05 sec - which for some reason sees some of the cast playing with puppies).

From an adult's point of view this is rather hit and miss. But then this is a kid's film and given that, it's certainly a movie that the young and pre teens will get a lot of fun out of. Just ignore the obvious product plugs and you'll be fine. Oh, and why on earth they included creepy cheesy Simon Cowell is beyond me.

7

Nick Smithson