STRAIGHT OUTTA NOWHERE: SCOOBY-DOO! MEETS COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG (2021)
Tagline: Nope. The title was practically a book.
(Animation, Adventure, Cranky Old Dude) [PG]
Note –This movie was actually given a TV-PG, not a PG rating, but if it was theatrically released it would probably get a PG. This is the first time where Warner Bros and the Cartoon Network worked together on an animated film.
Like, there's no way I'm walking through a creepy cornfield at night! I'll wait here.
In this one, a strange signal draws Scooby-Doo away from a mystery that has just been solved to a small town called “Nowhere”. Scooby-Doo ends up running into Courage The Cowardly Dog and his two owners who are later tracked down by Fred, Shaggy, Velma, and Daphne. After going to see the Mayor for answers as to some strange goings-on, the gang and Courage discover lots of crazy things going on revolving around the strange signal and a dark matter meteorite crash. Can they solve the mystery before they are all killed by giant cicadas or any number of other dangers in the town of “Nowhere”?
First off, this movie is pretty slow to start for a Scooby-Doo film. There are things going on, but we really don’t have a story yet and there is very little character development going on. We also get some oddly familiar villains or “henchmen” so to speak. I can only guess there is someone down at WB that is afraid of cicadae for some reason. They were also the villains in SCOOBY-DOO MYSTERY INCORPORATED: SEASON 1 EPISODE 13 – WHEN THE CICADA CALLS.
Where this movie succeeds is in the fun department. I am not familiar with Courage The Cowardly Dog at all and found the character to be pretty cool. As grumpy as the old man owner named Eustace was, I actually really found his character pretty hilarious also. The action sequences are well done especially towards the middle of the film. We also get some decent animation with light use of 3D rendered graphics from time to time. There are scenes where it seems like the hole in Courage's teeth is moving around from tooth to tooth. I am not sure if this is intentional or not.
As far as the voice cast goes a lot of my favorites are still at it. Matthew Lillard for me is still the best Shaggy, Grey Griffin is the best Daphne, the legendary Frank Welker is still awesome as Scooby-Doo and Fred. Kate Micucci voices Velma who isn’t my favorite in the role, but she’s been at it since 2016 in the main Scooby-Doo direct-to-video series, and since 2015 in the Scooby-Doo Lego iteration, so I really don’t take issue with her as a voice actress. I just liked Mindy Cohn better. All of this made this movie “feel” more “Scooby-Doo” for me and added to my enjoyment of the story.
Pacing wise I felt there were a few lulls and a few weird sports where it was really tough to tell what was supposed to be real and what wasn’t. Having said that, the final reveal kind of covers up a lot of the perceived plot holes. The scary stuff is patty-cake terror I think most anyone over 4 can handle, but the plot overall is probably more for anyone above 9 regarding the “explanation” of how everything happened.
I have to put this one at a 4 out of 7 for me personally, but I can see how younger kids would have even more fun with it than I did (the kid in me enjoyed this one for its silliness).
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