Despite being a massive Scooby Doo fan for goodness knows how long, expectations were somehow not high for 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' prior to giving it a chance. The advertising in my mind was terrible and the animation style, one of the franchise's least appealing, was very off putting. Still gave it a chance as a fan of the franchise and of animation in general and there are films and shows that have bad advertising but turn out to be good.
The Scooby Doo franchise has proven numerous times since and especially before 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' that it lends itself well to wintery settings. Strong examples being 'What's New Scooby Doo's' "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman", 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' "Ghost of Bigfoot" and 'The New Scooby Doo Mysteries' "The Nutcracker Scoob". 'Scooby Doo Where are You's' "That's Snow Ghost" is a very memorable episode as well. "Scary Christmas" is another episode that is set in winter and another that is very good in its own way.
"Scary Christmas" by all means isn't perfect. Am still not a fan of the animation, which never did much for me in all honesty. It still looks flat and rushed looking to me with too much unintentionally creepy character designs.
Like most of the show's episodes, the reveal is in pretty much every way predictable due to suspects being too few, also would have liked to have gotten to know the supporting characters more.
Good things however are many. Loved the gang's interaction, Shaggy and Scooby's friendship has so much heart and entertainment value, and the individual personalities. Shaggy and Scooby are close to their original personalities and love the quirky personality that Daphne had in the show. The wintery setting is very cool, full of atmosphere and made great use of. The winter outfits are great. While the pteradactyl was quite a random choice for villain considering the setting, he was still fun and creepy.
Although the mystery is quite straightforward, it is also full of energy of the vibrant kind and has the right amount of eerie atmosphere. The humour is on point, there is not too much of it and it is never cheesy or forced. The music fits well tonally and the voice acting is spot on.
Concluding, very well done. 8/10.
The Scooby Doo franchise has proven numerous times since and especially before 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' that it lends itself well to wintery settings. Strong examples being 'What's New Scooby Doo's' "Simple Plan and the Invisible Madman", 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' "Ghost of Bigfoot" and 'The New Scooby Doo Mysteries' "The Nutcracker Scoob". 'Scooby Doo Where are You's' "That's Snow Ghost" is a very memorable episode as well. "Scary Christmas" is another episode that is set in winter and another that is very good in its own way.
"Scary Christmas" by all means isn't perfect. Am still not a fan of the animation, which never did much for me in all honesty. It still looks flat and rushed looking to me with too much unintentionally creepy character designs.
Like most of the show's episodes, the reveal is in pretty much every way predictable due to suspects being too few, also would have liked to have gotten to know the supporting characters more.
Good things however are many. Loved the gang's interaction, Shaggy and Scooby's friendship has so much heart and entertainment value, and the individual personalities. Shaggy and Scooby are close to their original personalities and love the quirky personality that Daphne had in the show. The wintery setting is very cool, full of atmosphere and made great use of. The winter outfits are great. While the pteradactyl was quite a random choice for villain considering the setting, he was still fun and creepy.
Although the mystery is quite straightforward, it is also full of energy of the vibrant kind and has the right amount of eerie atmosphere. The humour is on point, there is not too much of it and it is never cheesy or forced. The music fits well tonally and the voice acting is spot on.
Concluding, very well done. 8/10.
