Scooby Doo: Abracadabra-Doo

So what’s the Scooby Gang up to this time, you might ask. We meet Velma’s younger sister for the first time here. Young Madelyn has been off studying magic at the Whirlin Merlin Magic Academy. It seems a giant mythological griffin has been stalking the halls of the old school. So who ya gonna call? Scooby and the gang conduct the usual investigation, uncovering the usual suspects.

Scooby Doo has spanned generations and over 40 years. Since the 1960’s the name and conventions have become a part of the pop culture. The original cartoon series had a series of conventions. The Scooby Gang would drive around in their green Mystery Machine van and solve ghostly mysteries. Fans of the show quickly grew to learn that these spirits and goblins were usually just normal people using scare tactics to get revenge or make a profit. The cartoon classic spawned music albums, live action movies, and several new shows and animated features.

The jokes haven’t changed much, even if the voices have. Frank Welker, who voiced Freddie briefly in 1970, returns as Freddie and Scooby Doo. Unfortunately Don Messick died in 1997 and Welker has been voicing the pup since that time and before. Mindy Cohn has been voicing Velma since 2004, replacing a line of actors starting with Nicole Jaffe. What’s important is that Casey Kasem does not return as Shaggy, a part he’s played since 1969. That part now goes to Matthew Lilard. Don’t get me wrong, he does a fine job, but this was the most unmistakable voice in the mix up until now. Older fans will notice the change with sadness. Part of me is very glad to see that Scooby and the gang are still out there working for Scooby Snax. The charm remains, even if the jokes don’t appear quite as funny anymore. You’ll likely pick this up as much for yourself as your kids. Just don’t be too disappointed if it doesn’t seem quite the same.

Video

Scooby Doo is presented in its original full frame broadcast aspect ratio. The colors are actually pretty good here. The entire image is very bright and sharp. Black levels are above average. The animation is clean and smooth. Certainly, Scooby didn’t look this good back in the day. The print is clean, and I saw no real compression problems.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 track does exactly what it was originally intended to do. It delivers dialog and some mid-range music. Nothing to write home about, but nothing to distract. A perfectly average presentation.

Special Features

Scooby Doo And Puppets Too: (10:45) A puppet maker shows you how to make homemade puppet monsters.

Final Thoughts:

There’s plenty of Scooby out there, and he’s been in some kind of production more or less for over 40 years. I’d rather watch the older versions, but I’ll cop to the fact that I’ve a certain nostalgic bias for the old shows. So, I’d pick this one up only if I had young children, while older cartoons I’d buy for myself. Are you going to watch this latest Scooby mystery? “Sometimes there are other things I’d like to see.”