My wife asked me not to be a jerk about this, but there is no way I can let this one slide by. There are some properties out there where you have to just shake your head and wonder how their respective owners can keep running them into the ground, and Scooby-Doo is one of those. What makes it especially painful is that Warner Bros. is allowing a cherished franchise that’s delighted millions of families for the past 50 years (2019 will mark the anniversary) to be marred by a string of sub-par spin-offs and re-imaginings. The 2002 live-action Scooby-Doo and its 2004 sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed were both written by a pre-Guardians of the Galaxy James Gunn and both were pretty entertaining and well-received. Then there was the excellent Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated that ran from 2010-2013 – a series that served as a perfect entry to Scooby-Doo for my own daughters. And then the turn happened. A pair of not-great live-action “prequel” TV movies paired with the bizarre Family Guy-style animation of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! would be followed by the announcement of a live-action Daphne & Velma movie. With that film hitting Blu-ray and DVD on May 22, 2018, the cast is starting to do press this week, and I feel for all parties involved when the interviews start rolling. The trailer that was released last month looks absolutely terrible, and the Blu-ray art is a horrible use of Photoshop in which the faces of the actresses look awkwardly placed atop equally awkward poses. See for yourself…
From Warner Bros: Futuristic robots, crazy gadgets and the brightest students of tomorrow are common sights at Ridge Valley High. Home to their newest student, the smart and capable Daphne Blake (Sarah Jeffery) and her online bestie, the tech-savvy hipster Velma Dinkley (Sarah Gilman). But not everything is as innocent as they seem on campus, as mysterious disappearances begin to plague the top-ranked students. Once cheery and full of life, kids are coming back lifeless and a shell of who they once were. Can these two teens get along in real-life and encourage each other to break down their inner weaknesses, and save the town from an eerie downfall? Get ready for a mystery-filled origin story set in modern day millennial heaven to find out.
If this is “modern day millennial heaven,” it just might be my Hell. I have no problem with reboots and reimaginings, but if a trailer makes a film look this bad, I can only imagine how the final product must be. A definite pass for me.
