Movie Reviews by Jarrod Edson and edited by Sarah Lehman
Scooby:
In my opinion, it’s bad or just meh at best. Basically, Scooby Doo and Shaggy team up with Blue Falcon and Dynomutt to defeat the villain Dick Dastardly, before he opens the gate to the underworld to retrieve his dog who is lost there (exactly why that’s a bad thing, I don’t know).
Velma, Fred, and Daphne are barely in this film, being more or less sidelined. Also in the first 12 minutes of the film, Simon Cowell appears. Yes, the same Simon Cowell who is a judge on American Idol or America’s Got Talent. That has nothing to do with Scooby Doo. When I think Scooby-Doo, I don’t think of Simon Cowell or Dick Dastardly or Blue Falcon and Dynomutt or a superhero action flick. No, that’s just not Scooby-Doo at all. Also the mystery van gets destroyed at the end of this film, and gets replaced with a futuristic van. There is no mystery in this film.
The sad part is the first 15 min felt like a Scooby-Doo show, but that’s it because the rest is basically a superhero flick. Fred, Velma, and Daphne’s personalities were different compared to the original show, and the little things that make the characters unique are not in this movie.
Overall I give this film a 4/10. I do recommend you should watch it so you can come up with your own opinions, because maybe you might like it. Also this movie is setting up the Hanna-Barbera cinematic universe–yept, another cinematic universe. *sigh*
Onward: Here is my review of Onward. It’s nothing new but it’s still actually pretty good.
Two elf brothers, played by Chris Pratt and Tom Holland, lost their dad when they were kids. But their dad left them a magical staff and a spell that will bring him back for a day. The spell requires a certain gem to power it, and when they try to use it, the gem blows up and all they bring back is his lower half. So they have to go find another gem to bring the rest of him back. By the way, this is also a fantasy film, since it takes place in a fantasy modern world–that is, fantasy monsters and creatures and with modern technology.
I found the part about losing their dad from sickness to be sad. But throughout this story, Tom Holland’s character gets to interact with his brother, and the stuff he wanted to do with his dad, he gets to do with his brother instead.
This movie is definitely worth a watch. It’s on Disney plus, so if you have the app I recommend you check the film out. I give it a 8.4/10.