I recently watched the new Scooby-Doo movie “SCOOB!” the night it premiered on digital release, because the theaters are closed. I haven’t had a lot of experience with Scooby-Doo movies or TV shows, so I didn’t go into the movie with any expectations. In this movie, the gang teams up with superhero Blue Falcon to defeat villain Dick Dastardly, who is trying to unleash the Greek mythical creature Cerberus into the world.

The movie starts with the backstory of how the Mystery Inc. gang came to be. Shaggy is a lonely kid who befriends a stray dog and names him Scooby-Doo. Shaggy and Scooby meet the rest of the gang while they are trick or treating, and solve their first mystery inside a haunted mansion. Apparently, this backstory is inaccurate with the recognized Scooby-Doo timeline where the gang meets in-school detention in the movie “Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins”.

There are other inaccuracies with the “SCOOB!” movie and the general Scooby-Doo universe. For instance, the roles of each member of the gang aren’t as clearly defined. At the beginning of the movie, Velma identifies a trap, but that wouldn’t usually happen as that is Fred’s role. Nevertheless, if you look at it as a stand-alone film and not within the Scooby-Doo Universe, it makes for a pretty good movie.

“SCOOB!” has a cast of several recognizable actors like Zac Efron, Gina Rodriquez, Mark Wahlberg, and Ken Jeong. My favorite star in the movie, however, was Simon Cowell, who played himself. Without giving too many spoilers, he played a huge role in this movie and did a great performance. 

I usually don’t like animated movies like this, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It is a family movie, but there are jokes in it that are very clever, and it wasn’t obvious that it was targeted for kids. It was fast-paced, and the storyline was well thought out with different twists within it. “SCOOB!” was a fun animated adventure movie.