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.
'Be Cool Scooby Doo' turned out to be much better than anticipated. Not perfect, not great or one of the franchise's best, but so much better than the advertising suggested with a good deal to like. "Mystery 101" turned out to be a promising start to the show and was good enough to make me feel happy continuing watching the show. Not everything works, including the aspect that most put me off when 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' was advertised, but a lot does.
"Mystery 101's" weakest aspect is the animation. The only part of the animation that worked was the character animation for Elias Kingston (a nice throwback to one of 'Scooby Doo Where are You's' best villains), but most off putting, more so than the flat colours and the sparse backgrounds were the quite hideous character designs. Especially the drugged out alien look for Shaggy and Scooby's facial expressions and the Seth MacFarlane-like animation for Daphne.
Did find the perpetrator on the obvious side and too early. Velma, and this was a general problem for 'Be Cool Scooby Doo', also comes over as too bossy and the brains of the group aspect of her character is taken too far.
The rest of the gang are fine. Shaggy and Scooby are spot on, being both very funny and very likeable. Also spot on is their friendship and chemistry, which is so charming, adorable and endearingly goofy. Daphne's character writing is quite refreshing, really liked her quirkier and more resourceful personality (the latter of which she showed since the late 70s and it took some getting used to at first when so used to how she was written in the earlier incarnations). Fred didn't bother me here, though he did in some other episodes. Can't fault the voice acting, with Matthew Lillard's Shaggy continuing to be pitch perfect and by far the best of Casey Kasem's replacements.
Furthermore, there is a light hearted, quirky energy that was great to watch. The chemistry within the gang charms and entertains and doesn't stray too far from the earlier incarnations' character dynamic. The story is fun and not too simple, with a creepy atmosphere when needed and Elias Kingston has lost none of his creepiness. His reuse is not forced. The music is very cool and fits the show's tone very well. Best of all is the writing, which is throughout clever and very funny and at its best hilarious. The humour in particular is spot on. Daphne and the puppets was priceless as was Velma's line about the odds of being attacked and/or further educated being negligible.
Overall, a lot of potential can be seen here. 7/10.
'Be Cool Scooby Doo' turned out to be much better than anticipated. Not perfect, not great or one of the franchise's best, but so much better than the advertising suggested with a good deal to like. "Mystery 101" turned out to be a promising start to the show and was good enough to make me feel happy continuing watching the show. Not everything works, including the aspect that most put me off when 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' was advertised, but a lot does.
"Mystery 101's" weakest aspect is the animation. The only part of the animation that worked was the character animation for Elias Kingston (a nice throwback to one of 'Scooby Doo Where are You's' best villains), but most off putting, more so than the flat colours and the sparse backgrounds were the quite hideous character designs. Especially the drugged out alien look for Shaggy and Scooby's facial expressions and the Seth MacFarlane-like animation for Daphne.
Did find the perpetrator on the obvious side and too early. Velma, and this was a general problem for 'Be Cool Scooby Doo', also comes over as too bossy and the brains of the group aspect of her character is taken too far.
The rest of the gang are fine. Shaggy and Scooby are spot on, being both very funny and very likeable. Also spot on is their friendship and chemistry, which is so charming, adorable and endearingly goofy. Daphne's character writing is quite refreshing, really liked her quirkier and more resourceful personality (the latter of which she showed since the late 70s and it took some getting used to at first when so used to how she was written in the earlier incarnations). Fred didn't bother me here, though he did in some other episodes. Can't fault the voice acting, with Matthew Lillard's Shaggy continuing to be pitch perfect and by far the best of Casey Kasem's replacements.
Furthermore, there is a light hearted, quirky energy that was great to watch. The chemistry within the gang charms and entertains and doesn't stray too far from the earlier incarnations' character dynamic. The story is fun and not too simple, with a creepy atmosphere when needed and Elias Kingston has lost none of his creepiness. His reuse is not forced. The music is very cool and fits the show's tone very well. Best of all is the writing, which is throughout clever and very funny and at its best hilarious. The humour in particular is spot on. Daphne and the puppets was priceless as was Velma's line about the odds of being attacked and/or further educated being negligible.
Overall, a lot of potential can be seen here. 7/10.
