It started well, with a touching scene of the main characters meeting for the forst time as kids (or puppies, in Scooby's case) and then having one of their traditional adventures. However, this only lasts 15 minutes, and from there the movie stops being a Scooby Doo movie and starts being a superhero movie, with Dick Dastardly as the supervillain, and Blue Falcon and his gang as superheroes, with the Scooby gang stuck there in a movie that is not their own.
Because let's face it, just like in a James Bond movie we have certain expectations, in a Scoob movie we also have expectations, and they are not met. That distinctive type of adventures where they explore a haunted location and, after many scares, end up discovering that it was all a not supernatural trick by some criminal, is not here, except for a brief nod at the beginning. Instead, we get a generic modern children's movie, with characters running around from chase to chase, battle to battle and explosion to explosion without a compelling plot, while making pop culture references. The plot involves saving the world from a large-scale supernatural threat (really supernatural, none of the subversion characteristic of the source material).
So, if we forget about wanting a Scooby Doo movie and focus on the movie we get, it's not very good either. You can see where they try to have jokes for the adult watchers, but they lack the wit and talent to make them funny. They occasionally remember that this is supposed to be a Scooby Doo movie, and they have traditional gags like having Scooby and Shaggy, in the middle of being chased by the critters, turn around and serve the critters as waiters, disconcerting them for a while, but it's too little and done without much talent. You also get a scene where two male characters fight and a female character says it's toxic masculinity, which is kind of a hateful message to send to children.
In short, if you want a Scooby movie, this is not it, and if you want a generic modern kid's movie, this is not a good one.
Because let's face it, just like in a James Bond movie we have certain expectations, in a Scoob movie we also have expectations, and they are not met. That distinctive type of adventures where they explore a haunted location and, after many scares, end up discovering that it was all a not supernatural trick by some criminal, is not here, except for a brief nod at the beginning. Instead, we get a generic modern children's movie, with characters running around from chase to chase, battle to battle and explosion to explosion without a compelling plot, while making pop culture references. The plot involves saving the world from a large-scale supernatural threat (really supernatural, none of the subversion characteristic of the source material).
So, if we forget about wanting a Scooby Doo movie and focus on the movie we get, it's not very good either. You can see where they try to have jokes for the adult watchers, but they lack the wit and talent to make them funny. They occasionally remember that this is supposed to be a Scooby Doo movie, and they have traditional gags like having Scooby and Shaggy, in the middle of being chased by the critters, turn around and serve the critters as waiters, disconcerting them for a while, but it's too little and done without much talent. You also get a scene where two male characters fight and a female character says it's toxic masculinity, which is kind of a hateful message to send to children.
In short, if you want a Scooby movie, this is not it, and if you want a generic modern kid's movie, this is not a good one.