Let us start with the basic story, and no I won't nerd out and go into the WWE history side of things. Imagine if Pro-Wrestling was real, and for whatever reason WWE decided to build its own City. This city is where all the Wrestlers, or Superstars as they are called, live and train. WrestleMania is the big event they put on at the end of the year, and is their largest PPV. Scooby and Shaggy win a trip to WWE city to see the ppv, and spend some time with the WWE superstars. As it always does, a mystery arises, and the gang has to solve it in order to save the day. The way they incorporate the WWE guys into the story, is they are the ones being target by the monster. So they have a reason to help out Mystery Inc while they try to solve the case. Anything else would go into spoiler territory, so I will just leave it at that. There was also a subplot about a uncle and his nephew Ruben. The uncle was a known name in wrestling, but got injured before he could win any really big matches. The uncle doesn't want his nephew wrestling, as he is afraid he will hurt himself as well. I felt they could have done more with this, as there is a great potential to talk to kids about these kind of situations. It is not abnormal for people to have dreams that there guardians are unable to understand after all. But in the end they never really get a chance to talk it out, and it just felt like a missed opportunity for a kids movie to actually have a good lesson. The story works well enough for a movie, though there is plenty of padding in order to lengthen its run time. Scooby has a dream sequence where he wrestles food so that he can eat it after he wins the match. Granted that is probably something Scooby would dream of, but it takes to long and serves no real purpose other then to remind you, hey this is a movie about wrestling. I also found they liked to name drop in the movie, and they did it far more frequently then I would have liked. I can understand them introducing each superstar, as some people will not know who they are. But having to say their name multiple times, every time they are on screen seems odd. They also say "WWE" far to often, as if they had to reach a quota of times plugged, in order to use the license. It doesn't detract much, but it was annoying.
However the actual use of the WWE superstars, and brand, was a positive overall. Seeing the superstars, most of which were voiced by themselves, interact with Mystery Inc turned out better then I would have thought. John Cena was the stand out role, as he tended to be the one usually paired with Scooby. One thing I really liked about it, was how they poked fun at the superstars in ring personas. Cena is known for his larger the life personality, and is often referred to as Super Cena as he tends to win matches were the odds are stacked against him. That carried over into the movie, and was used in a comical way. He performed feats of strength that no real person could do, and even helped fight the Bear Monster in hand to hand combat. Hearing his entrance music go off though, when he jumps in to save the day, will put a smile on any fan of his. And really that is the main thing here, this is a movie for the fans. The wrestlers are often spouting out their catchphrases, and seeing them acting out their characters in this environment just mad me happy. If you are a 6 year old, or a 30+ who is still a fan of WWE, this movie will have something for you.
Also while talking about the wrestlers, I figure I should point out they do fight in this movie. For me it was fine, but not exactly what I expected from Scooby-Doo. Scooby has done shows about wrestling before, but never with this much action. I don't think it comes off in a bad way however, and I would not consider it to violent for children by any means. You get John Cena in a match against Sin Cara. You get Scooby and Shaggy against Kane, and then a cage match to finish it all up. There are also training sequences, as well as Scooby-Doo's odd food fight dream. They also catch the bad guy this time, by beating them down in said cage match. Thinking back on it, not exactly what I would have expected from this franchise, but it works given the guest stars.
So the wrestlers work well, but how does Scooby hold up over the years? And which version of Scooby do we even get? If you are a younger fan, you are probably familiar with the recent series Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. Why I enjoyed this series, it was very different from old school Scooby-Doo. The gang are high schoolers, and the monsters are usually real instead of people in costumes. As this is the most recent version of the show, I was surprised to see they went with the classic variation where monsters don't exist. It was nice to see the 70's version though, and the voices sounded enough like the originals, which I guess would have bothered nobody but me had they not. The humor is very similar to the old show, and they even re-used some old gags. Stuff like running down a hallway with many doors, and then coming out of random ones and causing a pile-up. Not sure if that humor would work on new viewers, but old fans will enjoy seeing it. Still this is a kids movie, and I think they will be able to enjoy it for what it is.
In the end we have a passable story, and a mystery that you will have solved about 20 minutes into the movie. The first half is a little weak and slow, but the 2nd half more the makes up for it. There are some attempts at good lessons for the kids, but mostly they fall flat or go un-used. A little padding in order to get that full length, instead of a hour long special, and some odd action sequences to round it out. So is it worth buying for you young ones, or older wrestling fans? Yes and no, or no and yes given the order I worded that. If you like Scooby-Doo, this movie will not really do much for you. The antics and gags that made Scooby work are present, but take a back seat to the inclusion of WWE! I used the ! because they yell WWE at you so damn often during the film. Also I figure most younger people now know the more recent variation of the Scooby-Doo franchise, and would be confused as to who these people are, and why they are so different. If your a WWE fan, well you will enjoy this more. Seeing a comical approach to the superstars was oddly satisfying. And seeing The Miz taken out by a ghost bear put a huge smile on my face. If you like both the Doo and the E, well then you are who this movie was made for. Go enjoy it
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