Never my favourites of cartoon characters, this sadly doesn't really do much better than the pretty far-fetched, slapstick, animation series from the 1970s. It starts off by way of an explanation as to how the young "Shaggy" and his eponymous canine pal initially hooked up, before jumping forwards to present day where the two, along with the rest of the "Mystery Inc." gang, must work together to thwart an evil plan to unleash the legendary guardian of the Underworld - a spectral form of Cerberus - on mankind. To be fair, it doesn't hang around and the animation quality keeps the style fairly similar to the original television series; it's just that the writing is really lacklustre and cheesy with the characters - for me, at any rate - just downright irritating, playing to just about every stereotype imaginable. The reveals at the end were always pretty silly, and here is no different - it's all just too lightweight and disappointing. I'd have backed Cerberus any day. Perhaps it is just aiming for a nostalgic audience of adults who recall it more fondly than I do? In any case, I really cannot see this resonating with the kids today and maybe this is one cinema release that lockdown did us all favour by restricting.
