Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon (2012)

Just what I expected

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Would it be fair to say: "They had me at 'hello'"? Here we have Scooby Doo catering to comic book nerds like me, the type of adult fan boys that remember when Magneto ran the X-Men, the type of fan boys that still drool over the classic Hannah-Barbara superhero cartoons that warped us as children, molding us into fanboys even though most of them came out a decade or two before we were born...And Scooby Doo goes to a comic con full of references to those beloved cartoons, even dressing as one of the characters in a Scooby-Cosplay.Then, the Big Bad is in the same vein as the classic Scooby and...my floor is covered with drool and my girlfriend is wondering what she's doing with a ten-year-old stuck in an adult's body.it is super fun, it is a total throw back to the Classic Scooby of old...and unlike the Goblin King, is still has enough to appeal to the fans that were created from the movies and not from the old cartoons.

I haven't seen any Scooby Doo cartoons since I watched some of the feature length animations made in the 1990s, but I was lured into this one by references to Frankenstein Junior and The Herculoids on the DVD cover (wasted on most U.K. purchasers, to whom these characters are virtually unknown, unless they are incurable fanboys or cult TV nerds like me). I doubt the number of people who have heard of the Herculoids or remember Frankenstein Junior and the Impossibles from the late '60's in Blighty run to three figures. Anyhow, this is all a bit of a letdown, as these characters are represented purely by a hot air balloon of Frankie and an amusing sequence when Freddy, Daphne and Velma dress up as three of the Herculoids to get into the rather sparsely attended Comic Convention where this particular adventure takes place (I wasn't really expecting the originals to be shoehorned into the format, but still...). There are numerous background gags involving other H-B characters, and it's all good fun for freeze-framing fans, although South Park did it first and better with Imaginationland.Warners, like Paramount with Star Trek, are very good at biting the hand that feeds them, and the rest of the cameos by obscure 1960s characters are represented by ill-fitting costumes worn by overweight and shabby convention-goers. These caricatures are quite funny and on-the-nose, and provide most of the fun in this routine yarn, which revolves around Scooby and Shaggy being fans of Dynomutt and the Blue Falcon, a sort of robot Scooby clone and deliberately bland super-hero from what Jimmy Carr memorably termed "the Scrappy-Doo years", that awful dead period of the 1970s and 1980s pre-Simpsons and Cartoon Network, when virtually all animated cartoons were unwatchable.Fanboy writers Marly Halpern-Graser and Michael Ryan, and director Michael Goguen, all with much similar fare behind them, litter the background with posters and sight gags recalling all the obscure Hanna-Barbera creations of the 1960s I love, and appear to feel the same way I and many of my generation do about the vicious and nasty versions of our childhood heroes presently being offered to today's deprived youth. Ironically, while successfully making their point, they've produced a film far more cynical than all the episodes of Family Guy and South Park combined, in which every character outside the regular cast is bitter and twisted and phoney. Star Trek fans and Comic Convention attendees have been so cruelly (and often accurately) lampooned over the last two decades that they must have the hides of rhinos to still be showing up at these things.What's left to say? Matthew Lillard's Shaggy is as pitch perfect as ever, but I'm not so sure about the new audible Scooby Doo, who is much more coherent than he used to be. When did that happen? It's not dull, and the animation is fine (the green goo sequence is particularly well done, and a long way from when the characters simply ran from left to right), but the welcome critique of the ludicrous Batman situation, whereby the classic and most popular version of the character from the '60s is being deliberately sat on while Warners persist with endless reboots of the one who dares not even speak his name (while providing a bonanza for bootleggers as the most pirated TV series in history) will obviously go over the heads of the kids... and may even have gone over the heads of the Warners suits! Jeff Bennett provides such a perfect imitation of Adam West that I actually assumed it was him doing the voice--not unreasonable, as he's played similar roles on numerous other occasions merrily sending himself up. And Billy West of Futurama does a mean Paul Lynde impersonation!

When I first heard about "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon," I was giddy as a schoolboy. What could be more perfect than a movie combining two of my favorite Hanna-Barbera characters from my childhood?I would spend many Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons watching Scooby and the gang solve mysteries and then Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, the Dog Wonder, chase down whatever criminal they were up against. After watching this new animated feature, there's one thing that could make it better. It would be nice if it actually featured the super hero and his canine sidekick. Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Incorporated gang head to California for the annual Mega Mondo Pop Cartoon-a-Con. Shaggy and the crime-solving canine are most excited to meet their favorite actor who portrayed the Blue Falcon. The celebrity's appearance at the convention is overshadowed by the release of a new modernized movie featuring the classic super hero. A sinister villain named Mr. Hyde is intent on bringing the advanced screening of the new "Blue Falcon" film to a grinding halt. Can Scooby and his sleuthing crew capture the ghoulish Mr. Hyde and discover his motives before it's too late? What we get with "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" is a movie ABOUT the super hero, but not including him. To say I was disappointed when watching this after seeing the original trailers for the film would be an understatement. That's not to say it isn't hilarious or good. However, I was really looking forward to a team-up reminiscent of "The New Scooby-Doo Movies."Besides the fictional Blue Falcon actor donning the costume momentarily at the end, all we get is some footage from the old show. The rest of the time we get scenes from the "new and improved" Blue Falcon and Dynomutt movie. Although it's a hilarious jab at the way super heroes are updated and made current by movie studios, it didn't satisfy me as a viewer.In the update, Blue Falcon resembles Batman in "The Dark Knight" movies and Dynomutt looks like a Cylon mashed up with Ravage from "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." All I could think while watching it was, "That would be a pretty cool movie!" Of course Blue Falcon purists and fanboys would cry over this the same way they do about any remake or reboot of an iconic character.The whole movie takes place at a comic book convention and it does a great job lampooning the pop culture events and the people who attend them. Nothing is held sacred when it comes to poking fun at the different aspects of any comic book convention you'll attend.There are overweight attendees dressed in ill-fitting super hero costumes, vendors selling over-priced collectibles, old actors trying to make a living off selling autographs, and studios trying to pitch their newest movie releases. It's funny to see Warner Brothers poke fun at themselves.As an exciting mystery movie featuring the Mystery Incorporated Gang, "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" gets the job done. It's family fun that will appeal to parents and their children alike. Just don't go into it hoping for a team-up between Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and the Scooby Gang or you'll be as disenchanted as I was.

Naturally I'd see Scooby Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon because from a very early age I've loved Scooby Doo(still do as well). I've enjoyed most of the movies, though none are quite as good as Scooby Doo Where Are You?, The Scooby Doo Show and The New Scooby Doo Movies, at the same time on the other side of the spectrum all are a thousand times better than Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue! The best for me are Witch's Ghost, Big Top Scooby Doo, Goblin King and Zombie Island, Monster of Mexico is the only one I didn't care too much for. Post-Goblin King, the movies have been consistent in quality ranging from decent to great, Music of the Vampire being the weakest and Big Top Scooby Doo! being the best.Scooby Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon is really impressive, one of the better Scooby Doo movies in my opinion if not my personal favourite. The only real let-downs for me were that Velma came across as too much of a jerk to me, rather out of character for Velma. And Mindy Cohn doesn't bring out enough of that resourceful and likable personality of Velma's, some of her delivery was a little too sarcastic for my tastes. Some people may be disappointed considering that this is the Blue Falcon of how little of Dynomutt there is except in reference, a brief glimpse in the opening credits sequence and when Shaggy and Scooby are watching an episode in the Mystery Machine.However, I really liked the animation style. There is a lot of the What's New Scooby Doo? and Mystery Incoporated styles- mostly in the character designs- but also some of the classic feel of Scooby Doo Where Are You? The backgrounds are fluid and detailed and the colours colourful and haunting. The character designs are more than convincing too, Fred was closer to the classic Scooby Doo Fred than the Mystery Incorporated Fred, which I did like very much and prefer. The comic style opening credits sequence is very cool, any comic book or Scooby Doo fans will love them. The soundtrack is also a success, managing to be catchy and atmosphere-enhancing.There is also some great writing, in terms of humour and whatnot it has a pleasing mix of classic Scooby Doo and the Scooby Doo of the past 15 years or so. The mystery and story are just great, nothing too goofy and nothing too scary either even with the balance of suspenseful and humorous moments. The perpetrator I did guess twenty minutes before the end, but the twist and how the mystery was solved was more than satisfying. Shaggy and Scooby have a very likable chemistry, almost as affecting as it was in Big Top, while the message is a very nice one and similarly written in.As for the characters, apart from Velma they are true to character and have strong personalities. Shaggy and Scooby are particularly true to this, I liked how the film spoofed- in a sense- Adam West and the 1966 Batman show(which I am very fond of) and there is a great villain, scarily antagonistic and with a good motivation. The voice acting is excellent, Matthew Lillard as I've mentioned many times before does bring a lot of charm and likability to Shaggy, a character that had big shoes to fill. Frank Welker is great as Fred, and his Scooby voice is growing on me all the time. Grey DeIsle likewise as a Daphne that has a little more steel than in the older shows.Jeff Bennett is every inch the bitter and somewhat vengeful faded television star, while Dietrich Bader is hip and cool and John Di Maggio brings a really sinister edge to the villain of the piece. The mayor looks and sounds almost identical to the one from the original Dynomutt show, and Kevin Michael Richardson brings his distinctive voice to the character with no problem. Everybody else fill their characters very well. All in all, really impressive indeed, while not up there with the very best Scooby Doo movies it is towards the top.8/10 Bethany Cox