Review: STRAIGHT OUTTA NOWHERE: SCOOBY-DOO MEETS COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG Is a Fun Mashup that Feels Like a Love Letter to a Beloved Franchise
This week, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment released Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog.
This is the latest animated film starring everyone’s favorite mystery solving gang and two of the world’s favorite cartoon dogs. Warner Bros. Home Entertainment was kind enough to provide me with a copy of the film on DVD and you can purchase your own copy physically or digitally now for $14.99 ($19.99 in Canada).
The film was written by Mike Ryan, directed by Cecilia Aranovich, and stars Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones, Grey Griffin as Daphne Blake, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers, Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley, Jeff Bergman as Eustice Bagge, Marty Grabstein as Courage the Cowardly Dog, and the late Thea White as Muriel Bagge. The DVD also includes three bonus episodes, but my below review is all about the film.
An original animated feature so exciting it’s scratching at the door! Comedy is unleashed when Scooby-Doo, your favorite mystery-solving mutt, teams up for the first time with Courage the Cowardly Dog. The canine colleagues sniff out a strange object in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas, the backwoods hometown of Courage and his owners, Eustace and Muriel Bagge. Soon, the mysterious discovery puts them on the trail of a giant cicada monster and her wacky winged warriors. Fred, Velma, Daphne and Shaggy know that this job is too big for a flyswatter. They’ll need the help of the doggy duo to piece together the puzzle. Can Scooby and Courage overcome their jitters and defeat the insect army before the whole world bugs out? Try not to get scared. We double-dog dare you!
This film is very interesting. I grew up watching Scooby-Doo, Where are You? and Courage the Cowardly Dog. At first glance, Straight Outta Nowhere seems like a dream come true. In short, that’s up for debate. The long answer is a lot more complicated. The art for the film is great and matches that of the other recent Scooby-Doo animated films. The voice cast continues to be incredible for the Scooby-Doo side of things, and it’s amazing to have Grabstein and White reprise their roles as Courage and Muriel, respectively. There really is a huge aspect of this film that will be divisive.
At first glance through the trailer, Straight Outta Nowhere looks like it’s a Scooby-Doo film with the addition of characters and places from Courage the Cowardly Dog. However, while watching it, it felt a lot more like a Courage film with Mystery Inc. added for flavor. Don’t get me wrong, either way, it’s a recipe full of potential. This is not a negative part of the film, but I do think it’s worth pointing out to help set expectations. If you’re not a huge fan of Courage, this is probably not going to be your favorite film. There’s a lot of crazy and weird stuff that falls more in line with Courage with the mystery one associates with Scooby-Doo feeling a lot less prominent.
As a fan of both properties, I enjoyed a lot of this movie. While I do feel like Scooby-Doo elements are held back, it feels like a great celebration and throwback to Courage with the characters even visiting a museum of Nowhere that will remind fans of their favorite moments. Also, the Scooby-Doo elements and the overall tone of the film definitely make the film feel a lot less weird than the Courage TV show which has the potential of helping viewers be better on-boarded into the franchise. Straight Outta Nowhere is definitely weird, but it doesn’t feel as weird as the show. It feels a bit streamlined.
While this is a great throwback and a fun combination of two franchises, I do have one thing that I wish had more of an appearance. Throughout the show, Courage will actually talk at various times, typically to himself. This is not present in Straight Outta Nowhere. Towards the end, we get his catchphrase “The things I do for love” and throughout he has his one-word utterances, but he doesn’t have any quips or comments.
At the end of the day, Straight Outta Nowhere is a fun mash up of two beloved franchises. It’s an incredible love letter to Courage the Cowardly Dog with the addition of characters from Scooby-Doo to help it be a bit more mainstream (Courage was a really weird show). This isn’t my favorite Scooby-Doo film, but it’s a fun movie for family movie night although I would recommend some prior information of Courage.
