Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins (Blu-ray/DVD Combo + Digital Copy) [Blu-ray]

SCOOBY DOO! THE MYSTERY BEGINS Blu-ray/DVD Combo with Digital Copy

Studio: Warner Brothers/Cartoon Network

Year: 2009

Rated: PG

Film Length: 1 hour, 22 minutes

Aspect Ratio: 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.85:1)

Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, German Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian Dolby Digital 5.1

Subtitles: English SDH, German SDH, French, Italian

Release Date: September 22, 2009
 

The Movie
 

Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins is the TV movie prequel to the Scooby Doo theatrical movies, which are based upon the Scooby Doo! Where Are You? cartoon series produced by Hanna Barbera beginning in 1969. For those unfortunates who have never seen the cartoon or the movies, Scooby Doo is the story of a group of teenagers and their talking dog who drive around in a green van called the Mystery Machine and solve mysteries. Scooby Doo is the talking Great Dane and Scooby’s best friend is Shaggy(Nick Palatas), a skinny kid who has a bigger appetite than Jughead Jones. Freddie Jones(Robbie Amell) is the high school jock and his romantic interest is Daphne Blake(Kate Melton). Velma Dinkley(Hayley Kiyoko) is the scientist and brains of the group.

In the original cartoon series, the Scooby Doo gang would encounter a supernatural menace that would later be revealed to have a natural origin. At the end of many episodes, the unmasked villain would typically say some variation of "I would have got away with it too if it were not for those meddling kids and their dog."

This prequel to the 2 theatrical movies based on the cartoon has a different cast from those movies, and tells the story of how these very different high school archetypes and their talking dog came together for the first time to solve mysteries. The actors are very well cast for their roles and this movie succeeds better than its theatrical counterparts in evoking the mood and spirit of the original cartoons. I enjoyed this film better than its theatrical counterparts, which is probably due to the effort made in establishing the (human) characters. I had the impression while watching the theatrical movies that the filmmakers put more efforts into creating the CGI character Scooby Doo than they did in making the rest of the "gang" interesting in themselves. By contrast, the screenwriters of this film are to be commended in making the non-CGI characters as interesting, if not more so, than the CGI Scooby Doo. Granted, the CGI Scooby Doo in this film is not as smoothly animated as in the theatrical films, but the entertainment value of the film more than makes up for that relative shortcoming. This (almost) direct to DVD film had its television premiere on the Cartoon Network on September 13, 2009, prior to its release on DVD and Blu-ray on September 22, 2009.
 

Video
 

The movie is in 1080p high definition in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio. A good portion of the movie takes place at night or in dark places but detail on shadows and fine objects is excellent without any perceptible compression artifacts, with the exception of one or two scenes. The Blu-ray version is definitely a solid step up in video quality from the standard DVD which is also included.
 

Audio
 

The English Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks primarily use the front and center speakers, however, the rear speakers are also used for certain surround sound effects and music. This is not the first choice of a Blu-ray to demonstrate your sound system to friends but it is better than average for a TV movie.

Special Features
 

The special features are located exclusively on disc 1. Disc 2 consists of the DVD combined with a digital copy for transfer to portable media device. The standard DVD included here has all of the same features as the DVD released separately, with the addition here of digital copy included on this DVD. For more information on the specifications of the standard DVD, see Kenneth McAlinden’s excellent review of the standard DVD release at http://www.hometheaterforum.com/products/scooby-doo-the-mystery-begins/reviews#879.

The special features on the Blu-ray disc are all in 1080p and include all of the following:

The Mystery Begins Trivia Track: This feature presents information about the cast, crew, production, music, and other trivia during the movie via a pop-up window.

Scooby Doo Coolsville High School Yearbook (4:39): The cast members are in character as they talk about themselves in video messages.

Scooby Doo Mystery, Inc. Personality Quiz: Select from multiple choice questions using your remote to find out which of the Mystery, Inc. personalities is like your own. The questions vary each time you take the quiz, and at the end of the quiz you are taken to a video message from the character with whom you have the most in common.

Gag Reel (6:10): Moderately entertaining out-takes from the film also include several scenes showing how the CGI Scooby Doo was created out of a blue-screen cast member and some stuffed toys.

Anarbor Music Video of "You and I" (3:11): The band’s music video of their song from the film.

Cast Time Capsule: Fun on the Set (6:36): Video footage of cast and crew at play behind the scenes of the film.
 

Conclusion
 

Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins succeeds better than the theatrical movies in recreating, on a smaller budget, the mood and atmosphere of the original cartoon series. The live action characters in this film are not upstaged by the CGI Scooby Doo as they are in the theatrical films.

Although the original Scooby Doo! Where Are You? cartoon series remains the high point for this character, if you are interested in seeing these characters in non-cartoon form, then Scooby Doo! The Mystery Begins comes more highly recommended than the previous live action films.