DVD Review
"Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!
In "Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!", Mystery Incorporated arrives in Metropolis at the height of chaos. Super villains are running amok and causing massive damage to the city thanks to the odd absence of the Justice League. The gang deals with the mystery of a phantom haunting the Justice League's famed Hall of Justice headquarters on the behalf of Lois Lane but through the course of the investigation, they find themselves allied with Lex Luthor and Krypto the Superdog and things get complicated. "Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!" is another instant Scooby-DC crossover classic. The movie released on digital on September 26, 2023 and on DVD only at Walmart locations with a wider DVD release set for October 24. ""Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!," is written by T.K. O'Brian and directed by Cecilia Aarnovich Hamilton and is produced by Rick Morales and Jim Krieg. The main cast are current mainstays, Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers, Kate Micucci as Velma Dinkley and Grey Delisle as Daphne Blake. The rest of the cast features P.J. Byrne, Victoria Grace, Charles Halford, Nolan North, Tara Strong, Fred Tatasciore, James Arnold Taylor and Niccole Thurman.
The best part of the movie, like all Scooby-Doo! stories, are the character dynamics. Who will the guest star mesh with the most? Of course Krypto would be compatible with Shaggy and Scooby but overall endearing to everyone. Mercy Graves turns out to be the original bad guy of the story but she really just wanted to see Lex Luthor get back into his prime villainy status. And is the classic Scooby comeuppance, she succeeded but got arrested and fired. Lex, himself, it was amusing to see him forced to work with Mystery Incorporated, namely the "rivalry" with Velma. It was also amusing to comment on Lois not seeing through Clark's glasses disguise by showing she doesn't recognize Velma if she isn't wearing her glasses. Last but not least, the red herrings have to be interesting in that they look very guilty or they end up as entertaining allies. Here it's thankfully the latter with Helen the Food Truck Lady and the valet J.B. who gets to drive all the super hero vehicles.
On the surface level, "Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!" is your standard Scooby mystery. The gang ends up in a spooky place, there's a ghost that isn't really a ghost, there's a bunch of red herrings, a couple chases, the mystery has a logical explanation, a trap, and the villain(s) are caught at the end. The only difference with Krypto, Too! are the inclusion of DC characters much like past crossovers. The repetitive formula and structure of a Scooby story may be off-putting to those coming into this thinking it's a DC story. The top billing is "Scooby-Doo!" after all. Unfortunately when a major villain duo like Lex Luthor and Mercy Graves shows up during a mystery taking place in the Hall of Doom when the Justice League are gone further distills any aspect of mystery or stakes. Let's face it, you guessed it within the first five minutes. On the other hand, if you're coming to Scooby-Doo you're not expecting shades of Agatha Christie.
Some aspects in the movie get a bit too trite like Velma countering Lex had only won the popular vote when he was president or a a tad morbid if you dwell on it like the "Happy birthday, Second Robin" bit. Fred being insecure and jealous about Daphne and Jimmy or Lex repeatedly getting lost wore a bit thin by the end. The important thing to remember is this is a Scooby structured story with DC characters through the Scooby lens. Some DC fans may not like the story for that reason, get impatient with how the narrative makes its way to the resolution, or even find this take on Lex too jarring. Or perhaps from the start, you're wondering of all people Lois could have called for help – why Mystery Inc? Were all the other DC heroes busy? Didn't exactly see any of them trying to help stop the chaos in Metropolis. Or did a 1970s van bouncing from roof to roof take no inherent damage put you out of it?
Like most of these Scooby-Doo! Movies, this is mostly standalone in that you don't have to watch the previous movies to get what is going on. Unless you've been under a rock for the past 70 years, everyone knows the basic premise of Scooby-Doo. While there may be a lot more that went over my head, there were some notable references to the overall Scooby franchise like Solomon Grundy being mistaken for the classic bad guy, the Creeper, the swamp gas theory throwing shade on a bit from the Return to Zombie Island movie, and the Scooby Snax box being reused from the Cyber Chase movie. The majority of homages, references are easter eggs lay in the realm of DC Comics. Adults well-versed in the comics and animation will spot many things right from the start like a nod to the title sequence of the Justice League animated series, references to Superfriends and Challenge of the Superfriends like the Hall of Justice and the Troub-Alert, mentions or references of other DC characters like Green Lantern, Mad Mod, Sinestro, Cheetah, Green Arrow, Wonder Twins, Zatanna and Zatara, Guy Gardner's Warriors bar, Apache Chief, Black Vulcan, Samurai, Atlantis, Martian Manhunter, Robin, Speedy, Jason Todd, and Storm to name a few, power rings from every Lantern Corps out there, one of the supersuits from Superman: The Animated Series, a famous quote from Batman: The Animated Series, and Lex quoting one of Lex's line from Superman: The Movie. The three unexpected easter eggs were The Beatles and Dynomutt at the beginning and end of the movie respectively and a cameo of the Legion of Super-Heroes season 2 cast. Overall, a nice spread of trivia from the past 60 years or so.
The special features for the movie are bare bones to say the least. If you are a long time viewer of the DC animated movie lines and I suspect these Scooby-Doo! movies, this is the norm. The special features are three episodes of the Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Animated series that ended in October 1, 2021. The episodes feature DC guest-stars, Batman, the Flash, and Wonder Woman. Akin to the DC animated movie's DC Vault special feature of padding a release with episodes of already released content, there isn't much to gain from these three episodes unless of course if one has never seen them before. But if you're buying a Scooby movie, odds are you have seen them and have the DVD season sets. Like the broken record that I am, where's the audio commentary or behind-the-scenes making-of special feature? Not even a primer on Krypto in animation? It is also very disappointing the physical release is DVD only when the digital version is clearly in 1080p so the absence of a Blu-ray is always glaring and confounding. Even more riling, is the DVD is only available at Walmart stores for month then the usual places like Amazon will have it for sale on October 24.
"Scooby-Doo! and Krypto, Too!" is a recommended purchase for Scooby-Doo fans and DC fans looking for a title to show to the children. The limited DVD release, lack of a Blu-ray, and lack of special features was disappointing but not a surprise. The range of easter eggs for long time fans of both franchises and the entertaining interpersonal character dynamics of the main cast and guest stars are the strength of the movie more so than the actual mystery.
Rating
Main Feature: 3 out of 5
Special Features: 2 out of 5
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5