Scooby-DooMovie Reviews

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Avg. Critic Score: 35 out of 100 Generally unfavorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
9 Iffy for 9+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 70
    Washington Post |

    You don't want to love this, but you will. Although Scooby-Doo falls far short of becoming the "Blazing Saddles" of Generations X, Y and Z, it is hard to resist in its moronic charms. Read full review

  • 60
    Variety | Joe Leydon

    Just fast, frenetic and funny enough to amuse both new fans and longtime devotees of the characters who have inspired more than 30 years worth of animated TV episodes and made-for-video features. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle |

    Do you really want to spend money watching what is essentially marginality, or would those dollars be better used to see a better film or even buy a good book? Read full review

  • 42
    Entertainment Weekly | Lisa Schwarzbaum

    The antics involving ghosts, chases, and burping that divert the small fry don't mix with the jokey, tribute-band dialogue spouting from the Mystery, Inc. gang. Read full review

  • 40
    The New York Times | Dana Stevens

    Not entirely without charm. Read full review

  • 38
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    It's unclear why the writers bothered to update the cartoon, unless it was to expand the possibilities for quips and jokey ideas. If so, they failed in their mission, as the movie elicits few laughs. Read full review

  • 30
    Los Angeles Times |

    As reformulated by the aggressively mediocre director Raja Gosnell and screenwriter James Gunn, this Scooby-Doo is entertainment more disposable than Hanna-Barbera's half-hour cartoons ever were. Read full review

  • 25
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Not only am I ill-prepared to review the movie, but I venture to guess that anyone who is not literally a member of a Scooby-Doo fan club would be equally incapable. This movie exists in a closed universe, and the rest of us are aliens. The Internet was invented so that you can find someone else's review of Scooby-Doo. Start surfing. Read full review

  • 20
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Get out your pooper-scoopers. Doo happens June 14th, warn the ads for Scooby-Doo. And they say there's no truth in Hollywood. Read full review

  • 10
    Washington Post | Michael O'Sullivan

    The gratuitous vulgarity is just one more reason that Scooby-Doo should never have left the pound. Read full review

View more reviews for Scooby-Doo on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 9+ Too scary for most kids, too dumb for most teens.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this movie has more intense, scary special effects than you'll find in the cartoon Scooby-Doo features. The characters are in frequent peril, though no one gets hurt. There is some drug humor (as "Pass the Dutchie" plays on the soundtrack, what appears to be marijuana smoke turns out to be something else) and some vulgar jokes and graphic bathroom humor. The girls wear very skimpy clothes.
  • Families can talk about why the friends broke up and why they got back together.
  • They might also want to talk about what has made Scooby and his pals so enduringly popular over the years. Which version of the show do you like best?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Friendship and teamwork are less important here than in other Scooby-Doo features, as the gang tries to salvage their team dynamic; but their efforts are overshadowed by strange zombies and a madman's attempt at mind control. The action takes place on an island alongside partying college kids. These peers are more serious partiers than seen in any previous Scooby-Doo features -- and Velma getting drunk raises a big flag.
  • rolemodels true0 Positive role models: Since most of the characters in this movie are college age, expect activities like drinking, partying, the cruising of "chicks," and said chicks wearing tight clothes. Also watch out for a prolonged scene where Scooby and Shaggy have a belching and farting contest. Fred is painted as a womanizer, Daphne as materialistic.
What to watch for
  • violence false3 Violence: Lots of toothsome, scary faces, zombies, evil men in charge of teens on an island. Lizard monsters and zombies chasing the gang, even inhabiting the bodies of Velma, Fred, and Daphne.
  • sex false2 Sex: Fred is transferred into Daphne's body and says, "Hey! Now I can look at myself in the mirror!" Fred and Daphne kiss. Plenty of short skirts and tight tops that don't leave much to the imagination. Fred fashions himself as a womanizer and includes Pamela Anderson as one of his admirers -- though he does admit to Velma that "I'm a man of substance; dork chicks like you turn me on, too."
  • language false2 Language: Besides "zoinks" and "jinkies," there are little slips, like "beeatch," booty, "your mom eats cat poop," and for the French speakers out there: "Voulez-vous couchez avec moi, c'est soir."
  • consumerism false1 Consumerism: The consumption of food is the devoted past time of Shaggy and Scooby. Daphne is materialistic, carrying seven matching bags onto the plane. Telemundo is mentioned, so is NASA.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false3 Drinking, drugs and smoking: It is obvious that Shaggy is into pot, by the way the song "Pass the Dutchie on the Left Hand Side" plays while smoke rises from his van. But wait, they are just grilling some eggplant burgers in there. Sure. And Shaggy's love interest is named Mary Jane. "Mary Jane is my favorite name," he says dreamily. Velma gets drunk at a bar on a tiki drink.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

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