The Scooby-Doo gang consisting of determined leader Fred (Frank Welker), brains of the group Velma (Kate Micucci), airheaded and eccentric Daphne (Grey DeLisle), and gluttonous good-natured cowards Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and their dog Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) travel in the Mystery Machine in search of adventure but routinely stumble across supernatural happenings whose explanations are anything but.
Announced in June 2014 roughly a year after the conclusion of Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated, the announcement of the series and redesigns of the characters was met with fan ire. The fact that Be Cool Scooby-Doo was following the footsteps of the best reviewed incarnation of the franchise since the initial direct-to-video films of the 90s was certainly an uphill battle for the show, and its promise of going for a more comedic tone in contrast to the foreboding serialization of Mystery Incorporated was certainly an adjustment. But with that said the fan backlash has gone completely off the deep end as the show somehow has a worse rating than both The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Show and The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy show.....This is why I'm losing faith in aggregate review sites, because of knee jerk fan reactions distorting reliable reflections of quality. While the show is not on the same level as Mystery Incorporated, it's not trying to be and it's more in line with something like What's New Scooby-Doo where it takes the original formula from the 1969 series and plays itself for sort of a winking comedy without going into full on parody.
A big distinguishing factor for the show is in the behind the scenes influence of producer Zac Moncrief a noted producer and director who has worked on everything from Family Guy and Brickleberry to endearing classics like Phineas and Ferb and you can definitely tell that from the art style. While you can definitely see shades of Seth MacFarlane's Fuzzy Door animation style in the production, I'd say the show falls more in line with something like Phineas and Ferb or Milo Murphy's Law where it has simplistic designs like in Family Guy or Brickleberry but unlike those two shows the simplicity is utilized for a lot of freedom of movement and energy on screen. On occasion the show does dip into some "anti-humor" sequences such as stuttering for an overly long time or being forced to move ludicrously slow but it isn't abused past the point of tolerance as seen in Family Guy or Drawn Together so it's still able to get a laugh.
The characters are still on point with Shaggy and Scooby still lovable goofball cowards, Fred's still the no nonsense leader with an excessive attachment to his Mystery Machine, the only one who has any real difference is Daphne who's still accident prone but now has a bizarre running gag of adopting a different quirk every episode. One episode show's here sporting a collection of puppets modeled after her friends, one episode shows her as narrating the gang's adventures, and another shows her having a feud of no real origins with all of Dolphin kind that is never explained, yeah it's a pretty weird route to take with the character but the bizarre antics done with Daphne are so outlandish and eyebrow raising it's all but guaranteed to get a laugh from the sheer amount of "What?" on display accompanied by funny reactions from the rest of the cast particularly Fred.
Be Cool Scooby-Doo doesn't reach the heights of Mystery Incorporated or the first three 90s direct-to-video movies, but it is an enjoyable entry in the franchise that fits well within the company entries such as What's New Scooby-Doo. I think I enjoyed Be Cool about on the same level as What's New simply because of how daring it was in shaking up the design works and running with its bizarre sense of humor even if it doesn't always land. However this show is in no way shape or form worse than The Scooby-Doo and Scrappy Show or The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy show, if you gave this show a worse rating than EITHER of those you desperately need to readjust your definition of quality.
