Despite being a massive Scooby Doo fan for goodness knows how long, expectations were somehow not high for 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' prior to giving it a chance. The advertising in my mind was terrible and the animation style, one of the franchise's least appealing, was very off putting. Still gave it a chance as a fan of the franchise and of animation in general and there are films and shows that have bad advertising but turn out to be good and this was one of them.
"If You Can't Scooby Doo the Time Don't Scooby Doo the Crime" is not one of the best episodes and a let down after a few rather great outings, especially the previous one "Where's a Will there's a Wraith". It's still good fun and has a lot to like, but it did feel like something was missing. As far as 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' up to this point of its run goes, "If You Can't Scooby Doo the Time Don't Scooby Doo the Crime" is one of the lesser episodes. Nice idea and setting, but the writing in particular was hit and miss (disappointing as this is one of the strongest aspects of the show usually).
Am going to start with the not so good things. Really don't care for the animation though, it still is flat and sparse and the character designs have always come over as ugly to me. Was rather disappointed by the character writing for Daphne this time, on the whole this was a revelation in the show and so refreshingly quirky but here she is both bland (having lost her quirkiness) and annoying.
Plus there are some major trust issues between her and Fred that doesn't sit right in the episode, meaning it was out of place. While a vast majority of the writing works, the lasergun sharks recurring joke was repetitive and got stale quickly and the trust issues and Fred losing it because of his obsession were overwritten. The final solution is pretty predictable.
However, a lot works well. As said, a good deal of the humour is great. The sandwich gag, also repeated, is hilarious. The setting is cool and creepy, proof that the franchise lends itself well to prison settings, evident already in 'The Scooby Doo Show's' "The Creepy Case of Old Iron Face", 'Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo's' "I Left My Neck in San Francisco" (though this featured in only a small part of the episode) and 'What's New Scooby Doo's' "The Case of San Franpsycho". Stealin Stan is not one of the show's best or most memorable villains but has the right amount of creepiness.
Shaggy and Scooby are delightful, while enough of the dialogue is smart and amusing. The story isn't perfect, but it's nicely paced and entertains and intrigues enough. The voice acting is great.
Overall, decent but something was missing. 6/10.
