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.
While not one of the best episodes of 'Be Cool Scooby Doo', "Giant Problems" is still hugely entertaining and still a very good episode. The first half of Season 1 was rather inconsistent, though neither of the episodes fit my definition of bad, but the second half felt much more settled with a higher number of very good and more episodes. Something that was actually even stronger in Season 2. It is very easy to not give 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' a chance because of the animation style, but it is for me a case of not judging a book by its cover (or in the show's judging a show by its visuals).
Admittedly, the animation is not really to my taste and it never was, it did get better in Season 2 but almost every other Scooby Doo show fared better in the animation style (with only 'Get a Clue' being worse). Here though, it has never looked attractive and instead looks scrappy, flat and borderline psychedelic looking.
The beginning also felt rather odd and felt like it was lifted from something else other than Scooby Doo. The reveal is a little predictable with the culprit, there are only a few of them and the episode went with the most obvious one. Also wish that "Giant Problems" did more with Daphne's love for all things Irish, it only went as far as the setting and the accent (which didn't sound very Irish), the latter of which being over-milked somewhat.
This sounds like "Giant Problems" was bad. Absolutely not. For me it was actually really enjoyable and a lot of fun. It was great to have an innovative location, Ireland being something completely new for the franchise and the episode made the most of the location and the cultural aspects without resorting too much to stereotyping. The music fits with the tone of the show and apart from Grey Griffin's affected attempt at an Irish accent the voice acting is very good. Matthew Lillard is perfect as Shaggy and Frank Welker's Scooby voice has come on leaps and bounds since taking over from Scott Innes.
"Giant Problems" has funny, smart and endearingly goofy writing, while the story is full of energy and isn't too over easy to figure out or over-stuffed. The monster (having a giant as the villain was original for the Scooby Doo franchise) is cool and menacing, if not one of the show's most inspired. While the identity of the culprit was too on the obvious side, the motive was unexpected and unique (as well as remarkably ambitious for the franchise) and it doesn't come over as silly or extreme. There are some fantastic character moments.
Namely Scooby's take on Green Eggs and Ham, Shaggy and Scooby splitting up with Velma and Fred with the rock. Really have appreciated Velma and Fred becoming more interesting and likeable in the second half of Season 1 and Shaggy and Scooby and their chemistry are spot on. Do wish that more was done with Daphne, who has been very refreshing in her character writing on 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' on the whole, and her quirk.
Very enjoyable episode on the whole, if not great. 7/10.
