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.
Was actually very surprised by 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' on the whole, but will admit to not loving every episode. "Poodle Justice" was one of those not loving it episodes, in fact it didn't really click with me. A terrible episode it far from isn't (don't consider any of the show's episodes that, despite having serious issues with some), but it could have been a lot better. And it was a disappointment that one of the show's biggest selling points was actually a flaw this time.
"Poodle Justice" has good things. Absolutely love Scooby here, he is adorable, he is very funny and while still in character he is brave too, a character that is entertaining and worthy of a lot of admiration which has always been what he is all about. The chemistry between him and the poodle is very cute, without being too much so.
There are still some amusing moments, almost all from Scooby just being his usual self and the more self aware parts too. The rest of the characters are all fine, if never as interesting as Scooby. The mystery does have energy and is fun and the gargoyle is suitably creepy.
Unfortunately "Poodle Justice" does have some failings. The humour isn't too great this time, too much of it (especially the facial hair jokes, hard to overlook too considering how many there are) was drawn out and repetive. Also didn't care for the song, sort of nice and inoffensive on its own but within the episode it is really irrelevant and out of place, especially where it is situated within the story. It just doesn't fit and just distracts from everything else when it happens.
Furthermore, the reveal once again is really predictable in every regard. Actually knew pretty what the reveal was early on with suspects being too few. Also the animation is still not great, while liking 'Be Cool Scooby Doo' on the whole the animation never clicked with me and it still looks flat and rushed looking to me with too much unintentionally creepy character designs.
In conclusion, watchable but far from great. 5/10.
