Movies

‘Adult’ Scooby Doo reboots ‘Velma’ torn apart by critics, audience: ‘Where did it all go so horribly wrong?’

January 14, 2023

HBO Max has just released a reimagined spin-off of the popular kids’ show “Scooby-Doo.” Despite the association with the original Hanna-Barbera, it is marketed as “adult” and features severed limbs, with one of the main characters going to a strip club with her father and two teenage boys kissing in their high school.

The results were criticized by viewers and critics. It currently sits at a positive 50% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an even more dismal Fan Score of 9%. The series airs on the cable channel’s streaming service. In a sign of the negativity to come, the company has disabled comments for the trailer on YouTube.

YouTube’s description of the trailer indicates how this new series will be very different from previous “Scooby-Doo” versions by calling it a “grown-up” and “colorful” take: “VELMA is an animated comedy series for adults telling the origin story of Velma Dinkley, the unsung and underappreciated mastermind of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang. This quirky and humorous twist unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of the states most beloved mystery solvers -United.

VELMA IS OFFICIALLY REVEALED TO BE A LESBIAN IN NEW MOVIE ‘SCOOBY-DOO’

The classic “Scooby-Doo, where are you!” was co-created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears.
(Hanna Barbera Productions)

Gwen Ihnat, film critic for The Wrap, said that “it seemed like a great idea” to “address the longstanding speculation about [Velma’s] sexuality.”

But, she added, “You have to wonder, in the development of ‘Velma,’ where did it all go so horribly wrong?” Ihnat complained about “unnecessary nudity, gratuitous violence and gore”. Indeed, the first episode of the series begins with a high school girl brutally murdered and having “her brain severed from her oozing corpse”.

Variety also wanted to like the show’s modern leanings, praising the importance of “Velma’s still-forming teenage queer identity”. But, ultimately, reviewer Joshua Alston concluded, “It’s truly unpleasant to spend time with these characters, and it starts at the top with Velma, whose selfish and misanthropic tendencies aren’t diluted by her moments of vulnerability.”

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Kino. Scooby-Doo, where are you? Zeichentrickserie, USA, 1969 -, 1970. (Photo by FilmPublicityArchive/United Archives via Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

On Twitter, Father Miller, a Catholic priest, noted this moment in the show’s trailer:

Another user on Twitter wondered, “WTF continue” to a scene in which one of the characters has his leg brutally cut off and blood splatters everywhere.

Disdain for the spectacle is cropping up left and right. The popular Twitter handle “Bad Writing Takes” hammered the series, saying, “Velma is…extremely no good. It feels like a right-wing YouTuber’s goofy understanding of what a ‘diverse’ show is.” “

Although the reviews are poor, Rotten Tomatoes’ audience score is even worse, with most giving it a half star (out of five). One viewer called it “so insulting to the Scooby-Doo fan base”. Another observed, “A very current year. This culture sucks so much.” Shane P concluded, “It’s everything terrible about modern Hollywood wrapped up in a terrible reboot that nobody asked for.”

The show is produced by and stars “Office” alum Mindy Kaling. On Twitter, she described her new version as “hilarious” and “sometimes scary”. Back in December, Kaling seemed to show some hesitation about the long-running popularity of “The Office,” saying most of the characters would be “canceled” today. She added that she may never introduce the program to her children.