“Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob” – DVD Review!

Scooby-Doo and Mystery Incorporated battle knights and dragons in their unexpected trip to the Middle Ages in Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob, available on DVD come February 23rd!

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob DVD that I reviewed in this blog post. The opinions I share are my own.

Spoiler Warning!

Scooby-Doo is no stranger to old castles, fighting knights, evil sorceresses, and dragons, so I was looking forward to seeing how The Sword and the Scoob was going to freshen up this popular trope from this franchise. As usual, the gang sets off on an adventure. This one takes them overseas after Velma reveals that Shaggy’s DNA test lists him as a direct descendant of Sir Norville from the Middle Ages. So Mystery Incorporated head off to London where a Camelot festival is being held. 

The festival isn’t set up yet, so the gang visits the local town’s library to do some research into Shaggy’s ancestors, only to find the tale of King Arthur. While the rest of the gang are convinced that the tale of King Arthur could be real, Velma is determined to prove that the stories are nothing but legend. Even though the Scooby gang has evolved through the years, I’m glad that some of the character’s original main traits have remained. Velma is still very much the one who lives to disprove the existence of “real” monsters and believes in fact over fantasy. 

Anyways, through some quick research, the gang finds out that Shaggy’s lineage essentially entitles him to the last remaining land of Camelot, which just so happens to be where the festival is taking place. And for anybody who has ever watched anything Scooby-Doo related, this immediately shoots up a red flag. After all, most of the villains that Mystery Inc. face are usually trying to scare people away in order to get their hands on money or property. And not more than a few minutes later, Morgan le Fay shows up and chases everybody off of the land. Again, this is another classic Scooby trope that I’m glad to see is still in play, even in 2021.

Morgan le Fay chases Scooby-Doo and the rest of the gang to a local Stonehenge-like display and casts a time-travel spell on them, shooting them back in time to the Middle Ages. This was actually one of my favorite parts of the movie because as Morgan’s spell takes place and as Mystery Inc. gets catapulted back in time, we get to see various scenes from other Scooby-Doo adaptations. We see clips from 1998’s Scooby-Doo and Zombie Island, 2010’s Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated, 1988’s A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and even 1972’s The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

Even though Scooby-Doo is meant for kids, I’m glad the creators behind this franchise still throws in little callbacks to those that have been fans of the franchise for a fairly long time. Sword and the Scoob isn’t the only modern Scooby movie to do something like this, in fact, the last direct-to-DVD release, Happy Halloween, Scooby-Doo, included hints to the continuity of Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated. But still, I personally found this time travel montage to be really enjoyable. 

Anyways, the gang arrives in what they perceive to be the Middle Ages, wherein now King Arthur and Shaggy must fight to see who takes leadership of the land. Classic medieval times games ensue, as Daphne takes on the role of the “knight in shining armor” to defeat all of the medieval tasks needed to be won in order for Shaggy to take the crown. However, Morgan le Fay returns and kidnaps Shaggy, taking him to her evil lair. 

I thought this was an interesting way to break from the predictable Scooby formula. Usually, we see Daphne as the one who falls into traps or gets kidnapped by the villain. But this movie stuck to the more updated version of Mystery Inc. Daphne actually took on the role of the knight, following Fred’s inability to move forward with the trials. All the while, Shaggy kind of just sat around and enjoyed some food alongside King Arthur as the games progressed. And then, of course, Shaggy was the one who got kidnapped, leaving the rest of the gang and King Arthur to jump into action in order to save him. 

As expected, The Sword and the Scoob, eventually reaches the grand unmasking of the villain and the explanation that answers all of the remaining questions. Morgan le Fay ends up being the librarian from the library where the gang researched Shaggy’s lineage. She knocked Mystery Inc. out with sleeping gas and then transported them all to a neighboring immersive Camelot “theme park attraction”, utilizing stage actors to fool them into thinking they were sent back in time. She then kidnapped Shaggy to get him to sign a deed to the remainder of the land that Shaggy’s ancestry technically granted him ownership to so she could gain ownership instead. 

I thought that Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob was a pretty fair movie. It wasn’t amazing, but it definitely wasn’t bad. It was fun to watch. As noted before, the writers behind these newer Scooby-Doo movies do well to throw in little tidbits that hint at past incarnations of our favorite mystery solvers. And although the mysteries are fairly easy to predict, I’m glad each movie tries to be different and creative in regards to the setting, villains, and supporting characters. 

One thing that continues to stick out to me through these new movies and shows is the voice cast switch-up for the character of Velma. Back in 2015, Mindy Cohn, who had been voicing Velma since the early 2000s, stepped out of the role, leading to Kate Micucci taking on the character’s voice acting credits. Personally, I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to get used to Kate playing Velma, as her voice is so notably different from Mindy’s. However, I actually really do like what she brings to the character. Velma took a big role in this movie and I think Kate did very well. 

Now onto things that I didn’t really like about The Sword and the Scoob. For one, it seemed like this franchise has really cut out much of the usual clue-gathering that I felt was more notable in previous incarnations. In a way, it seemed as though the characters kind of just stayed in one place the whole time, and then got to the final act without going out of their way to collect and piece together clues for the final deduction. Obviously, I don’t think the intended audience of this movie will notice, but for me, it definitely stuck out. 

Secondly, Scooby talks too much. This is also something that I’ve noticed changed in the newer lineup of movies and shows, wherein Frank Welker, who has been voicing both Fred and Scooby for a long while, actually talks in full sentences as the character. It’s a tad bit jarring to watch because one of Scooby’s trademark traits is that he speaks each word with an “R”. This usually limits his range of speech to barking, growling, and broken English. But for some odd reason, he now speaks in full sentences with the rest of the gang. It’s funny, but again, kind of jarring. 

Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob – Special Features:

• 3 bonus episodes from the Scooby-Doo franchise that involve castles and/or Camelot:
  • The Scooby-Doo/Dynomutt Hour: 1×06 “Scared a Lot in Camelot”
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! 1×01 “What a Night for a Knight”
  • Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! 1×03 “Hassle in the Castle”

The standard DVD version of Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob features a single disc containing the 1 hour and 12 minute-long film and 3 bonus episodes from the Scooby-Doo franchise. The DVD will be marketed for $19.98 (SRP), $24.98 (SRP Canada), and $14.99 for digital download. 

Both the DVD release of Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob and the digital download will be available for purchase on February 23, 2021!

Are you guys picking up a copy of Scooby-Doo! The Sword and the Scoob when it gets released?

Let us know in the comments below!

Author: Rodney

Rodney has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature. Aspiring to one day write television shows and novels, he’s an avid slash-shipper and enthusiast for all things gay. Rodney’s especially a lover of magic, mystery, and superheroes—holding Harry Potter, the X-Men, and Scooby-Doo close as his own personal favorites. But when he’s not fantasizing about how cool it would be to have magic, he’s busy writing fanfiction and re-watching old TV shows.

Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary