Double Dog Dare: A Review of Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog
Scooby-Doo is one of the most enduring cartoons of all time. First airing in 1969, the talking dog and gang of teens that he’s with travel the world solving mysteries, usually supernatural in appearance but with a logical explanation in the end. Scooby-Doo has had countless re-imaginings and direct-to-video features. Crossovers have been a huge part of the draw for Scooby fans, since all the way back in 1972 with The New Scooby-Doo Movies, where celebrities and movie stars at the time would show up to meet and interact with the Scooby gang on one of their mysteries. This tradition has endured up until the modern era, with Scooby-Doo mixing it up with Johnny Bravo, the rock band KISS, or wrestlers from the WWE, as just a few examples. The latest crossover feels the most appropriate, and honestly surprises me that it wasn’t done years ago – a crossover with Courage the Cowardly Dog.
Courage the Cowardly Dog premiered in 1999, and centers on the titular dog Courage, who has to save his owners Muriel and Eustace Bagge on a regular basis from all the weird, almost horrific creatures that crawl out of the woodwork in the fictionalized version of Nowhere, Kansas. With the series heavy ties to the supernatural, a crossover with Scooby-Doo seems to make too much sense.
So, how is the film?
Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog begins with Scooby and the gang solving yet another mystery, which gets derailed after Scooby-Doo is suddenly drawn away by a mysterious sound. The sound leads him to Nowhere, where he encounters Courage, who’s also being plagued by the sound. This noise wakes up giant cicadas that start to plague the two of them, only to be saved as Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne arrive. Now having joined up with Courage, Scooby and the gang must work together to find the source of this noise, and unravel the mystery of the cicadas, and of Nowhere itself.
So, what does the movie get right?
For one thing, the characters are a delight and have great chemistry with one another. Muriel trades riddles with Velma that leave her stumped, Courage and Scooby become fast friends and Eustace, as you’d expect, wants nothing to do with anyone. Daphne also breaks away from her “damsel in distress” role by taking on the cicadas directly with a croquet mallet early on in the film. Something worth noting is that this film feels far more like a Courage the Cowardly Dog movie featuring Scooby-Doo, rather than the other way around. I take this as a positive, because while Scooby has had decades of content all to himself, Courage only had a handful of years and four seasons of television to his name, so it’s great to see the pup get something even approaching the theatrical treatment I personally believe he deserves.
Marty Grabstein aka Courage
Special mention goes out to some of the voice acting, particularly from Marty Grabstein as Courage, who hasn’t missed a beat in the years he’s been away from the character. It’s really impressive how expressive he can make the character of Courage with so little actual lines of dialogue.
Additionally, Thea White’s performance as Muriel is equally excellent here, made bittersweet in that this was her final performance before her death on July 30th of this year. Muriel, much like Daphne, feels far more proactive in this film as compared to her role in the series, actively helping to solve the mystery at hand rather than simply being someone to rescue, as per usual. No matter what, it really is a joy to hear these characters again.
Thea White aka Muriel
Another highlight of Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog is simply just how much this film pays homage to Courage the Cowardly Dog, with all sorts of easter eggs and references to episodes from the series littered throughout the film. From the famous to the obscure, fans of the courage series will delight at all of the little things the film points to. It really feels like a love letter to the series at times, and that makes it all the more enjoyable.
However, Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog isn’t without its flaws. The original series of Courage the Cowardly Dog is known for its striking, unique and often-times disturbing antagonists, and they are mostly absent from this film in place of the aforementioned cicadas or a few other monsters that have little to no personality of their own. While there were monsters in the original series with minimal disposition, those aren’t who I remember from the series, and it’s a bit disappointing to see the opportunity to introduce new villains wasted. This, coupled with the inherent sanitization that comes with crossing over with Scooby-Doo, makes it feel like the Nowhere from the show, but a more, watered-down version of it.
Eustace Bagge
Additionally, Eustace is a particular point of contention for me when it comes to this film. He and Courage’s Computer are the only returning cast to not have their original voices, although in the case of Eustace this was unavoidable, as both of the original voice actors for Eustace (Lionel Wilson and Arthur Anderson) passed away before this film was produced. So instead, we have Jeff Bergman playing Eustace Bagge. He’s played the character in video games before, and does a fine approximation of Eustace, but when you have the original voice actors for everyone else, any absence is felt all the more. It’s much like in the final season of Samurai Jack, where Aku was played by Greg Baldwin after Mako’s unfortunate passing from cancer. It’s a good sound-alike, but I really do miss the original’s sound.
Though acting was not my main issue with Eustace in this film. That comes in the form of his performance of the title song “Straight Outta Nowhere”, a rap song that comes out of nowhere and leaves just as quickly in the middle of the movie. It’s a cringe-inducing moment that really puts Eustace way out of character and emphasizes how John R. Dilworth, Courage’s creator, had nothing to do with this film (since I’m sure this wouldn’t have been allowed had he had any say). While I do enjoy all forms of music, I believe that rap and cartoons just don’t mix, as seen in Space Jam: A New Legacy with the equally uncomfortable Porky Pig rap scene.
Finally, things on the Scooby side could have used some more thought dedicated to it. The mystery that brings the dogs together makes sense, up to the point where the true villain is revealed, at which point it feels less like a sensible mystery was solved and more that the film was looking to please fans. I can appreciate fan service, but when it gets in the way of the story, it irks me.
Another aspect of Scooby-Doo that, in my opinion, upsets the balance of Courage the Cowardly Dog is its need to explain the mystery – specifically, the mystery of Nowhere itself, and why creepy stuff keeps happening in it. I personally was fine with the notion that this is just what happens in Nowhere, that there was no specific rhyme or reason for any of the crazy stuff that went on. However, Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog gives us a definitive answer on where the weirdness comes from, and I don’t really like that. Finally, and this may just be my age showing, but the end of the film leaves something to be desired. The film ends with a dance party, which is all well and good, but it feels like things are still unresolved by the time the credits roll. I know very well many kids’ films end with dance parties, like the Shrek films do, but this one feels out of place. One thing Scooby-Doo movies know how to do is have a proper ending, but this one really doesn’t.
All that said, these faults I find with the film are mostly minor gripes. If you love Courage the Cowardly Dog, you honestly owe it to yourself to go out and get this movie, either digitally or on DVD like I did. For the rough bits that it has, it’s still over an hour more of the characters I grew up loving and adoring, and that’s not nothing. I would honestly love to see more crossovers between Scooby-Doo and other Cartoon Network shows like The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Regular Show or Ed, Edd and Eddy to name a few. Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog has opened the door to a whole host of new and exciting ideas, and I can’t wait to see what comes next! I give Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog an 8/10.
These two are much more than hound dogs.
