Review: Straight Outta Nowhere! Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog

** Warner Bros. Home Entertainment provided me with a free copy of the DVD I reviewed in this Blog Post. The opinions I share are my own. **

** Contains Spoilers**

I finally got to sit down and watch this movie for a second time so I could do this review. The very first thing I noticed...the Mystery Machine has a license plate and it says ZOINKS! Already, we're off to a good start!

The second thing that stood out was that Scooby called himself a dog! Usually, he's like "Rog, Rhere?" but in this movie he says "I'm not a chicken, I'm a dog!" (Scooby seems to have learned how to pronounce all of his letters in recent years!)

The opening credits were fun. They really put in a lot of effort to make them exciting and to include a lot of Easter Eggs from both Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog. The whole carnival game theme was a nice idea and the way they implemented the characters into it made it really enjoyable. 

This was definitely a Courage movie with Scooby and the gang going to Nowhere and not being the heroes. I remember watching Courage the Cowardly Dog years ago and thinking 2 things...1. this show is super weird! and 2. I love the relationship between Courage and Muriel. It was such a heartwarming bond. Sadly, Thea White passed away on July 30, 2021 before the movie came out, but I am so happy she got to voice Muriel one last time. 

I was a bit sidetracked when the credits were rolling because my son came home from work and he was telling me some fun stories, but I don't recall them doing anything at the end to honor Thea White. If I'm wrong, let me know. Like I said, I wasn't fully paying attention.

A third thing stood out to me in this movie...the bond between Shaggy and Scooby. They were genuinely wanting to keep each other safe and help the other one when they were in trouble. I know we see this all the time, but it was nice to see that they didn't try to use Courage to come between their friendship to make the story more dramatic. (Ugh...like in Scoob!!)

I thought it was funny that Shaggy kept calling Courage a little pink dude and Eustace an angry old dude and Eustace was calling Shaggy a shaggy haired fella. It added a little humor to the movie.

I think crossing over with Courage was super fun, especially since Courage is as scared of monsters as Shaggy and Scooby. They fit well together! Also, Courage and Eustace sharing their love of food brought them together, even if just for a minute. Courage even had his own snacks!

Greedy old Eustace was in heaven when the people brought him all the gold and jewels, but that rap he did was a little over the top. I mean, I was laughing so hard because it was just ridiculous to see this old man, shirtless, wearing what looked like an adult diaper under his pants with this huge chain around his neck rapping. 

The one thing I didn't like about the movie was the way they treated the Mystery Machine. At least it didn't blow up, they had Eustace's truck do that, but the side swiping of the Mystery Machine was just not a fun scene to watch. It made me cringe. Though the damage was minimal when you think about it. The Mystery Machine rolls over several times, I mean it literally should not have been drivable after they were done with it, but the Mystery Machine came out looking like nothing ever happened. (For more weird things in Scooby-Doo, including the Mystery Machine being destroyed and good as new 5 minutes later, check out our latest Scooby Panel.)

The Dark Matter Meteor, also known as the disco ball as I had deemed it while watching the movie, ended up transforming everyone into different shapes. While it was a fun scene, they could have done better transformations. 

Overall, I enjoyed the movie. I even called the villains at the end in a conversation I had with someone. It just made sense, knowing that the movie was taking place in Nowhere. That dance scene was a fun way to end the movie too. 

Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog was released on September 14, 2021 and is available now on DVD.