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Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD Review

Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD combo pack cover art -- click to buy from Amazon.com Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon
Movie, Blu-ray & DVD Details

Video Premiere: August 9, 2016 / Running Time: 80 Minutes / Rating: Not Rated

Directors: Tim Divar / Writers: Matt Wayne (story); Ernie Altbacker (teleplay)

Voice Cast: Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo, Fred Jones), Grey Griffin (Daphne Blake), Matthew Lillard (Shaggy Rogers), Kate Micucci (Velma Dinkley), Undertaker (Himself), Triple H (Himself), Stephanie McMahon (Herself), Goldust (Himself), Sheamus (Himself), Stardust (Himself), Dusty Rhodes (Himself), The Miz (Himself), Paige (Herself), El Torito (Himself), Diego (Himself), Fernando (Himself), Lana (Herself), Rusev (Himself), Micheal Cole (Himself), Kofi Kingston (Himself), Vince McMahon (Mr. McMahon), Eric Bauza (Big Earl), Steven J. Blum (Inferno), Phil Morris (Walter Qualls)

Blu-ray: 1.78:1 Widescreen / 5.1 DTS-HD MA (English); Dolby Digital 5.1 (French)
DVD: 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen / Dolby Digital 5.1 (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai)
Blu-ray Subtitles: English for Hearing Impaired, French; Extras Subtitled
DVD Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Thai
Not Closed Captioned / Release Date: August 9, 2016/ Suggested Retail Price: $24.98
Two single-sided discs (BD-25 & DVD-9) / Blue Eco-Friendly Keepcase in Cardboard Slipcover
Also available as standalone DVD ($19.98 SRP) and Amazon Instant Video

Buy Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon from Amazon.com: Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HDDVDInstant Video

What a time it is to be alive if you're a WWE fan. Not only is the pro wrestling league producing a host of R-rated action films,
they're also teaming up with famous Hanna-Barbera properties in the Warner Bros. Animation library to give us family-friendly direct-to-video movies. The first of these came in 2014's Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery and it was apparently well-received enough for them to make another after The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown. This month brought Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon to stores.

Curse of the Speed Demon finds the Scooby-Doo gang watching their favorite wrestlers participate in some kind of WWE car race. Shaggy and Scooby are operating a food truck next to the track. And their friends number among the event's many enthusiastic spectators.

The race is upended when a mysterious demon crashes it and his demon rig disappears. Mr. McMahon himself asks the Mystery Machine gang to solve this mystery. And you know they will.

The Scooby-Doo gang rides with The Undertaker in "Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon."

This is such an odd movie, one which exists primarily to advance these two very distant brands with seemingly little overlap to their target audiences. Of course, the WWE personalities all voice themselves,
with the expectation that you already know their character stories and traits. If you have as little interest in wrestling as I do, then the Scooby-Doo gang's enthusiasm for these entertainers is likely to amuse.

The Scooby-Doo franchise, meanwhile, has surprisingly endured. Nearly fifty years since being introduced and over ten since a pair of live-action movies made money and enemies, this cartoon universe persists both in television show and DTV feature form. Computer-generated elements stand out a little in a poor way amidst the traditional animation. But no one is watching this expecting Pixar-level visuals.

Curse of the Speed Demon is available on DVD and in the Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HD combo pack reviewed here.

VIDEO and AUDIO

I've already addressed the modest animation quality above. Naturally, the Blu-ray's high definition picture and sound is entirely without issue. The 1.78:1 transfer is vibrant, sharp, and spotless, while the 5.1 DTS-HD master audio soundtrack does a fine job of distributing an engaging mix.

Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby get a fright in "Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!" Fred, Scooby, Velma, and Shaggy are startled in "The Secret of the Ghost Rig."

BONUS FEATURES, MENUS, PACKAGING and DESIGN

As they usually do for these types of releases, Warner includes some substantial bonus features alongside the feature,
although strangely the Blu-ray encodes all of them in standard definition.

First up come two bonus cartoons, episodes of modern Scooby-Doo TV series.

From Cartoon Network's "Be Cool, Scooby Doo!" comes premiere episode "Mystery 101" (22:36; originally aired October 5, 2015). In it, Velma's interview at Elias Kingston University requires her to solve a ghost mystery to get accepted by her supposedly haunted dream college.

From "Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated", we get "The Secret of the Ghost Rig" (23:05; originally aired July 26, 2010), in which a ghost trucker troubles the town of Crystal Cove, where doorknobs are strangely disappearing.

Nicole Johnson is pretty revved up about the Monster Jam Scooby-Doo Truck. Scooby-Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon gets a basic menu on both Blu-ray and (pictured) DVD.

"Revved Up with the Monster Jam Scooby-Doo Truck" (9:03) lets Nicole Johnson show us the technical features of the Scooby-Doo themed vehicle she drove in a monster truck tour called Monster Jam, which there are highlights of. I guess the monster truck buffs who bought the movie will appreciate this?

Finally, a Trailers section supplies previews for Lego Scooby-Doo!, Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz (wut?), and Lego Friends: Girlz 4 Life (wut?).

The disc opens with menu-inaccessible trailers for "Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!" Season 1, Part 1, Wabbit.: A Looney Tunes Production, and The Lego Batman Movie.

The static, silent menu adapts the cover art.

"Curse of the Speed Demon" is dedicated to Dusty Rhodes, who voiced himself (center) shortly before his 2015 passing.

CLOSING THOUGHTS

There seems to be so little overlap between the fandoms of Scooby-Doo and WWE and yet here we are getting a second such animated crossover movie. I can't strongly recommend the feature to someone who isn't crazy about both franchises. With this versatile combo pack, Warner at least treats the movie to high quality picture and sound plus a trio of worthwhile bonus features.

Buy Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon from Amazon.com:
Blu-ray + DVD + Digital HDDVDInstant Video

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Related Reviews:
The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age SmackdownThe 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo: The Complete SeriesScooby-Doo, Where Are You! Volume 4
Hanna-Barbera: Hanna-Barbera Christmas Classics CollectionThe Jetsons: Season 2, Volume 1

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Reviewed August 15, 2016.



Text copyright 2016 DVDizzy.com. Images copyright 2016 Warner Bros. Animation, WWE Studios, Hanna-Barbera, and Warner Home Video.