Who doesn’t remember “Scooby-Doo”? The animated series dates back to the late ‘60s with the franchise resulting in several reruns and reboots as well as comic books and merchandise.
Aside from it becoming part of popular culture, it’s been part of many childhoods.
And now it returns to the big screen as “Scoob!”
The computer-animated comedy-mystery has an incredible cast with Gina Rodriguez, Zac Effron, Mark Wahlberg, Tracy Morgan and Amanda Seyfried.
Rodriguez and Zac had an absolute blast voicing their characters, Velma Dinkley and Fred Jones, respectively.
“I have two older sisters and an older brother who loved Scooby-Doo, so my first memories of Scooby-Doo are watching the cartoons with them in my childhood home,” shared the “Jane the Virgin” actress.
On this being the origin story, she added: “I think everybody loves an origin story. Audiences would be curious about how this group of friends got together and now they get to see that.
“Being a part of the Scoob story is a true honour, especially because Velma gets to be a young Latina (laughs).”
In the famous crime-solving group - Velma Dinkley, Fred Jones and Daphne Black (Seyfried) - are at the forefront while Scooby-Doo (Frank Welker) and Shaggy Rogers (Will Forte) are perenially hungry and panic at the drop of a hat.
In this movie, there are a few new characters added: Brain/ Blue Falcon (Wahlberg), Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs), who is a criminal mastermind pilfering treasures fro the Greek underworld, Dee Dee Skyes (Kiersey Clemons), Dynomutt the Dog Wonder (Ken Jeong), Muttley (Billy West) and Captain Caveman (Morgan).
As for voicing Velma, she admitted: “What I love about Velma is that she is very bright and clever and she loves to deduce and analyse any situation with care, and I’d like to think I try to do that.
“Her tech skills, though, are much more developed than mine, much more.
“But it’s really fun and meaningful to be playing a character who puts importance on her education, knowledge and intellect.
“It’s very cool to be playing that character.”
The actress sung the praises of director Tony Cervone.
Rodriguez shared: “Tony is remarkable. He’s an incredible artist himself, who is artist-friendly and very collaborative.
“He’s inclusive in the process so you do feel like you are corralling, creating and inventing this character with him.
“Seeing that Velma is a character that already exists, it’s about both paying homage to the Velma that has been around and that we all know, and also bringing a little newness to her.”
Reflecting on his first memory of Scooby-Doo, Efron shared: “I always felt that Scooby was there.
“When I wanted to relax and go to my safe zone, there was this group of teenagers that you could look up to, that went on benevolent missions to help people and solve crimes.”
On channelling the spirit of Fred, “The Greatest Showman” actor said: “He’s a real earnest, honest character but he’s still a lot of fun.
“When I was watching it as a kid, growing up, Fred felt, to me, like the safest…he seemed like he could handle his business and lead the gang.
“I wanted to pay homage to the way in which Fred has been portrayed all these years, thinking about it and practicing, going through my lines.
“I really wanted Fred to sound authentic and feel real.
“They showed me some animatics and I thought, if I was going through this adventure with my friends, what would that be like? And that made it really fun.”
He added: “For me, as an adult, I watch animated films now expecting to appreciate jokes that they make specifically for adults, and I think there will be a ton of those in this movie.
“So, get the kids, get the family. Kids will have a blast but the adults will have fun, too.”
“Scoob!” is in cinemas nationwide.