Film Review - "Palm Springs"

Palm Springs
Directed by Max Barbakow
Starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, and JK Simmons

Scoob! was the disease. Palm Springs was the cure. The film premiered at Sundance in January and made its worldwide debut on Hulu back in July. The film centers around Nyles (Samberg), and Sarah (Milioti), both attending the wedding of Sarah's sister in, where else, Palm Springs. The two hit it off at the reception, only to find themselves stuck in a time loop, repeating the day of the wedding over and over. The film then follows Sarah and Nyles as they try to navigate and make sense of their situation, while growing closer as time goes on (figuratively...because they're in a time loop...)

Obviously this film has gotten a lot of comparisons to Groundhog Day, and rightfully so since it uses the same concept of characters repeating the same day. But Palm Springs proves it's more important what you do with the concept than the concept itself, particularly in this case, there is more than one character caught in the loop. Naturally a lot of humor derives from the concept but this is a very character-driven piece.

Sarah can be very self-destructive in her behavior, and Nyles has a very devil-may-care outlook on life. On paper, being stuck in a time loop where nothing matters almost seem perfect for this pair. But as the film progresses it forces them to look inside, and revaluate how they operate. The ultimate question is, can these two survive together?

Samberg and Milioti play off each other really well. Samberg's already shown his comedic chops before, but I liked seeing him handle more emotional material as Nyles. Cristin Milioti, she's amazing. She's the heart of the film and undeniably charming. The way she handles both the comedic and dramatic...her career didn't take off after How I Met Your Mother but it needs to take off now (I mean, when it's safe for her to go back to to work). Additionally, JK Simmons has a lot of fun moments in the supporting role of Roy.

The filmmakers also do a nice job in varying up the cinematography so not every day looks the same (even though story-wise it is the same day), which gives off the sense that time (in a metaphorical sense) is passing, and these characters are on a sort of spiritual journey.

This review is a bit shorter than my usual ones. Normally if I don't have much to say on a film I won't do a write up, but we're not getting a lot of new releases right now and I truly enjoyed Palm Springs. It might not say much, but it's the best film I've seen this year. It's a sweet piece that may seem familiar but it's elevated by two wonderful lead performances and a fun, heartfelt script. Definitely head over to Hulu and shoot some cinematic positivity into your summer.

Film Review - "Scoob!"

Scoob!
Directed by Tony Cervone
Starring Frank Welker, Will Forte, and Mark Whalberg

Scooby Doo was never my favorite growing up. I mean, I must have caught some of every animated series when they aired on Kids WB or Cartoon Network. The direct-to-video films from the early 90's were like, peak blockbuster entertainment in the day. The live-action films...I saw the first one. Clearly they've had an impact on a generation because the meme representation is hard to ignore.
This is all to say, while Scooby Doo was never my first choice for viewing, I have seen enough to understand the franchise and what makes it work.

The filmmaking crew behind Scoob do not.

A month so so back, I was able to catch the new animated film starring the Mystery Inc. gang when it was released digitally on-demand (like many other films have chosen to do recently given the pandemic). After months of watching and re-watching favorite films from yesteryear, I was hoping to enjoy a new release. Instead, I found Scoob to be a clunky and absurd film that really has no understanding of its source material.

Scoob starts out promisingly enough, showing us how young Shaggy & Scooby met each other and Velma, Daphne & Fred. The film fast forwards to present day, where the team is meeting with potential business investor...Simon Cowell...alright quick pivot. Random celebrity cameos and appearances were never uncommon for Scooby Doo. There was a whole spinoff series dedicated to them. But of all the celebrities to cameo...you thought Simon Cowell would be the most fun-no, the most relevant? For younger audiences??? Anyway...Simon Cowell refuses to invest in the team because he thinks Shaggy (Forte) and Scooby (Welker) have no value, and bring nothing to the team.

This offends Shaggy and Scooby and they go to blow off some steam at a bowling alley (Because bowling is funny?) and they are attacked by an army of robots disguised as bowling pins (I don't know...) They're rescued by the superhero Blue Falcon (Whalberg), and his partners Dyno-Mutt (Ken Jeong), and Dee-Dee Sykes (Keirsey Clemons). If you're still with me I'm about to lose you. The superheroes reveal that the robots are minions of Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs), who is after Scooby because apparently, he is the last descendant of Peritas, the dog of Alexander The Great, and with only Scooby, can he unlock a portal to the underworld...guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed hound of Hades...

I wish I had a witty remark here but I'm kind of taken aback by what I just had to write.

So, for the few out there that don't know (like the people that made this film) Scooby Doo and the gang are all about solving mysteries, that normally revolve around some monster or phantom. Most of the time, the creature would be unmasked as some disgruntled character we met in the first act, but starting around the late 90's (By the way, Scooby Doo on Zombie Island? Scooby Doo & The Witch's Ghost? Easy recommendations.) they started facing real monsters and supernatural threats. So it's not unheard of but it's never been the norm. The point being, supernatural threat or not, there was always a mystery to solve at the heart of the story. There is no mystery to solve in Scoob.

No mystery to solve in a film where your main characters run a company called MYSTERY INC. That sounds good. I mean, they do uncover bits of information about Dastardly's plan/Scooby's heritage here and there, but it's only when they need to keep the wheels spinning on this lackluster, globe-trotting "adventure". Most of the film is focused on Scooby and Shaggy hanging out with the superheroes. That's another big mistake. Scooby and Shaggy are separated from Fred, Daphne and Velma for 3/4 of the film. We know barely anything about these characters or how they work together before the plot drives them apart. You can't just expect audiences to care about them because we know them from past iterations. This is a fresh start and you have to lay the groundwork.

Which brings me to my next point. This film was clearly meant to start a cinematic universe for Hanna Barbera characters (Ugh.) and like so many other failed cinematic universes, they put the cart before the horse. Dick Dastardly is the villain. Blue Falcon is a supporting player. Even Captain Caveman, voiced by Tracy Morgan, has a minor role. The powers that be weren't concerned with making a good Scooby Doo film, they were concerned with kickstarting a franchise, and honestly, a simple Scooby Doo film without all these other tacked on elements, would have done that on its own.

This film feels like it was crafted by a focus group. "Oh well kids like superheroes so let's put Blue Falcon in it and make it like a superhero...and make him dab!" "Kids love Minions, so let's give the villain an army of cutesy robots!!" "Let's put Simon Cowell in this because kids love-"No. Stop. Wrong. Anyway, said focus group came to all these conclusions and decided this would work for a film about a talking dog and his friends who solve mysteries...

Alright I should probably say something good about Scoob...the animation is nice. The first half-hour showed promise, and I like how they transition to present day by recreating the original series's intro. The voice acting is mostly good. Voice acting legend Frank Welker once again does a nice job of bringing Scooby Doo to life. Will Forte...I mean, most of the time he's fine as Shaggy. Jason Isaacs has a nice "mustache-twirling" villain voice for Dick Dastardly. Actually, I though Dastardly's motivations in the film were ok, and honestly just based on them alone, they could have reverse-engineered a better script and film.

Zac Efron as Fred is the worst. It's not his fault. This film has no understanding of the property so naturally they turn Fred into this clueless, cringe dude-bro. Ok one truly positive thing about this film, is Whalberg & Jeong as Blue Falcon and Dyno-Mutt. They did get some genuine laughs out of me (I think, I watched the film in late June...). I loved their dynamic and if there's any justice in this world the two of them would get their own film.

I don't know, Scoob! sort of low-key broke me. Pretty much everything wrong with animated films, and to an extent, just filmmaking in general these days, is on display here. It doesn't understand or care about the property it's trying to adapt. It's just a muddled, corporate mandated, mess. My recommendation to you is to watch some of the older Scooby Doo shows or films and just skip this junk. If you need a new animated film to watch this year, go back to Onward on Disney Plus...or give Trolls: World Tour a shot. I didn't see it but apparently it's VOD release was good enough to possibly kill movie-theaters as we know them. Cinema is dying...