Velma Review: The Scooby Gang’s Adult Animated Origin Story Is One Awkward “Zoinks!”
The post Velma Review: The Scooby Gang’s Adult Animated Origin Story Is One Awkward “Zoinks!” appeared first on Consequence.
The Pitch: You know them well, those plucky young teens of the Scooby Doo gang, who have been reinvented constantly since their initial debut in 1969. But whether live-action or animated, TV or feature film, the characters themselves haven’t changed that much, with good ol’ Velma Dinkley reliably serving as the “brainy” member of the mystery-solving team in their Mystery Machine.
That’s something carried through in the new HBO Max origin story Velma, featuring executive producer Mindy Kaling as the voice of the young gumshoe, who we meet as a social outcast at Crystal Cove High, haunted by the disappearance of her mother (Sarayu Blue).
As Velma attempts to get answers as to what happened to her mother, though, a bigger mystery at the school arises, one that Velma can’t solve without some help from school slacker Norville (Sam Richardson), ex-BFF-turned-frenemie Daphne (Constance Wu), and Fred (Glenn Howerton), the embodiment of white male privilege. Will any adults take Velma’s claims seriously? Will Fred manage to learn that inner beauty exists? Who will hook up with who in this complicated love quadrangle? These are just a few of the mysteries this show explores.
Harley Quinn Has Some Notes: While Velma certainly suffers in comparison to HBO Max’s other adult animated series reinventing a classic character, the series’ problems are entirely its own, perhaps the biggest one being a failure of tone and balance, as there’s too much jammed into this series and no clear focus.
Taking a “the first season is really the pilot episode” approach to plotting, the first eight episodes provided for review begin piling mysteries on top of mysteries as Velma and pals investigate the secrets of their small town, which include the mysterious deaths of the school’s “hottest” girls and Daphne, an Asian girl being raised by her adoptive mothers, attempting to find her biological parents. But it’s hard to get invested in any of those mysteries being solved, thanks to a too-glib approach to the storytelling that mutes all real emotions.
Though the series is aimed at adults, it feels a bit PG in comparison to other adult animation currently in the works, while simultaneously playing certain scenes like the writers think they’re being super-edgy. It’s not that the show needs dozens of F-bombs or full-frontal Shaggy to be interesting, but the only really adult material is found in the rampaging hormones of the show’s teen characters.
Velma (HBO Max)
And because you’re wondering — the show does actively explore the question mark that is Velma’s sexuality (without necessarily providing any concrete answers). But that’s not exactly ground-breaking these days, thanks to Cartoon Network’s Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! and beyond.
Not Mad at These Voice Actors: The strongest element of Velma as a series is certainly the casting, packed with heavy-hitters like Stephen Root, Jim Rash, Jane Lynch, Wanda Sykes, Gary Cole, Melissa Fumero, Cherry Jones, Nicole Byer, and “Weird Al” Yankovic in supporting roles.
The main cast is equally strong, as race-bending the iconic Hanna-Barbra characters doesn’t change them on a fundamental level. Kaling brings her natural snap to Velma’s barbs, Wu’s got just the right notes of snotty for Daphne, Howerton is clueless in all the right ways as Fred, and Richardson manages to find his own clever spin on one of the most iconic cartoon characters of all time. But while this reimagining somehow manages to find glimmers of the tone established by the original ’60s animated series, it never successfully connects to the viewer’s innate nostalgia for what came before.
It’s not a casting issue, but a writing issue, as whatever character traits made Velma, Daphne, Fred and Shaggy engaging in the original simply isn’t present here, and the serialized mysteries aren’t engaging enough to push the narrative forward. Really, it feels like there’s something missing here. Maybe the producers should consider adding another character. Like a funny talking dog.
(This is a joke, as Warner Bros. Animation told the producers that Scooby Doo was off limits for this series. But still, you can sense his absence.)
The Verdict: Even if Velma was an unqualified success, it’d still be hard to recommend, if only because the current climate at WarnerMedia doesn’t offer up a lot of hope for future seasons. In fact, the precedent is there for it to disappear entirely from HBO Max within months, as so many titles did in 2022. Vulture reported in December that the tax loophole which led to shows disappearing in 2022 won’t apply in 2023. But at the same time, one of WarnerMedia’s first 2023 maneuvers was to remove hundreds of Looney Tunes shorts, so… we’ll see.
Maybe Velma will escape that fate, which would be good news, because while the show has its flaws it doesn’t deserve to be oblivated away entirely. The animation is bright, poppy, and fun, the cast is game, and some solid gags do emerge from what’s been seen so far. But even if it could get over its tonal issues in a second season, it’s hard to hope that it’ll have a chance to do so.
Where to Watch: Velma begins her investigation Thursday, January 12th on HBO Max.
Trailer:
Velma Review: The Scooby Gang’s Adult Animated Origin Story Is One Awkward “Zoinks!”
Liz Shannon Miller
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