osprey_archer | Daphne and Velma

I’m not sure someone who had never seen Scooby Doo would appreciate Daphne and Velma, but even a casual Scooby Doo viewer can appreciate this homage/updating/origin story. When Daphne begins to attend Velma’s super-competitive high school, where all the students’ rankings (based on academics, athletics, and social media use, among other things) are updated in real-time, the girls soon realize that an Evil Plot is afoot. Is it ghosts? Aliens???

In classic Scooby fashion, it is neither. (I always felt the 2002 Scooby Doo movie really let the side down by having actual supernatural forces.) I won’t spoil it, but I will say that one of the highlights of the movie is the scene near the end where the three emotional sensitive jocks spell out a couple of possible thematic interpretations of the plot. (Earlier interaction between the emotionally sensitive jocks: “I really just want to be a dad for my kids.” “You’ll be such a great dad, man!”)

As that quote suggests, it’s a warm, good-hearted movie. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it subverts expectations, but it did surprise me a few times, almost always by having the students behave better than normal teen movie fare would lead you to expect. (And also with a few truly ludicrous plot twists, but that’s really par for the course for Scooby Doo.)

Despite the silliness of the plot, there’s just enough emotional heft to Daphne & Velma’s friendship to keep the movie from being completely weightless. And it’s funny. A perfect movie for a relaxing, nostalgic evening with friends who grew up with Scooby Doo.