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How the BBC obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. How the BBC obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. How the BBC obtained the bombshell interview with Prince Andrew about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

• Philip Martin
• Samantha McAlister
• Peter Moffat
• Geoff Bussetil
• Connor Swindells
• Kate Fleetwood
• Jennifer Winn
• 51 User reviews
• 41 Critic reviews
• 63 Metascore

• Jae Donnelly

• Annette Witheridge
• Jeffrey Epstein

• Prince Andrew

• Sam McAlister

• Fran Unsworth

• Emily Maitlis

• Stewart Maclean

• Man in Toilet

• Amanda Thirsk

• Jason Stein

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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia One of the editors at the BBC office is played by Richard Goulding , who played Prince Harry in 2 seasons of iTV's The Windsors (2016) .
• Goofs In the opening sequence, set in 2010, Jae wakes up in his Brooklyn apartment overlooking Downtown Manhattan. A complete One World Trade Center tower can clearly be seen despite building not being finished until 2014. In 2010, this would not have been visible from this vantage point.

Prince Andrew : I don't know why everyone's so upset about my friendship with Mr. Epstein. I knew Jimmy Savile so much better.

• Soundtracks Don't Rain on My Parade Written by Bob Merrill and Jule Styne Performed by Barbara McNair Published by Chappell & Co. Inc. (ASCAP) and Broadway Tunes LLC DBA Songs of Funny Girl (ASCAP) All rights administered by Warner Chappell North America Ltd. and Music & Media International, Inc. Licensed courtesy of Warner Music UK Limited

User reviews 52

• pfgpowell-1
• Apr 8, 2024

April 2024 TV and Streaming Premiere Dates

• How long is Scoop? Powered by Alexa
• April 5, 2024 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• Official Netflix
• Cuộc Phỏng Vấn Sốt Dẻo
• London, England, UK
• The Lighthouse
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

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• Runtime 1 hour 42 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Scoop review – self-admiring replay of Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview

Emily Maitlis’s interview was unmissable limo-crash television, but Gillian Anderson’s Maggie Thatcher-lite performance and an underused Rufus Sewell add little

H ere is a laboriously acted and distinctly self-admiring, self-mythologising drama about the media, the royals and the media royals. It is all about Emily Maitlis’s 2019 BBC Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew , challenging him about being friends with sex trafficker and abuser Jeffrey Epstein. The prince’s performance was so grotesquely embarrassing that he had to forgo his royal titles and “step back” from public duties , an achievement much emphasised over the closing credits, but about which audiences may now have mixed feelings, given that he is still, after all, known as Prince Andrew and still unrepentantly prominent on royal occasions.

Rufus Sewell in heavy prosthetic makeup plays the pompous HRH, a puffy-faced babyish poltroon whose smug smile is that of someone accustomed to having his every lame or boorish joke greeted with gales of laughter, and every boneheaded observation rewarded with a solemn courtier’s nod. But that normally estimable performer Gillian Anderson goes into a peculiar Maggie Thatcher-lite mode to play Maitlis – all gimlet-eyed forensic alertness and unrelaxed eccentricity as she brings her dog into the office.

In the supporting roles, Billie Piper plays tough producer Sam McAlister who landed the interview, trusting her fierce journalistic instincts in the face of her colleagues’ prissy squeamishness and highmindedness, and Keeley Hawes plays Andrew’s long-serving, discreet and loyal private secretary Amanda Thirsk who is sufficiently amiable and unstuffy with Sam to have a private drink with her in a hotel bar with no other flunkies present, and entertain Sam’s notion of a candid TV interview. Something in the movie’s body language seems to suggest an important kind of female solidarity here, and yet, whatever she thought in private, Thirsk isn’t shown caring or commenting about Epstein’s victims, and she appears to believe in Andrew’s innocence. There is a male media adviser who is shown as very uptight and disapproving about this whole interview idea – and he, on the basic level of PR, is of course proved right. And yet his exclusion from the discussion process sheds no light on what Palace officials believed about Andrew’s behaviour.

The big moment happens – interestingly – off camera, when Andrew asks “mummy” if he should do the interview, and returns with the news that Her Majesty “trusts his judgment” – the Queen evidently joining Amanda Thirsk among the indulgent women in Andrew’s life who made that calamitous mistake. The resulting interview itself is apparently considered important enough to have a second feature-drama treatment about it in development called A Very Royal Scandal . Even Frost/Nixon only got one film and the Panorama interview with Diana, Princess of Wales only merited a single episode on The Crown.

And despite the title … well, was it a scoop, exactly? It was certainly a terrific coup and an unmissable bit of limo-crash television. But a “scoop”? All the factual elements had been established by other people, significantly by photographer Jae Donnelly (played in a prologue sequence by Connor Swindells) who took the famous picture of Andrew in New York’s Central Park with Epstein. The interview itself, though vividly and valuably showing us the mindset of a member of the ruling class, and showing us how outrageously stupid and entitled Andrew is (which we knew already), didn’t get Andrew to concede anything explicitly.

There is one spark: when Prince Andrew is shown humiliating a female underling for mishandling his collection of soft toys. It’s a flash of black-comic horror and Sewell has something to get his teeth into as an actor. Otherwise, the drama is smothered by its own overwhelming sense of importance.

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• Drama films
• Gillian Anderson
• Rufus Sewell
• Billie Piper
• Prince Andrew
• Emily Maitlis

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‘Scoop’ Review: Gillian Anderson and Billie Piper Go In for the Kill in an Engrossing Look Behind Prince Andrew’s Fall From Grace

The controversial royal claimed he couldn't sweat, but viewers might get clammy during director Philip Martin's taut dramatization of that infamous BBC Newsnight interview.

By Guy Lodge

Film Critic

• ‘Scoop’ Review: Gillian Anderson and Billie Piper Go In for the Kill in an Engrossing Look Behind Prince Andrew’s Fall From Grace 1 week ago
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Underlining the enduring impact of the story, “Scoop” is the first of two projects this year inspired by the interview. The second, the Amazon miniseries “A Very Royal Scandal,” starring Ruth Wilson and Michael Sheen, will boast Maitlis’ own blessing as an executive producer. Martin’s film is differently authorized, handing the same credit to the less celebrated party whom it takes as its effective protagonist: Sam McAlister, the former “Newsnight” booker who doggedly secured the Prince’s participation in the interview, and from whose memoir Peter Moffat and Geoff Bussetil’s script has been drawn. It’s an instructive shift in perspective, making “Scoop” the story of a scrappy underdog fighting two mighty British institutions — not just the House of Windsor, in all its impenetrably protected prestige, but the BBC itself, initially presented here as a staid, even classist organization, hostile to intrepid outsiders.

In a canny stroke of casting, McAlister is played by Billie Piper , the former teen pop star who overturned a lightweight public image to become a heavily laureled actor of stage and screen. All bottle-blonde curls and unsubtly flaunted designer labels, she enters the film with brash something-to-prove energy, striding into the BBC headquarters to the strains of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” — which just so happens to be her ringtone too.

“Why don’t they see me as one of them?” McAlister sighs to her mother, while simultaneously berating her BBC cohorts for their principled snobbery, vocally wishing they had “half the instincts and a quarter of the contacts of the average tabloid paparazzo.” Specifically, she’s thinking of New York-based shutterbug Jae Donnelly (Connor Swindells), who’s been monitoring Epstein for years — and whose gotcha 2010 snapping of Prince Andrew in conversation with the disgraced financier is tensely portrayed in the film’s pre-credit prologue.

Nine years later, the men’s high-powered friendship is hardly news, but McAlister senses another shoe about to drop, courting the Prince’s private secretary Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes) for interview access. Thirsk plays coy, while “Newsnight” producer Esmé Wren (Romola Garai) isn’t sure they have a story. When Epstein is arrested for sex trafficking, both women take McAlister a lot more seriously.

If Piper gives “Scoop’s” first half a doughty, forceful heroine, it’s merely the fault of McAlister’s job description that her grip on the narrative loosens once the interview is fixed, and the emphasis shifts to the more public showdown between Maitlis and the Prince. Played with just the right temperature of dry, dour aggression by Rufus Sewell — his knife-like features convincingly blunted by prosthetics — he’s as foggy and evasive as Maitlis is precisely focused, but just snappish enough to bring some dramatic fizz and friction to an encounter we’ve already seen play out.

Martin and editor Kristina Hetherington cleverly tease out the ultimate dynamic of the broadcast, at one point cross-cutting between their respective rehearsals of questions and answers, before the film succumbs to the simpler pleasures of pop-cultural reenactment: There’s a tingle of camp to Anderson and Sewell’s faithful readings of exchanges that have already been endlessly memed, from the memorably banal “Pizza Express in Woking” alibi to the ludicrous no-sweat defense.

At this point, “Scoop” can offer no surprises to any viewers who were remotely acquainted with news media five years ago, though the simultaneous absurdity and horror of the interview — leaving its royal subject at once defeated and recalcitrant — startles us once more. Condensing the aftermath into a few short scenes and title cards, plus a montage of aghast social media reactions, the script finds a sense of victory in Andrew’s subsequent royal demotion, cheering the integrity and influence of the national broadcaster in holding power to account. (It’s a light irony that this celebration comes bound in a Netflix production.)

Reviewed at Netflix screening room, London, April 3, 2024. Running time: 102 MIN.

• Production: (U.K.) A Netflix presentation of a Lighthouse Film and Television production in association with Voltage TV. Producers: Radford Neville, Hilary Salmon. Executive producers: Sam McAlister, Sanjay Singhal. Co-producer: Eimhear McMahon.
• Crew: Director: Philip Martin. Screenplay: Peter Moffatt, Geoff Bussetil, based on the book "Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews" by Sam McAlister. Camera: Nanu Segal. Editor: Kristina Hetherington. Music: Anne Nikitin, Hannah Peel.
• With: Billie Piper, Gillian Anderson, Keeley Hawes, Rufus Sewell, Romola Garai, Connor Swindells, Lia Williams.

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2024, Biography/Drama, 1h 41m

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Scoop videos, scoop   photos.

Inspired by real events, SCOOP is the inside account of the tenacious journalism that landed an earthshattering interview -- Prince Andrew's infamous BBC Newsnight appearance. From the tension of producer Sam McAlister's high stakes negotiations with Buckingham Palace, all the way to Emily Maitlis' jaw-dropping, forensic showdown with the Prince, SCOOP takes us inside the story, with the women who would stop at nothing to get it. To get an interview this big, you have to be bold.

Genre: Biography, Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Philip Martin

Producer: Radford Neville , Hilary Salmon , Sanjay Singhal

Writer: Geoff Bussetil , Peter Moffat

Release Date (Streaming): Apr 5, 2024

Runtime: 1h 41m

Distributor: Netflix

Production Co: The Lighthouse Film Company, Voltage TV

Cast & Crew

Gillian Anderson

Emily Maitlis

Billie Piper

Rufus Sewell

Prince Andrew

Keeley Hawes

Amanda Thirsk

Romola Garai

Richard Goulding

Stewart Maclean

Aoife Hinds

Tim Bentinck

Philip Martin

Geoff Bussetil

Screenwriter

Peter Moffat

Radford Neville

Hilary Salmon

Sanjay Singhal

Cinematographer

Kristina Hetherington

Film Editing

Anne Nikitin

Original Music

Hannah Peel

Stéphane Collonge

Production Design

Lilyana Houghton-Freeman

Art Director

Set Decoration

Matthew Price

Costume Design

Martin Ware

Critic Reviews for Scoop

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Scoop sees Gillian Anderson and Rufus Sewell re-create the Newsnight interview with Prince Andrew

If the recent, vaguely nauseating frenzy of speculation over the "disappearance" of Kate Middleton is anything to go by, the public still has an insatiable appetite for royal scandal — though it's hard to think of anyone with a more disproportionate ratio of fame to actual personality than the British monarchy.

Still, few among us can resist savouring a delicious public downfall, especially when the subject is someone as blithely entitled — and visibly unrepentant — as the prince of Pizza Express Woking himself, the Duke of York.

Adapted from the memoir by the BBC's talent booker Sam McAlister, Scoop recounts the story behind "Randy Andy's" infamous interview in November 2019 — an hour of squirmy television that saw the mealy-mouthed Prince dig a very deep hole for himself over his association with convicted sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

With their endless phone calls, clacking keyboards and frame-filling Google searches, journalistic true stories can make for notoriously dull cinema, but Scoop does a nice job of whipping things along at a buzzy, compelling clip — even if it occasionally betrays an air of self-congratulation that's typical of the genre.

The movie's biggest asset is its focus on McAlister, played by Billie Piper, as an audience surrogate who embodies the people's will. A working-class single mum in dyed blonde hair and an aspirational Chanel coat, McAlister is a scrapper and a hustler who's had to fight for respect. Even her colleagues at BBC's Newsnight consider her little more than a Daily Mail scooper.

But thanks to a chance early lead on Epstein's upcoming arrest, she's soon negotiating in secret with Prince Andrew's private press team, which realises Her Majesty's favourite son has an image problem that's about to get a whole lot worse.

"An hour of television can change everything," McAlister tells the duke's private secretary, Amanda Thirsk (Keeley Hawes). "It's like magic."

The backroom press manoeuvring makes for a curious glimpse at the stand-off between a team trained in outmoded PR manipulation and a TV producer with her finger planted firmly on the world's social media pulse.

It's a measure of Andrew's coddled, oblivious existence that he considers the interview an easy win, and Rufus Sewell — swathed in some unnerving prosthetics — plays him with a deft shade of humanity. When he chews out a Buckingham Palace maid for misplacing one of his stuffed animals, it's both hilariously nasty and deeply, grimly pathetic. He's an emotionally arrested little boy trapped in an impossibly spoiled, nearly 60-year-old man.

The playboy prince will prove no match, of course, for Newsnight's formidable anchor Emily Maitlis (a top-billed Gillian Anderson), who isn't about to let her hard-won career — and fight for gender parity — be steamrolled by this bloated avatar of male entitlement.

Anderson is, as ever, all class. She adds warmth and humour to a study in hard-hitting career feminism that's also tinged with compromise and regret — she's troubled by her failure to press Bill Clinton on his relationship with Monica Lewinsky, who she feels she let down.

She also has a battle helmet of hair that Dana Scully would consider too severe, and walks a whippet around the office like it's a panther on a diamond chain (if there's one thing the movie really fumbles, it's the opportunity to deliver more iconic shots of Maitlis and her pooch).

Next to its most obvious predecessor — 2022's didactic Harvey Weinstein drama She Said — Scoop turns the overly familiar into effectively captive storytelling. Veteran TV director Philip Martin (The Crown) ensures things have a crisp forward momentum, assisted by an anxiously gurgling score co-created by experimental synth musician Hannah Peel.

Martin's cross-cutting between Maitlis's and Prince Andrew's respective interview prep gives us an effective sense of the stakes; he can't resist a Sergio Leone-style extreme close-up during the main event, setting Anderson's ferocious, frosted eyeshadow against Sewell's ruddy, curdled complexion.

At the same time, Scoop's extended re-creation of the interview — while expertly done — brings the film to the brink of redundancy, sidelining McAlister for what amounts to a very good piece of mimicry.

It's the perhaps inevitable pitfall of this kind of storytelling, which can leave a viewer wondering about the end goal of it all.

When Newsnight editor Esme Wren (Romola Garai) gives her big office speech about holding the powerful to account and giving victims a voice, it can't help but give off the whiff of screenwriting cliche.

And then there's Andrew's jokey, off-colour protest in a pre-interview meeting: "I don't understand why everyone's obsessed with my friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. I knew Jimmy Savile so much better." It's a mighty rich aside in a movie that casts the BBC as heroic exemplars of truth-telling, given the broadcaster's history of turning a blind eye to the disgraced TV personality.

Such is the comfort of hindsight. And that's OK — that's entertainment. But with His Royal Highness largely bluffing and buying his way out of any real (legal) repercussions for his alleged misdeeds, you can't help but wish the movie had a little more bite, rather than luxuriating in a battle when the war rages on.

It's why Scoop's key image might be that of McAlister, post-interview, blurred against a chattering wall of tweet screens — just another story soon to be swallowed by the digital abyss.

Scoop is streaming on Netflix.

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Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Scoop’ On Netflix, Where A Top Investigative Reporter Is Accused Of Murdering A Rival

Where to stream:.

‘Monkey Man’ Hits During Its Fight Sequences, But Gets Muddled When It Tries To Explore Religious Extremism in India

11 best new movies on netflix: april 2024’s freshest films to watch, stream it or skip it: ‘murder mubarak’ on netflix, an indian ensemble murder mystery that recalls ‘glass onion’, stream it or skip it: ‘poacher’ on prime video, a drama about the search for elephant poachers in india.

There are some journalists who live for exclusives and scoops, and thrive in the heart-pounding environment of breaking news. There are others (like us) who would rather watch TV and tell readers what to watch. But reporters like the first kind are everywhere, not just in the US or Europe, as a new series from India shows.

SCOOP : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: 2001. A black-and-white shot of a busy Mumbai train station. A proud grandfather buys a paper and sees his granddaughter’s first byline in the paper on page six. She annoyingly drags him away, saying “The front page is all that matters!”

The Gist: It’s 2011, and Jagruti Pathak (Karishma Tanna) is Deputy Bureau Chief for the newspaper Eastern Age, and has sources deep within Mumbai’s police department.

She’s trying to get a lead on two bombings in 2010 that killed 40; it seems that the suspected ringleader was involved in the city’s 1990s gang wars and is now commanding from exile. She gets a tip that the suspects were in Mumbai two days before the blasts, but the Anti-Terrorism squad couldn’t stop the deadly attack, even though they had knowledge of the suspects’ whereabouts.

Jagruti goes to her high-up contact, JCP Shroff (Harman Baweja) for confirmation on record, and he tries to change the subject by plying her with perfume. Despite her objections, she takes it. She insists that she has enough to run this as a Page One story, but her editor, Irman Siddiqui (Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub) disagrees.

A driver for one of the big gang kingpins gets shot right outside the kingpin’s home; Shroff arrives shortly after Jagruti does, but he dismisses it as a rival gang’s payback for something. She gets in touch with her contact in the suspected gang, and wants an interview with its leader, though he usually talks to a rival reporter, Jaideb Sen (Prosenjit Chatterjee).

Shroff gives her the exclusive that the shooters have been arrested, and she scoops every reporter in town except for Sen, who reports that the Intelligence Bureau is likely behind the shootings. Leena (Tannishtha Chatterjee), the editor at Jagruti’s previous paper, is incensed that she’s scooping her reporters left and right and demands that they cultivate better sources as well as get confirmation on tips.

She tries to follow onto Sen’s story, even though he warns her that she doesn’t know who she’s dealing with; she finds out that not only is IB protecting the main gang leader, but that the bureau got a report of 4 bombs in 2010, and defused two of them, which never made the news. She blows off a date to talk to a source close to the leader of the Rajan gang, but isn’t sure anything will come of it, until he calls her desk phone while the staff is celebrating Irman’s tenth anniversary as EIC. She’s getting the exclusive of the year, but will it come at a cost?

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Take Spotlight and transfer it to the cutthroat world the Mumbai newspaper wars.

Our Take: Scoop was created by Hansal Mehta and Mrunmayee Lagoo Waikul and directed by Mehta, based on the memoir Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison by Jinga Vora. It paints a picture that will be awfully familiar to anyone who remembers the American tabloid wars of yesteryear, where big city papers did what they could to get exclusives and scoops, often skirting ethical lines. While the particulars of the news that Jagruti and the other reporters are getting may be confusing to people who don’t live in India, the dramatic beats, and the character types, are still the same.

Jagruti is the mid-career go-getter who is forcing her name into prominence in a largely male field, and people like Irman and Leena feed on the rivalries between papers, but also want to make sure that the stories they publish are properly sourced and can withstand even the lightest fact-checking. The sources these reporters foster are somewhat ethically compromised or are out-and-out criminals, but they’re valuable nevertheless, and reporters like Jagruti know how to get reliable information out of them.

The first episode introduces all of those rivalries, which were apparently still in place in 2011, despite the world going pretty deeply online by then. It especially establishes how Jagruti is an up-and-comer challenging the throne of Sen, who gets exclusives no one else manages to do.

By the end of the first episode, though, Sen is dead, and it seems that a scene where Jagruti’s Rajan contact offers to “take care of him” in order to clear her path to his boss might be the reason. Jagruti is going to find herself being accused of his murder, but the issues that are going to arise from this are more of a case of how much did she need to sacrifice of her soul in order to get those exclusives that she got? Did she compromise her ethics too much, and this is what has led her to being accused of Sen’s murder? Or is this just a matter of a good reporter pushing the wrong people for answers?

It’s going to be interesting to see how this is explored in subsequent episodes, and if Jagruti can keep doing what she’s doing after Sen’s untimely demise. It certainly is a timely topic, given the high-profile murders of journalists like Jamal Khashoggi, who have been silenced for who they’ve pushed on particular topics. We’ll see if the narrative here stays close to something resembling what investigative journalists go through or if it becomes more sensationalist than that.

Sex and Skin: None.

Parting Shot: Sen’s body is seen sprawled out at a traffic circle after being repeatedly shot. Sleeper Star: Inayat Sood plays Deepa, a young reporter who is learning from Jagruti, and it feels like when she pursues a different part of Jagruti’s story, she’ll get into her own sticky situation.

Most Pilot-y Line: We see that Jagruti has a son, but it seems like he’s somewhat of an afterthought in her life. When her mother tells her that he’s not doing well on his tests, Jagruti says, “Mom, I’m busy working all day, I don’t have time for these things.” Not exactly Mother of the Year, right?

Our Call: STREAM IT. Scoop is a gritty drama with good performances, and will definitely open viewers’ eyes about how newspaper wars used to be in every city on the planet.

Joel Keller ( @joelkeller ) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com , VanityFair.com , Fast Company and elsewhere.

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In "Scoop," Woody Allen plays a third-rate comic and illusionist named Splendini, whose act is stuck in some kind of time-space warp. He's performing on a contemporary London stage, but his material is strictly 1950s Catskills schtick. And then, during one show, a dead investigative reporter briefly materializes in his magic disappearing box illusion.

The reporter is the late Joe Strombel ("Deadwood"'s Ian McShane ), who has jumped ship on the River Styx and returned, fitfully, to the land of the living to pass on a whopping inside scoop he picked up on the ferry to the land of the dead: Prominent socialite Peter Lyman ( Hugh Jackman ), dashing son of one Lord Lyman, may be the notorious Tarot Card Killer! He's acting on a first-hand tip from a solid source, Lyman's former (as in deceased) secretary, who suspects she was one of his murder victims.

Somebody needs to investigate. Strombel wants to find a reporter to whom he can hand off this scoop of a lifetime, but instead he appears to Sondra Pransky ( Scarlett Johansson ), a bumbling student newspaper reporter for whom employment as a dental hygienist seems a more promising career path. Sondra has this unfortunate habit of sleeping with her interview subjects and then not getting the quotable part of the story.

Because Stombel materialized during Splendini's act, she enlists the magician's help -- his real name is Sid Waterman -- to dig up the dirt on their suspect. Sid is initially reluctant, but goes along with a ruse in which he poses as her father. Sondra begins to fall for the charming Lyman, and she and Sid spend most of the movie chattering endlessly about whether Lyman is or is not the Tarot Card Killer, switching sides at random several times during each gab fest. This is a relentlessly talky movie, but all the talk doesn't necessarily make for good (or funny, or coherent) conversation.

Sid is like an older, gentler Broadway Danny Rose character (in fact, Danny would probably have represented his act). Allen is more appealing (less creepy) here than he has been for a long time, but as a writer and director he hasn't given himself, or his other characters, much to do that his other characters haven't done with more wit and verve in previous pictures.

Sid is stuck with alleged laugh lines like: "This guy is a serial killer like I play for the New York Jets" -- the kind of lame sitcom schtick that made Alvy Singer cringe in " Annie Hall ." This one's even worse: "I bought my first Rubens with poker winnings.... Not a painting, a sandwich." OK, maybe it's what you might expect from a hacky, over-the-hill comic and magician, but even Sid knows the difference between a Rubens and Reuben. And any comic worth his kosher salt wouldn't force that extra "s" into the set-up to cheat a half-joke that wasn't worth making in the first place.

The mystifying thing is, Sid also has a few genuinely funny cracks left in him: "I was born into the Hebrew persuasion, but when I got older I converted to narcissism." That's a vintage Woody Allen formulation. So which is the real Sid, the wit or the hack? Allen doesn't evince much concern for character or story or comedy here. The level of comic energy flags and rises from scene to scene, as if Allen had just given up after the first draft.

Johannson is lovely as always, but why do Allen's onscreen foils always have to talk like him? Diane Keaton 's Annie Hall and Dianne Wiest's Helen Sinclair in " Bullets Over Broadway " had distinct voices of their own, and they were funnier because of it.

One bit of physical comedy worth noting: Sondra and Sid first encounter Peter by gaining entree to the swimming pool at his club. When Peter emerges from the water, he towers over the two like Michelangelo's David over a pair of garden gnomes.

You may recall that the 1977 Oscar-winner "Annie Hall" was originally envisioned as a comic murder mystery, but Allen decided to concentrate on the romantic comedy instead. He resurrected some of the discarded "Annie Hall" stuff for " Manhattan Murder Mystery " (also co-starring Diane Keaton) sixteen years later. "Scoop" feels like the leftovers from that, after they've been strained through " The Curse of the Jade Scorpion ."

Does it mean anything anymore to describe a new Woody Allen movie as "minor Woody Allen"? He's been stuck in minor for so long, " Match Point " looked like major to some. "Bullets Over Broadway" was a delightful comedy, but in 1994 it seemed lightweight -- even compared to " Love and Death ." After the likes of " Celebrity ," " Small Time Crooks ," "Jade Scorpion," " Hollywood Ending " and the aptly titled " Anything Else ," you wonder what Allen could possibly mean when he says "Scoop" will be his last comedy.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Scoop (2006)

Rated PG-13 for some sexual content

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SCOOB Parent Movie Review

Written by Kami 2 Comments

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Zoinks! Get ready to join Scooby and the gang for a trip down memory lane as they face their most challenging mystery ever! Is this fully-animated Scooby-Doo action adventure kid-friendly? I’m breaking down all of the thematic elements in my SCOOB Parent Movie Review to help YOU decide if it’s safe for kids. As always, no spoilers!

SCOOB! starts right off full of action as we’re introduced to Scooby-Doo as a puppy stealing food and running from the police. We jump over to Shaggy as a child and see how lonely he is. Shaggy is looking for a best friend. Everywhere he looks, it seems like someone has a best friend. Everyone except for himself. 

Soon Scooby-Doo and Shaggy meet, and have both found what they’ve been searching for. Shaggy presents Scoob with his very own collar, and the scene will just about melt your heart. 

Scoob and Shaggy are best friends and inseparable. They soon are introduced to the rest of the “gang.” Fred, Daphne, and Velma. If you ever wondered how these friends met, here’s your answer! 

I will say that I was a bit disappointed that the movie didn’t explore more of their adventures as kids. My boys both loved seeing Scooby as a pup and everyone as kids. I feel they grew up way too fast. It was very rushed. I guess I was expecting an origin story, and this is really not.

SCOOB! is full of Nostalgia and Pop Culture

Did you grow up watching Scooby-Doo cartoons on Saturday morning? You will really get a kick out of the nostalgia! From hearing “ Zoinks ” and “ Jinkies ,” to Scooby jumping up afraid into Shaggy’s arms, both of them trembling, and even the noise Scooby made with his paws bowling, original Scooby fans will appreciate the throwbacks. 

There is a HUGE nod to Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and my personal favorite, Captain Caveman!!

The pop culture references are off the charts. For starter, Simon Cowell. Need I say more? I literally LOLed when he was on the screen. There are also Harry Potter references, Velma in a Ruth Bader Ginsburg costume, and my oldest sons favorite movie quote, “ You have to pay for Netflix?! ” 

SCOOB! has the nostalgic appeal of its original cartoon, yet it’s modernized for today’s society. While this works, there’s A LOT going on in this movie. There isn’t just one plot, there are several sub-plots mashed together. Don’t think this film is still not fun and enjoyable. You’ll be laughing right along with your kids…they just might not understand completely what they’re laughing at.

Is SCOOB! Kid-Friendly?

Ahhh, yes. Here it is, the reason you’re reading this movie review. Should your kids see SCOOB!? Well. Maybe? SCOOB! is rated PG for action, language, and rude/suggestive humor. Zoinks ! It has a running time of 94 minutes, which is usually a great time frame for little ones. HOWEVER, my 6 year old did ask me about 45 minutes in if it was almost over. Let’s breakdown the issues I, as a parent, have with SCOOB!

Are there Violent themes in SCOOB!?

This is an action packed adventure movie, of course we should go into this film expecting violence. While there isn’t anything too crazy, there are some scary robots that resemble scorpions, and there is one scene that I thought was a little much. Dick Dastardly pulls the head off of one of his robot creatures (which seems very alive-like), and throws the head into the fire. 

What are the Language and Adult Themes in SCOOB!?

Here we go. While there isn’t any profanity in SCOOB!, there are plenty of other inappropriate language references. For starters, there is a conversation between Dick Dastardly and Scooby where Scoob cannot pronounce his name. Dastardly goes on to say, “ I’m Dick…with a D! ” Scooby is still having trouble with the pronunciation, so Dastardly says “ Dick, Dick, Dick!! ” 

Really?! Was this necessary? In a “kids” movie? The answer is NO. I really cannot even believe they thought this was a good idea.

It doesn’t end there. 

Shaggy mentions dropping F-bombs. Blue Falcon tells him to keep it PG. Shaggy in turn says, “ not those kind of F-bombs! ” Then says, “ F-bombs away! ” 

Blue Falcon shows Shaggy a book called, “No Falcon Around.” 

Again. There is just no need other than to appease the adults. It will likely go over your children’s heads, but it’s just not necessary in a kids movie.

There is a reference to opening the gates of Hell (although that particular word is not used), and a reference to the Tinder app. Other words used are: dipstick, moron, stupid, and suck-face. 

Age Recommendation for SCOOB!

Taking the above into consideration, you know your kids best. Will they understand these inside jokes? Probably not. I know my kids ages 6 & 10 did not. I’d recommend SCOOB! for ages 6 and up. Just let’s hope our kids won’t start running around screaming, “ Dick, Dick, Dick! ”

Overall Thoughts on SCOOB!

While I just tore this movie apart in the “kid-friendly” department, that’s not to say I don’t think this is a good family movie. I just don’t think SCOOB! was made for kids. I think it was made for the “kids” like me who grew up watching Scooby-Doo on Saturday mornings. Will our kids enjoy SCOOB!? Yes. Absolutely. I was just hoping for more of an origin story, and less suggestive adult humor. 

SCOOB! celebrates the power of friendship and the strong bond between man and dog. It will tear your heart out when Scooby says, “ Raggy. You promised you’d never leave. Come home. ” There is definitely some heartfelt substance to this film. 

Overall, SCOOB! is a blast from the past loaded with nostalgia, pop culture, and above all friendship. Grab your Scooby Snacks and have your own SCOOB! family movie night!

About SCOOB! Movie

T he first full-length animated Scooby-Doo adventure for the big screen is the never-before told stories of Scooby-Doo’s origins and the greatest mystery in the career of Mystery Inc.

“SCOOB!” reveals how lifelong friends Scooby and Shaggy first met and how they joined with young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to form the famous Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop this global “dogpocalypse,” the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined.

I hope you found my SCOOB Parent movie review helpful. Will you be watching the new Scooby-Doo movie with your family?

Make it a FUN movie night with this SCOOB! Printable Party Pack !!!

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Reader Interactions

I liked it but I DEFINITELY agree that some of the inappropriate jokes were a little much. I pretty much clicked this review to see if you agreed with me on that lol. I thought it was very funny and loved that it was entertaining for parents too but I noticed all of the inappropriate jokes you mentioned. and said, “WOW!” out loud.

Ugh. I’m glad I’m not alone with thinking this is totally unnecessary in a “kids” movie. I just don’t feel it was made for kids. My kids definitely enjoyed it, and I did as well…just with they left a lot of stuff out.

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‘Monkey Man’ Review: Vengeance Is His

Dev Patel stars as Kid, a human punching bag who comes up with a plan to avenge a past wrong. The hits keep coming and the hero keeps taking them in this rapid-fire film.

By Manohla Dargis

The thriller “Monkey Man” opens on a tender scene and a nod to the power of storytelling, only to quickly get down to down-and-dirty, action-movie business with a flurry of hard blows and faster edits. For the next two frenetic hours, it repeatedly cuts back to the past — where a mother and child happily lived once upon a bucolic time — before returning to the grubby, raw-knuckle present. There, the hits keep coming and the hero keeps taking them, again and again, in a movie that tries so hard to keep you entertained, it ends up exhausting you.

Set largely in a fictional city in India, “Monkey Man” stars Dev Patel as a character simply called Kid who, in classic film-adventure fashion, is out to avenge a past wrong. To do that, Kid, who works as a human punching bag in shadowy ring fights (Sharlto Copley plays the M.C.), must take repeat beatings so that he can, like all saviors, triumphantly rise. Before he does, he has to execute a complicated plan that pits him against power brokers working both sides of the law. As with most genre movies, you can guess how it all turns out for our hero.

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In this madcap film, a mother’s apology leads to a delightful misadventure that begins with mourning and ends with a father’s favorite recipe.

Kid’s half-baked plan involves an underworld operation with national political designs, and it takes him to one of those dens of iniquity that movies love, filled with slinky women, thuggish men and lines of white powder that lead to corridors of power. As the story comes into blurry focus, Patel gestures at the real world and folds in some mythology, but these elements only create expectations for a complex story than never emerges. What mostly registers is an overarching sense of exploitation and desperation: Everyone is always hustling someone else. That gives the movie a provocative pessimism, one that Patel seems eager to counter with the flashbacks to Kid’s mother, Neela (Adithi Kalkunte), a saintly figure in chokingly tight close-up.

Patel, who directed the movie from a script written by him, Paul Angunawela and John Collee, is an appealing screen presence and you’re rooting for him — both as a character and as a filmmaker — right from the start. As an actor, he was built for empathy, with a slender frame and melting eyes that he can light up or expressively dim to create a sense of vulnerability. His performance in “Monkey Man” requires a lot from him below the neck — he has sculpted his body into stunt-ready shape, as a bit of striptease shows — but it’s his beseeching eyes that draw you to him. That’s especially crucial because while the messy story crams in a great deal — sad ladies, musclemen, brutal cops, exploited villagers, a false prophet and the Hindu god Hanuman, who appears as half-human, half-monkey — it never coheres.

Patel does some fine work in “Monkey Man” even if its fight sequences rarely pop, flow or impress; they’re energetic but uninspired. Far more striking is an extended sequence early in the story that begins with a thief on a scooter robbing a woman at an outdoor cafe. The bandit zooms off only to soon hand the pilfered item off to someone else who — as the camera hurries alongside each courier — rapidly snakes through the streets before passing the stolen object to another person (and so on) until the package finally lands in Kid’s hands. It’s a witty, flashy bit that announces Patel’s filmmaking ambitions and visually expresses how the story itself zigs and zags even as it hurtles forward.

That sequence — with its rush of bodies and scenery — also encapsulates one of the movie’s more frustrating flaws: its unrelenting, near-unmodulated narrative pace. For much of “Monkey Man” it’s just go, go, go . Rapid-fire editing is a feature, not a bug, in contemporary action movies, but even John Wick takes an occasional breather. (The “Wick” franchise is an obvious influence on “Monkey Man,” so much so there’s even an adorable dog.) When Kid does slow down midway it’s only because the character needs to heal, recalibrate his thinking and ready himself for the final showdown, which he does at a temple watched over by a towering statue and a welcoming group of hijras, who are referred to as India’s third gender .

It’s too bad that Kid doesn’t stay longer at the temple, where the company is charming and includes one of those wisdom-spouting elders, Alpha (Vipin Sharma, a sly scene-stealer), who guide heroes onto the right path. At the temple, Kid trains in time with a tabla maestro (Zakir Hussain) in a nicely syncopated interlude that makes you wish the musician had played throughout the movie to help with its pacing.

All too soon, though, Kid flexes his rested muscles and resumes his quest, racing ahead as Patel folds in flashbacks and vaguely waves a hand at the world that exists. By that point it’s clear that while Patel wants to say something about that world, however unclear, his character would be happier delivering beat downs in that magical, mystical land where John Wick and other violent screen fantasies live, fight and die in blissful unreality.

Monkey Man Rated R for, you know, violence. Running time: 2 hours 1 minute. In theaters.

Manohla Dargis is the chief film critic for The Times. More about Manohla Dargis

Jennifer Pan was found guilty of conspiring to kill her parents. Here's where she is now.

• Jennifer Pan is the subject of the new Netflix true crime documentary, "What Jennifer Did."
• In 2014, Pan was found guilty in the killing of her mother, and the attempted murder of her father. 
• She's serving a life sentence, but was granted a possible retrial on her first-degree murder charge.

Netflix's new true crime documentary, "What Jennifer Did" explores the true story of Jennifer Pan, a Canadian woman who allegedly hired people to kill her parents.

Pan was 24 at the time of the 2010 incident, during which hitmen entered her home, killed her mother, and severely injured her father. Initially, Pan was thought to be a victim of the crime, calling 911 while saying that she was tied to a banister.

After multiple interrogations, police suspected that Pan was the one who hired the hitmen to kill her parents. In 2014, Pan was found guilty of first-degree murder.

Here's what happened in her case, and where she is today.

Jennifer Pan conspired to kill her parents after lying to them about her life

Pan's life, and the circumstances leading up to her crime, were detailed in a 2015 Toronto Life article by journalist Karen K. Ho, who reportedly grew up with Pan. Her parents, Bich Ha and Huei Hann Pan were immigrants who had separately come to Canada as refugees before marrying and having two children.

In the article, Ho recounts Pan's restrictive childhood, and the immense pressure placed on her to succeed academically. Pan reportedly lied to her parents about her high school grades, her college admission, and professional volunteer opportunities. Instead, she was spending time with Daniel Wong, with whom she had formed a relationship, and worked odd jobs.

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When her parents found out, they placed her under more strict control, eventually forbidding her from seeing Wong. In early 2010, Wong and Pan plotted to hire Leonard Crawford, one of Wong's acquaintances, to kill her parents.

Per Toronto Life, Crawford and two other men entered the Pan household on November 8, 2010. They killed Bich, and shot Hann in the head and shoulder, while Jennifer was tied to the banister. From there, she called 911.

"What Jennifer Did," includes extensive footage from Pan's interviews with police, in which she recounts the home invasion, how she managed to use her cell phone while bound, and eventually, the lies in her story to police falling apart. Between her second and third interviews with police, her father Hann awoke from a coma — and he remembered seeing his daughter speaking casually with one of the men, and walking unbound through their home.

Police arrested Pan on November 22, 2010. In the spring of 2011, they also arrested Wong, Crawford, and two other men involved in the incident.

Pan was sentenced to life in prison

Pan's trial began in March 2014 and lasted 10 months, according to Toronto Life.

She was found guilty of first-degree murder and attempted murder, CBC reported. In January 2015, she was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for the first-degree murder charge, and a concurrent life sentence for the attempted murder charge. Crawford, Wong, and one of the other men, David Mylvaganam, were handed the same sentence, per Toronto Life. Pan's family requested, and was granted, a non-communication order that prevented her from ever speaking to Hann or her brother Felix.

"When I lost my wife, I lost my daughter at the same time," her father, who did not appear in court, said in a written statement, per CBC.

"I hope my daughter Jennifer thinks about what happened to her family and can become a good, honest person someday," he wrote.

A retrial was ordered in 2023

In May 2023, the Ontario Appeal Court ordered a retrial for Pan, Wong, Crawford, and Mylvaganam, CBC reported. According to the court, the judge in the original trial had limited the jury from considering other verdicts, such as a second-degree murder or manslaughter, in relation to the killing of Pan's mother. The retrial is only in reference to the first-degree murder charge — not the attempted murder charge in relation to her father.

The Markham Economist & Sun reported in August 2023 that the Crown (the term used for prosecutors in Canada's legal system) had filed an application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding the Ontario Appeal Court's decision. Per the publication, if the Supreme Court denies the leave to appeal, Pan may or may not get a new trial. If there is no new trial, Pan will be able to seek parole.

According to footage from "What Jennifer Did," Pan still maintains her innocence.

Disclosure: Mathias Döpfner, CEO of Business Insider's parent company, Axel Springer, is a Netflix board member.

Watch: Disturbing details behind "Momfluencer" Ruby Franke's arrest

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Home » Parent Movie Reviews » JINKIES! Is SCOOB Safe For Kids? Parent Movie Review

JINKIES! Is SCOOB Safe For Kids? Parent Movie Review

Posted on Last updated: February 5, 2024

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SCOOB! PARENT MOVIE REVIEW

SCOOB! was supposed to be a theatrical release, but here we are watching it from home. And I’m not sure that’s a bad thing! Is SCOOB safe for kids? Is it worth the $20+ price tag? This parent movie review will help you decide if a SCOOB! movie nigh t is in your future. Don’t forget to check out the best  SCOOB! movie quotes , too! Affiliate links are included in this post.

Table of Contents

What’s SCOOB! About?

“SCOOB!” reveals how lifelong friends Scooby and Shaggy first met and how they joined with young detectives Fred, Velma and Daphne to form the famous Mystery Inc. Now, with hundreds of cases solved and adventures shared, Scooby and the gang face their biggest, most challenging mystery ever: a plot to unleash the ghost dog Cerberus upon the world. As they race to stop this global “dogpocalypse,” the gang discovers that Scooby has a secret legacy and an epic destiny greater than anyone imagined.

Rent or Buy SCOOB! on Amazon now.

Are There End Credit Scenes In SCOOB?

There is a groovy credit roll that is worth watching for some cartoon easter eggs , especially for Hana-Barbera fans, but there is not a traditional end-credit or mid-credit scene to speak of.

Is SCOOB Safe For Kids? Parent Movie Review

First of all, if you are thinking all Scooby-Doo is good Scooby-Doo, you would be right. 

Unless you count Scrappy-Do and then we have to talk. 

Scooby and the gang have been a staple in this house since the adults were kids. It’s been the one show that has been a thread throughout all five of our – both genders, all ages, we all agree that Scooby is good family entertainment. 

Is SCOOB safe for kids? Is this one kid-friendly?

For the most part, yes. I truly think kids of all ages could jump on board for a family movie night with this one.

But as with anything trying to appeal to a wider audience these days, it can miss the mark for some kids. 

Stressful Moments For Sensitive Kids In SCOOB!

As with most Mystery, Inc stories, there are elements of the supernatural involved. Spooky houses, ghosts, and supervillains. And SCOOB! follows a similar pattern. 

The action isn’t too intense, but there might be moments to watch for with a young child or one that is sensitive to separation and loss. 

My youngest had a moment where she ran over, crawled into my lap, and had tears falling from her face.

She’s not a super-sensitive soul, but when you combine a friendship as powerful as Shaggy and Scooby with a possible permanent separation- it can be a bit much for young kids to take. 

But this is why watching this from the comforts of home is possibly the game-changer. It makes it easier to recommend knowing that parents can pause, explain, walk away, take a break, etc as needed. 

What’s the Language Like in SCOOB?

Pretty tame on the PG rating scale.

There was a reference to opening the gates of hell, but outside of that no overt offenders here. 

But that doesn’t mean they didn’t slip a few things in under the kiddo-radar by attempting to be clever. The language in SCOOB is kid-friendly for the most part. 

SCOOB Jokes That Don’t Quite Land

There’s a whole riff on how Scooby can’t pronounce D. 

• Oh please, my friends call me Dick. – Dick Dastardly Rokay, Rick. -Scoob No, I’m not a Rick. I’m a Dick. With a D. -Dastardly Rick, with a D. -Scoo b

And then a play on F-Bombs. 

• I dropped some F-bombs! -Shaggy Whoa, whoa, let’s keep this PG. -Blue Falcon No-Falcon bombs. -Shaggy
• F-bombs away! -Shaggy

My youngest (age 8) just laughed at Scooby being Scooby. She didn’t get either reference. 

My newest teen (age 13) cocked his head, slid his eyes over to me, and said… “Um, Mom?….” So, yeah. That one did not slide by him. 

There’s clearly an age line where the joke is a hit or a miss- and even when it hits its target, did we need it? 

I really thought we could manage to forgo Dick jokes in a Scooby-Doo movie , but here we are. 

Overall, SCOOB is safe for kids with a few minor issues. 

The HBCU? Let’s Do It

Is SCOOB! trying to lay the groundwork for a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe?

Maybe, because there are a ton of Hanna-Barbera cartoon easter eggs and cameos in SCOOB! 

Do we need this in our lives? My Gen-X soul says heck yeah- and the reaction from my kids says they are down for it  as well. 

Is SCOOB Worth The Price?

I’ve been pretty cheap during this quarantine, opting to wait most shows out until they come to Netflix. 

But I plunked down the $25 to own SCOOB! and have no regrets. 

See above where I knew my family would all enjoy this one, over and over again. 

If you’re looking for a way to bring your kids up to speed with your childhood cartoons, this is a great place to start. 

Whatever you do, don’t overthink this one. It’s alright and sometimes that’s good enough. 

While I can’t say this is the best Scooby-Doo property out there (there are absolutely some issues we could be critical about), I do think we need to remember that this was made for the kids.

And as a kid-focused property, it does the job as far as entertainment value is concerned. 

If you are coming from a Scooby loving family, then you’ll like the familiarity of SCOOB! And if this is new to you, you’ll probably enjoy a sweet dog and friendship movie if you don’t look too deep. 

More Parent Movie Reviews- Are These Safe For Kids?

SCOOB! Review By Kids For Kids

Is Never Have I Ever Safe For Kids?

Is Onward Safe For kids?

Is Tiger King Kid-Friendly?

Patty Holliday is a parent movie reviewer, writer, and podcaster living in the Washington, DC area. Her goal is to bridge the gap between casual fandom and picky critic with parent movie and television reviews. As a lifelong fangirl and pop culture connoisseur, she’s been creating online since 2009. You can find her work at No-Guilt Disney.com, No-Guilt Fangirl.com, No-Guilt Life, and as host of the top-rated No-Guilt Disney Podcast.

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Common sense media reviewers.

Fun Scooby reboot has goofy hijinks, scenes of peril.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

For entertainment purposes, not education, but vie

Positive messages include importance of friendship

Shaggy discovers his inner strength. Entire Scooby

Early scene in which a "ghost" chases the young Sc

Comments like "she was pretty hot." Scene in which

Mostly insult language such as "moron," "pinheads,

References to American Idol, Simon Cowell (as hims

Parents need to know that Scoob! is an animated reboot of the Scooby-Doo franchise. It starts out as an origin story and then follows the gang on their adventures as teens. Starring the voices of Zac Efron (Fred), Amanda Seyfried (Daphne), Gina Rodriguez (Velma), Will Forte (Shaggy), and Frank Welker (who's…

Educational Value

For entertainment purposes, not education, but viewers will learn a bit about the mythological Cerberus, as well as Alexander the Great and his dog, Peritas.

Positive Messages

Positive messages include importance of friendship, courage, perseverance, teamwork. A solid friendship can withstand enormous challenges. Shows value of different people's skills, including intelligence, empathy, courage, strength, heart.

Positive Role Models

Shaggy discovers his inner strength. Entire Scooby gang is devoted, loyal to one another. Scooby realizes his place is with Shaggy and the gang, not the Falcon Fury team. Brian has to let go of his father's expectations to become his own Falcon. His sidekicks are clever, brave, helpful.

Violence & Scariness

Early scene in which a "ghost" chases the young Scooby gang. Shape-shifting robots can look both cute or like vicious, menacing creatures that shoot laser beams and sport threatening claws and teeth. A gigantic, glowing, scary Cerberus dog intimidates, tries to eat the gang. Several pursuits/crashes involving Dick Dastardly and the Falcon Fury ships. Dick Dastardly snags Scooby. In a sad scene, it seems like a long-lost friend is beyond saving; in another, Shaggy seems to be permanently parted from his friends ( spoiler alert : both situations turn out OK).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Comments like "she was pretty hot." Scene in which an attractive cop stops the Mystery Machine; her hair tossing and (minor) cleavage briefly leave Fred speechless. Joke in which someone thinks Tinder is an app that delivers firewood.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Mostly insult language such as "moron," "pinheads," "worthless," "imbecile," "stupid." Also "dang" and plays on words like "F bombs" (referring to falcon bombs), "falcon around" (reminiscent of the "F" word), "flatulent fleabag," repeating the word "Dick" (as a name, because Scooby can't pronounce it). Potty humor includes a huge plop of pterodactyl poop.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

References to American Idol , Simon Cowell (as himself), Ira Glass podcasts (he plays himself), Kelly Clarkson, Harry Potter, Tinder, Netflix, etc. Part of a large off-screen merchandising/licensing franchise.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Scoob! is an animated reboot of the Scooby-Doo franchise. It starts out as an origin story and then follows the gang on their adventures as teens. Starring the voices of Zac Efron (Fred), Amanda Seyfried (Daphne), Gina Rodriguez (Velma), Will Forte (Shaggy), and Frank Welker (who's been voicing Scooby since 1969), it's a funny, family-friendly mystery that's more appropriate for younger viewers than the live-action films from the early 2000s. That said, there are several scenes of peril and pursuit, including creepy "ghosts"; a giant, murderous three-headed Cerberus monster; and encounters with a nasty villain and his shape-shifting robot minions. There are also a couple of sad scenes: one in which it seems like a long-lost friend is beyond saving and another in which it appears that one member of the Scooby gang may be permanently separated from his friends. Language includes frequent use of insults like "imbecile," "moron," "stupid," "suck-up," and "pinhead," and there are some comments along the lines of "she's pretty hot." But with its goofy premise; messages of perseverance, courage, and teamwork; and a series of punny/wink-wink jokes for parents, it's an easy pick for families with elementary school-age kids. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Community Reviews

• Parents say (52)
• Kids say (63)

Based on 52 parent reviews

Despicable movie filled with sexual innuendos and completly inapropriate for kids this age

Scoob don’t let your young children watch this., what's the story.

When SCOOB! begins, Shaggy (voiced by Iain Armitage ) is a lonely young boy who runs into a mischievous dog that's stolen a skewer of gyro meat. When the police try to snatch the dog, Shaggy pretends the pup is his, and names him Scooby Dooby Doo. And thus starts a beautiful friendship. That same Halloween, the duo meet Fred, Velma, and Daphne and inadvertently solve their first mystery. A decade later, the gang now solves mysteries for a living. But when potential business investor Simon Cowell (himself) suggests that Fred ( Zac Efron ), Velma ( Gina Rodriguez ), and Daphne ( Amanda Seyfried ) break away from their "weak links" Shaggy (now voiced by Will Forte ) and Scooby ( Frank Welker ), a series of unfortunate events sweeps the best friends into a dangerous mystery. It involves superhero Blue Falcon ( Mark Wahlberg ) and his sidekick Dynomutt ( Ken Jeong ) and nefarious villain Dastardly Dick ( Jason Isaacs ), who's trying to find the last descendant of Alexander the Great's dog, Peritas.

Is It Any Good?

This animated reboot of the classic cartoon franchise helps bring the goofy Scooby gang to a new generation of kids who will enjoy the shenanigans of these "meddling kids'" and their talking dog. The characters have managed to entertain young viewers for five decades and counting, and kids will definitely still get a kick out of their silly but also dangerous adventures. This time around, Shaggy and Scooby get help from the in-over-his-head Blue Falcon (actually, it's the Blue Falcon's son, Brian, who's dealing with a severe case of imposter syndrome), and his two capable sidekicks, Dynomutt and Dee Dee ( Kiersey Clemons ), who are far more effective than Brian.

Scoob! has a bunch of jokes clearly aimed at parents that will likely go over kids' heads -- even some meta ones about how Scooby got his name and why Shaggy talks like a middle-aged person's idea of a young California hippie. There's also the requisite bathroom humor, including a moment when a pterodactyl unloads a huge poop while the Scooby gang is running around (just watch). Tracy Morgan also deserves a shout-out for voicing Captain Caveman, a prehistoric man the gang encounters in their quest to defeat Dick Dastardly. It's unclear whether Scoob! will lead to more movies, but it's entertaining enough to teach little kids to appreciate the franchise -- and when to say "Zoinks!"

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about why Scooby-Doo remains popular after multiple decades. What's so relatable about the premise of Scoob! ?

Discuss the movie's scary/violent scenes. Is the violence appropriate for the target audience?

How does this movie compare to other Scooby-Doo shows and movies? What's similar? What's different?

How are teamwork and perseverance depicted in the story? Why are they important character strengths ?

Movie Details

• On DVD or streaming : July 21, 2020
• Cast : Will Forte , Zac Efron , Gina Rodriguez , Frank Welker
• Director : Tony Cervone
• Inclusion Information : Female actors, Latino actors
• Studio : Warner Bros.
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Cats, Dogs, and Mice , Friendship , Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
• Character Strengths : Courage , Perseverance , Teamwork
• Run time : 94 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : some action, language and rude/suggestive humor
• Last updated : December 18, 2022

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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