The upcoming animated Scooby-Doo movie has cast Mark Wahlberg and Jason Isaacs. As far as familiar cartoon characters go, Scooby-Doo - though perhaps not as popular as other Warner Bros. staples such as Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck - has maintained a strong following in the years since being introduced.
Originally created for Warner’s Hanna-Barbera division in 1969, the animated series Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! featured a group of teenage friends and their dog (Scooby-Doo), who traveled to different destinations in a wildly painted van called The Mystery Machine solving supernatural capers. Though it only aired for two seasons, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! was a success and paved the way for future incarnations of the Scooby-Doo IP, which, over the years, have ranged from a variety of different animated programs and films to two live-action films in the early 2000s. As of 2016, Warner has announced plans for a new animated Scooby-Doo film called Scoob, and casting is currently underway.
According to Deadline, we are now a little more certain of whose voices we can expect to hear in Scoob, Transformers star Mark Wahlberg will join Jason Isaacs (Star Trek: Discovery) in the new animated film, with Wahlberg voicing the Blue Falcon and Isaacs taking on the role of Dick Dastardly, Scoob's main villain. The two stars join a cast that is already shaping up to be impressive, with Zac Efron (Fred), Amanda Seyfried (Daphne), Gina Rodriguez (Velma), Will Forte (Shaggy) and Frank Welker (Scooby-Doo) making up the remainder of the main cast.
In addition to the aforementioned main cast members, Scoob will also feature the talents of Tracy Morgan as Captain Caveman and Kiersey Clemons as Dee Dee Skyes. As far as the Wahlberg and Isaacs characters go, the Blue Falcon is a Hanna-Barbera superhero, known primarily for his crime-fighting skills in his hometown of Big City, where the Scooby-Doo gang would sometimes go to lend both the Blue Falcon and his canine sidekick Dynomutt a hand. Dick Dastardly, however, has been a Hanna-Barbera antagonist since his creation in 1968, with appearances over the years in a variety of different Hanna-Barbera productions.
With the release of Scoob, Warner Bros. is hoping to engage a new generation of Scooby-Doo fans and eventually take the IP to different heights. This is looking entirely possible so far, considering the amount of voice acting talent that has already been locked down for the project. That being said, bringing an older animated IP back at time when the competition is arguably more fierce than ever will require something special from Warner Bros. The live-action Scooby-Doo films of the past provided more novelty than quality and if Warner Bros. is to avoid the same problems with Scoob, they’ll need to offer audiences something visually entertaining and engaging.
Source: Deadline