Scooby-Doo! & Batman: The Brave and the Bold 2018

[8.5/10] Despite having crossed paths in any number of different mediums, Batman and Scooby-Doo aren’t necessarily a perfect marriage. While they both go after masked menaces, Mystery Inc. tends to hunt around for clues and run away from danger while The Dark Knight is more apt to put the piece together and then end the danger. Even in their loopiest forms, there’s not always a perfect fit.

But in Scooby-Doo! And Batman: The Brave and The Bold, a two-handed of a title for this cartoon mashup, the powers that be at Warner Bros. Animation find the perfect way to meld the two sets of characters and their sensibilities.

Plot-wise, that means focusing on both Batman and the Scooby Gang’s propensity for solving mysteries. The opening sequence finds a way to unite the two when what seems like a standard Scooby-Doo mystery turns out to be a test by Batman and his chums (Martian Manhunter and Detective Chimp), to prove Mystery Inc. worthy of being inducted into Gotham’s Mystery Analyst club.

It’s not just an opening gambit, though. The spine of the film, and what keeps things humming even when the story’s getting a little shaggy (no pun intended), is Batman and his pals, plus Scooby and The Gang, joining forces to solve Batman’s “last unsolved case” -- an innocent scientist who disappeared in a supervillain’s whirling vortex early in the Bat’s career. That’s complicated when the mysterious Crimson Cloak, and erstwhile ghost with the usual haunting timbre, shows up to cause trouble and seek revenge against The Dark Knight for that night’s events.

The process of thwarting the Crimson Cloak and solving that mystery has everything you’d expect and hope for, with red herrings, surprise reveals, and frame-ups, phantoms, and fisticuffs. There’s appearances from detective-ish superheroes trying to solve the case like The Question, and complications from mystery-focused baddies like The Riddler. The movie cheats a little bit, explicitly writing off a suspect or two who turn out to be involved, but it’s fun, twisty, and satisfying when all is revealed.

That said, the mystery is more of an excuse to bring all these characters together than anything, even if the film gives Batman some emotional stakes in it. (The Bat hears voices calling his name when he’s around the scene of the original crime, and according to the man himself, the missing scientist is the only innocent life he ever lost.) Instead, the real aim this one, and what makes it a bushel of fun, is that it’s a comic romp.

That’s the other way Scooby-Doo! and Batman manages to unify the two disparate parts of its mash-up. Bringing together the more comedy-focused antics of Batman: The Brave and The Bold’s crew and the always loony adventures of Mystery Inc. makes for a good match.

The two shows’ sensibilities aren’t exactly the same. Batman: The Brave and The Bold was certainly full of laughs, but tended to play things tongue-in-cheek and let the silver age tone speak for itself instead of winking at the audience over it. While Scooby-Doo!, at least in this incarnation, is more likely to deploy meta humor, riffing about how the gang’s often called “meddling kids” or lamenting how they end up destroying the Mystery Machine in every single outing.

My preference tends toward the former -- and the antics of Scooby and Shaggy get a little broad for my tastes at time -- but the blend is good! Batman’s stiff upper-lipped tone and alliterative insults go well with Mystery Inc.’s teamwork oriented clowning around. And the movie does a nice job at finding fun, if brief pairings. Whether it’s Fred crushing on Black Canary, or Daphne’s shock that Plastic Man used to be a notorious thief, or Velma and Professor Chimp having a solve-a-thon, or Martian Manhunter and Shaggy competing for the last box of cookies, Scooby Doo and Batman finds fun ways to bounce the two groups off of one another.

Heck, it even finds time to give fan-favorite Aquaman a mini-arc, where he laments being excluded from the sleuthing club, tries to sneak his way in, and in the end, unwittingly but helpfully helps solve the mystery. There’s declarations of “Outrageous!” and an amusing title for this adventure and the sort of brash-but-dopey interplay between the sea-dweller and his friend Batman that makes his appearances winning ones every time. (And he had me in stitches when he noticed Batman seemed a bit glum and asked “lost another Robin?”)

Scooby Doo and Batman is certainly indulgent in places, often going for something approaching fan service rather than anything that really makes sense or moves the plot. But that’s a feature, not a bug. The charm of this movie is its comic sensibilities and how much fun it has with these characters, so you never mind if a dramatic but silly car chase with Joker and The Penguin gets shoehorned in, or the movie devotes a little extra time to Velma fangirling over The Dark Knight’s setup.

That said, for all the time Scooby Doo and Batman spends figuring out how many Batman allies and villains it can squeeze into one picture (and each is a delight), it also has some legitimately good setups and payoffs. Sure, the big climactic showdown involves the gang literally trying to reverse the polarity, but there’s also early introductions for the tools they’ll use to defeat the bad guys, subtle hints as to what’s amiss, and even a cute if predictable setup for Mystery Inc. to don bat garb for the final act.

All the while, Scooby Doo and Batman still finds time to have Batman and the Scooby Gang get into one of those “hallway of doors” routines in Arkham Asylum, riff on wrap-ups and unmaskings, and all-in-all treat both these sets of classic characters with affection and fun without taking either group too seriously. This is a film that know it’s silly, and leans into it, making it a good time for the casual fan and devotee alike with unserious spins on everyone from Harvey Bullock (who calls the Scooby Gang “hippies) to Harley Quinn (who gets an enjoyable silver age reimagining).

Keeping things light means that Scooby Doo and Batman isn’t afraid to just have fun with all these toys in its toybox. While not the most obvious fit, it finds great ways to integrate both the Scooby Gang and D.C. heroes, and the comic stylings of the two series they’re pulled from. The result is a wonderful if all-too-brief revival of the world of The Brave and The Bold, mixed with the meta-textual gags of the modern Mystery Inc, into a cohesive, well-crafted, and all-around amusing mash-up between the two of them.