Daphne & Velma
In the last few years, it has become apparent that people are afraid of technology. Technology has enslaved our minds and made it harder for us to connect with other human beings and has taken us away from a time where everyone was much happier hand-writing things and having to go to the library to learn. But even with all of those criticisms, the real evil here is the people who create that technology. Those Steve Jobs-types are creating these advancements with evil intentions to make as much money as possible with little to no concern about the people they are hurting.
My stance on all of that is a little less cynical, but those concerns are invading filmmaking, and the evil tech genius is a popular villain right now. That’s why it is no surprise that the villain in this modern “origin” story is exactly that. Daphne & Velma explores the beginning of the friendship between iconic mystery solvers Daphne Blake and Velma Dinkley of Scooby-Doo fame. There is no Fred, Shaggy, or Scooby, but there are plenty of “jinkies” to go around.
There have been a lot of attempts to make the Scooby Doo gang live action but those attempts have been immensely flawed (save for 2002’s Scooby-Doo, which I contend is a classic.) Daphne & Velma is no different than the rest. I love the idea of creating a Scooby-Doo universe filled with origin stories that eventually leads to them coming together like the Avengers. Though that probably isn’t the plan, it’s nice to dream. Unfortunately, Daphne & Velma is more 2011’s Thor than 2008’s Iron Man in that it never reaches its full potential, and we may never get a Ragnarok level redemption.
Daphne and Velma starts with Daphne (Sarah Jeffrey) broadcasting on “bloomgram” about an amusement park that may or may not have been taken over by aliens, and Velma (Sarah Gilman) chimes in shortly after to say that there is no way that aliens are behind the amusement park’s problems. We learn that Daphne and Velma are best friends who have only met through the internet, but since Daphne has moved, thanks to her mom’s job, they will be meeting in person for the first time and going to school together.
Ridge Valley High School, which they both attend, is funded by Tobias Bloom, a tech genius who runs a company similar to Apple and allows the school to beta test all of his products. The most important part of this funding is that the kid that finishes number one in their class gets an opportunity to intern at Bloom Innovative. But all of the kids who are fortunate enough to grab the number one spot have begun to act out of character (or just stupid), and that is where the mystery begins.
Daphne & Velma tries its best to capture all of the campiness of the cartoon, but it doesn’t ever quite get there. It even features a chase scene that is reminiscent of the cartoons, but in the worst way. The dialogue is clunky and the mystery itself isn’t all that spooky. Daphne and Velma are probably the two most interesting characters outside of Scooby himself, and somehow the film can’t find a way to make either of them interesting or compelling enough to make us care about what is happening to them.
Filled with one dimensional supporting characters and a twist that isn’t very twisty, the film finds itself searching for plot for most of the film. Velma even ignores Daphne for the first third for “her own good” though we never get an explanation. The film is 75 minutes long, but it feels like nothing happens for the majority, and while humor is a key component in Scooby-Doo, the funniest joke is found 63 minutes in. This direct-to-video feature produced by Ashley Tisdale misses on too much to be considered a good entry in the Scooby-Doo filmography. Outside of the looks, this just doesn’t feel like the Daphne and Velma that anyone has come to know. If you don’t love Scooby-Doo, then this is very much a skippable movie. I would have skipped this myself if it wasn’t for those meddling kids.
I give it a half trash can out of 5.
