'Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon' is missing two key ingredients

When I first heard about "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon," I was giddy as a schoolboy. What could be more perfect than a movie combining two of my favorite Hanna-Barbera characters from my childhood?

I would spend many Saturday mornings and weekday afternoons watching Scooby and the gang solve mysteries and then Blue Falcon and Dynomutt, the Dog Wonder, chase down whatever criminal they were up against. After watching this new animated feature, there's one thing that could make it better. It would be nice if it actually featured the super hero and his canine sidekick.

Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Incorporated gang head to California for the annual Mega Mondo Pop Cartoon-a-Con. Shaggy and the crime-solving canine are most excited to meet their favorite actor who portrayed the Blue Falcon. The celebrity's appearance at the convention is overshadowed by the release of a new modernized movie featuring the classic super hero.

A sinister villain named Mr. Hyde is intent on bringing the advanced screening of the new "Blue Falcon" film to a grinding halt. Can Scooby and his sleuthing crew capture the ghoulish Mr. Hyde and discover his motives before it's too late?
What we get with "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" is a movie ABOUT the super hero, but not including him. To say I was disappointed when watching this after seeing the original trailers for the film would be an understatement. That's not to say it isn't hilarious or good. However, I was really looking forward to a team-up reminiscent of "The New Scooby-Doo Movies."

Besides the fictional Blue Falcon actor donning the costume momentarily at the end, all we get is some footage from the old show. The rest of the time we get scenes from the "new and improved" Blue Falcon and Dynomutt movie. Although it's a hilarious jab at the way super heroes are updated and made current by movie studios, it didn't satisfy me as a viewer.

In the update, Blue Falcon resembles Batman in "The Dark Knight" movies and Dynomutt looks like a Cylon mashed up with Ravage from "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen." All I could think while watching it was, "That would be a pretty cool movie!" Of course Blue Falcon purists and fanboys would cry over this the same way they do about any remake or reboot of an iconic character.

The whole movie takes place at a comic book convention and it does a great job lampooning the pop culture events and the people who attend them. Nothing is held sacred when it comes to poking fun at the different aspects of any comic book convention you'll attend.

There are overweight attendees dressed in ill-fitting super hero costumes, vendors selling over-priced collectibles, old actors trying to make a living off selling autographs, and studios trying to pitch their newest movie releases. It's funny to see Warner Brothers poke fun at themselves.

The high-definition audio and video transfers will please viewers. The picture is clean and vibrantly colored. A 5.1 surround sound mix guarantees sound effects, the musical score, and dialogue are spread out well through your home theater speakers.

Bonus material for "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" includes three classic cartoons. One of them is from "The Thirteen Ghosts of Scooby-Doo" and features Vincent Price voicing Vincent Van Ghoul. It also contains an animation-remix music video entitled "Scooby-Doo Dub Step."

As an exciting mystery movie featuring the Mystery Incorporated Gang, "Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" gets the job done. It's family fun that will appeal to parents and their children alike. Just don't go into it hoping for a team-up between Blue Falcon, Dynomutt, and the Scooby Gang or you'll be as disenchanted as I was.

"Scooby-Doo! Mask of the Blue Falcon" is available now on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital Download.