'Be Cool Scooby Doo' started very promisingly with the previous episode "Mystery 101", more than enough to persuade me to keep watching. The animation was not my cup of tea and my opinion on it never really changed when watching all the show's episodes, though the writing and character writing won me over in many of the episodes. "Game of Chicken" was watched with high expectations on watch, with it being just as fun on paper as the previous outing.
"Game of Chicken" was on the most part very entertaining indeed, though falls short of being great. Regarding whether it was better or worse than "Mystery 101", that is hard to say but in overall quality they're about the same. Quite a number of aspects are done a little better here, with the writing and most of the character writing being real winners here, and a couple of aspects don't really improve (with one major aspect being pretty much the same).
Starting with the good, a vast majority of the humour is great. Especially the part with the chips, the one on the cliff and that with Rick. Other standouts in the writing are the nostalgic and creepy Captain Cutler (one of the best villains of 'Scooby Doo Where are You' in one of that's show's best episode) reference and Daphne's wonderfully quirky voice over. Much of the story is absorbing, full of energy and does have some creepiness too, the villain is creepy and well designed and the perpetrator was a surprise. The mockumentary feel of the first scene stands out quite a lot.
Much of the character writing is on point, love Daphne's quirkiness and resourcefulness (of the gang she is perhaps the one that evolved the most personality wise), Shaggy and Scooby are as hilarious and endearing as ever and it was great to see Fred's intelligence finally addressed after too long after being portrayed as too much of an idiot in the 2000s. Shaggy and Scooby's subplot is done with heart and entertainment value and doesn't come over as mean spirited, it is not the first time their friendship was put to the test in the franchise but this is one of the more mature occasions and doesn't come as overripe or/and mean spirited. The voice acting is also right on, especially Matthew Lillard.
Really don't care for the animation though, it still is flat and sparse and the character designs have always come over as ugly to me. There is one character that doesn't quite work here and that's Velma, she comes over as too abrasive, bossy and the brains of the group aspect could have been dialled back quite a lot.
With the exception of the identity of the perpetrator, the denouement is far too easy to figure out and long before things are revealed. While admittedly very amusing, the best friends joke felt a bit repetitive as well.
Concluding, good but not great. 7/10.
