Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog

This article is dedicated to the voice actress of Muriel Bagg, Thea White (April 15, 1940 – July 30, 2021)

'Straight Outta Nowhere: Scooby-Doo! Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog' is an 2021 American animated direct-to-video horror comedy film which is an crossover between Scooby-Doo! and Courage the Cowardly Dog and was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. It was directed by Cecilla Aranovich and was released on DVD on September 14, 2021 and was met with generally positive reviews from critics, praising its faithfulness to both of the original shows.

Plot
When the Mystery Inc. gang follows Scooby-Doo to Nowhere, Kansas, they stumble upon a cursed object located on the Bagge farm that garners the attention of a Cicida army, leaving Scooby and friends to team up with Courage and his owners Eustace and Muriel Bagge to stop the swarm's manifestation.

Why It Still Fills You With Courage

 * 1) A crossover between Scooby-Doo! and Courage the Cowardly Dog is PERFECT. This is mainly because both of the title characters have a lot in common and they would match in a direct-to-video movie, just like the crossovers that they had in a few Cartoon Network promos during the early years. Courage last appeared in a TV special titled The Fog of Courage while Scooby-Doo last appeared in the 2020 theatrical movie, SCOOB!, which both of the characters are very iconic and are still remembered to this day. While most Scooby-Doo! direct-to-video movies are awful, this one is good.
 * 2) Loads of funny scenes, including where Eustace raps with great singing vocal from Jeff Bergman, the scene where Scooby-Doo and Courage meet each other, and the parts where Courage and Scooby scream a lot, just like in both of the original shows, including where Scooby-Doo runs away from the Mystery Inc.
 * 3) The writing and the plot sounds very, very interesting as Scooby, the Mystery Inc. and most of the Courage the Cowardly Dog characters team up together to stop an army of Cicidas after finding . Even though a plot about some characters from popular franchises teaming up and stopping villains that are animal, alien, or not animal has been rehashed multiple and several times, including in a previous direct-to-video film of Scooby-Doo!, it still sounds very interesting.
 * 4) The music is indeed like always, very catchy to listen to, and that's all thanks to composers Jody Gray and Andy Erzin, most notably the opening scenes where it starts at a carnival, including the music where Courage, Scooby-Doo, and Shaggy open a bunch of doors that lead to random monsters (which was seen in the trailer). You are going to love the music in this film.
 * 5) Jeff Bergman (who voices various Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters) does an splendid and wonderful job imitating Lionel Wilson and Arthur Anderson's voice as Eustace Bagge, once voicing him in a Cartoon Network promo.
 * 6) *In addition, the voice acting is also great from Frank Welker, Marty Grabstein, Matthew Lillard, Jeff Bennett, Grey Griffin, Thea White, and the others, as they reprise their roles from various Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog projects.
 * 7) **Even though Thea White passed away before the film released in July 2021 and this was the final Courage the Cowardly Dog project to have her involved as Muriel Bagge, she still did a good job voicing Muriel and Thea will forever be remembered as the true, Muriel Bagge. Though it's unknown who will be the next voice of Muriel, nobody can top her voice as she originated Muriel. Rest well, Thea.
 * 8) The animation is gorgeous, detailed, nice, and well done at several times, nost notably the scene where the Mystery Inc. (including Muriel) chase after a Cicida in Eustace's car after the Cicida kidnaps Courage and Scooby-Doo. It also manages to capture the animation from the original Courage the Cowardly Dog show, as well as capturing it from various Scooby-Doo! TV shows from the 2000s.
 * 9) It manages to stay true and faithful to both franchises as it has the same voice actors, same animation, and (most) of the workers from the original shows, both Scooby-Doo! and Courage returning for the project excep t for Courage's creator, John R. Dilworth, who was not involved with the film. Dilworth through received credit for creating Courage.
 * 10) *And just like Becky O'Brien said, this film is like a loveletter to both of the original shows.
 * 11) Great direction from Cecilla Aranovich. But suprisingly, her direction was terrible in Scooby-Doo: Return to Zombie Island, which was a sequel to the 1998 critical acclaimed Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.
 * 12) Unlike SCOOB!, this movie has the Scooby-Doo! cast members joining back together for an direct-to-video film instead of replacing them with celebrities in order to make the film get more attention.
 * 13) Very colorful backgrounds.
 * 14)  Quality Over Quantity:  Many of the characters from both of the original shows have their original personalities. For example, Courage still has his personality of being scared and screaming, Muriel has her personality of being calm and kind to Courage, and Eustace has his personality of calling Courage a "stupid dog", and the list goes on and on and on with the Mystery Inc. and many more. Thankfully, the characters in here are not flanderized, unlike many other movies where they change the characters into heartless jerks, selfish morons, or boring idiots.
 * 15) *Even better, similar to Angelica in the first 2 Rugrats movies, and GO's Teen Titans in Teen Titans Go! To the Movies, Eustace from Courage's show is a lot more likable in this movie, which is great.
 * 16) It is nice to see the Courage the Cowardly Dog and its characters to return, since after the 2014 TV special The Fog of Courage, ahich aired on Cartoon Network, we haven't seen Courage returning for another television show for many years. Though the TV special was originally intended to be an pilot episode for an revival of the original Courage show, but for some reason was never greenlit.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While this movie is great, it can be disheartening to know that Courage the Cowardly Dog' s creator was not involved with this.
 * 2) The scene where Eustace raps can try to be hip and cool for kids despite being funny.

Critical response
As mentioned above, Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog received generally positive reviews from critics, audiences, and fans of both the original shows, who praised it for its faithfulness to the sources materials, animation, acting, and music. Dillon Gonzales, writing for Geek Vibes Nation, gave the film a positive review, saying "there are moments that feel a bit padded to justify a feature-length effort, but it is easy to give them a pass as you enjoy spending time with these characters". Becky O'Brien of Cinelinx also gave a positive review, saying the film "exceeded all of my expectations. This is a movie fans of both series will enjoy. It is literally a love letter to everything that makes both Scooby-Doo and Courage the Cowardly Dog fun to watch".

Trivia

 * This was sadly the final Courage the Cowardly Dog project for Thea White to voice Muriel, as she died two months before the movie's release on July 30, 2021. This was released posthumously.
 * Maxwell Atoms, creator of the Cartoon Network show Billy & Mandy, was originally set to direct, but after hearing that John R. Dilworth was not involved, he eventually quit.
 * The movie's original premise was intended to be an episode for Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.