The design team wanted to cement Shaggy and Scooby as a comedy duo.

In this film, the most challenging aspect of animating Scooby was continuing development of the relationship with Shaggy. Joosen explains, “I always looked at them in the first film as an Abbott and Costello, a comic duo. To keep that kind of feel in the first film was difficult while still working out the parameters of the animation.” This time the challenge was to make them mesh as a duo. They were a comic team identified as Shaggy and Scooby, not separately.

Joosen is a dog owner and laughs when people ask him if he used his dogs for inspiration. “Yes, it does definitely help.” Great Dane reference shots were studied at the beginning of both films. Great Danes were brought into the studio and filmed so that the animators could look at the physical reality of a dog. Even though Scooby can be a wacky cartoon, there had to be reality in his movements so that it still felt like Scooby was a flesh and blood dog. “Anyone who is a dog owner knows what their dogs are capable of. Their dogs may not be able to do backflips or ride a unicycle. But they do jump up. They do leap off. There is a flow to their body. There is a way that when they land, their paws spread slightly and their legs cushion for the blow. Those are the things we had to put into even the wackiest Scooby shots. Once that was in there, it still felt like a real dog no matter how over the top you wanted to make him.” Although the performance will draw the audience in, the realistic look solidifies that concept.

Joosen reveals, “I really wanted a kid to feel like he was watching a dog that he could go and get himself. If kids come out of the audience going, ‘Mommy, get me a Scooby,’ then I think I’ve succeeded.”

Mary Ann Skweres is a filmmaker and freelance writer. She has worked extensively in feature film and documentary post-production with credits as a picture editor and visual effects assistant. She is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.