The reviews for Velma are in, the animated, adult take on Scooby Doo minus the dog himself, but despite an obvious attempt at bringing something fresh to the Mystery Inc. crew, reviews are not particularly favorable.
Velma was set to be an origin story of sorts for those meddling kids, partially explaining why there’s a noticeable lack of a talking dog. Focusing on Velma, it follows her trying to solve her first mystery, one which involves her being framed for murdering a fellow student. Mindy Kaling stars as the titular sleuther, as well as serving as executive producer, with Glenn Howerton (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) as Fred Jones, Constance Wu (Crazy Rich Asians) as Daphne Blake, and Sam Richardson (Veep) as Norville, or Shaggy Rogers as we originally know him.
Despite the presence of a strong cast, Velma is currently sitting at a 59 on Metacritic across 14 reviews. While some critics enjoyed the new take on a classic, others couldn’t get past the tonal issues and simply not liking the characters.