In 2002, WWE Studios was born, with their first film being The Scorpion King, a spin-off from The Mummy franchise, starring Dwayne Johnson’s character in The Mummy Returns. And ever since then, when the studio isn’t producing classic films like Leprechaun: Origins or Jingle All the Way 2, they have produced several animated films. But what makes these films so unique is that these animated movies are crossovers with other properties, including the Hanna-Barbera cartoons Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, and The Jetsons, and the Sony Pictures Animation film Surf’s Up.
When hearing about these films for the first time, I was absolutely confused. Scooby-Doo aside, all of these properties are extremely obscure and haven’t had anything new coming out of them for more than a decade. So why exactly is WWE working with studios to bring back these cartoon properties no one really wants to see come back? The only logical explanation I can find is that the WWE is very popular with kids, so animation studio executives want to use the brand to revive and promote their old properties. After all, Fred Flintstone’s cool, but he’s not the young people’s favorite cartoon character. But pair him up with John Cena, and then, I presume, you make bank.
I never saw any of these movies beforehand, mainly because I’ve never watched or cared about the WWE, but I’ve always been curious of them. I love cartoons, and I love weird ideas, so having both together should be the equivalent of peanut butter and chocolate. And now, I’m finally watching all these films for the very first time. Will these movies be good? Will they be bad? Will they be batshit insane? Will they just be mediocre? Let’s find out!
The first WWE cartoon crossover involved everyone’s favorite crime-solving dog, with the 2014 film Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery. After Shaggy and Scooby win a prize to go to WWE City to watch Wrestlemania by getting the high score on a videogame (Just go with it), the gang later finds themselves having to solve a mystery about a ghost bear who is apparently the spirit of an old bear who got his ass whooped by Sin Casa’s great great great grandfather on the grounds that would become WWE City (Sure, why not?).
The idea of Scooby-Doo crossing over with WWE wrestlers and fighting a ghost bear sounds stupid, but kinda funny, and could be hilariously awesome. Surprisingly, the film is rather mediocre. It starts out silly and goofy, with a set-up that makes no sense. WWE City is already a ridiculous concept (is this really where people’s taxes are going to?), but the way Scooby and the gang gets there is because Scooby got a perfect score on a video game. He didn’t even use a controller, he just flailed around in front of the TV, and somehow earned points. This already begs a ton of questions: why would you program a sweepstakes event inside a video game? What if someone’s game glitches, and someone accidentally wins the prize? What if someone hacks the game, and manages to cheat his way into the prize? If Scooby won the prize because of his victory dance as Sin Casa, does that mean only people with his specific body type will be able to get a perfect score? And for that matter, there doesn’t seem to be any controller, so how did the game recognize Scooby and his victory dance?
But outside of that weird set-up, the rest of the plot stinks. Daphne starts out against going to WWE City for no reason, but when she sees John Cena take his shirt off, she instantly falls in love with him and the other wrestlers. I guess John Cena’s sexiness can turn any woman into a WWE fangirl. Velma and Fred have subplots that get thrown out the window halfway through, and for a good chunk of the time, the mystery is treated more like a subplot, in favor of poorly-animated wrestling scenes, mediocre comedy bits with Shaggy and Scooby, and a lame plot involving Scooby being framed for stealing the WWE Champion Belt.
It also doesn’t help that the wrestlers themselves aren’t all that great. Not only are most of them terrible at voice acting, they also don’t have much to do, outside of John Cena. The Miz, AJ Lee, and Mr. McMahon do get some moments, but it’s really the Cena show. The film does pick up a little bit towards the end, once the Mystery gang actually…y’know, solve the mystery, and any scene that involves John Cena pushing a gigantic boulder while his theme song plays in the background is always a plus, but in the end, Wrestlemania Mystery doesn’t really have much for WWE fans or Scooby-Doo fans. WWE fans do get to see some of their favorite wrestlers (a Sergeant Slaughter cameo did get a chuckle out of me), but they’re really more than cameos, and there’s only two wrestling sequences in the entire film. For the Scooby-Doo fans, there is some mystery solving, and the characters do act like themselves, but their scenes are underwhelming, as there’s less mystery solving and more Shaggy and Scooby bumbling around, inbetween moments of the characters kissing up to both John Cena and Mr. McMahon. It’s a dull mess that tries to appeal to both fans, but ends up appealing to no fans.
However, the film was apparently enough of a success that WWE continued their deal with Warner Bros. Animation, as 2015 saw the release of The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackdown! It was the first piece of animated Flintstones media to be released in 14 years, but it wasn’t really worth the wait. The animation is relatively decent for a Flintstones production, with some solid facial expressions and enjoyable background work. The Undertaker is also very entertaining, being the loose cannon character with the majority of the film’s laughs.
But with that said, while Scooby-Doo! Wrestlemania Mystery deviated too much from its cartoon, Stone-Age Smackdown feels like an extended episode of the show, with both the positives and negative of the series. The creative forms of prehistoric animal cruelty are there and are just as creative and funny, but the standard sitcom plot is in full effect, with Fred trying to get back the vacation fund he lost through a “get rich quick” scheme involving wrestling, while trying to hide what’s happening under Wilma’s nose. It’s predictable from beginning to end, with little to no surprises. As a television episode, this would have maybe been acceptable, but as a feature, it’s extremely underwhelming.
It also doesn’t help that the voice acting for this is somehow even worse than Wrestlemania Mystery. While The Undertaker does a good job, and Rey Mysterio (Rey Mysteriopal in the movie, because puns), John Cena (John Cenastone) and Mr. McMahon (Mr. McMagma) are passable, the villains give awful performances. CM Punk (CM Punkrock…okay, that’s kinda clever) tries, but can’t really give much emotion, while the Bella Twins (Boulder Twins) sound like they’re completely phoning in their performances. In the case of the voice actors playing the characters we already know, they certainly aren’t bad, but there is a hint that their voices are off, whether it be in their delivery or in their timing. The only good thing is that the film is very short, only barely crossing 50 minutes. Oh, and somehow, this Flintstones and WWE crossover doesn’t even mention The Rock. That’s the easiest joke you could have made for this movie, and you couldn’t even bother to make an offhand reference.
In 2016, Wrestlemania Mystery got a sequel, only this time it’s a racing film called Scooby-Doo and WWE! Curse of the Speed Demon. During a promotional event for the WWE that sees the wrestling stars take part in an off-road racing event (Just go with it), a demon race car driver is threatening to destroy both the cars and the contestants driving them. So it’s up to the Mystery gang, the Undertaker, and the other WWE stars to stop the demon before it’s too late.
While Wrestlemania Mystery didn’t have much to offer when it comes to both wrestling and Scooby-Doo fans, this sequel offers a lot more to enjoy for both camps. While there isn’t any wrestling, the one thing that this film has an advantage over compared to its predecessor is how active the wrestlers are in the film. Not only is the voice acting significantly better, but all the guest stars have their moments to shine.
The Undertaker is a lot of fun, especially when he plays off both Scooby and Shaggy, Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are entertaining, Mr. McMahon has some funny moments, The Miz is funny as an arrogant egomaniac, while Paige plays off of him as a great comedic foil, the two Russian wrestlers Lana and Ruzev are delightfully over-the-top, Sheamus is an enjoyable Irish stereotype, Goldust and Stardust have a lot of great moments when paired up with Sheamus’ wild personality, and the Los Matadores have some cute moments interacting with Scooby and Shaggy.
Even Kofi Kingston has some fun moments as a commentator, as he rides on top of a giant drone throughout all of the races (Yes, that happens). There’s a great sense that the team at Warner Bros. Animation realized that they needed to use their guest stars more, and it paid off, as it leads to a more fun and more ridiculous movie.
The Scooby-Doo elements also feel more organic. Instead of wasting people’s times with pointless dream sequences and long stretches of nothing but wrestling fights, this film actually has mystery solving, and while the first Scooby-Doo/WWE movie focused mainly on Shaggy and Scooby, this one actually gives Daphne, Velma, and Fred more screen time and play a more active part in the story.
It’s funny, entertaining, and takes advantage of both properties well, even if the idea of wrestlers being able to drive off-road vehicles is a little too ridiculous for my tastes. Scooby-Doo! and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is a legitimately entertaining, if silly, romp, and something I unironically enjoyed.
2017 saw two WWE animated films. The first film wasn’t made by Warner Bros. Animation, but by Sony Pictures Animation, with Surf’s Up 2: Wavemania. For those who don’t know, Surf’s Up was a 2007 animated film that was a sports mockumentary about a surfing penguin named Cody, played by Shia LaBeouf, who competes in a giant surfing contest. I’ve never seen the film, but I heard it’s a solid flick, and even though it bombed at the box office, it did garner a decent following through home video and Cartoon Network reruns. And I guess Sony and WWE decided that a Surf’s Up direct-to-video sequel would be the perfect collaboration. This sequel sees Cody, now voiced by Adventure Time and Voltron’s Jeremy Shada, meeting his heroes, the Hang 5, which consists of John Cena, The Undertaker, Triple H, Paige, and Mr. McMahon. This team of extreme surfers, who relish in doing the utmost extreme surfing challenges ever, team up with Cody, his chicken friend, his girlfriend, and his rival to a mystical island to ride a 50 foot rogue wave, while Cody attempts to prove his worth to his heroes.
Out of all of the films made so far, Wavemania is by far the weirdest one. Surfing penguins voiced by WWE wrestlers is only just the tip of the iceberg of insanity. Shia LaBeouf has been replaced by Finn from Adventure Time, a baby penguin makes a Pirates of Penzance reference even though no kid would recognize the joke, the penguins listen to a magic conch shell that tells them of a magical patch of ocean they can ride, Mr. McMahon plays a sea otter who is obsessed with milking the udders of fish, Undertaker Penguin keeps trying to eat a chicken voiced by Jon Heder, the penguins surf on a desert, John Cena Penguin has a six-pack, the characters surf on a tightrope, get lost in some Indiana Jones-esque tombs, travel across a volcano through making a makeshift hangglider through surfboards, leaves, and twigs, surf on a magical patch of ocean during a lightning storm, and after Undertaker Penguin gets electrocuted during said lightning storm, Jon Heder Chicken resuscitates him through a pair of jellyfish, being used as shockers…because all electrocuted people come back to life…through electric shocks.
The rest of the film is poorly-animated and poorly-voiced (although surprisingly, not from the wrestlers, but from the characters from the last movie), the story, in spite of the batshit insane moments, is pretty generic and forgettable, much of it doesn’t make any sense, and it doesn’t know whether it wants to be a mockumentary or a straightforward narrative. But overall, it’s easily one of the strangest kids movies to come out in a long while, making it enjoyable enough for a watch. There are some dull moments, but when it gets weird, it gets really weird, and becomes a wild and fun ride.
2017’s other WWE animated film would see the company pairing up with WB Animation again, but this time in the distant future, with The Jetsons and WWE: Robo-Wreslemania! Similar to Flintstones, this was the first piece of Jetsons media to be released in years, with the last bit of new content coming from 1990’s Jetsons: The Movie, and this was thankfully far more entertaining than Stone-Age Smackdown!, largely due to this film easily having the silliest premise. After Big Show flies through a blizzard after his WWE champion match gets canceled, he becomes frozen in ice for 100 years, only to be thawed out by George Jetson. When he learns that WWE still exists in the future but is now only performed by robots for some reason, he attempts to claim the title belt by stealing Mr. McMoon’s (yes, that’s what McMahon’s descendant is called) remote control and using his robots to take over the world…okay. This leads to the Jetsons traveling back to the present day and convinces Mr. McMahon and a slew of wrestlers to go back with his family to the future and stop Big Show’s tyrannical reign…okay.
When I first watched the film, I expected this to be like Stone-Age Smackdown!, where it would be just an extended Jetsons episode, but feature WWE guest stars. And while a lot of elements in the story, particularly in the first half, do play out like an episode of the show, it does veer into some of the mindfuckery of Surf’s Up 2, with time travel, a dystopia where Big Show is a dictator and a climax that involves Roman Reigns, Alicia Fox, Seth Rollins, The Usos, and Sheamus all getting together to fight wrestling robots. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite have the same entertainment value of Surf’s Up 2. The climax is overlong, the wrestlers that guest star, outside of Big Show, are either dull or annoying, and the film has a weird anti-technology message that comes completely out of nowhere and is rather ill-fitting for the franchise. But the first two thirds are legitimately fun and entertaining, Rosie has a lot of surprisingly funny one-liners, and Big Show is a great presence, with a solid voice performance. It’s actually kind of bold of the writers to have one of their wrestlers be the film’s main antagonist, and it’s pulled off rather well. It’s not as weird as it could have been, but it could have been a lot worse.
Going into this marathon, I expected all these movies to be absolutely bonkers. With crossovers as wild as these, how couldn’t they? Unfortunately, I got at first was underwhelming, with plots that were either dull or stupid, and features that failed to truly capitalize on their guest stars. But once the second Scooby-Doo film came out, there was a huge spike in quality, whether ironic or unironic. They got weirder, stranger, and sillier, which led to a better time and viewing experience. I’d dare say that Curse of the Speed Demon is a legitimately fun and entertaining movie that I can see myself watching again. Currently, WWE Studios has stopped their cross-promotions, as there hasn’t been any announcements for upcoming crossover films, which is a bit of a shame. I don’t know if I’m a full-fledged WWE fan, but through these animated movies that were only made to make a quick buck, I’ve begun to realize why this company has been around for so long and is liked by so many people. The wrestlers are fun personalities, with humorous traits and silly scenarios that make them enjoyable to watch. If anything, they themselves are muscle-bound cartoon characters, and as someone who loves the art form, I empathize with the muscleheads who worship these performers, and I guess if these movies have interested me in checking out a show or two, then I guess they did their job.
