Scooby Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed - is the second movie produced from the original cartoon series.
The DVD was released in 2004.
The movie is a combination of interaction of cartoon 'monsters' and the main characters played by actors. Scooby Doo himself is a 3D animated figure.
First of all, some background on the cartoon series…. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Scooby Doo….Where are you? was the title of the cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios from 1969 and shown on Saturday morning television during the 1970s and 1980s. Hanna-Barbera made about 25 episodes of this programme between 1969 and 1970.
Scooby Doo is a large dog who, with his friends Freddy Jones, Daphne Blake, Shaggy Rogers and Velma Dinkley hunts ghosts and solves mysteries.
With the Mystery Machine as their base - the groups van - they drive around the countryside catching and unmasking villains.
The cartoon was very popular at the time and Scooby Doo had some success in the 1990s being used as an icon by Generation X.
The first Scooby Doo feature film was released in 2002.
The Film Plot ~~~~~~~~~~
Mystery Inc - Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby Doo are now famous for unmasking ghosts and villains and celebrities in themselves.
They are invited as guests of honor to the grand opening of the Coolsville Museum of Criminology where there is an exhibition of costumes of some of their past 'unmaskings'. These include the Pterodactyl Ghost, Black Night Ghost, Tar Monster, 10,000 Volt Ghost, Captain Cutlass and the Skelemen.
During the opening ceremony a masked villain turns up and creates mayhem and steals the costumes of the villains on display.
Enter a mystery for the gang to solve….. Could the masked villain
be their old enemy mad scientist Jonathon Jacobi? Is someone trying to bring back the costumes to life and unleash all the old monsters into Coolsville? Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby start to look for clues.
But TV reporter Heather Jasper Howe is on standby and does her best to discredit the gang in the media, by showing edited speeches of Fred bad mouthing Coolsville itself.
In the meantime Velma is besotted with the museum manager Patrick Wisely, the creator of the costumes exhibition, but he is also acting very strangely.
The gang discover a machine that re-generates the costumes into the old monsters and unfortunately Shaggy and Scooby set the process into operation. The monsters are 'unleashed' into Coolsville and the gang must get back to the machine that created these creatures and reverse the process.
With the public against them, the film unfolds Mystery Incs attempts to rid Coolsville of the monsters, unmask the villain and win back their reputation.
The Cast ~~~~~~~~
Freddie Prinze Jr. .... Fred (Mystery Inc Gang - Mr Nice Guy) Sarah Michelle Gellar ...Daphne (Mystery Inc Gang - Miss Pretty Girl) Linda Cardellini .... Velma (Mystery Inc Gang - Miss Brainy) Neil Fanning .... Scooby-Doo (voice) (Mystery Inc Gang - The Goofy Dog) Matthew Lillard .... Shaggy (Mystery Inc Gang - The Hippie Goofy Guy) Seth Green .... Patrick (Museum Manager) Peter Boyle .... Old Man Wickles (Bad Guy??) Tim Blake Nelson .... Jacobo (Baddie) Alicia Silverstone .... Heather (Reporter)
Trivia… ~~~~~~
Filmed outside the Vancouver Art Museum DVD Extras ~~~~~~~~~
Additional Scenes
2 Music Videos - Big Brovaz's Thank You (Fallentin Me Be Mice Elf Again) and Simple Plan's Don't Wanna Think About You
Audiovisual Puzzles to solve - The Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed Challenge and the Mystery of the Missing Pants
Dancing Dog - How they made Scooby Doo Dance - and How you can dance just like him!
Triple Threat Featurette - Scooby Doo gives you an inside tour of the moviemaking process
True Ghoul Hollywood Story
DVD Rom PC Web Links to Cool Scooby Doo stuff
Technical Details ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Film is released by Warner Bros Pictures - a Mosaic Media Group Production Running Time 93 Minutes Certificate PG Audio 5.1 dolby digital Aspect Ration 16.9 Widescreen/Colour Languages - English
Genre ~~~~~
Difficult to describe one genre for this film, but it is an animated/real life family, comedy, adventure film with a mystery theme - some horror (cartoon monsters)
Cost ~~~~
Play.com New - £7.99 delivered Amazon New - £6.97 plus delivery Used from £5.00 plus delivery Also available on VHS Video Amazon New - £12.99 plus delivery
Both formats currently selling on ebay from £1.00 upwards
My Opinion/Further info ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I was a real fan of the Scooby Doo cartoon series when I was younger, but the first Movie was disappointing for me. I just couldn't get used to Scooby being 3D and life size.
The second film however was much much better. Whether I had got used to Scooby or they used different effects, I don't know.
The film itself is funny and fast paced with all the usual aspects you would expect from a Scooby adventure.
The Mystery Inc gang roles are played to their stereotypical selves, but there are some nice added twists.
Fred is the leader, sensible nice guy - is he falling for Daphne though?
Daphne who is usually used as trap bait and is the nice girl of the group has developed a little bit of girl power and attacks the monsters with a few high kicks of her own.
Velma is the swot, intelligent one of the group, but she develops a crush and there is a great moment when she decides she wants to look like a 'glamorous international traveller' in order to impress Patrick. Daphne dresses her up in a very tight leather/lycra orange trouser suit and she eases her way into the Mystery Machine with Patrick and the gang. When sitting in the backseat of the van, her outfit makes a 'farting noise'. Apparently the line, "That was my outfit, I swear," was an ad-lib by Linda who plays Velma!
Shaggy and Scooby Doo are the goofs of the gang - no change there - but in this film they try and shake off this image and go out alone to prove they are serious 'mystery solvers'. They visit a bar where all their old foes drink and socialise, so go 'undercover'.
Scooby is wearing a huge afro wig and all goes well until they start to 'boogie on down' with the band that is playing and eventually the wig swivels off and the pair are revealed.
There are plenty of mad cap chases and the way that the film merges real actors and cartoon characters is amazing.
The main masked character who is gathering the other villains together looks a bit like Darth Vader.
As for the cartoon villains…
The tar monster is a big glob of tar that melts itself to grab its victims and traps them in its sticky grasp
The 10,000 volt monster is pure electricity - shooting out electric shocks and fire balls.
The Black Knight looks like a giant chess piece, but quite threatening in thick black amour and there is a great sequence of him 'jousting' with the Knight on the horse and Fred on a motorbike!
Captain Cutlass walks like a zombie but looks like a diver in an old 'goldfish bowl type' diving mask.
The Skelemen are the goofy monsters whose green bodies dislocate at any given moment, and their heads pop on and off!
The Pterodaktyl bird is not really seen much but is quite frightening as a realistic dinosaur swooping down around the museum and trying to catch Shaggy and Scooby
I'm not sure if younger children would find this film frightening - some of the monsters can be quite scary, but as an adult taking a trip down memory lane, the film actually lived up to my expectations.
The cartoon series usually centered around one ghost or character the Mystery Inc gang were trying to catch - here there are a whole host of them each with different 'evil tricks' to catch the gang, which is a bonus.
Although this film is nostalgic to the old cartoon, I don't think it matters if you have not seen the original series and how the characters are developed, as the film can stand alone to this effect. I think it quite quickly develops the idea of who is who in the gang and the idea of Mystery Inc themselves as a crime solving team.
This is a film with the basic plot of …. Ghosts or villains appear, the gang hunt them down, they are successful….. Add in some cartoons, capers, chases and crazy antics from Shaggy and Scooby and you have the Scooby Doo Film to a tee.
I would recommend this for an hour and a half of family film fun, but with all the extras, it is added entertainment value.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Loads of info there and well set out. I saw the first at the cinema with the kids and thought it was dire so couldnt face the second one! Susie x
mum52 04.03.2006 01:14
A really good review, with plenty of detail. Thanks. :-)
lipsalve 02.03.2006 23:53
I haven't seen either of them and am not sure what I would think of the 3D Scooby. I've noticed recently that in the newer cartoons Velma is a lot thinner than she used to be! Jo x
The animated pooch detective returns inScooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which packs a ... more
wealth of ghostly villains from the Saturday morning cartoon into one movie. When Mystery Inc. opens a museum exhibit of costumes of their old foes, a new masked foe...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
The animated pooch detective returns inScooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, which packs a ... more
wealth of ghostly villains from the Saturday morning cartoon into one movie. When Mystery Inc. opens a museum exhibit of costumes of their old foes, a new masked foe...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Jinkies! They're the most monsters ever gathered! Mix those creepaziods with Scooby-Doo ... more
and the rest of the Mystery Inc. gang and you have the recipe for family fun!A masked villain wreaks mayhem on the city of Coolsville with a monster machine that cr...
Advantages: good cast better than the first one funny faster bigger better better than cat in the hat Disadvantages: well it's still a kids film so not GREAT for adults
![Scooby-Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed [DVD] [2004]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78503684.jpg "Scooby-Doo 2 - Monsters Unleashed [DVD] [2004]")
Feb 8th, 2006
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