I loved Scooby Doo in the 1970s and even now, my children will watch the cartoon, following the intrepid adventurers facing yet another monster, which turns out to be the creepy bloke who owns the hotel. It has an appeal which lasts. This is probably why they decided it would be a good idea to make a new live action film of it. Oh dear. What a shame.
This was one of the videos my children got for Christmas. This morning, the kids were at school, I had no inspiration to write an opinion on anything – so I sat down, reliving the cinematic experience with popcorn and Coke (okay then, it was the remains of my never-ending and increasingly nausea-inducing Xmas chocolate stash and a cuppa!) and popped the video in the machine. Oh how I wish I’d ‘just switched off the TV set and gone and done something less boring instead!’
Scooby Doo – the movie isn’t all bad, but most of it is. I found the 83 minutes quite painful to sit through and
in places; I positively squirmed with embarrassment. The humour is desperately trying to cover the key audience on two levels – the adult fans who loved the cartoon in their childhood and the kids of today.
For the adults, we have lots of jokes involving the stereotypes of the character’s roles (e.g. Daphne always needing to be rescued) and slightly Mickey-taking references to the predictability of the cartoons – the necessity to avoid places preceded by ‘Haunted’ or ‘Spooky’, the notion that it always ends up being a man in a mask behind it all and even the old ‘meddling kids’ line. While this is initially quite amusing, it becomes annoying after a while and feels a bit forced.
For the youngest in the audience, we have a whole lot of slapstick (which is fine) and a level of irritating infantile humour, reminiscent of any primary school playground. In one scene, we have Shaggy and Scooby challenging each other to a burping and farting competition, which deserves to be cut into small pieces and dumped back into the mind of the four-year-old who suggested it.
The plot is what you would expect – a mystery for the gang to solve, set against a background of spookiness. Emil Mondavarious is the owner of the Spooky Island <sigh> theme park, where college students arrive full of vitality, but leave as if possessed by zombies. Emil calls upon Mystery Inc. to help out and solve the mystery behind it all.
I was expecting the plot to be the old tried and tested formula, so that wasn’t too much of a negative. The sets were realised beautifully with revolving doors, scary rides, skulls, ghouls and masks a plenty. There were lots of stunts, all performed very well and the whole thing moves along at a fast and furious pace – as do the cartoons.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where this film fails. The actors are adequate - Freddie Prinze Jnr. plays a vain and vacuous Fred, Linda Cardellini a brainy and serious Velma, Sarah Michelle Gellar a beautiful and glamorous Daphne (who gets her chance to execute Matrix/Charlie’s Angels-style fighting!) and Matthew Lillard excels as a perfect Shaggy. Rowan Atkinson is also very good as Mondavarious, but is under-used.
The best parts of the film (as well as the worst one!) involve Shaggy and Scooby together. I cannot praise Matthew Lillard enough; he is stunning in the role and works brilliantly with the Scooby CGI, to the extent that you do temporarily forget he would have been acting with nothing for most of his scenes!
The character of Scooby is realised perfectly too and is the best part of the whole film. It faithfully recreates the cartoon version with all its ear-stiffening tongue-lolling cute-eyed expressions. The character is faultless and I would recommend you watch the film, if only to see Shaggy and Scooby. While the rest of the movie is easily forgettable, the lasting image will be of those two.
It’s hard to know which section of the audience would enjoy the film, as the monsters are rather frightening. All my four children (aged 6, 9, 10 and 12) enjoyed it, but in different ways. The special effects are very well done, there are plenty of bright colours and a fast, catchy soundtrack to appeal to youngsters and overall, it is a feel-good film.
WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rowan Atkinson Scooby Doo The music The sets The special effects
WHAT I DISLIKED ABOUT IT
The toilet humour and silliness The romance angle The repetition and predictability
Overall, it’s worth watching once – albeit painful – but I wouldn’t recommend you attempt this too often. Who let the dogs out? I don’t know, but I wish they hadn’t bothered. A mixed film. Your kids may like it, but I thought it was disappointing and rather silly.
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Great op. I had wanted to see this film but I'm not so keen on it though. The TV show was great though! Well, at least it ws until they axed Fred and Daphne and replaced them with that hideous vermin hound Scrappy-Doo.
coolaskaha 14.06.2003 20:11
havent seen this and dont think I'll bother! great op though! SARAHxx
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to engulf the world?Scooby-Doo, where are you? But the gang have all fallen out and dissolved the Mystery Inc partnership for good. Jinkeys! Luckily a strange invi...
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and his clever crime-solving cohorts Fred (FREDDIE PRINZE JR.), Daphne (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR), Shaggy (MATTHEW LILLARD) and Velma (LINDA CARDELLINI) are individu...
Advantages: Cheesy lines, not-so-scary monsters, classic Scooby plot etc. Disadvantages: Probably not good for adults who weren't big fans of Scooby-Doo
Advantages: Just like the cartoons, Matthew Lillard carries off Shaggy's voice superbly, Hardly notice that Scooby is an animation Disadvantages: If only it had come out about 15 years ago - I would have absolutely loved to see this as a kid!!!
Advantages: Brilliant for the under-12 audience Disadvantages: Lacklustre (and I'll use that word a lot!) at times, little chemistry between cast members
Advantages: Just like the cartoons, Matthew Lillard carries off Shaggy's voice superbly, Hardly notice that Scooby is an animation Disadvantages: If only it had come out about 15 years ago - I would have absolutely loved to see this as a kid!!!
![Scooby Doo - Live Action Movie [DVD] [2002]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78529407.jpg "Scooby Doo - Live Action Movie [DVD] [2002]")
Jan 10th, 2003
very helpful by (100%):
