Movie Review: Scooby-Doo

Scooby-Doo

Warner Bros., Mosaic Media Group, Atlas Entertainment, USA, Australia, 2002. 

Luna-ghost has kidnapped Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar). Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo (voiced by Neil Fanning) save her. The chase gets Shaggy and Scooby-Doo temporarily buried under Pamela Anderson dolls(!) Freddie Prinze Jr. has apparently stolen Finnish singer Danny's hair:

The Scooby Gang disbands because of because of artistic differences.

Fred and Velma

Shaggy and Scooby-Doo

Daphne and Velma

Two years later Shaggy and Scooby get an assignment from Mr. Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson). Also the rest of the Mystery Inc. are invited. Something fishy is going on in Spooky Island theme park. Someone is brainwashing teens to make them well-behaved. That must be stopped! 

Mr. Mondavarious

Demon

Shaggy meets a girl named Mary-Jane (Isla Fisher). Mary-Jane? You gotta be kidding. With her the Mystery Inc. runs around the island solving the mystery and fighting CGI-demons while trying to restore the friendship of the team. 

Isla Fisher

The Hanna-Barbera animation "Scooby-Doo" is quite unknown in Finland although some series are shown occasionally in Finnish TV-channels. What I know was that the usually the plot of the episodes had some ghost or monster causing trouble, and Scooby and the gang tried to solve the mystery. The ghost was always revealed to be a masked villain. Pretty formulaic, but fun for kids. 

Scrappy-Doo

However the makers of the live-action film have again ruined the original by trying to modernize it with self-parodical style. The soundtrack is filled with MTV-trendy hippity-hop songs. The opening gambit sure looks like a live-action cartoon with wild chase in a factory. Then the story falls apart and begins to throw in bad jokes such as farting contest (!!!) Even Rowan Atkinson manages to be unfunny. The adventure plot itself has barely enough material to fill a half hour episode of Scooby-Doo.

The cartoon characters are given some annoying characteristics: Fred is turned into annoying egomaniac and Velma has low self-esteem. Daphne whines all the time and Shaggy is all-too-obvious stoner. Also the unpopular but loved by some character of the original series Scrappy-Doo gets an undeservedly mean-spirited treatment pleasing only Scrappy-Doo haters. Scooby-Doo himself feels a bit like Ernest P. Worrell: 

Worthwile only for Sarah Michelle Gellar's tiny dresses. Watch the animated series or movies instead. 

Rating: Bad 

Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, Rowan Atkinson, Isla Fisher, Miguel A. Núñez Jr., Steven Grives, Charles Stan Frazier, Craig Bullock, Matthew Murphy Karges, Mark McGrath, Rodney Sheppard, Sam Greco, Charlie Cousins, Kristian Schmid, Nicholas Hope, Neil Fanning, Scott Innes, J.P. Manoux, Chris Cruickshanks, Alex Ruiz, Sheryl Benko, Rio Nugara, David Vallon, Troy MacKinder, Michala Banas, Holly Brisley, Robert Díaz, Remi Broadway, Martin Broome, Simone Dumbleton, Jonathan Coffey, Michael Caffrey, Kyas Sherriff, Celeste Gosnell, Bradley Gosnell, Cayley Gosnell, Audrey Gosnell, Kurt Duval, Janis McGavin, Emily Gosnell, Marea Lambert Barker, Kym Jackson, Danielle Starkey, Andrew Bryniarski, Craig Behenna, Keith S. Bullock, Jess Harnell, Frank Welker, Pamela Anderson 

Director: Raja Gosnell