Movie Review: Scooby-Doo - The Movie

Stars: 3 out of 5
Pros: Matthew Lillard's Shaggy

Cons: Bathroom Humor

The Bottom Line:

Mild entertainment

Keeps your attention while on

But forgettable

Those Meddling Kids Hit the Big Screen

I have a confession to make. I didn't grow up watching cartoons. As a result, I've only seen a handful of episodes of this show in my entire life. Yet, I was curious about the live action version of Scooby-Doo, so I finally sat down and watched it.

The Mystery Inc. Gang is in the middle of another exciting case. Yet when they've captured the ghost, something strange happens. A microphone is trust into Fred's face (Freddie Prinze, Jr.) and suddenly the gang starts fighting. Velma (Linda Cardellini) is tired of Fred taking all the credit. And Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is absolutely sick of always being the damsel in distress. Only Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby-Doo are interested in staying together. And so the gang breaks up.

Some time later, they are brought back together by Mandavarious (Rowan Atkinson). He owns Spooky Island, a hip college resort. Unfortunately, his guests are arriving as normal college students and leaving as zombies. Will the Mystery Inc. Gang be able to reconcile to solve the case?

The problem with taking a half hour program and making it a full length movie is the added time. The writers tried to deal with that my adding the conflict within the group. However, so little time is spent on it that it feels like an after thought. Instead, the movie spends most of its time focusing on the story, which makes sense for the most part. There's a twist at the end that I thought was just plain weird, but maybe that's just me.

Matthew Lillard is the standout member of the cast. His Shaggy perfectly brought the cartoon character to life. Since Shaggy is the only one I remember having much of a personality from the cartoon, I can't comment on how close the other performances mimic their characters. I will say that the rest of the cast does a fine job with the material they are given. Some of the complaints I've read seem more like problems with the script then the actors themselves.

Computer graphics are a big part of the film. Obviously, Scooby is animated. While obviously a cartoon, he looks very good and everyone interacts with him in a believable way. Many of the monsters are animated as well and just as expertly done.

Some small children may be frightened by parts of the film, but it actually seems less scary to me then the cartoon. Everything here is played for laughs. What bothered me the most was the bathroom humor, especially one scene between Scooby and Shaggy.

I have a feeling if I had an attachment to the cartoon I might have strong feelings about Scooby-Doo one way or the other. As it is, it was on okay way to spend 90 minutes. I wouldn't rush out to see it again, but I wouldn't avoid it either.