Jasonic's Favorites: Scooby-Doo
Hello and good evening, Internet!
Most of my favorite movies I have reviewed in the past have been critically decent to good and stellar movies, but this one was originally seen as a stinker upon release. Now that I've had a chance to see it a couple times, I have to say that I completely disagree because for one, it's Scooby-Doo -- one of my favorite characters and franchises -- and two, there are weird spots in this movie, but the sum of its parts equates to a pretty decent flick in my opinion. That said, I'll be glad to share my thoughts on this one and maybe help people view this movie in a different light.
Released in 2002, Scooby-Doo (or Scooby-Doo The Movie as it's sometimes called) was not the first live action attempt at a classic cartoon in existence, but it was among the first of several to utilize a CGI main or major character next to live actors. I remember seeing some previews for this movie when I was about six and was intrigued that they made a Scooby-Doo live action movie for the theaters. Unlike many, I ultimately never saw it when it came out, but nonetheless, my young mind couldn't comprehend that Scooby was just a computer and I may have even told my parents that it was a Scooby-Doo with real people and a real dog. Unlike many of the more sorry attempts at bringing classic cartoons to cinema, this one has slowly gained something of a cult following over the years with many saying it's a misunderstood movie and even Scooby-Doo fans have warmed up to it saying it's better than the more recent Scoob! from 2020. At the very least, this movie was a box office success, which shows that the film at least had an audience whether they or the critics liked it or not. Personally, I'm fond of anything Scooby-Doo whether cartoon or live action and am more than glad to point out any good to stellar aspects of the different versions no matter how hard they may tank critically. So whether you remember this film fondly or you think it's an embarrassment to the Scooby brand, I'm willing to share what I think works and what doesn't whether it be a hot take or not.
*SPOILERS* (but it's Scooby-Doo so really you could easily predict the formula)
Although Scooby-Doo needs no introduction, the story of this movie certainly does. The movie begins with Mystery Incorporated consisting of Fred Jones (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Daphne Blake (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini), Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo (voiced by Neil Fanning), solving the case of the Luna Ghost, which the plan for goes horribly wrong when everyone misses their cues to set off the trap. While they do manage to catch the bad guy regardless, the gang members are unsatisfied with their contributions, Velma in particular disliking Fred stealing credit for her ideas and quitting the gang followed by everyone else. Two years later, the gang are unexpectedly reunited when a man named Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) invites them to his fright-themed "Spooky Island", a popular college student vacation spot where they come in acting fine, but leave acting aggressive toward one another. With each gang member determined to solve the mystery by themselves for a change, they get into small quarrels over how to solve the case and where and how to split up like they usually do. Upon the gang discovering the possible existence of a brainwashing cult on the island, several demonic creatures and performers at the resort attack the patrons at night, kidnapping several people including some of the gang members. With circumstances becoming more dire, the gang soon learns that they can overcome all odds together if it means preventing the end of the world.
Right off the bat, fans of Scooby-Doo may notice some striking plot similarities to a previous Scooby movie, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. With that being the film that revitalized the franchise following a near-decade hiatus, it's no wonder that Warner Bros. decided to cash in on the success of the direct-to-video movies including Zombie Island and make a live action movie seemingly following in its footsteps. Although I would argue that Zombie Island has a better portrayal of the gang splitting up only to reunite to go to a spooky island where the supernatural is real, this film does have an interesting angle of the gang each trying to fulfill individual goals as opposed to having a common collective goal of solving the mystery together. For example, Daphne is actively trying to outgrow her traditional damsel-in-distress role, having trained herself to become a black belt in karate, her martial arts instincts being showcased throughout the movie -- this, too, is a nice callback to Zombie Island where Daphne in that is shown to have those instincts. What's more is that bringing this to Daphne's character seems to be capitalizing on Sarah Michelle Gellar's success as Buffy the Vampire Slayer where she no longer portrayed a woman victim, but rather a fighter with agency. Although purists may argue that the gang not working together and acting unpleasant toward each other throughout the film before reuniting in the end may ruin the vibes of the Scooby-Doo cast, it's no less an interesting angle to portray them in especially being that, at this point in time, they're all adults past their prime unlike the original cartoon where they're teens in their prime.
A mostly underrated portion of this movie is definitely the choice of actors and their performances. Matthew Lillard absolutely excels at playing Shaggy down to the voice, demeanor, and mannerisms, making it seem like the character hopped out of the cartoon and into the realm of live action. The best testament to this is the fact that, thanks to this movie and its sequel, Matthew Lillard now portrays the voice of cartoon Shaggy in the franchise ever since Casey Kasem retired and subsequently died. With Lillard being the biggest point of praise this film got even back in the day, it's worth noting that a lot of the other actors have underappreciated performances. The aforementioned Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne might be a bit more snobbish and boastful than her original counterpart, but she perfectly captures the vain personality traits and later fighting spirit that the cartoon Daphne also possesses. Linda Cardellini also transforms herself well into a nerd girl as Velma, capturing the perfect nasally voice and smarts of the original while also appearing shockingly hot due to Cardellini's physique -- and, no, I'm not just referring to the scene where she wears a low cut top. Freddie Prinze Jr. is by far an underrated Fred, capitalizing on his narcisstic, glory-hogging traits to almost satirical levels when compared to the original Fred. While some of the side actors such as Rowan Atkinson as Mondavarious and Isla Fisher as Mary Jane are pretty typical performances from those actors, the voice performances of animated characters are just fine as well. Neil Fanning sounds a lot like Scooby with his broken English words that mostly begin with "R", though I'd argue that he has nothing on Don Messick, the original voice of Scooby, or the current voice, Frank Welker. Speaking of Frank Welker, he makes a minor performance as the sound effects of the creatures that possess the island patrons, cementing his near-consistent involvement in the franchise and continuing to provide his range of animalistic sounds to animated characters.
One thing I won't necessarily fault the film for is the obviously dated special effect since, being released in 2002, computer-y CGI was the standard. Like I mentioned before, my mind could not comprehend that Scooby was the main animated character in a sea of live actors and even then, his animation perfectly captures the spirit of the original cartoon character. He's quirky, jumpy when he needs to be, smooth when he needs to be, and his design looks like a slightly more realistic Scooby compared to the old cartoon. The animated creatures possessing the island patrons are also obviously a computer and don't even look fully rendered, coming off more like a video game enemy than a cartoon character. Even if the special effects clearly don't hold up, I'd say the film's live props and aesthetic are full of interesting choices; the big costumes that show up on Spooky Island really give a whole mystical, spooky vibe that the island is going for without ever going too far as to scare the kids. As of today, it is a commonly known fact that this film was once intended to be an R-rated comedy featuring an outright stoner Shaggy and lesbian Velma and Daphne, so it's no doubt that version might have leaned a little further into a horror aesthetic too. In the end, the fact that they ended up making it a family-friendly adventure is a lot more in line with how the Scooby-Doo cartoons are and it probably would have made my childhood a bit more special had I watched it back then.
Being a comedy and what not, some of the jokes and satirical choices can be hit or miss. One of the jokes maintained from the original R-rated draft is toward the beginning when we see smoke coming out of the Mystery Machine while Shaggy and Scooby are laughing and giggling when it pans down to show that the two are actually grilling. This is nod to the popular idea that Shaggy and Scooby are stoners in the original show with all of the evidence suggesting that they smoke, are hungry all the time, and are constantly on edge about the "ghosts" they encounter. While that part personally makes me chuckle, a couple scenes later shows that awkward moment of Scooby dressing up like a grandma while trying to hide his dog traits on the plane, even going as far as to kiss Fred then later punch him in the face for flicking him on the nose. A scene like that may be embarrassing to some, but I simply found myself thinking, "Wow, they really went there." Speaking of, the big twist of the film was that Scrappy-Doo (voiced by Scott Innes) ended up being the main villain who was behind everything including luring the gang to the island and the creatures running everywhere and possessing people. In more ways than one, it also makes you think, "Wow, they really went there." The few scenes we have with Scrappy show him with similar quirky, jumpy animation to Scooby and his whole plan and demeanor is basically a satirizing of who the old cartoon Scrappy was; scriptwriter James Gunn of Guardians of the Galaxy fame went this route because he hated Scrappy along with most others and decided to give him the biggest satirizing of the entire movie to show how "bad" he thinks he is. This would end up being the very last time the franchise made Scrappy a character in any medium, going as far as to not have him return in the later DTV movie, Scooby-Doo: Curse of the 13th Ghost, which was based on a show he was a originally a part of. Whatever ended up becoming of Scrappy beyond that, it's safe to say that he went out on the lowest note possible.
So overall, while this film was originally hated, I think I managed to pick out some genuinely good and interesting aspects of it. It bears plot similarities to one of the best Scooby-Doo DTV movies, gives each character their own individual story, has some decent to stellar acting (Matthew Lillard especially), and although special effects are dated and some jokes are hit or miss, the effects manage to reflect the nature of a cartoon and their is some genuinely funny jokes and interesting satirzing throughout. With all these good and entertaining aspects of this movie making it a genuinely fun time, how could I say that this movie is horrible when it's Scooby-Doo, one of my favorite cartoons of all time? For that matter, I would give it at least a solid C and find that it's easily recommendable to someone who loves Scooby-Doo, early 2000s teen comedies, and family-friendly adventures.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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