Jasonic's Favorites: Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
It's Halloween season once more and so I figured Scooby-Doo would be the film I review for this month. I did the first film around this time last year therefore it was inevitable I got to this one. This is also the one film I've done for any blog where I hadn't seen it for myself yet -- except for video essays showing lots of clips -- so in a way, I will be experiencing this with fresh eyes.
Released in 2004, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was made following the box office success of Scooby-Doo The Movie from two years prior. While it ultimately wasn't as successful as the original in the box office and received even lower negative reviews from critics, fans of the franchise and the actors associated with this ill-fated duology of Scooby live action movies do enjoy it plus the original as guilty pleasures -- I know I enjoy the first movie on occasion and feel it's misunderstood. One of the big reasons some don't think this is good as the original in some cases is the fact that it doesn't have quite as much thought put into it as far as plot and context behind the comedy. Whereas the first film dealt with the supernatural being real in the same vein as the animated Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, this one involves the gang's past phony monsters becoming real through experimentation, which sounds like a step backwards from the real supernatural stuff from before. Regardless, others have praised that aspect and see it as a more faithful referencing of the original cartoon by featuring classic monsters from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! such as Zombie, Miner 49er, and the Black Knight Ghost. As a fan who got back into the franchise six years ago, I find it interesting when newer content can channel the classics aesthetically with old monsters returning and tonally with dialogue and comedy that feels akin to what was common in the late 60s/early 70s. This movie and its predecessor may not be accurate in the latter regard, however the antics of Scooby and Shaggy and the acting of Matthew Lillard playing the latter both in these live action movies and the more recent animated stuff is enough to keep me enthralled regardless of if this film's critics don't agree with how it's portrayed. That said, do I think that this movie is decent enough to warrant it's current cult following? Let's get out our magnifying glasses, rev up the Mystery Machine, and dive straight into this oddball mystery that is Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed!
*SPOILERS* (though I will reiterate that it's Scooby-Doo and is kind of predictable)
This movie picks up a while after the previous live action Scooby-Doo movie; it opens with the grand opening of the Coolsonian Criminology Museum in which Mystery Incorporated consisting of Fred Jones (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Daphne Blake (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma Dinkley (Linda Cardellini), Norville "Shaggy" Rogers (Matthew Lillard), and Scoobert "Scooby" Doo (voiced by Neil Fanning) are the guests of honor in a showcasing of an exhibit dedicated to costumes of the monsters they've captured over the years. Things go horribly wrong, however, when the costume of the Pterodactyl Ghost reanimates and terrorizes the place accompanied by a mysterious Evil Masked Figure (voiced by Scott McNeil) who steals two costumes in the ensuing chaos. Despite their efforts to help and contain the threat, the news anchor journalist, Heather Jasper-Howe (Alicia Silverstone), manipulates Fred's comments from the news coverage and begins a smear campaign against the gang to make it look like it was all their fault. While Fred, Daphne, and Velma head to investigate clues from the crime scene like usual, Shaggy and Scooby overhear their comments about how the rest of the gang members all think they screwed up big time and get the bright idea to attempt acting like competent, macho mystery solvers as opposed to the amateur sleuths they are. The clues they investigate lead them to the mansion of the previous Black Knight Ghost culprit, Jeremiah Wickles (Peter Boyle), where they discover a formula invented by the allegedly deceased Pterodactyl Ghost culprit, Jonathan Jacobo (Tim Blake Nelson) for an element called "randamonium" used to create real monsters. While attempting to search for clues, Shaggy and Scooby discover an invite to the Faux Ghost nightclub to interrogate Wickles, which eventually leads them to the old silver mines where randamonium is created. With all that the gang must deal with on top of their confidence issues, Coolsville will soon turn into Goulsville -- in the words of Shaggy -- as monsters from the gang's past are soon unleashed to destroy the city along with Mystery Incorporated.
Being a film buff who appreciates when sequels often set out to improve upon the original, I'll say that this one does so in some ways and in a way I will also agree with critics on how it doesn't in others. I once watched a video suggesting that this second movie and the original should have switched places in the sense that, as I had mentioned before, the first film deals with the supernatural while this one actually involves fictional science to make the monsters real. It may seem like a step backwards to some, however, I won't fault the creators for doing so as I am certain they did this in response to criticisms for the first movie; whereas that movie made its own new fake ghost and supernatural creatures to drive its plot, this one harkens back to the numerous iterations of Scooby-Doo throughout mainly the 70s with the return of classic foes like the ones mentioned above and also Captain Cutler, the Tar Monster, and the 10,000 Volt Ghost. While I am mainly familiar with the more iconic villains from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, I have seen enough official and video essay content of Scooby-Doo to recognize the latter two ghosts from The Scooby-Doo Show -- mainly the Tar Monster because it also appeared in Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase. From my understanding, it has been common for live action adaptations of cartoons around this movie's period to do so many elements differently in the first movie only to revert and adapt everything "correctly" in the second -- see the live action Inspector Gadget duology for example (but I wouldn't recommend it). That said, do I think this movie is a lesser sequel for not properly building on its predecessor? Yes and no. It didn't expand a film series's universe the way a sequel should, but it did so in a way that made its monsters a lot more faithful of a callback to the original cartoons we all know and love.
As with the first movie, the acting is also a strong selling point and carries this film from start to finish. Matthew Lillard significantly improves upon his Shaggy performance as far as voice and mannerisms, sounding less like a Casey Kasem impression most of the time and more like his animated Shaggy voice from more recent Scooby-Doo animated content. The more comedic bits of Scooby and Shaggy interacting also appear to be acted better on Lillard's part as I'm sure by that point he had grown accustomed to pretending to act with an animated character that wasn't actually there -- see the bit where they tiptoe past the moonlit windows and come out of the shadows in different poses. Linda Cardellini once more plays an accurate take on Velma as she keeps up the nasally voice while appearing more nerdy than usual, but also shows a more awkward side when it comes to her interactions with Patrick Wisely (Seth Green) whom she is afraid to accept a date offer from until Daphne attempts to make her look hot and act confident while wearing a reddish orange jumpsuit. If one were never a crush on cartoon Velma, the more provacative scenes of her in this film and the last could easily awaken one. Speaking of Daphne, I wouldn't say Sarah Michelle Gellar was given as much to do as far as her character's acting or plot involvement, but she continues to display Daphne's fighting abilities and spirit especially in the scene where she is fighting off the live Black Knight Ghost while defending Velma as the latter reads the grimoire on how to find the monster's weakness. Freddie Prinze Jr.'s portrayal of Fred and the rest of the cast for that matter don't have as much satirizing as the first film to make their characters entertaining, but I do believe that he both looks and acts the part of a live action version of his character and acts well as the leader of the gang when it comes to agency. Once more, the voice acting is also done well with Neil Fanning reprising his voice role as Scooby-Doo as he sounds about as accurate to the cartoon character as ever with his broken English "R" words. Sadly, Frank Welker was not involved in this movie as far as vocal performances, but voice acting legend, Dee Bradley Baker, provided vocal effects for the Pterodactyl Ghost, Zombie, and the Red-Eyed Skeleton monster with him doing a great job sounding like creatures as people like him and Frank are known for. The other well-known actors such as Alicia Silverstone as Heather and Peter Boyle as Jeremiah Wickles are not quite anything to write home about, but at the time they were big names and great additions to the cast.
The special effects and animations are greatly done better than the first film as well; the computer animated Scooby-Doo doesn't look the most appealing still, but at the very least he appears cartoonishly exaggerated like he should and he even looks more well-integrated into the scenes of this film than in the first one. In regards to his presence, I will say that although the scene of Scooby and Shaggy trying out various potions that give them different bodies is random comedy that serves no bearing on the plot, it is interesting to see the creativity that went into animated Scooby becoming a freaky monster before becoming a 2D animated Tasmanian Devil -- the only instance of 2D animation in the film -- and then turning into a brainiac voiced by J.P. Manoux. In a sense, he makes the scene hilarious with his animation styles always changing. The titular monsters unleashed also appear much less fake than the CGI creatures from the first film; the Tar Monster looks less like a poorly rendered video game villain and a lot more real and accurate to what a cartoonish creature of the sorts would look like in real life. In that sense, I get the feeling that the animated Scooby is actually dodging its tar attacks and fighting it off with the fire extinguisher during the climax where the rest of the gang is captured and he's fighting it and the other monsters to MxPx's rendition of the Scooby-Doo theme song. The Black Knight Ghost and 10,000 Volt Ghost look far from cheaply animated as well -- although I'm certain that the former was mostly a real actor in prosthetics -- and the explosions created from the latter's electricity lighting up the water and exploding from the jumper cable toward the end look rather practical as if there was some sort of practical effects done to make it less cartoony. Even Captain Cutler with his seaweed covered diving suit and ghostly green glow inside the helmet looks as though the character from the original show leaped out of the cartoon and into the realm of live action. If there was anything this film did remarkably better than its predecessor it was the effects and character designs since, apart from Scooby himself somewhat, they look pretty faithful to the original source material.
An underrated portion of this movie and its prequel is the soundtrack; I cannot personally name any track from the film score, but what caught my attention about this film and the first one is the leitmotif of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? theme song littered throughout. Having the iconic melody that everyone associates the franchise with in both films makes for a rather delightful way for keen-eared watchers to be treated to the theme song in a lot of scenes especially when action is taking place. The main songs on the official soundtrack, however, are mostly vocal ones and some pretty good mid-2000s vocal themes for that matter. The first song on both the OST and the credits is "Don't Wanna Think About You" by the band Simple Plan; the band had previously worked on the theme song and had their songs featured in chase montages for the then-recent What's New, Scooby-Doo? show that had some significant traction with kids from the 2000s who watched the show and listened to that kind of music. The fact that they were featured in the second and last live action Scooby movie speaks volumes to the producer's confidence in the franchise's brand at that point that although this series never got its intended third film, it's nice that the 2000s band known for doing the What's New, Scooby-Doo? theme song was featured. The film has quite a few popular hits throughout such as the scene where Scooby in disguise is dancing in the Faux Ghost with the patrons to the Big Brovaz version of the classic "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Again)". I don't find it to be the best use of the song in a movie, but the fact that the original was released in 1969 -- the year Scooby first came out -- and the fact that Scooby and Shaggy are in disguise in that scene makes it thematically appropriate in a way when their disguises are lost. I didn't mention it in the first film, but something that made the climactic scene in both films is the use of MxPx's cover of "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?" to make it more epic and energetic. This version of the song has the right amount of 2000s energy and synergy to make it fun and cool while the gang and/or Scooby are fighting off the main bad guys as things get dire; had I heard this version of the song or watched this and the first movie in childhood, it probably would have been a bit more special, but for what they're worth, I'm glad I got to watch them for myself 20 years after release as I consider them time capsules of the years my childhood took place.
So overall, I wouldn't call this film a superior sequel in every way to the original, but I simply can't bring myself to outright hate it or the original, especially when it has some decent to good elements to carry it. It channels the original cartoon more faithfully despite being a regression of ideas from the first film, maintains its faithful Scooby-Doo energy in the acting -- especially Matthew Lillard -- has better special effects than the first one, and has an underrated soundtrack full of the OG theme song's leitmotif and some energetic 2000s rock and pop songs and covers. The Scooby-Doo brand is now one of my favorites again so even if the products are not fully cooked to perfection, I do believe that even some of the lesser films like this one are worth examinining for some worthwhile aspects and features. Personally, I would prefer the original for having a more fulfilling script and overall story arc, but this one is worth the watch only if you're a die-hard Scooby-Doo fan like myself. For that matter, I give this film a mid rating of C- and recommend it to Scooby fans and those who are curious to see what became of the live action films before they decided to make new ones for TV with different actors.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
Comments
Post a Comment