Scooby-Doo
2 - Monsters Unleashed
Call
me a sucker, but I was one of the very few people in the world who really kind of
dug the first live action
Scooby-Doo
movie. Now, I recognize that the acting
generally wasn't that great, the monsters were pretty cheesy, the storyline
was dull and the CGI creation of Scooby-Doo looked all too obviously
computer generated. However, as much as I hold the original cartoon
series dear from my youth, I do recognize when I watch the old episodes as
an adult that they have the same problems (with the exception of the
computer-animated pooch, of course.)
But, Scooby-Doo, Where
Are You! will always be special to me because it is a very real part of
the life influences that made me who I am. It was brilliant kid's
entertainment (and still is, my nephew is only two and already hypnotized by
Scooby) that took a lighthearted look at things that fascinate kids
ghosts, ghouls, werewolves, vampires and haunted amusement parks.
Besides, it had a cute dog who talked! What more could you ask?
As I grew up, I caught onto some of the show's more adult themes as well;
the reason for Shaggy's eternal munchies, whether or not Velma was a little
too fond of Fred (or Daphne, for that matter, as one school of thought goes.)
The show knew it was a little hackneyed and predictable (Nearly every
episode ended on a variation of the line, "And I would have gotten away with
it too, if not for those meddling kids and their dog.")
So perhaps it was nostalgia
that made me enjoy the first film so much. Or, perhaps it was because the
film didn't take itself at all seriously, trying (not completely
successfully) to make the movie as much a funny modern pastiche of the
series as the brilliant movie lampoon of a similarly sacred childhood show,
The Brady Bunch. So, I signed up for the ride and while I
didn't think the first movie was great, I did have a lot of fun while
watching it.
Scooby-Doo 2 - Monsters
Unleashed is more of the same, and yet somehow this time it didn't
really work for me. Perhaps it is because of the tossed-together
storyline. Scooby-Doo 2 is like a Scooby's Greatest Hits reel,
bringing back several of the ghosts from the original classic show.
The theory behind the film is that Scooby-Doo and the members of Mystery
Inc. have become such media darlings for capturing numerous spooks that the
museum of their hometown of Coolville has set up an exhibit of the costumes
of their greatest conquests. (What happened to museums that had art
and antiquities?) Of course, one of the costumes, the pterodactyl
ghost, ends up being alive and destroys the exhibit. Then the ghost of
the knight comes to life, and soon there are also skeletons with giant
eyeballs, the ghost of the miner 49, the creeper and a tar monster plotting
to do the kids in.
Matthew Lillard is still
flawless at inhabiting the character of Shaggy, he is one of the rare actors
who so perfectly nails a cartoon character that he almost feels animated
himself. Linda Cardellini is still very fun as the shy, bookish,
brilliant Velma, though even more than the first film she is often made up
to be too sexy for the role (when Velma is hotter than Daphne, there's
something wrong in the universe.)
Again in this film, the real
life married couple of Freddie Prinze, Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar get the
short stick. Fred is a vain airhead who is only there to look good in
an ascot (and how could anyone not look good in an ascot?). Daphne's
character has lost the little bit of dimension it was given in the first
film, although somewhere down the line, Gellar's character has become a
karate kicking Daphne the Vampire Slayer. I don't remember that from
the series.
The computer generated
Scooby is pretty seamless now. You no longer pay attention to the fact
that it is obviously a computerized version of a cartoon dog, now you just
look at him as a character, and still a very funny one, too.
You don't expect heavy
characterization from a show (or movie) that defines characters by the color
of the clothes they wear, but the attempts to give the kids "back-stories"
fall flat. Fred and Daphne's gradual realization of how much they care
for each other, Scooby & Shaggy's crisis of faith that they may not be
pulling their weight in Mystery Inc. and Velma's crush on a cute museum
curator (Seth Green); all these threads seem undercooked, plot contrivances
thrown in without any clear reason or particular need to get out of.
There are also the standard
issue potential bad-uns, Peter Boyle as Mr. Winkle, owner of the haunted
house and haunted mine, Alicia Silverstone as a yellow journalist looking to
make a name on the kids' failure and Seth Green as the mysterious museum
curator who may have a thing for Velma or may just be hanging with her for
information.
The storyline doesn't matter
really. In the end, after all the action and monsters and romances and
bright colors and lessons about friendship and fart jokes; as the man says,
there was just not enough "there" there. To call the story
featherweight is to be dismissive of feathers, and anyone who doesn't know
who the bad guy is the first time they see them just isn't trying.
When you
get down to it, the worst thing about the film is that
there was really no reason other than money to make
Scooby-Doo 2. I'm sure we'll have to say the exact same
thing about the inevitable Scooby-Doo 3, which I hear is already in
the planning stages. (3/04)
Jay
S. Jacobs
