Dir.
Raja Gosnell, US, 2004, 88 mins
Cast:
Scooby Doo, Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Geller, Freddie Prinze Jr, Seth Green, Alicia Silverstone, Peter Boyle
Scooby Scooby Doo - where are you? Well, actually, he's with the rest of the gang from Mystery Inc, attending the charity opening night of an exhibition of relics from some of their past cases. Hey, these guys are superstars now, and the media love them. However. A nasty masked villain gatecrashes the opening and, before our very eyes, some of the costumes suddenly come to life and mayhem ensues as the gang are confronted with their past foes, including the Pterodactyl ghost, the Black Knight, the 10,000 volt ghost, and the dastardly Captain Cutler. Added to this, a nasty trashy news reporter (Alicia Silverstone) edits her report so that the gang look like nasty, incompetent idiots. All in all, not a good day. Back on the case, the gang have to track down who is behind the deed, stop them from creating even more monsters, and restore their good name. Along the way, they have all manner of misadventures, including Shaggy and Scooby going undercover in retro afro wig and sunglasses and performing some deft disco moves in a seedy bar peopled by all the no-good bad men they've unmasked in the past. This is a return to the real feel of the cartoon series. The CGI ghosts are spectacular and there are lots of them! The film is a swirl of vibrant colours and special effects, with an opening credits sequence that feels like a roller coaster. Oh, and there are plenty of the prerequisite fart and vomit gags. Matthew Lillard was excellent first time round as Shaggy and is so again, but here the rest of the gang come into their own too. Daphne is less of a high-kicking martial arts queen and more of a lipstick diva, while Fred's transformation into the good-looking goofy-but-slightly-dim guy is ever so slightly reminiscent of Joey from Friends . Linda Cardellini's Thelma is most three-dimensional of the characters, the insecure girl who finally gets a guy, a nerdish and somewhat creepy museum curator, Patrick (Seth Green). Scooby Doo 2 is far better than its predecessor and happily plays to both young and older audiences. Jean Lynch |
