With "Scoob!" trending, it's time I should review a movie based on the long-running characters. Since I'm not willing to pay thirty dollars to see the new one, nor can't find the first movie on streaming at the moment, I should just review the second live-action film. A stand-alone sequel to the 2002 film, the Mystery Inc. gang are faced with a new challenge as previous unmasked monsters are transforming into real-life ones. While they try to solve the mystery, Shaggy and Scooby attempt to act like real detectives after they are tired of hearing how much they screw-up all the time. This is perhaps the best plot that the movies have came up with. The first film also had real monsters and a unique setting, but it didn't feel like a "Scooby-Doo" story tonally. The new animated film removes any sense of mystery or tropes from the franchise entirely. While the culprit in the film does ruin the mystery in a way, I do like how the film tries to keep it open-ended in a way with the red herrings and how the monsters are the same ones from the cartoon. The story and mystery stays true to the nature of the franchise and remains the most engaging of the films. As for the tone and comedy, it's much more balanced than the previous film. The issue with the first film was that it was rewritten to be more family-friendly, which was not the case in the original screenplay, causing the film to have an identity crisis at times. The sequel not only knows the audience it's geared towards from the get-go, but it once again appeases to the fans with references and light satire on the characters. The comedy of course has toilet humour and a bit of over-the-top goofiness for children, but there are some decent lines and gags, which is mainly helped by the dedication of the actors.
The best actor in this movie is Matthew Lillard as Shaggy. His energy, charisma, voice, and dedication to the character even made him the current voice actor of the character is future shows and movies. It's more impressive, considering that many of his scenes require him to act by himself as Scooby-Doo is all CGI. Speaking of which, I was surprised that Scooby-Doo wasn't voiced by Frank Welker at all! Instead, Neil Fanning did the voice for the movies, which I felt he did an excellent job in recreating the voice. If Frank Welker ever retires, Neil Fanning should take over the role. Linda Cardellini as Velma is for the most part good, but she does have some stall line delivery. I don't think it's because of her acting, but rather the character of Velma in general. Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred is standard. While Fred does get some decent lines, his cardboard personality is hard to really work with. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne is also a standard role, as Daphne is portrayed more as the action girl and much less of a ditz. It's not bad, but she feels like the most different of the portrayals. As for the side characters, there's Peter Boyle's Old Man Wickles, who is the red herring of the movie and is pretty funny, Alicia Silverstone's Heather, the reporter trying to shame the group's reputation, and Tim Blake Nelson's Jacabo, the real villain behind the mystery with Nelson chewing up the scenery with the very small time he's in the film. Lastly, there's Seth Green's Patrick, Velma's love interest and the other red herring of the film. Although I like Green, the character of Patrick was underused. I felt that in order to paint him more as a red herring, they would make him the son of Jacabo, considering that the two characters look alike and the shrine has some odd connections between them, but the film never states this whatsoever. I could talk about the monsters, but there are too many of them and their personalities are limited. All I will say is that they are all generally comedic with some being more frightening and serious such as the Pterodactyl Ghost, while others are more of the comic relief and over-the-top such as the skeletons. Overall, the cast is generally solid, but Fred, Daphne, Patrick and Heather are perhaps the weakest characters of the film, since they are either generic, uninteresting, or underutilized.
Raja Gosnell is notorious for his mediocre family films. I will say that the best films of his career were in fact the "Scooby-Doo" movies, with this one being the best directed. The opening credits is honestly one of the better sequences I've seen in a movie. The film is edited well enough to let gags play out and not take over for too long. The sets are all detailed and unique from Mystery Inc HQ, the Faux Ghost, the Wickles Manor, etc. The movie works at being more gothic and having a light-hearted creepy nature, which the first film didn't work due to the exotic location and the multitude of daytime sequences. The costume designs are also good. I like the variety of clothing that the gang wears, which fits their character perfectly such as Shaggy's trampy suit at the gala and Daphne's fashion. The cinematography by Oliver Wood is decent enough. Whenever there's a new location onscreen, there's a nice establishing shot to introduce it. The action scenes are also shot nicely. The conversations and actions from Scooby and Shaggy are also shot well to help make the two almost share the same space. However, when Fred, Daphne, and Velma are onscreen, I feel that the camerawork is more limited and sluggish. I know that the more energetic scenes require more input of the camera, but it doesn't excuse the flat shots for those certain conversations. The score by David Newman is very good to say the least, mainly the different uses of the main theme and the gothic music. The songs used throughout the film though can be a mixed bag. I will admit that I like the songs used in the Faux Ghost, since it makes sense to have this music in a bar, but the various songs throughout are early 2000's cheese. They are used for around 30 seconds and they move on. To be fair, they aren't super distracting or even cringe-material, but it's definitely overused. The last thing to point out are the visual effects. The CGI is average, though not awful as people want to make it out to be. Scooby does appear as a physical being inhabiting the world. Sure, he's not the most convincing effect, but he's far from being a bad one. The monsters utilize either CGI or a type of green-screen effect to make them appear in the same scene as the characters, which work out fine. The best effect though is the Black Knight, as he has both physical and digital elements to make him the most convincing monster in the film. On a side note, the Evil Masked Figure is a pretty awful design, looking like a poor man's Dr. Doom.
"Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" is my personal favourite film from the franchise, live-action or animated. It's not perfect though with the mystery concluding in a disappointing way, some of the characters not being as engaging or as perfectly acted, an overuse of 2000's pop songs, and the quality of the CGI being up in the air of whether it's good enough or cheap-looking. Despite these issues, the positives outweigh the negatives. From the perfect set-up and story for the characters, the tone and humour having a nice balance for kids and mature fans, the enjoyable charisma from characters such as Shaggy and Velma, the characteristic sets and costumes, David Newman's really good score, and Gosnell's best directing of his career that has the most flair and cinematic appeal. It's a film that surprisingly holds up to this day. As much as I have nostalgia for the direct-to-video animated films, I will admit that they are much more formulaic and sometimes have much more underwhelming conclusions than the mystery in this film. Even if you can't find much enjoyment out of this compared to me, you gotta admit its impact for not only being the best film of Gosnell's lackluster career, but establishing James Gunn's cynical edge and talent, along with Lillard's commitment to the role of Shaggy.
Verdict: 7.5/10. Very good film, both for the franchise and as a stand-alone family film. Check it out for yourself for an unexpected fun time!
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