Warner Bros. | 2002-2004 | 179 mins. | PG
Created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, Scooby-Doo has been one of television’s most popular cartoon characters since hitting the airwaves in 1969. Given its longtime appeal, and Hollywood’s love for turning small screen favorites into movies, it was only a matter of time before Scooby-Doo hit the big screen.
In 2002, Warner Bros. released the aptly titled Scooby-Doo. Written by James Gunn (a veteran of several Troma films), and directed by Raja Gosnell (Home Alone 3, Big Momma’s House), the result was a fairly forgettable live action film that chronicled the adventures of Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), and of course, Scooby (voice of Neil Fanning). Despite the film’s innate dullness, it was a box-office hit, resulting in a follow-up, Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed. Thankfully, subsequent sequels have been direct-to-DVD affairs.
Scooby Doo: *
After solving another mystery, the Mystery Inc. gang starts fighting amongst themselves. Fred is accused of being a jerk, Daphne, a total drag, Shaggy, a complete waste of space, and Velma, a know-it-all. The fight eventually causes the group to go their separate ways. Two years later, they are reunited when they receive an invitation to Spooky Island amusement park. There, they learn that an evil spell is tormenting the guests. Turns out, demons are targeting everyone, possessing their souls and turning them into mindless zombies. It will take the efforts of all five members to figure out what is going on, and who or what is behind the mysterious mayhem.
Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed **
With another successful case under the belt, Mystery Inc. attend the opening of their new Coolsonian Criminology Museum. It features the costumes of the many famous ghosts and ghouls they’ve defeated over the years. While a nosy reporter Heather Jasper-Howe (Alicia Silverstone) tries to undermine the gang, one of the figurines comes to life. Soon, a masked figure is taunting the quintet and threatening to unleash the rest of the monsters on the general public. Going back over their past and trying to figure out who could conceive of such a dastardly plan, the group only has a few days to figure things out before the monster wrecks havoc on the citizenry.
If forced to choose, I would say that Scooby-Doo: Monsters Unleashed is the slightly better of the two movies. All in all though. Both feature mediocre writing, directing, and acting. The special effects are barely worth mentioning, as the CG is some of the worst I’ve ever seen; I don’t know if it was due to budget constraints, but I’ll take the animated classics over this stuff any day.
Apparently, director Raja Gosnell and Warner Bros. executives didn’t decide until the eleventh hour what kind of film they were making. In trying to appeal to two different audiences—young children and nostalgic adults—they ended up making a movie that doesn’t quite work for either. The first film was original pitched as project for adults who loved the cartoon as kids; there was going to be overt drug use etc. In the end, the film was softened to appeal to families, and in that process become downright forgettable.
The two films come to Blu-ray sporting solid 1080p/VC-1 transfers. Colors are bold, blacks are deep, and detail is superb. Grain is tight and controlled to the point of being almost non-existent, even in the many sequences set in the dark.
Scooby-Doo’s audio mix is a old school Dolby Digital 5.1 (a concession to the fact that the movie was simultaneously released on HD DVD, a format that lacked the disc space for high definition video, uncompressed audio tracks, and special features). It’s not a bad track, but nowhere near as bright or dynamic as the DTS-HD master audio track that accompanies Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
All of the special features have been ported over from previous releases. On Scooby-Doo we get a commentary track featuring Gosnell and the film’s producers. There’s also a full length discussion between the five main cast members. Both offerings provide some interesting facts about the original approach and how the characters were re-imagined. We are also treated to a Making-of, a collection of F/X featurettes, some production design documentaries, and a look at how Daphne’s wire-fu fight scene was accomplished. There’s also some additional scenes, an Outkast music video, and a trailer. Monsters Unleashed! has some deleted material, a take on E! called The True Ghoul Hollywood Story, a trio of making-of featurettes (including one highlighting Scooby’s ’70s disco dancing) and a pair of music videos.
