The key to enjoying SCOOBY DOO is not to expect too much. The producers have billed the film as half homage, half parody; in truth, it isn't really close enough to the original cartoon to be called homage and it really doesn't go far enough to be called parody, and as usual Hollywood makes the mistake of trying to cover up the script's inadequacies with big-budget production values and expensive but actually so-so special effects. All the same, the film does have its moments. The story finds Fred, Daphne, Velma, and Shaggy splitting up due to ego conflicts--and then being unexpectedly reunited when the owner of a teen resort called "Spooky Island" invites them in to find out why his guests arrive as normal teens and then depart as, well, ZOMBIES.
The script is fairly mundane, but it does have a few zingers, as when Velma says "Let's get jinky with it!" And although the cast is a mixed bag, they work hard to bring it off. Freddie Prinze is wildly miscast as Fred and Sarah Michelle Gellar is not an ideal Daphne, but they play with tremendous energy; Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini, however, are so dead on target with their performances that they create an amazing sense of deja vu. As for Scooby Doo, he is (of course) a computerized animation. And so are most of the monsters the gang encounters on Spooky Island. Although it works reasonably well, it isn't anything to write home about.
I would recommend that parents preview the film before unleashing it upon their kids; some younger children may be unnerved by the monsters. The DVD comes with a number of extras that include some cut scenes--and they offer an interesting contrast with the film, for they are very satirical. Seeing them left me with the feeling that the film would have been much more entertaining if those scenes had been left in and the whole thing had been done with the same bite. As it is--SCOOBY DOO is neither a great film nor a memorable film. But we're all occasionally in the mood for some mindless fluff, and it fills that niche very well indeed.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer
The script is fairly mundane, but it does have a few zingers, as when Velma says "Let's get jinky with it!" And although the cast is a mixed bag, they work hard to bring it off. Freddie Prinze is wildly miscast as Fred and Sarah Michelle Gellar is not an ideal Daphne, but they play with tremendous energy; Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini, however, are so dead on target with their performances that they create an amazing sense of deja vu. As for Scooby Doo, he is (of course) a computerized animation. And so are most of the monsters the gang encounters on Spooky Island. Although it works reasonably well, it isn't anything to write home about.
I would recommend that parents preview the film before unleashing it upon their kids; some younger children may be unnerved by the monsters. The DVD comes with a number of extras that include some cut scenes--and they offer an interesting contrast with the film, for they are very satirical. Seeing them left me with the feeling that the film would have been much more entertaining if those scenes had been left in and the whole thing had been done with the same bite. As it is--SCOOBY DOO is neither a great film nor a memorable film. But we're all occasionally in the mood for some mindless fluff, and it fills that niche very well indeed.
Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer