In 2002 (aka 10 years ago) the movie opened #1 in the box office despite negative reviews. It’s success indirectly lead to a sequel as well as other kids movies based on old cartoons (Josie and the Pussycats came out first but it was far from a box office smash). So is Scooby-Doo really that terrible?
No. It’s not. I mean it’s not good. But it’s far from awful. What I see this movie I can see two movies battling to be the superior. James Gunn has been very open about the fact that his script was definitely a PG-13 adaptation (like The Brady Bunch and Josie and the Pussycats before it) contains such elements as Shaggy being a stoner as well as Velma and Daphne being secretly lesbians (and by very open I mean I think I heard him say that on Doug Loves Movies once) and then there’s the PG movie that Warner Bros wanted. This was confirmed by Sarah Michelle Gellar who reported that after all the cast signed on the script was made more family friendly.
There are definitely elements in the film that got to stay in the final product. One of my favorites being a joke in which upon Shaggy’s meeting of a girl name Mary Jane replies “That is like my favorite name ever” as well as his introduction being him grilling to the song “Pass the Dutchie” by Musical Youth. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
The movie opens on the infamous mystery solving team (Mystery Inc)’s final mystery. After solving the case of the Luna ghost the group of extremely old meddling kids break up over various egos (specifically Fred, Daphne and Velma). Shaggy and Scooby remain optimistic that they will reunite again. And they do… 2 years later when they’re all summoned to solve the mystery of Spooky Island.
Park owner Erine Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) informs the group of his theory that an evil curse is being placed on his guests. The wild partying college kids leave sober and super aggressive.
While trying to solve the mystery old wounds are reopened. Velma still feels pushed aside for being dorky and less attractive than Daphne. Her obviously crush on Fred gets in the way of her crime solving and Fred is as womanizing always.
The gang eventually overcomes their differences and solves the mystery. Mondavarious isn’t Mondavrious at all but infact Scrappy Doo in disguise. Scrappy has invited the gang there to get revenge for them abandoning him (ironically due to HIS ego).
This was James Gunn’s third script having previously written the Specials and Troma’s Tromeo & Juliet (which Gunn claims in Lloyd Kaufman’s book Make Your Own Damn Movie is the film that got him Scooby-Doo). Gunn is a true horror fan (as evident in his scripts Dawn of the Dead and Slither) and while I don’t know if he had much influence on the casting of the film, I’d like to believe it was his choice to give Miguel A Nunez Jr (Return of the Living Dead, Friday the 13th Part V) a small role.
Regardless of who did the casting they should be rewarded. Every actor is perfectly cast (specifically Matthew Lillard who doesn’t get enough praise for his perfect performance of Shaggy). They also managed to make the ordinarily gorgeous Linda Cardellini a believably dorky and overlooked Velma.
It’s the elements of the PG-13 script this movie almost was (a few of the scenes found in the deleted scenes of the DVD) that make this movie worth watching. The film could have been hilarious. I’ve mentioned it a few times already but since Josie and the Pussycats has been covered previously in this column I’ll say that ideally that’s what this movie could have been.
A few of the elements added to make it more kid friendly make me chuckle (specifically Shaggy and Scooby’s farting contest… juvenile yes but I love a good fart joke). However in the long run the kid friendly aspects lack the same charm and entertainment level as what Gunn was clearly intending to do.
My other complaint has to do with the special effects. This was the same year as Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and while they obviously didn’t have the same $94 Million Dollar Budget Jackson had, I wish Scooby, Scrappy and the other monsters had the texture of Gollum and little less the cartoony look of Jar Jar Binks.
All in All the final product isn’t terrible. It’s just a mediocre movie that you can tell could have been much better. The sequel Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed received a five word review from Leonard Maltin who simply said “It is what it is”. Just a fun fact to leave you on.