THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
The Scooby Doo franchise has been entertaining audiences with countless animated adventures since 1969. People younger have asked me if there was ever were live action adaptations. I would honestly reply there was, but I don’t like to talk about it because it ain’t that good.
PLOT
The 2002 film follows the team of Mystery Incorporated: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, Shaggy Rogers and the titular dog who have been known to solve mysteries together. After another successful case, they decide to disband for never seeing eye to eye. Two years later, all get reunited when being invited to the horror themed tropical resort ‘Spooky Island’. They’re invited by the owner Emile Mondavarious who believes the tourists are being cursed. Although Shaggy & Scooby take this as an opportunity to reunite their friends, the likes of Fred, Daphne & Velma are only concerned with solving the case alone. During the investigation, Shaggy ends up falling for another woman named Mary Jane (Isla Fisher) which distances himself from Scoob. As for Velma, she attends a ritualistic performance given by actor N’Goo Tuana (Steven Grives) and luchador henchman Zarkos (Sam Greco) who believe ancient demons have ruled the island and plan to take over the island after being displaced by the resort. Within the first night, Scoob is lured into the jungle and is attacked by an actual monster and when he warns Shaggy, he doesn’t believe him. Right after this, Daphne invites the two to help her uncover the mystery in a closed haunted house ride. With Fred and Velma looking there as well, they choose to split up. When the ride turns on thanks to an unseen henchman, Daphne would find an artifact dubbed the ‘Daemon Ritus’. Fred and Velma would find a schoolroom where some form of cult would be educated of modern American culture. Daphne would catch up with Shaggy & Scoob upon the same set of the educational programs were shot. When an alarm goes off, all escape together unseen from the said cult. As their investigation continues, they believe Emile is a suspect, as well as N’Goo and a voodoo maestro (Miguel A Nunez Jr) who warned Daphne not to go to the castle ride. Just when Velma appears to deduce the purpose of the Daemon Ritus, translating a connection between an old race of creatures and a ritual, more of those said creatures attack. They would end up abducting and possessing Velma, Fred and Emile, whereas the rest of the group would avoid danger. When Mary Jane calls for the Coast Guard, no one arrives due to the guards also being possessed by the creatures as well. When Daphne chooses to split from the group, she gets captured by Zarkos and has her possessed as well after retrieving the Daemon Ritus. Shaggy & Scooby would run away from a possessed Fred, but when the former recognizes Mary Jane to be possessed as well, his friends refuses to believe him. When they argue of it, the dog would inadvertently fall into a hole and Shaggy would choose to redeem himself by going after him into the same hole. Instead, he would find a vat of protoplasm where all the possessed would are contained. He is able to find the souls of Fred, Daphne & Velma, free them all and steal the Daemon Ritus again. Once they get free from possession, they also discover that the creatures can be destroyed via sunlight which explains why they must possess human bodies. Reunited, the gang encounters the same voodoo maestro Daphne met who explains that their successful ritual would lead to ruling the world for 10,000 years as long as a pure soul is sacrificed. Realizing Scooby is that pure soul and Emile invited him for that very reason, the group must infiltrate the ritual to save their friend. It goes into their favor when Shaggy prevents Emile from absorbing Scooby’s soul after absorbing the souls of the tourists. Incapacitating the mastermind, Feed and Velma discover that Emile was a robot controlled by Scoob's estranged nephew Scrappy (Scott Innes/JP Manoux) who the gang abandoned for his egomaniacal behavior. After already absorbing the other souls, he turns into a huge monster and plans to kill the gang. Above the ritual, Daphne would fight Zarkos and knock him into the car which frees all the souls. When the souls get restored, the monsters get released but Daphne would kill them all thanks to exposing sunlight with disco balls. Shaggy would end the conflict by removing the Daemon Ritus from Scrappy’s chest, resulting in the dog and his accomplices getting apprehended by authorities. The real Emile would be found imprisoned, revealing that Scrappy captured him to pose as his double. While Mystery Inc. are glad to have saved the world together as a functional team, the film would end with Shaggy & Scooby having a well deserved feast.
THOUGHTS
Like a lot of kids in my generation, I was pretty hooked when watching each adaptation this franchise provided, from an animated show to a direct-to-video animated film. Enjoying each and every one at the time, I went into this one on a positive perspective. I assumed I liked it then but I can’t say this one has aged well for me. I feel confused on what I saw because apart from the iconic talking dog, this didn’t really feel like Scooby Doo to me. It seemed to me Director Raja Gosnell and Writer James Gunn were trying to make something for both young and mature audiences, but the blend backfires in so many levels. This is the adventure you don’t want to be a part of and that hurts to say aloud because I never would say that for a movie I like/love. Hardly any of the jokes land for me and the visual effects on the monsters haven’t aged well in comparison to Scoob himself. The costumes seemed suitable for the main characters until I thrown off seeing the actress’ cleavage. I would never complain about cleavage before because women should dress however they want, but I refuse to believe this would be the case for a movie kids are guaranteed to watch. Spooky Island has cool production design, but I don’t think the theme of the resort makes sense. It’s spooky outside but tropical inside, pick a lane man. Apart from N’Goo, it doesn’t really feel spooky when there’s a bunny at the bar. Every time I’ve spoken to others about this movie, I ask why people find it bearable and the common response is the chemistry shared between the core cast. I honestly don’t blame people saying that because it’s arguably true. I mean I feel like a sinner if I don’t admit Matthew Lillard was born to play Shaggy. Second by second, he owns it in making him as laidback and amateur as he’s famously known to be. Of course I’ve preferred Frank Welker to voice Scoob since he’s been voicing him multiple times since the first series. But on the other hand, I didn’t mind Neil Fanning because he definitely makes him the most fun loving the group as expected. The biggest laugh I had between the two has to be how their love for food is just an innuendo for them being stoners. That’s a hand in hand joke and I dig it especially during the credits when the two try the hottest peppers they’ve ever had. Freddie Prinze Jr. makes Fred Jones quite debatable of a character here because he’s not exactly scared but he doesn’t really have the Lion heart he’s known to have. Here, he is so self absorbed that he never really shared the credit for solving the mysteries. He was so blindly selfish it led to the group breaking up. Yeah he becomes a better teammate, but it’s so cringeworthy to see him get there. Linda Cardellini was definitely a better treat than a Scooby Snack because she made Velma so smart witted that she proved brain can overcome brawn. Knowing how Velma is the most useful is exactly why Fred bothered me from the beginning. Had it not been her intelligence, the gang would never go as far as they would/have. She didn’t get a job at NASA for nothing. Sarah Michelle Gellar makes Daphne standout because although she is danger prone, it doesn’t stop her from wanting to be a helping hand, it only makes her more eager to make a beneficial part in solving the case(s). She proves her eagerness when successfully defending herself against Zarkos. Of all the things I’m glad they kept in the sequel, it’s her being brave enough to put an effort in kicking some ass. I can buy that the whole point of the story is to express the theme of how true friends would never give up on each other, hence Shaggy saying “Friends don’t quit”, but the story is so whack to the point where it’s undeserving. Apart from the main cast, I tolerated Rowan Atkinson in what was for sure a chameleon-like performance since he has us originally believing he’s a caring guy looking out for his guests, only to realize it’s just the wild Scrappy in disguise. Again, I call the story whack because there were more than a handful of moments that passed me off for not making sense. Going from the top, how are Shaggy & Scooby supposed to confront the ghost if they’re the scaredy cats of the group? If Velma knows that, she should’ve just said they would distract it. I even confused more about the toy factory than the resort because why the hell is there a toy slide next to the machine making the Pamela Anderson dolls? Yeah I found it more pointless than the Baywatch actress having a cameo. I then find myself confused on the point of Scooby being dressed up as Shaggy’s grandma. Since he is the pure soul Scrappy needs to complete ritual, shouldn’t they have been booked for a plane willing to board a dog his size? Somebody please explain this bullshit. Definitely a big fuck up for a stupid ass villain. Getting into it now, why should Scrappy be the villain? This is an odd way to play it close to the chest. It may be easier to go against him since he’s already an annoying asshole, but they could’ve more than that. Had they picked a different character to be the mastermind, we would’ve been spared of seeing a dog pee on Daphne. I really don’t need to see this kind of bullshit. And what kind of sick joke should we ignore Scoob eating a cat during a plane trip? This came out only months after 9/11 which makes it worse. Also, who the hell is the guy Velma talks to in between the story? He’s played by Charlie Cousins and is credited as “Velma’s Friend” because he’s interested in what Velma’s uncovering but there’s depth for him after that. So when they hug during the climax, it’s another moment I found pointless. I didn’t want to say it, but was there really a point for Shaggy to have a love interest like Mary Jane if she wouldn’t stick around? I want to be happy for Shaggy since she seemed nice when not possessed but again, I didn’t see the need for her to be part of the story other than giving tension between Shaggy & Scoob. I even found it surprising how easy it was for the gang to enter the castle ride separately. Since Scrappy doesn’t anyone to find out what he’s up to, there should’ve been better barricades. And if it was so easy for the gang to get in, I’m surprised other tourists haven’t found it before them. Especially when the ride was turned on, it’s hard to believe no one like Mary Jane got curious about it. I gotta go deeper into this mess when I say at least Zarkos should’ve heard Shaggy’s fart when they passed because that was loud like a fire alarm. I don’t want to doubt Velma’s brains because that is what usually solves the cases, but I don’t think it was wise when she chose to study the Daemon Ritus at the bar rather than her hotel room. In fact, no one goes to their room when they should recover before shit would hit the fan. It’s almost like she wanted to get caught and I know that can’t be true. I then wonder that if the monsters burst into the windows and doors every other weekend, I’m surprised Scrappy disguised as Emile never appeared to be questioned about that when paying for new doors/windows. For a second I thought it was cool for Shaggy & Scooby to ride dirt bikes to escape from a possessed Fred, but I get thrown off of how impossible it should be for them to go as high as they did to break through the front door of the garage the bikes were stashed. I can laugh at the cliche of people switching bodies on accident, but it was so fucking creepy for Fred to switch with Daphne. He’s checking her body out without consent and flirts with Daph when she’s in his body. All of that shit is weird and I don’t understand how these two are together by the end apart from knowing actors Prinze and Gellar are married. I even get more surprised on how the gang set up the disco ball in the cave without being spotted by the possessed. They are very lucky the monsters are allergic to sunlight. On top of that, I wonder why didn’t Shaggy save the rest of the hostages while he had the chance? At the time he freed his friends, he would’ve not known people could’ve swapped bodies until it was too late. I then again do love Shaggy for making amends with Scooby as he tries to save him, but I’m thrown off the other possessed don’t pay attention to the two at all. They shouldn’t be this dumb. And lastly, what the fuck was the voodoo maestro doing at the end when the gang reports what happened to the media? I don’t think he needed to be there because he ain’t friends with them. If he was gonna have one last scene, I would’ve been fine with him celebrating the victory at his shack. For me, I don’t think anyone can ignore this after I’ve said it. To wrap up, 2002’s Scooby Doo is definitely not he best of family films for not being faithful the way it thinks it is. If you really love this franchise, you’re in no need to rush yourself in checking this out.
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