Summer Cinema: ‘Scooby-Doo’
When I was a kid I would race in the house after the bus dropped me off from school and plop down in front of the TV. I couldn?t bear to miss a single episode of ?Scooby-Doo Where Are You?? After the show was over my sisters and I would jump onto the couch (our Mystery Machine) and we would lose ourselves in our imaginations as we unmasked ghosts and solved mysteries.
Scooby-Doo is a part of American life. Anyone from the age of five to 50 probably watched Scooby-Doo cartoons at one time or another and reveled in the accidental genius of the group as they unmasked villain after villain.
Hoping to own a piece of this beloved memorabilia, Warner Brothers has released a live-action, CGI-filled version of the cartoon this summer.
The action starts oddly enough with the disintegration of the Mystery Inc. team. Members Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Velma (Linda Cardellini) are each dissatisfied with their roles on the team and decide to go it alone leaving Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby to go it alone as well. The team is reunited when the members are each invited to Spooky Island, a haunted collegiate getaway, by its owner Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) who is disconcerted by the calming effect the park seems to have on its visitors.
The gang gets mixed up with demons from another realm, a condemned ride and of course masked bad guys as they attempt to unravel the mystery. Along the way they each come to realize their importance to the team and the true meaning of friendship.
Sound kind of corny doesn?t it? But hey, the cartoon was over the top corny, so why should the movie be any different.
Kids will love the outlandish characters and costumes as well as the masterfully animated star of the show who interacts seamlessly with his human costars. They will laugh themselves silly at Scooby and Shaggy?s bodily noises contest while their mothers are appalled at the ideas being planted in those vulnerable minds.
Fans of the TV show will delight in the slapstick antics of the film which masterfully capture the spirit of the cartoon. The real star of the show is Lillard who looks and sounds like the cartoon Shaggy down to his goofy shoulder-slouchy shuffle.
Cardellini is also a hoot to watch. She delights in her brainy unpopularity and matches Velma stride for stride.
Although not a huge Freddie or Sarah fan, both did add what they could to the film ? mindless performances behind pretty smiles and dyed hair. The two are probably the only thing drawing most teenagers to the film. It is definitely a film geared towards kids and long-time fans of the cartoon. All others will probably miss the subtle humor (like the name of Shaggy?s love interest Mary Jane) and wish they?d gone to see ?Spider-Man? for the fifth time.
All in all, ?Scooby-Doo? is a fun trip down memory lane. It doesn?t pretend to be anything else than what it is ? a cartoon about ghosts, mysteries to solve, friends and a dog named Scooby-Doo.
Grade: B