In fact, they deserve a lot better than the shoddy material - a couple of zingers aside - on display.
SCOOBY DOO MOVIE MOVIE
But it's fitting that, for a movie which champions the (under) dog, it's Lillard and Cardellini who take centre stage, with performances which channel their cartoon counterparts perfectly. It's baffling to think why director Gosnell - who never uses light brushstrokes where a chuffing great roller would do - plumped for a cross between photo-realistic 3D and the old cartoon animation, when a traditional 2D Scoob would have worked perfectly within the context of a live-action cartoon. Although recognisably Scoob in deed, voice and mannerisms, the CG never really integrates convincingly. And what nods there are to the oldies aren't exactly subtle.Įver wondered why Shaggy and Scooby were so hungry? It's because they're druggies! But because they can't show drug use, here's Scooby snacks - in a baggie! And Shaggy's love interest is called Mary Jane! Oh, the wit! Oh, our aching ribs! Bring back the farting dog! Or not.īecause Scooby himself is the movie's trump card and chump card all in one. It's tinkering which could have worked, had not the film been pitched squarely at the under-tens.Īnyone looking for sophistication from a movie which features a two minute-long farting contest between man and CG dog is going to be sorely disappointed. Only Shaggy and Scooby, the eternal innocents, are left untouched. Luckily, it soon improves, branching out into a postmodern, Brady Bunch-esque reimagining, in which Fred is an arrogant egotist, Daphne turns into an ass-kicking Buffy-a-like and Velma is stifled by her spinster image. So 'Scooby-Doo: The Movie' gets the conventional mystery-solving stuff out of the way immediately, with a gaudy, shoddily-staged opening sequence which raises the miserable spectre of Warner Bros farragoes past, like 'The Avengers' and (shudder) 'Batman & Robin'. And that does not a 90-minute movie make. four humans and a talking dog - investigate a spooky haunting find out said haunting was perpetrated by Old Man Smithers end of mystery. Which is fair enough, because for 310 episodes (or seemingly one episode on a perpetual loop), the 'Scooby-Doo' we do know and love went something like this: Mystery Inc. And it's clearly not the Scooby-Doo we know and love. The bad news is, it's directed by the guy who gave us 'Big Momma's House' and stars Freddie Prinze Jr. Zoinks! Who let the dog out? The world has, apparently, been waiting for a live-action 'Scooby-Doo' film for 33 long years (that's 231 years for canines).