Scooby-Doo (2002)

"Kinda makes you nostalgic for the homicidal creatures, doesn't it?"

Fred (Prinze Jr.), Daphne (Gellar), Velma (Cardellini), Shaggy (Lillard), and Scooby Doo (Fanning) are the crime solving team Mystery Inc.  Despite their impressive success, the Mystery Inc. team decide to go their separate ways.  Two years later, each are invited to Spooky Island horror resort.  Emile Mondavarious (Atkinson), the owner of the resort, believes something nefarious is happening to the college students while they are on the island.

The team refuse to work together and each decide to solve the mystery individually.  Shaggy meets a girl, Mary Jane (Fisher), which strains his relationship with Scooby Doo.  Daphne wants to be taken seriously, Velma wants to be included, and Fred wants to be in charge.  Can they put aside their differences to save the day?


In 1969, the character of Scooby-Doo debuted on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?  He became a popular character and starred in numerous shows from 1969 to present and several TV movies.  Most people grew up watching some version of Scooby and his friends solving crimes and it is surprising that it took so long for Warner Bros. to make a live-action film with these characters.  I grew up watching the old TV shows, I think I've seen half of the TV incarnations of the character (there have been 12 Scooby-Doo TV shows).

The original opening for the film, which survived as a deleted scene, was animated, helping to introduce the audience to the characters and show that they were going in a new direction.  Ultimately that introduction was scrapped, but I definitely preferred that opening to the one used.

The script, written by James Gunn, takes the formula from the show and turns it on it's head.  The characters are the same as you remember, with a few surprises.  The casting choices are spot-on, especially Matthew Lillard as Shaggy.  Early versions of the story were darker, but ultimately they chose to make a family film with lots of in-jokes for long-time fans.

Even though the film was mostly panned by critics, it did well enough for Raja Gosnell and the cast to return for a sequel Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed and two prequels (Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster).  And the film sparked renewed interested in a Scooby-Doo TV show; there have been 4 TV shows made since then (What's New Scooby-Doo?, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!).

Scooby-Doo (2002) 86 minutes
Director: Raja Gosnell
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy
Linda Cardellini as Velma
Rowan Atkinson as Mondavarious
Neil Fanning as Scooby-Doo
Isla Fisher as Mary Jane
Miguel A. Nunez Jr. as Voodoo Maestro