I have to admit I liked the first live action Scooby-Doo movie far more than was reasonable, or certainly predictable. While the plot was arcane and preposterous, the cast was terrific and their interaction funny and even touching. Now the same cast is back for Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, coming March 26:
- Jinkies! In Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Scooby and the gang lose their cool - and their stellar reputation - when an anonymous masked villain wreaks mayhem on the city of Coolsville with a monster machine that re-creates classic Mystery Inc. foes like The Pterodactyl Ghost, The Black Knight Ghost, Captain Cutler's Ghost and The 10,000 Volt Ghost.
Under pressure from relentless reporter Heather Jasper-Howe (ALICIA SILVERSTONE) and the terrified citizens of Coolsville, the gang launches an investigation into the mysterious monster outbreak that leaves Shaggy and Scooby questioning their roles in Mystery Inc.
The ever-ravenous duo, determined to prove they're great detectives, don a series of far-out disguises in their search for clues. All signs point to Jeremiah "Old Man" Wickles (PETER BOYLE), the former Black Knight Ghost who was once unmasked by the gang and thrown in jail. Did the creepy wannabe launch the monstrous attack on Coolsville in a diabolical quest for revenge?
Meanwhile, brainy Velma (LINDA CARDELLINI) becomes smitten with another key suspect, Coolsonian Criminology Museum curator Patrick Wisely (SETH GREEN), as macho leader Fred (FREDDIE PRINZE JR.) and image-conscious Daphne (SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR) attempt to determine the identity of the Evil Masked Figure whose monster army is wreaking havoc on Coolsville.
Warner Bros. Pictures presents a Mosaic Media Group Production of a RAJA GOSNELL film, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, starring FREDDIE PRINZE JR., SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR, MATTHEW LILLARD, LINDA CARDELLINI, SETH GREEN, PETER BOYLE, TIM BLAKE NELSON and ALICIA SILVERSTONE.
Produced by CHARLES ROVEN and RICHARD SUCKLE, the film is directed by RAJA GOSNELL, written by JAMES GUNN, based on characters created by HANNA BARBERA PRODUCTIONS. The executive producers are BRENT O'CONNOR, KELLEY SMITH-WAIT and JOSEPH BARBERA. The film editor is KENT BEYDA, A.C.E.; the production designer is BILL BOES; the director of photography is OLIVER WOOD; and the music is composed by DAVID NEWMAN.
All of that is swell, but is Velma really supposed to be the hottest of the Scooby-Doo crew? Not that there is anything wrong with Sarah Michelle, but Linda Cardellini is pretty smoking these days.
Article comments
1 - Tom Johnson
Linda Cardellini's reason enough to be watching ER these days, too - and her participation in the way underappreciated Freaks & Geeks should have been a great excuse for guys to check out that wonderful show as well (and everyone will get a chance to in April when the entire season is released on DVD - NBC should be ashamed they let this show die.) However, I just can't handle seeing Scooby Doo, Linda or no . . . I just can't.
2 - Eric Olsen
See, I'm the opposite: I'm watch Scooby-Doo but can't bring myself to watch ER anymore.
3 - Doug
Did you check out the DVD? There is one deleted scene where Velma "gets her swerve on"...yow. The only thing that really annoyed me with the live action movie was how they totally ruined Fred. In the cartoons and animated movies Fred was always a good guy, not the full of himself, dumb pretty boy that Freddie Prinz jr. played. My 5 year old didn't seem to notice...he was just happy to see another Scooby Doo flick.
4 - visualsimplicity
I must agree, when I saw the first live action movie, I thought whoever played Velma looked too good to be Velma.
Anyway...
However, I just can't handle seeing Scooby Doo, Linda or no . . . I just can't.
How about Linda in a skin-tight red leather outfit? (albeit one that is involved in a farting joke scene)
5 - Eric Olsen
Doug, I agree they brought out the worst in Fred in the first one - maybe they will make him more sympathetic this time.
6 - Jim Carruthers
The only Scooby-Doo reference I have is the scene in "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" where they get high in the back of the van, and Velma takes her clothes off, and Scooby-Doo gets a boner, and then they wind up having their kidneys harvested. Or something like that.
7 - Mary Ray
I think it is fine that Velma was "hot" in this movie. I think it was unexpected by society since she was stereotyped as "not hot" and such by her depiction from her cartoon animation.
Who knows, maybe as they were trying to bring the animation to life, they figured that having someone that represents that old animation may have changed a little with the past three decades as people and hairstyles do.
This is something to think about as I was reading the posts? Does the audience want "a not-hot" Velma to feel better themselves? Does the audience want a "hot" Velma to gawk at? Do the children just want a Velma that performs her role
well?
My son really enjoyed these movies so much that I came across this blog in a search for a Pterodactyl Ghost toy that he wants for his birthday.
8 - Dave Nalle
Scooby-doo insulted my intelligence as a pre-teen and now the movies insult it again as the parent of appropriately aged kids.
Why would anyone produce a fictional product which has as its theme the destruction of childrens sense of wonder and the trivialization of mystery and the supernatural?
Sick, twisted and destructive stuff.
Dave
9 - NR Davis
Wow, Eric, and thanks. I have been ashamed of how enjoyable I found the first SD film. Like you, I found that the performances were really engaging, so much that they made it easier to ignore the fact that everything else was insipid. I haven't even seen the second one, because it seems a mindless pursuit best avoided.
But if Velma is hot...
Actually, we shouldn't be surprised. Actor Linda Cardellini is a knockout, and even in her animated form, the character Velma had a rockin' bod.
10 - Eric Olsen
Nat, you missed very little by missing the second one! Equal hotness for Velma!
11 - Eric Olsen
Dave, I agree the original series is rather unamusing and, even within the norms of kid's cartoons, remarkably formulaic; but the first movie is more of a parody of the cartoon and I think funny and lively
12 - Sandra Seaman
Dave,
Are your children in their late 20's? Because that is really the target audience for this movie. Sure, no filmmakers are going to turn away teeny audience members, but the jokes are all parody and nostalgia for those of us who were kids in the late '70s and early '80s. And in the first movie, the whole point was that they expected the supernatural to be fake only to be shocked when it was largely real (albeit being manipulated by a real entity).
I always found Fred boring and insipid, so I kind of like the pretty boy take if only because it gives him some personality finally. Same thing with Daphne, I find her much more interesting as a ditzy/smart butt-kicker.
Finally, as much as I concede that SMG is deeply hot, she just can't hold a candle to Linda Cardellini. Wowza.
13 - frankie smales
well hell yeah it is time that velma
looked sexy in a red eather catsuit
when we all used to see sarah michelle gellar
doned thoes sexy leathers in later seasons of buffy
and it is a change to see linda cardellini
who played velma in both scooby doo movies
in a sexy leather number she should have being
the fourth sister of murphy's alcaholic drink
babe and anyone can look sexy in leathers if
they put they're minds to it though.
frankie smales
(scooby doo fan)