Scooby-Doo | ||||||
It's not like anyone expects this to have Shakespearean depth of character or anything. If it weren't profoundly brainless it wouldn't be Scooby-Doo! It's obvious that writer Gunn steeped himself a bit too deeply in Scooby-lore, highlighting every little aspect of the series with surprisingly subtle (and warped) humour, even if the plot itself is deeply dull, really. Meanwhile the film's production design does everything it can to distract us with obnoxious sets and a general visual ugliness. Instead of actually direct the film, Gosnell just keeps everything loud and moving, with over-choreographed action and ludicrously overdone effects. Where it works best is in the cast, all of whom dive straight in and actually manage to create characters out of the chaos, especially in the central Shaggy-Scooby relationship. And Scooby himself is remarkable--a CGI character who actually springs to life and integrates perfectly into the cast. But the film only really entertains when we're not thinking about it. Switch off your brain and enjoy the sublime one-liners and a couple of hilarious action sequences.
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dir Raja Gosnell scr James Gunn with Matthew Lillard, Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Rowan Atkinson, Isla Fisher, Miguel Nunez Jr, Neil Fanning, Scott Innes, Steven Grives, Sam Greco, Pamela Anderson, Mark McGrath release US 14.Jun.02; UK 12.Jul.02 Warners 02/Australia 1h26 Reapin' rizards! Scooby and Shaggy (Lillard) have a quiet meal in the Mystery Inc van...
See also: SCOOBY DOO 2 (2003) | |||||
"Some movies are so bad they are best forgotten. However, after enduring Scooby-Doo, I was compelled to look up a past appraisal of Mr Magoo, another live-action atrocity based on a vintage cartoon series, by Roger Ebert. He wrote: 'Mr Magoo is transcendently bad. It soars above ordinary badness as the eagle outreaches the fly. There is not a laugh in it. Not one. I counted. Perhaps this project was simply a bad idea from the beginning, and no script, no director, no actor, could have saved it.' Now, replace Mr Magoo with Scooby-Doo (hey, it rhymes). Then again, I'm not the target audience (what a relief). The rugrats would be thrilled by the slapstick antics while adults bored out of their friggin' minds (there's some pleasant distraction by Gellar but that can only do so much). One more thing, Prinze should seriously consider changing his name into a symbol, preferably that of a stop-sign. I don't know who is more annoying: him or the CG-rendering of Scooby-Doo, which is Jar Jar Binks redux." --Douglas Tseng, Singapore 18.Jun.02
"After watching this latest cartoon-to-live-action adaptation, I felt that the recent Spider-man was a pile of dog-poo in comparison. This film is amazing, from superb song tracks like 'Bump in the Night' by Allstars to James Gunn's multi-targeting screenplay. Best of all is Lillard's Oscar-worthy performance as Shaggy. The CGI Scooby is excellent and out-acts the rest of the cast. The interaction between Scooby and Shaggy creates some genuine scenes of pathos that are on a par with serious drama films; I can't praise this movie any more than that. Don't go to see this movie ... if you're a witless snob that doesn't enjoy classic Scooby cartoons. Anyone else, make the effort as it's a roller-coaster ride of pure summer blockbuster fun. Verdict: four and a half out of five. Brilliant." --Paul Roberts, Holyhead, Wales 20.Jul.02 | ||||||
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