I have to say this movie is better than I expected. I have been watching Scooby-Doo since my kids were young and I’m still watching with my grandson. I always enjoyed the cartoon but could never imagine a major motion picture being made with the whole gang. It seemed impossible to make these vary different cartoon characters come to life. I think most of the cast did an outstanding job.

The Cast

Shaggy – Matthew Lillard (Scream “96 “ SLC Punk “99”)
Lillard is the perfect Shaggy he might have single handedly saved this movie. I can’t imagine many people live on this planet that could look and sound just like this character. Shaggy had a good percentage of the dialogue in this movie and the voice that Casey Kasem originated was used in every word.
Voice: 5 stars
Looks: 5 stars
Character Development: 4 stars

Scooby-Doo
Scooby is a across between cartoon and real dog in this movie. Done with computers he looks much more real than a cartoon but not close to a real dog. The Scooby voice and laughs are done as well if not better than the cartoon. The hilarious relationship with his best pal Shaggy comes across brilliantly.
Voice: 5 stars
Looks: 3 stars
Character Development: 5 stars

Velma - Linda Cardellini (Legally Blonde “01” Strangeland “98”)
Cardellini plays the role perfectly. She is much better looking than the cartoon Velma and she gets out of her traditional orange sweeter to wear an orange tee-shirt, the producers recognized her breasts look far to good on the big screen to keep buried for the whole movie. She has the same genius IQ and is the brains behind Mystery Inc.
Voice: 5 stars
Looks: 4 stars
Character Development: 3 stars

Fred and Daphne were good looking, brainless idiots.
Fred played by Freddie Prince Jr. was nothing like the do-gooder character in the cartoon. He was exactly the type of character as Marsha from The Brady Bunch Movie, out of touch with reality, tacky, conceded and not funny. Daphne/Buffy The Vampire Slayer was there for her looks and she was out-done by the better set of knockers on Velma. Her Matrex style of karate was boring and poorly done.
Voice: 1 stars
Looks: 2 stars
Character Development: 1 stars

Plot
Same as every cartoon they ever made. The gang is sent to an island to solve a mystery.


Up In Smoke.
The question still lingers, does Shaggy smoke marijuana and does he get his dog high? People have talked about the pot reverences in the 70’s cartoon Scooby-Doo. Now the questions are sure to come up even more after viewing this movie. Shaggy seems to be as stoned as ever. He has the nonstop munchies and seems to crave extreme combinations of food, like chocolate cake with pickles and mustard. Shaggy uses much more 1970’s hippie language in this movie compared to the cartoon, he says things like come on man or hey dude, like someone is bringing down his high. There is a seen in this movie that shows smoke coming out of The Mystery Mobile giving the impression there is heavy duty pot smoking going on inside. In another seen in Scooby-Doo, Shaggy meets a young lady and finds out her name is Mary Jane, he says that’s my favorite in a drugged out voice (Mary Jane is a popular name for marijuana). I think the drug references are too subtle for children to figure out and they don’t add or take away from the quality of the movie.

The Bottom Line On Scooby-Doo
The plot is very simple. Every single laugh comes from Shaggy and Scooby, the chemestry and friendship is outstanding, their burping and farting contest is very funny. Plenty of scary ghosts to stir up the action and to petrify Scooby and Shaggy. The movie is able to pull of some of the famous stunts seen on the cartoon, like dressing Scooby up like a lady and changing costumes in seconds to hide from the villains. I think the little fartknuckle Scrappy-Doo should have been left out of the movie, his puppy-power did not come across at all on the big-screen.

My six-year-old grandson liked this movie even more than he liked Spider-Man. On the ride home he was talking like Shaggy and wanted to challenge me to a fart contest, he is obviously too young to understand who he is challenging.

I give Scooby-Doo 4 Stars.





Recommended:
Yes

Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4