Rating: Summary: Zoinks! Like, Scooby-Doo, where are you?! Review: "Scooby-Doo" is the live-action film version based on the original hit cartoon series, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?". Directed by Raja Gosnell, it is fun and has the same spirit as the TV series did, while in 3-D.PLOT SUMMARY: In the opening of the film version of "Scooby-Doo", the Scooby gang are in the middle of solving a mystery. They have become very famous, but when Velma (Linda Cardellini) thinks everything is too formulatic, she decides to quite. The self-proclaimed leader and concited Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.) as well as Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) also quite, leaving Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby behind with the Mystery van. Two years later, all five of them receive mysterious invitations to an amusement park for college students called Spooky Island. At the airport, they discover that all of them have received the invitations and reluclantly decide to go. On the plane, Shaggy meets Mary Jane (Isla Fisher) and falls in love with her. It's ironic how she's allergic to dogs. When they get to Spooky Island, they meet the strange theme park owner, Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson) who claims that something has gone terribly wrong in his theme park: the students who come to the park, arrive as their normal, wild and crazy selves. But when they leave, they are super-serious students, who act almost like zombies. Now, it's up to the Mystery Inc. gang to solve the mystery before it destroys all of humanity. MY OVERALL THOUGHTS: I must say how surprised I am by liking the film. I guess it's because I loved the TV show. The acting performances are probably the best part about the film--watching these young, talented actors like Gellar, Cardellini, Prinze Jr., and especially Lillard, transform into the cartoon characters who everybody loves. But Lillard steals the show--he manages to capture Shaggy's character like no other and brings him to life. I really believed that Matthew Lillard wasn't just PLAYING Shaggy, but he WAS Shaggy. The storyline is fun, light, and easy to follow. It can be scary at times for very young children, but it is mainly harmless. The directing by Raja Gosnell was amazing, and the special effects were awesome, especially the CG Scooby. It must be a challenge for actors to play alongside any CG character, but the cast of "Scooby" pulled it off really well. There are enough surprises to keep you interested, even though it may seem a bit predictable. The DVD has lots of goodies which include a making of the film documentary, filmmakers' and cast's commentary options, never-before-seen footage, featurettes, a music video, "hidden extras", interactive computer games, and DVD-ROM extras. The DVD is available in both wide screen and full frame formats. I highly recommend "Scooby-Doo". Score: 100/100 A+
Rating: Summary: Scooby Doo Review: This movie is nothing like the cartoon. Shaggy isn't suppose to end up with the girl. How come Shaggy is more muscular than Fred? When you watch the cartoon, you'll see that Fred does have more muscles if he was a real live person. Freddie Prinze Jr. muscles doesn't match up to "Fred's" body.If this was suppose to resemble the cartoon, then Shaggy wouldn't end up with the girl. Fred always get all the girls. Velma is always the smart one. She isn't suppose to have a "love interest. The plot line is o.k. If these four are friends, they are s uppose to remain together and not break up over some silly thung like Velma's jelousy that Fred takes all the credit.
Rating: Summary: Funny movie that plays excellent homage to the cartoon. Review: We took our 4 and 6 year old daughters (then 3 and 5), and my wife, myself and our 2 daughters absolutely loved this movie. It was funny and enjoyable. Some of the scenes were a bit scary probably for our 3 year old, but she didn't act like it. What can you say about the whole "showdown" between Shaggy and Scooby with bodily function noises? I was in stitches in the theatre. It had me laughing so hard that I had tears in my eyes! If you're looking for an in-depth storyline, forget it. It's not there. This movie is playing homage to the old cartoons that I grew up watching UNTIL Scrappy came on board. And yet, they even play homage to that in a way I love. For all the Scrappy haters out there, we get our just revenge with what happens in this movie to him. Many people let this cloud their judgment of the movie and hate it just because of that. Well, I see that the makers of this movie agree with the rest of us: SCRAPPY STUNK! He was obnoxious, selfish and just overall irritating! He never should have existed and that his appearance was the downfall of the Scooby series. Each character is VERY believable, especially Matthew Lillard as Shaggy and Linda Cardellini as Velma. And, with me being a Buffy fan, I just HAD to see SMG in this movie as Daphne. She pulled it off great. As for Freddy Prinze Jr., I'm not so sure he was the BEST Fred, but he pulled it off for me, even though his Fred was different from the cartoon in many respects. As for the DVD, the widescreen edition looks awesome. The features on the DVD are pretty good for a WB release. My kids loved listening to the commentary from the stars. The other features of the movie are pretty good as well and the DVD-ROM features are pretty cool. My 6-year-old daughter loved the games from the DVD-ROM. The deleted scenes are pretty cool. Some, you wonder why they removed them, but if you listen to the commentary while watching them, you can understand why that was done and it makes total sense. Now, supposedly this movie had a lot of sexual and drug references in them that were ultimately removed. I was one of the people who wanted those to be removed when I read about it in a newspaper article before the movie was released and I'm glad those aren't included here. Many people would probably cry foul that they were not included, but since my daughters know how to navigate around the DVD features, I would NOT want them to have access to them. Plus, I do not want to have to lock this DVD out with parental locks. Instead, I would want my daughters to be able to watch this when they want. So, kudos to WB for not including those scenes and for not releasing them at all in the theatres. Otherwise, I would have refused to take my daughters to it and they already knew it was coming, so that would have been a total blow to them. Excellent movie, excellent DVD. I still watch this movie and get a laugh. The soundtrack is pretty good as well. I can't get into a lot of the rap and hiphop stuff, but some of it on the soundtrack is pretty good. I would recommend getting that as well. My daughters absolutely love the soundtrack and dance to it until they drop with exhaustion. I would be prepared that it's PG for a reason: lewd humor (the bodily noises section) and Fred DOES utter a derogatory word about women that you hear alot from today's generation, but it actually was something I didn't catch until someone else said something about it. Since he talks in the "lingo" after being possessed, it's kind of hard to understand and I think for most kids, it will go over their heads. Also, Daphne talks about opening up a can of whoop, uh, mule on someone. It's too bad they couldn't have left those out. Overall, an excellent movie. Fun and funny to watch over and over again. Did I mention I loved the bodily function duel between Shaggy and Scooby? ;)
Rating: Summary: Zoinks!! Its Scooby Doo!! Review: This movie is based on the highly successful Hanna-Barbara cartoon series. It stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne, Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, and Linda Cardellini as Velma. The plot revolves around the group's mystery solving team, Mystery Inc. The group has split up after differences among the members surfaced. However, two years later, each receives a letter from the owner of Spooky Island, a hot spring break resort. Apparently, some supernatural forces have been at work on the island, and the group has been summoned to see if they can help. However, each does not know that anyone else has been invited, so its a shock when everyone arrives at the airport and discovers that they're all going to the same place. Will everyone be able to put their differences aside and solve the mystery? I thought the acting in the movie was pretty good overall. However, I thought Fred's character was too preppy and self-involved. Sarah Michelle Gellar does a good job as Daphnie, and Linda Cardellini makes a perfect Velma, but this movie belongs to Matthew Lillard. His portyayal of Shaggy is top notch. He even sounds like the old Saturday morning character that we grew up with. His relationship with Scooby is just like I remember as a child. The computer animation is well done, and Scooby Doo seems almost life-like. This is a fun movie and brings back a lot of childhood memories.
Rating: Summary: AWESOME! Review: This movie is a great movie! Has some scary stuff but is mostly funny. It can also show us stuff that will happen if we don't treat each other with respect! We quit friendship!
Rating: Summary: Sorry, no Scooby Snack Review: If you are looking for a movie done in the spirit of the original Scooby series, you will be mostly disappointed. This movie is full of mocking, ironic, "hip" self-referential humor for "grown-ups." Irony was something devoid from the Scooby-Doo cartoons, it was part of what made them so endearing and long-lived in popularity. In this, it was similar to Spongebob Squarepants, a contemporary cartoon on Nickolodeon that is currently winning the hearts of children and adults. It makes one wonder if someday we'll see a Spongebob live action movie in which, for example, there is innuendo about Spongebob having substance abuse problems with Krabby Patties... At any rate, in this movie the filmmakers have decided to mock the character of Fred by turning him into a smug narcissist. Daphne is now a helpless ditz frustrated by her own ineptness, Scooby and Shaggy are the victims of pot jokes, and Velma's high intelligence is lampooned. The performance by Matthew Lillard as Shaggy is brilliantly performed and well-written; together with Scooby it is perhaps the one character that (other than the aforementioned pot joke) doesn't suffer from the kind of jokes at its expense that are lobbed at the others. He put a great deal of care into creating an authentic portrayal and it really shows on screen. Linda Cardellini plays an excellent Velma, but as with the other characters the script has her acting out of character for intended comedic effect. With a more faithful script she would have also been dead-on. Rowan Atkinson puts in a fine turn as the gang's client, although his small role leaves little opportunity for displaying his enormous comedic talent; it's a little like using a Ferrari to get groceries. If you feel somewhat embarassed and self conscious about liking the old Scooby Doo cartoons, you will probably enjoy this movie with no qualms, and have a good laugh as the movie pokes fun at Freddie's clothes, etc. The filmmakers are embarassed too. For the rest of us, it is still entertaining to see the characters moving around in real life, and the relationship between Shaggy and Scooby is the one bright spot that captures something of the original fun, warmth and camaraderie in the cartoon. Otherwise, the movie leaves one feeling a little unfulfilled, like they've eaten a hollow Scooby Snack.
Rating: Summary: Pain personified Review: Just last night, my wife and I rented Scooby-Doo just for the heck of it. We were under no delusion that it would approach the cartoon too closely. However, we were not prepared for the seventh level of hell this movie took us on a ride for. It should have had a warning label: "PARENTAL ADVISORY -- DANTE'S INFERNO ON THIS MOVIE." The only character worth noting, applauding, and commiserating with is Matthew Lillard as Shaggy. He has the voice and most of the characterizations nailed pat. However, Freddie Prinze Jr. is astoundingly annoying as "Fred"... I love Sarah Michelle Gellar in Buffy, but I cringe and wince to see what she has been reduced to here. ... but this movie's banal plot, trite dialogue, and non-existant character development could not even give anyone room to do anything with this. Velma...oh, my. The joke with the glasses--one of the only few nods to the original series, along with Scooby Snacks--is forced and made me want to rip my hair out. Her giddines of finding romantic interest near the end made me cover my eyes and shake my head with despair. Scooby. Where to start here. The voice? Ok, I'll give the movie credit for that. The fart jokes? Oh, WHY?!? ... And, quite frankly, the cartoon's version of Scooby looked more considerably dopey...this computer animated version doesn't have quite the screwy eyes the cartoon-counterpart had. So...to recap. Fred, a one-dimensional show-stealing sexist teams up with vacuous Daphne along with love-deprived attention-starved Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby to go to an island whose evil villain winds up being ... Was it meant to be funny when you found out who it was? Maybe, but the laughter was quite firmly suppressed by the amount of forced humor, bad plot, equally bad sets, and pain...lots of pain. Sexual humor didn't belong in a cartoon, but Daphne makes it quite implict (yet painfully clear) that the ghost is doing something he shouldn't be. The drug humor was particularly not wanted in what was originally a CHILDREN'S CARTOON... Other liberties that were taken? Let's see...the monsters on the island are REAL! That never happened in the cartoon series. Also, I don't recall any romantic interest ever being introduced either. In the end, where do you stop? Stop yourself by not bothering to watch this... Matthew Lillard- I salute you and your devotion to your rendition of Shaggy...
Rating: Summary: Scooby Doo a delight Review: The live-action version of the popular cartoon series is just as good as any animated episode. Matthew Lillard is the most convincing Shaggy that exists in the universe and he totally plays this off to his advantage. His relationship with the computer-animated Scooby is wonderful and really makes the movie. The only real downfall to the movie (and it's a small one)is the fact that i don't really think Freddie Prinze Jr. should have been cast as Fred. I'm sorry, but Freddie Prinze Jr. and blonde hair just don't go together. Besides this one small flaw the movie is very good and i would recommend to anyone.
Rating: Summary: Pretty cool dang awesome too Review: Good movie, better than than the cartoons, but more mature. Great film except at what point in time did mary jane get tunrned into a monstor.
Rating: Summary: This Movie is very good! And very well done! Review: I thought this movie was very good! the Actors did a very good job acting like the cartoon Charcters! this movie will keep you in your seat laughing! the whole time! if you don't believe me that is ok! this is my opion! I watch this movie about everyday! they Gang, Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby, all go to Spooky island! where they are sent to find who is hyptioniziong people and having Monsters hide in their bodies! Becuase these types of monsters if they see sunlight or any light the turn to dusk! i wont tell you anymore! I think this movie is for any age! my cousin that is 4 years old watches it! This flim is for the whole family 0-100 any age! if this movie had more than 5 stars i would rate it the highest amount of stars! this movie rocks!
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