Kids will love 'Scooby Doo' — even if parents don't

By Bill Muller
The Arizona Republic

SCOOBY DOO (Rated PG for rude humor, language and scary action) Two and one-half Stars (Fair-to-Good) If the makers of "Scooby-Doo" wanted to copy the old cartoon, they nailed it. Everything is here: the crudely drawn characters, the tinny dialogue and the paper-thin plot. Ruh-roh. This live-action version of "Scooby-Doo" will entertain kids, but adults probably will wax nostalgic for the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr., Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini. Directed by Raja Gosnell, Warner Bros., 87 minutes.

Ruh-roh.

This live-action version of "Scooby-Doo" will entertain kids, but adults probably will wax nostalgic for the original Hanna-Barbera cartoon, which at least has camp on its side.

The producers deserve a few Scooby Snacks for casting Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, Scooby's beatnik pal who's either running for his life or craving a giant sandwich. The gangly Lillard ("Thirteen Ghosts," "Scream") nails the role right down to Shaggy's squeaky syntax, which was voiced by DJ Casey Kasem in the old days.

The element I thought I would like the least in the film — the computer-generated Scooby — I actually liked the most. As a CGI creation, everyone's favorite Great Dane cavorts like a cartoon character and saves the movie in the process.

For a talking dog, Scooby is one of the most charismatic characters to come along in a while, and Neil Fanning's voice work is terrific. When Scooby is doing his thing, the movie skips along. When the humans take over, it starts to shimmy and shake like the Mystery Machine on bad shocks. Warner Bros. went out of its way to cast Sarah Michelle Gellar ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") playing the perennially kidnapped Daphne and Freddie Prinze Jr. ("She's All That) as the gang's ascot-sporting leader, Fred.

Besides fitting the wardrobe, Gellar doesn't bring much to Daphne's character except a lot of spoiled-brat whining. Prinze, a nice guy with not a whit of acting ability, can't quite meet the challenge of a one-dimensional character. His main contribution seems to be dyeing his hair blonde.

But the movie is buoyed by Lillard's Shaggy and Linda Cardellini ("Freaks and Geeks") as the brainy Velma, who always solves the mystery but never gets the credit. Unlike Gellar and Prinze, Lillard and Cardellini aren't Hollywood "personalities," so they're forced to act a little.

For those who grew up on a steady diet of Hanna-Barbera cartoons (heaven help us), "Scooby-Doo" offers plenty of inside jokes, including a hilarious sequence involving Scrappy-Doo, Scooby's annoying nephew, whose appearance signaled the death knell for the cartoon.

The film begins with a standard Scooby-Doo mystery. As the youthful crime busters unmask the usual janitor, he curses "those meddling kids" and, for some unknown reason, they do an interview with Pamela Anderson. But egos are running high, and Mystery Inc. soon splits up in a huff.

Two years later, the gang is reunited by Mr. Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson), the proprietor of Spooky Island, a trendy spring-break hot spot. He's worried because the students leaving the island look like zombies. Hey, maybe they caught a screening of "The Sum of All Fears."

Anyway, the kids are soon in over their heads, as they discover freaky-looking monsters running all over the place. From here, the plot spins into the ridiculous, with all the subtlety of one of those full-length "Gilligan's Island" movies.

The final sequence might be a little scary for smaller kids as Scooby and the gang confront a frightening monstrosity. And no, it's not another Flintstones sequel.

Zoinks!

Rated PG for rude humor, language and scary action.