'Scooby-Doo 2' barks up same tree with hilarious results

By Margaret A. McGurk
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SCOOBY-DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED (PG) Two and One-Half Stars (Fair-to-Good) The gang is unexpectedly swept up in a mystery during the opening of a museum dedicated to their craft of unmasking fake ghosts. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard star for director by Raja Gosnell. Warner Bros. 93 minutes.

The sequel, subtitled "Monsters Unleashed," is now upon us, much to the delight of young fans and their nostalgic elders.

The new film boasts more action, more special effects and many more monsters than the first. Not necessarily better, mind you. Just more. Still, it does a decent job of avoiding the sophomore slump to deliver some deliberately silly fun.

The main ingredients remain in place; the young snoops of Mystery Inc. are all together and basking in the glory of a new museum in Coolsville that is dedicated to their triumphs.

Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), and Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) along with the mighty pooch himself (voice of Neil Fanning) are greeted like rock stars at an exhibit of costumes of monsters and fake ghosts they have unmasked.

The party is interrupted when one of the costumes comes to life. Soon, a crowd of creepy monsters that Mystery Inc. has defeated before terrorizes Coolsville.

The creepy monsters are smartly animated as ugly, yet funny, even if they do sometimes seem to be squeezing the live actors off the screen. Director Raja Gosnell and crew show great affection for these characters, whose popularity dates back to a 35-year-old TV show.

While the gang aims to solve the case, Shaggy and Scooby try to prove they can solve crimes without messing things up, and Velma suffers an attack of nerves over the museum curator (Seth Green) who has a crush on her. "Be yourself" messages sprinkled throughout the movie are obvious but brief.

Screenwriter James Gunn — who interestingly enough also wrote the new "Dawn of the Dead" film, knows his genres. The movie is stuffed with sly references and in-jokes that fly over the heads of, say, 5-year-olds. For instance, when the crew arrives at the museum opening, the hippie fans shouting out to Shaggy look unusually relaxed. (There is no glimpse of any questionable herbs.)

Rated PG for some scary action, rude humor, language.