March
26, 2004 | If at first you do succeed - well, maybe you should quit
while you're ahead. Otherwise, you might make a really dumb mistake,
or produce a really obnoxious sequel. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
is only the first follow-up to Scooby-Doo (2002), the improbably
enjoyable live-action comedy based on the cult-fave Hanna-Barbera cartoon.
But it's painfully obvious that the law of diminishing returns has already
caught up with the budding franchise.
The
previous flick impressed both new fans and longtime devotees of the
animated series with its spot-on casting of human lead characters, and
its seamless commingling of real people and a CGI Great Dane. Unfortunately,
Scooby-Doo 2 doesn't have novelty value going for it. Even more
unfortunately, it has nothing else to recommend it.
Director
Raja Gosnell and screenwriter James Gunn have returned for the repeat,
along with the four leads - Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar,
Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini - cast as the Mystery, Inc. crime-solving
quartet. Better still, visual effects supervisor Peter Crosman is back
to animate Scooby-Doo, the large dog with the unique speech impediment
(voiced, once again, by Neil Fanning). This time, however, everyone
involved has tried to make something bigger, louder and - geez, what
were they thinking? - more emotionally involving. And with more jokes
about dog flatulence.
Much
like the 2002 original, Scooby-Doo 2 is aimed at viewers already
familiar with conventions of the TV series. (For the benefit of those
who tuned in late: In almost every episode, the young heroes expose
an apparent "ghost" as a costume-clad human villain.) Indeed,
the sequel attempts to spoof the Scooby-Doo mythos by bringing
the four Mystery, Inc. sleuths to a museum display of disguises worn
by creepy villains unmasked over the years by "those meddling kids."
During
the exhibit's opening, however, festivities are interrupted by an Evil
Masked Figure (yep, that's how the baddie is billed) who transforms
the inanimate costumes into walking-and-stalking editions of the Black
Knight Ghost, the Skelemen, the 10,000 Volt Ghost and similar miscreants.
This looks like a job for Mystery, Inc. Before they can save the day,
however, each member of the gang must deal with… well, personal
issues.
Gosnell
and Gunn have a concocted a feel-good message - "Be true to yourself,
and be comfortable being yourself!" - that they deliver repeatedly,
and tediously, throughout Scooby-Doo 2. Chronic fraidy cats Shaggy
(Lillard) and Scooby feel the need to prove themselves as full-fledged
detectives, and aren't happy until they realize their true value as
comic relief. (Or something like that.) Image-conscious Daphne (Gellar)
worries that she's just a beautiful cipher - albeit a beautiful cipher
who can acrobatically kick a lot of monster butt - while the dashing
Fred (Prinze Jr.) is briefly torn by troubling self-doubt. Most alarmingly
of all, bespectacled uber-nerd Velma (Cardellini) tries to overcome
her newly diagnosed "fear of intimacy" with an extreme make-over,
turning herself into a glamorous uber-babe in a bright red catsuit
to attract a lovestruck museum curator (Seth Green).
And
just in case the audience misses the message-mongering, the filmmakers
also have a scene in which a prime suspect, Old Man Wickles (Peter Boyle),
admits he pretended to be the Black Knight long ago because he was insecure
about his self-worth. No kidding.
When
Scooby-Doo 2 isn't trafficking in absurdly incongruous psycho-babble,
it goes to extremes with f/x-filled action-comedy sequences. But the
high-tech overkill is more exhausting than impressive, and the movie
overall is more frenetic than funny. This overstuffed sequel isn't entirely
charm-free - Cardellini once again glows with foxy-nerdy radiance, Lillard
is reliably goofy, Prinze and Gellar are playfully self-satirical -
but strenuous effort is apparent in almost every frame.