Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed *** (Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard) – Classic Movie Review 1555

A masked villain plots to take over the Coolsville Museum of Criminology by having fun with a ‘monster machine’. The funny, bendy, appealing Matthew Lillard again raises most of the laughs in this likeable sequel to the 2000 hit as scruffy, bumbling idiot Shaggy, the best friend of cartoon dog Scooby-Doo (voice of Neil Fanning).

Real-life duo Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar are also back to send up their own sexy images as Fred and Daphne, the other members of the crime-solving team, Mystery Inc, along with Linda Cardellini as the bespecatacled swot Velma.

Alas, poor old Prinze and Gellar are stiff as boards, apparently game for anything but proving totally unsuited to this kind of silly comedy. But a too-pretty Cardellini has a better time, seeming far more amusing.

This second-time-round spinoff has a decent script and reasonable plot (by original screen-writer James Gunn), and really makes the most of its big budget, with super sets, scary cartoon monsters and a general air of extravagance and luxury. An excellent credit sequence and fine score by David Newman also add to the lavish impression. Original director Raja Gosnell is back to call the shots again. Also in the good cast are Alicia Silverstone, Seth Green, Peter Boyle (as Old Man Wickles) and Tim Blake Nelson.

There’s probably not too much to amuse adults, but that’s not really the point. There’s still plenty of daft fun to be found and it’s certainly as good as the original.

It enjoyed the dubious honour of winning the 2005 Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

Gellar and Prinze Jr married on 1 September 2002 and they have two children.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 1555

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