Scooby-Doo_(film)

Scooby-Doo (film)

Scooby-Doo is a 2002 live-action film, is all about a Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. The film was directed by Raja Gosnell and written by James Gunn and Craig Titley. It was produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle for Warner Bros. Pictures and starred Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, I Know What You Did Last Summer's Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Freddie Prinze, Jr., as Fred, Linda Cardellini as Velma, Neil Fanning as the voice of Scooby-Doo (who was created on screen using computer-generated imagery) and Rowan Atkinson as Emile Mondavarious. Pamela Anderson made an uncredited appearance at the beginning of the movie.

In 2004, this film was followed by a sequel titled Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

Plot

After solving the case of the Luna Ghost, an unco-operative Mystery Inc., consisting of Fred, Velma, Daphne, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo, splits apart. Two years later, the gang are surprisingly reunited when they are all summoned to Spooky Island, a monster-based theme park on a remote island. In the year that has passed, Velma has been an advisor at NASA, Fred has become a popular celebrity, Daphne has become a skilled martial artist, and Shaggy and Scooby continued investigating mysteries. While Shaggy and Scooby wish to work together as team, the others are not as enthusiastic. On Spooky Island, the gang meet Emile Mondavarious, the eccentric owner of the island. He explains that visitors to the island come but leave as emotionless and almost inhuman (as demonstrated when a girl picks up an older man and throws him away with one arm).

The gang split up to search for clues, although Fred, Daphne and Velma all compete with each other. Velma witnesses a creepy dance in which a man named N'Goo Tauna and his servant, Zarkos (A.K.A. The Masked Luchador wrestler) explain that demons once ruled the island until Mondavarious built the theme park on it, enraging the demons. Velma is unafraid of N'Goo's threats of vengeance. Daphne meets Voodoo Maestro who quite clearly warns her not to go the Spooky Island Castle attraction, but she believes he is setting a trap for her there and goes to spring the trap. Shaggy falls in love with a girl named Mary Jane, who likes Scooby Snacks and is allergic to dogs. The gang meet up at the castle and split up to search for clues as group. Fred and Velma discover a strange classroom with a training programme describing how to act like a human. Daphne finds a strange triangular artefact called the Daemonritus. The group escape the castle when an alarm is triggered by a hidden minion of N'Goo.

The island demons attack the hotel, capturing Fred, Velma, Mondavarious and many other guests. Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Mary Jane are the only ones to escape. However, the next day, everything seems normal and the hotel is clean and tidy. Shaggy and Scooby locate Fred but discover he and all the other guests are being controlled by the demons. Daphne is captured by Zarkos and loses the Daemonritus. Shaggy and Scooby find Mary Jane and they escape from the demons on quadbikes, Scooby discovering Mary Jane is also controlled. Scooby falls down a hole, Shaggy following, but he discovers a pool of ectoplasmic heads. He releases Velma, Daphne and Fred, who return to their bodies, exposing the demons to sunlight and destroying them. The four find Voodoo Maestro trying to perform a protective ritual, where he explains that if the demons sacrifice a purely good soul to the Daemonritus, they could rule the Earth for 10,000 Years. The purely good soul belongs to Scooby-Doo, the mastermind behind this plot being Mondovarious.

The gang form a trap to destroy the monsters - planning to open the island's main ventiliation system to spray sunlight over the demons and destroy them. However, Mondovarious and N'Goo enter with all the possessed guests, beginning the ritual to sacrifice Scooby. Fred and Velma get captured while Daphne fights Zarkos on top of the island. Shaggy saves Scooby, injuring Mondovarious in the process while he absorbs the ectoplasmic heads into the Daemonritus. Fred and Velma discover he is a robot, controlled by noneother than Scrappy-Doo, who seeks revenge after being thrown out of the gang. Due to his large absorption of power, Scrappy transforms into a monstrous demonic dog and tries to kill Scooby. Daphne manages to kick Zarkos through the ventilation system, destroying the demons with sunlight, saving all the guests including Mary Jane. Shaggy manages to remove the Daemonritus from Scrappy, transforming Scrappy back to his normal self. Scrappy tries to fight still, but an exasperated Scooby just knocks him into a wall with a flick of his paw, knocking him out. Fred and Daphne kiss as a victory, while Shaggy finds the real Mondavarious who explains that he was trapped in a hole by Scrappy. Scrappy, N'Goo, Zarkos and the other minions are arrested and Mystery Inc. head off for their next case.

Cast

Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred Jones
Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne Blake
Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers
Linda Cardellini as Velma Dinkley
Neil Fanning as Scooby-Doo (voice)
Scott Innes as Scrappy-Doo (voice)
J.P. Manoux as Scrappy Rex (voice)
Rowan Atkinson as Emile Mondavarious
Isla Fisher as Mary Jane
Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Voodoo Maestro
Sam Greco as Zarkos aka The Masked Luchador
Pamela Anderson as Herself (uncredited)
Holly Brisley as Training video woman
Sugar Ray as Themselves

Production

Screenwriter James Gunn was chosen to write the movie after they had seen his script for a live action adaptation of Mad Magazine's Spy vs. Spy. The film was shot over 5 1/2 months in Queensland, Australia.

Reception

The film was released to generally negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a "Rotten" rating of 28%, with an average score of 4.3 out of 10. On Metacritic, the film has a 35 out of 100 rating which indicates "generally negative reviews". However, despite a negative reception, It was released in 3,447 theaters and made $19,204,859 on its opening day and $54,155,312 over the weekend, averaging about $15,711 per venue and ranked #1 at the box office. The film closed on October 31, 2002, with a final domestic gross of $153,294,164. It made an additional $122,356,539 internationally, bringing the total worldwide gross to $275,650,703.

Video Games

A video game based upon the film was released for Game Boy Advance shortly before the film was released. The game is played in 3rd person point-of-view and has multiple puzzle games and mini-games. The game received negative reviews and was not a big seller. However, the more successful Scooby game Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights features the movie's trailer as a special feature.

Novelization

Scholastic Inc. released a novelization of the story in conjunction with the film. The novel was written by American fantasy and science fiction author Suzanne Weyn.