Hop in the way back machine (my apologizes to whoever came up with that phrase) and set it for the 1970s where Shaggy is not a singer. That’s right kiddies, the five member mystery solving gang we grew up watching on Saturday mornings is back and on the big screen. However, the gang is now known as Mystery, Inc., which should not be confused with Monsters, Inc. (a completely different and much better movie).

The film begins with the crew wrapping up another mystery when we discover that the pressures of being high-profile mystery solvers has caught up to them. So, the gang splits-up, all going their separate ways, except Shaggy (Matthew Lillard, Thirteen Ghosts) and Scooby (Neil Fanning) of course. Down the road the gang is reluctantly brought back together by a reclusive billionaire named Emile Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson, Rat Race), who owns an island with a theme park on it. Soon it is discovered that all the college kids who go to the island come back zombie like, but well behaved, perfect young adults. So Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr. from Summer Catch), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar, Cruel Intentions) Shag, Scoob, and Velma (Linda Cardellini, Legally Blonde) do their thing and discover that Scrappy Doo (Scott Innes) is behind it all and he is stealing all these kid’s minds. But is the gang too late to stop this pint-sized evil and annoying Scrappy-Doo? Of course not, silly goose! This is a Hollywood adaptation of a kids cartoon, how else could it end?

A few others of note in the film are Isla Fisher, Steven Grives, Sam Greco, Kristian Schmid, Miguel Nunez, Jr., Nicholas Hope, and Andrew Bryniarski to name a few. The director of the film is Raja Gosnell, who arranged to have cameos for his family.

Basically, Scooby-Doo has its moments and makes you reminisce over the simpler times of nine months of school, three months off, and lots of extended weekends without any overtime. But as a film, it is not anything special, so I give it just three couches out of the usual ten.

Last updated: Thursday, March 20, 2008 02:48:42 AM

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