Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed Film Review

Even tho there have been countless animated direct to DVD Scooby-Doo movies and handful of live action movies as well. There has only been two theatrically released live action Scooby-Doo movies and while the first one does rather rightfully get alot of love and attention from the people that love this franchise the most it's the sequel that i'm going to be talking about today as it's not that loved of a film so much so that no one noticed that last year was it's twentieth anniversary and so then join me as I review the film that is to date the last ever theatrically released live action Scooby-Doo movie with the film in question being called simply just "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" enjoy.

The plot of this film is when a bunch of costumes for there old foes are stolen from a museum exhibit dedicated to them it's up to Mystery Inc to solve the mystery before it's far to late. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as it was something that is in keeping with what the show would do but at the same time tho the plot of the first film was alot more better is it felt like the plot that would be in a movie where as this films plot feels like that it's trying to fix the issue that alot of people had with the first films plot where that films plot was nothing like the plot of the show where as with this film it's opposite that's true but in trying to address that issue they end up creating a plot that doesn't work for a movie as the stakes aren't high enough for a movie and would have been much more better suited for a plot of the show or even the plot of a direct to DVD animated movie and while the plot of this film is alot more better then that of the first film in regards to being more in line with the show what might work for the show doesn't always mean that it'll work for the movie and while the plot of the film does try to recapture the tone and spirit of the original show it just fails to do exactly that with the plot of this film being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Freddie Prinze Jr. as Fred Jones , Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne Blake and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers. Also starring in this film is Linda Cardellini as Velma Dinkley , Neil Fanning as Scooby-Doo , Scott McNeil as The Evil Masked Figure , Dee Bradley Baker as The Voices Of The Pterodactyl Ghost , The Zombie and The Red-Eyed Skeleton Man , Bob Papenbrook as The Black Knight Ghost , Michael Sorich as The Tar Monster and The Cotton Candy Glob , Terrence Stone as The 10,000 Volt Ghost , Wally Wingert as The Voice Of The Green-Eyed Skeleton Man , Seth Green as Patrick Wisely , Peter Boyle as Jeremiah Wickles , Tim Blake Nelson as Doctor Jonathan Jacobo , Karin Konoval as Aggie Wilkins , Stephen E. Miller as C.L. Magnus , Zahf Paroo as Ned , Christopher R. Sumpton as The Zombie , C. Ernst Harth as The Miner 49er , Kevin Durand as The Black Knight Ghost and Alicia Silverstone as Heather Jasper Howe.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad. With all of the actors that are returning from the first film really turning in some really good performances in this film with the true stand out actors in this film being of course Matthew Lillard as Shaggy Rogers as he just becomes the character in not only the previous film but in this film as well and he did such a good job at playing the character that he is now the official voice for the character as well with all of this films newer actors also turning in some really solid performances as well and whilst Seth Green is easily the best actor from the films new group actors the worst one is quite easily Alicia Silverstone as Heather Jasper Howe as she is just blander then a piece of paper with it being clear that she was only added to the film so that they stick her name on the poster and that's really it as she does nothing performance wise that makes her even remotely interesting in this film with the acting that's in this film not really bring helped by this films script as the script for this film is just so bad as it gives none of this films actors absolutely nothing to work with interms of what it is that there respective characters personalities are even meant to be in the first place which is something that really does hurt the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the CGI for this film is Rhythm & Hues Studios , Meteor Studios , Giant Killer Robots , Frantic Films , Warner Bros. Animation , Look Effects , HimAnI Productions , THDX Studios , Digital Dimension Entertainment Group , Ockham's Razor , Graphic Nature and Sandman Studios. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual CGI that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty not that bad as while it was a slight step up in terms of quality from the first film that is something that's to expected given just how fast things can and do improve within the visual effects industry but what does let this film does from an effects point of view is the fact that the film perhaps relies a little bit to much on CGI with there being whole scenes that are done in a computer when they could have been done practically and because of that we also get alot of effects that really haven't aged all that well like all of the monsters which looked good back in 2004 but nowadays look like the kind of effects that you'd find in 2004 and while Scooby-Doo himself does look really good and he looks alot more better then what he would in The Mystery Begins he is perhaps the only good looking in the whole entire movie and even then the quality of the effects for Scooby-Doo himself range from OK at best to bad alot of the time as well all of which are things that could have been avoided if this film had a much more larger effects budget then what it actually had as then the makers of this film could have had alot of really good looking effects all throughout this film.

This film is more focused on giving us nods and winks to the previous Scooby-Doo shows then it is in not only being a good film in it's own right but also in telling an actually good mystery. With this film even using not only villains from the show but also the house that's seen at the start of every episode of Scooby-Doo Where Are You for literally no other reason then because of the fact that it was in the original show and that's really it and while yes granted the house does play a part in the plot of the film there was still no need to not only show it from the angel that they do and have the bats flying out of it with alot of this films nods and winks being more distracting then they are fun to watch and while the ghosts from the show are indeed fun to see done in live action that's something that gets old very quickly as the film doesn't really do anything with them other then have them act essentially as henchmen to the films original villain which makes them less fun to watch as it's those villains that the mainstream audience will remember from the show and if your going to be including those characters then you owe it to those audiences members to do something that's actually interesting with them and not have them be dumbed down versions of there original counterparts as all hat does is make not only the characters themselves bad and less fun to watch but it then also adds this notion that the show as a whole was bad and that is something that couldn't further from the truth.

Speaking of making characters dumb for some strange reason the makers of this film thought it was a good idea to make Fred Jones dumb as a rock in this film. While yes granted in the previous film he was never the smartest tool in the shed there at the very least it could be played off as him being arrogant and not dumb where as here there's no excuse he's just straight up an idiot in this movie and while if this movie was meant to be the parody of the franchise that the first film was also meant to be then it wouldn't be a bad thing as then you could say that there just poking fun at the franchise more then they are the character but because of the fact that this film plays everything straight and isn't a parody of the franchise then there was no reason to have the character be as dumb as he was in this film and heck even in the original show he was alot smarter then what people gave him credit for with him more the  doing his fair share in helping out in solving the mystery where as here because of the fact that this films writer James Gunn wants to have it both ways there are scenes where Fred does feel like his old self and actually has some intellect about him but then in the same scene the film will make a joke about how dumb he is with the film committing to neither aspect which does create a rather confusing character where you don't know if your going to be getting a version of the character that feels true to how he was in the original show or one that really feels like a parody of how he was done in the original show.

One of the thins that you'd expect this film to get right is it's mystery aspect and yet just like alot of the things that are in this very film it doesn't give us that good of a mystery.  With this not being because of the fact that the film doesn't give us any clues to solve the mystery ourselves altho that is a really big part of it however it's also due to the fact that the mystery itself just isn't that interesting or good in the first place with the film making it painfully obvious who the real culprit it is right from the get go with even the fact that the film does try to throw in a red herring not really working because of the fact that nine times out of ten if a film leans to hard on it being one person that it's most likely not them as is the case with this film with them telling us several times that it's Jeremiah Wickles and yet all you have to do is look at the fact that Alicia Silverstone is in the movie to know that it's not the case as there no reason that she would be in this movie where it not for the fact that she was the bad guy if the makers of this film really wanted to give us a good mystery then what they could have done is have this mystery be one that's solved pretty quickly in the film all the while there's another mystery secretly happening with the film even leaving us clues that the characters could pick up and interact with but discard because it's not apart of the main mystery only when that mystery gets solved and something more evil comes along do they then take the clues that they discarded more seriously with this having the added benefit of adding some rewatch value to the film as well as now we the audience would have a reason to rewatch the film and try and find any of the hidden clues that are in the film with this also meaning that the film really wouldn't have to pull a reason as to who it is that's doing these crimes out of nowhere something that they do in this film.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty minuets and fifty seconds. Which to this films credit is a really solid running time for this film to have and this film really does have more then enough there interms of plot to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that well as not only are the characters not that well developed which is fine for the ones that were in the first film as you could argue that the first film developed those characters enough so the second film really doesn't have to do that but for the films newer characters they get nothing with them being just as boring and one note at the end of the film as they are at the start of the film with the film not even taking the time to fully develop it's mystery which is something that the entire Scooby-Doo brand name is built upon and something that even the bad pieces of Scooby-Doo media do somehow manage to do just that and yet this film despite it having a longer running time then any of the episodes of the show somehow makes it mystery feel less developed then a mystery from a twenty two minuet episode of the show when all the makers of this film really had to do to make this film just as good if not better then the first film was develop it's mystery a little bit more and that's really it and that would mean that we get less of the pointless subplot with Scooby and Shaggy because there subplots should never be the focus of the films as that honor really should go to the mystery aspect of the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho.

So now then as this is comedy that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual comedy that's actually featured / presented to us in his very film was in all honesty not that bad. Which is to expected as this film was written and produced by James Gunn but at the same time tho alot of this films jokes just weren't that funny with alot of them rather understandably coming across as being to childlike and to child friendly which s something that does make sense as these films where made with little kids in mind but even the previous film had some adult jokes in them that were actually funny and yet this film doesn't do that instead it chooses to get rid of any adult joke and have just a bunch of jokes that only little kid would find funny with this films humor really only relying on not actually being funny but having far to many sound effects in them which doesn't make those jokes funny it makes them really annoying to listen to instead and yet when this film does tell a good joke like Shaggy admitting that this day is tied with every other day of life for scared is genuinely funny and you can see jokes like that all throughout this film where there are a few decent jokes to be found in this film but for one reason or another this film really does have alot more bad and unfunny jokes in it then it does have good ones in it in in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Overall while this film does get more right interms of having a plot that feels more at home with the Scooby-Doo franchise it also gets alot more wrong then what the first movie as this movie feels like that it's trying to hard to be a good movie instead of actually being one but when your being directed by Raja Gosnell then chances are that your never going to be a good movie in the first place anyways in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that are in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 5 out of 10 from me.

Now then interms of where I personally got all of the images hat I personally used in this very film well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Scooby-Doo fandom wiki page , IMP Awards . Com and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great Google Images this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the really great Google Images are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid Google Images really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.