Scooby-doo: The Movie

Scooby-doo: The Movie

In the last ten years, James Gunn can be described best as having seen an absolute bullet rise in his career. The Troma graduate has performed admirably well not only with Guardians of the Galaxy but has also performed well in his foray to DC with The Suicide Squad and Peacemaker. With his star having witnessed a much higher rise than it did during his days of Tromeo and Juliet, a lot many people of his work are being recognized.

One such is his writing credit in the 2000s Scooby-Doo movies. Since I was a child, the first movie came out and I thoroughly enjoyed it. However, today, as I look back at movies from my childhood, I struggle to determine how well the movie has aged and, in this instance, what percentage of today’s Gunn do we get a glimpse of.

We are first introduced to the Mystery Inc. team, comprising Fred voiced by Freddie Prinze Jr, the group’s leader and himbo; Velma voiced by Linda Cardinelli, the studious member of the team; Daphne voiced by Sarah Michelle Gellar, the cute bombshell who is no longer interested in always being a distressed damsel; Shaggy voiced by Matthew Lillard, and Scooby Doo whose name the show takes.

The team splits after getting irritated with each other while successfully defeating a masked criminal once again. Two years later, they reunite together at the request of Emile Mondavarious played by Rowan Atkinson, the owner of Spooky Island Resort, where the teenage visitors’ souls have been sucked dry.

It has been almost 10 years since I watched this, and watching it today, I would like to talk about the cast. Everyone managed to stand out and deliver a great performance. Lillard is just as good doing Shaggy as I recall, and Gellar is certainly different than what you expect from her as the Slayer in Buffy. Prinze is great in this film too, because he, like Brandon Fraser, reminds me not just of a great actor in cinema, but also of the first real limbo.

And when they are in a group with Prinze, Gellar and Cardellini, the staves always bickering and making reconciliations is even more fun. The supporting cast is also good, because Atkinson tried his best to be as theatrical as possible in the role of a weirdo owner and Isla Fisher had nice romantic scenes with Shaggy.

Fans of Scooby-Doo should appreciate this iteration of the show as it gives off nostalgic vibes. Even so, for someone like myself who never got into the show, there seems to be an appreciation for it. Many scenes in this program might appear cliched, but quite a few of those clichés were used well and contributed to the overall emotional resonance. And since the characters seem to have some chemistry, it’s quite like going on a weird road trip with your buddies.

From seeing the movie, I got a feeling that there were some Gunn’s touches that were similar to the Guardians touch he’d go on to create. A bunch of misfits who are squabbling with each other, but at the end of the day they are bound together by a cause and as annoying as it sounds, each of their abilities are synergistic. There are also scenes that share the same self-deprecating humor, such as when they parody the Scooby-Doo format, this was also something Star Lord will do in the future.

This film was quite enjoyable for me in my childhood days and it has not let me down now. The cast is great, the story is interesting, and it really feels like Scooby-Doo, and also like a forerunner of Guardians of the Galaxy. Therefore, if you haven’t seen this installment in Gunn’s career, then do so.

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