Scooby-Doo (2002)
Directed by Raja Gosnell
When the Mystery Inc. gang is invited to Spooky Island, a popular amusement park, they soon discover that the attractions aren't the only things that are spooky. Strange things are happening, and it's up to Scooby, Shaggy, Fred, Daphne, and Velma to uncover the truth behind the mysterious happenings.
12 connections found
View:
12 films that influenced Scooby-Doo
What critics say influenced Scooby-Doo
On the island, they meet Emil Mondavarious ( Bean 's Rowan Atkinson), the park's owner, who informs them that something strange is going on at his establishment.
Two years later, a summons from Spooky Island theme park owner Mondavarious (Rowan Atkinson, "Bean") will reunite the trio along with the never split team of Shaggy (Matthew Lillard, "Summer Catch") and "Scooby-Doo."
Unlike the lead-balloon adaptations "Josie and the Pussycats" and Warren Beatty's "Dick Tracy," "Scooby-Doo" knows when to take itself seriously and when to laugh at itself - even if its audience isn't laughing along at every gag.
It's marginally better than the clunky 1994 adaptation of "The Flintstones," but is that much of a recommendation?
Inspiring minimal confidence is the director of "Big Momma's House" and "Home Alone 3", Raja Gosnell, and James Gunn, the writer behind a couple of Troma films and "The Specials".
Scooby-Doo, the latest entry in this genre, helmed by editor-turned-director Raja Gosnell ( Big Momma's House ), barely falls into the first category; while I never cared much for the original TV series, I must admit the film is reasonably funny and its source material well-researched.
The other bonus is the movie's self-referential sense of humor, courtesy of director Raja Gosnell ("Big Momma's House," "Never Been Kissed") and screenwriter James Gunn, a veteran of the infamous Troma Studios.
Gosnell exposed his witless comedy before in "Big Momma's House" and "Home Alone 3"--admittedly, big moneymakers--and here he drains all the potential out of the Scooby premise to carve out this hollow kids' movie.
The best thing director Raja Gosnell ("Big Momma's House") has going for him is his game cast, especially the lovable Cardellini (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") and the ever-uninhibited Lillard ("13 Ghosts"), who manages to simultaneously do a dead-on impersonation of original Shaggy voicer Casey Kasem and pump slapstick life into the film's otherwise leaden action set pieces.
As written by screenwriter James Gunn ("The Specials") and directed by Raja Gosnell ("Big Momma's House," "Never Been Kissed"), the film does succeed - much like "The Flintstones" - in capturing the series look as well as in creating the kid-friendly funhouse aura.
Advertisement
In a narrative credited to writers Craig Titley (See Spot Run) and controversial Troma refugee James Gunn, the film is an in-jokey recapitulation and unnecessary modification of the source series.
Inspiring minimal confidence is the director of "Big Momma's House" and "Home Alone 3", Raja Gosnell, and James Gunn, the writer behind a couple of Troma films and "The Specials".
Gosnell exposed his witless comedy before in "Big Momma's House" and "Home Alone 3"--admittedly, big moneymakers--and here he drains all the potential out of the Scooby premise to carve out this hollow kids' movie.
But the whole enterprise is directed by editor-turned-director Raja Gosnell (Big Mama's House, Never Been Kissed, Home Alone 3).
I'd like to kiss the idiot who picked Raja Gosnell, director of clumsy "comedy" crap such as Big Momma's House and Home Alone 3, for finding the only director who could possibly make James Gunn's writing appear worse than it actually is.
Has CGI not advanced at all since Jurassic Park?
James Gunn's ("Tromeo and Juliet") story and screenplay feature all the elements of a Scooby episode and introduce just enough differences for the film's feature length.
I'd like to thank the "brains" behind this inevitable bomb for hiring James Gunn, former screenwriter for classic Troma Films' junk such as Tromeo and Juliet and Tromaville Cafe, for not even giving this picture a fighting chance.
Advertisement
The other bonus is the movie's self-referential sense of humor, courtesy of director Raja Gosnell ("Big Momma's House," "Never Been Kissed") and screenwriter James Gunn, a veteran of the infamous Troma Studios.
Raja Gosnell ("Never Been Kissed") directs a perfectly cast group of young actors and brings Hanna Barbera's long-running cartoon to loopy life.
But the whole enterprise is directed by editor-turned-director Raja Gosnell (Big Mama's House, Never Been Kissed, Home Alone 3).
As written by screenwriter James Gunn ("The Specials") and directed by Raja Gosnell ("Big Momma's House," "Never Been Kissed"), the film does succeed - much like "The Flintstones" - in capturing the series look as well as in creating the kid-friendly funhouse aura.
Sadly, the same can't be said of the flat-looking digital Scooby, an unfortunate throwback to CG animation's pre-"Toy Story" infancy.