Fun Fact of the Week #400

5/9/2022

This post marks the 400th Monday that a fun fact has been posted. It's hard to believe I've been posting them every week for approaching 10 years now (since October 2014). To help celebrate, a very special guest is joining us to present today's fun fact. I'm so excited to share that today's fun fact is provided by the director of Daphne & Velma, Suzi Yoonessi. Besides just this fun fact, I recently did an interview with Suzi, which I will be posting here on the film's four-year anniversary on May 22.

The scene in Daphne & Velma that takes place in a dark elevator was originally not going to be in the film. There were some other scenes originally planned to appear in its place, however, the production crew ran into some issues at the last minute and had to revise the script a bit. However, Suzi was ultimately satisfied with the final product, and enjoyed that they were able to reference such a classic trope of the franchise.

"The elevator scene was a result of budget constraints and was a last-minute solution when sets needed to be cut due to budget constraints." Suzi informs. "I've always been a fan of the eyes lit up in the dark elevator scenes, so I'm happy we were able to pay homage to that Scooby Doo trope."

Thanks so much to Suzi Yoonessi for sharing today's fun fact, and be sure to keep an eye out for the full-length interview I conducted with her on Sunday, May 22!

26 Comments

Colin

5/9/2022 06:31:06 am

Do you know if there are any updates on that last Daphne & Velma book? Thanks!

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 09:31:49 am

I don't, unfortunately. One of the questions I asked Suzi in the full interview is if she had any connection to the Daphne & Velma book series, and she said that the books were unconnected to the movies and she didn't know the author.

Amazon still lists the incorrect date of June 1, 2021, although they did update the description, which gives me hope that they haven't totally abandoned this. https://www.amazon.com/Daphne-Velma-YA-Novel-Scooby-Doo/dp/1338652761 It's really weird though, because when I talked to the author last summer, she made it sound like the book was finished and the delay is on Scholastic's end. (The conversation I'm talking about is here: https://scoobysnax1.weebly.com/blog/daphne-velma-book-3-delayed-again)

I'm really hoping they release the book soon, because it's really weird we've gone nearly two years without hearing anything.

Colin

5/10/2022 05:57:07 am

That's a bummer, but thanks for the info!

whackman

5/9/2022 12:09:20 pm

My opinion about Scoob! this is going to be fairly long so please bear with me on this.
Bad Qualities

1.Although the original two theatrical live-action Scooby-Doo! movies aren't very good films, SCOOB! (while improvement that weren't even shown) isn't exactly anything better, due to the fact that the main issue is that it lacks the charm of the Warner Animation Group movies since it hasn't produced any more Lego movies and the movie is your typical standard "find the MacGuffin" trope film with more focus put on generic superhero, science-fiction, adventure, action and wacky comedy genre like most modern cinematic universes (even movies and animated films as well, except Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar) with not really much of mystery solving, which doesn't really follow the Scooby-Doo formula closely, despite being a Scooby-Doo! film.

Furthermore, what makes the film even pointless is that giving Scooby-Doo a heritage as a plot element is nothing really new in the Scooby-Doo! franchise as Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated has already done this plot element that was very complex and also ties well into the concept of Mystery, Inc. as a whole, and it also ties well into Scooby's relationship with the members of Mystery, Inc. The heritage in this movie is more based on typical sacrificing the chosen one to make things right that's been done in many movies already.

criticism of the trailer is that it depicts Scooby without pronouncing a majority of his words with an R. This actually isn't anything new, considering Mystery Incorporated (which the movie's director worked on) had Scooby speaking in proper English most of the time, as well as the fact that a lot of the recent Direct-to-Video movies downplayed this aspect. Admittedly, this was hard for all of the Scooby voice actors, leading to it being downplayed even in the original series as time went on.

2.Similar to most films that focusing on the idea for trying to setting up for Cinematic Universe than the actual story, such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro and the infamous 2017 reboot of The Mummy, the film focus on the idea for more mainly setting up a Cinematic Universe for the Hanna-Barbera franchise, rather than being a actual Scooby-Doo! movie that are starting to tire of franchises trying to cash in on the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (though enough, Warner Bros themselves are guilty of this considering how when they tried to to make a cinematic universe out of the The Lego Movie, over-saturation caused it to fizzle out, despite that it never killed the franchise.), in which it focusing on less, and because of this, the film feels very cluttered and rushed story as where it tries to throw in a lot of Hanna-Barbara elements without taking that much time to explore much more of those elements, particularly with Captain Caveman's appearance, who, despite his voice actor getting top billing and being featured on one of the international posters, is just shoehorned for only one scene, didn't end up getting that much more amount of screen time for much of anything to do, something that can be boiled down to the fact that he's hardly in the movie at all and is then left out and forgotten about after being defeated by Dynomutt into protecting the third skull of Cerberus, before being stolen and kidnapped Scooby-Doo by Dick Dastardly and joining the gang for the climax (though however, he does appear in end credits). His connection with Dee Dee and the Teen Angels isn't even touched upon, though one can make the assumption said group hadn't been formed yet in this film's world. But unlike The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Mummy, however, the Cinematic Universe for Hanna-Barbera actually didn't get cancelled, since it doesn't released in theatres (due to COVID-19) nor box office bombs and there are more projects films that were in development. They also wasted perfectly good plot (through the Dark Universe is eventually resumed, with Renfield, a film centered around Count Dracula's henchman of the same name, has been in development).

Similarly, some people were enticed by the Origin Story set up at the very beginning, only for the plot to quickly abandon that and only use it to explain how the Mystery Gang first met. Many found this unnecessary given that, if it wasn't the base of the film, they could have let the gang have a Multiple-Choice Past instead.

When the announcement came of a new theatrical Scooby movie, a lot of people expected a traditional "Scooby-Doo" Hoax movie with just the gang. News that it was primarily a Crossover came early in interviews, but managed to be missed by a lot of people who weren't following the news that closely. In the end, the completed film doesn't really have a traditional Scooby mystery and is just centered around quest and adventure while stopping a bad guy instead of unmasking a monster. A Scooby-Doo film that lacks a mystery turned off plenty of Scooby-Doo fans.

Alternatively, the

whackman

5/9/2022 12:29:41 pm

Reposting my previous post since for some odd reason most of the text I made about Scoob didn't,get posted here strange.

2.Similar to most films that focusing on the idea for trying to setting up for Cinematic Universe than the actual story, such as The Amazing Spider-Man 2: Rise of Electro and the infamous 2017 reboot of The Mummy, the film focus on the idea for more mainly setting up a Cinematic Universe for the Hanna-Barbera franchise, rather than being a actual Scooby-Doo! movie that are starting to tire of franchises trying to cash in on the success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (though enough, Warner Bros themselves are guilty of this considering how when they tried to to make a cinematic universe out of the The Lego Movie, over-saturation caused it to fizzle out, despite that it never killed the franchise.), in which it focusing on less, and because of this, the film feels very cluttered and rushed story as where it tries to throw in a lot of Hanna-Barbara elements without taking that much time to explore much more of those elements, particularly with Captain Caveman's appearance, who, despite his voice actor getting top billing and being featured on one of the international posters, is just shoehorned for only one scene, didn't end up getting that much more amount of screen time for much of anything to do, something that can be boiled down to the fact that he's hardly in the movie at all and is then left out and forgotten about after being defeated by Dynomutt into protecting the third skull of Cerberus, before being stolen and kidnapped Scooby-Doo by Dick Dastardly and joining the gang for the climax (though however, he does appear in end credits). His connection with Dee Dee and the Teen Angels isn't even touched upon, though one can make the assumption said group hadn't been formed yet in this film's world. But unlike The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and The Mummy, however, the Cinematic Universe for Hanna-Barbera actually didn't get cancelled, since it doesn't released in theatres (due to COVID-19) nor box office bombs and there are more projects films that were in development. They also wasted perfectly good plot (through the Dark Universe is eventually resumed, with Renfield, a film centered around Count Dracula's henchman of the same name, has been in development).

Similarly, some people were enticed by the Origin Story set up at the very beginning, only for the plot to quickly abandon that and only use it to explain how the Mystery Gang first met. Many found this unnecessary given that, if it wasn't the base of the film, they could have let the gang have a Multiple-Choice Past instead.

When the announcement came of a new theatrical Scooby movie, a lot of people expected a traditional "Scooby-Doo" Hoax movie with just the gang. News that it was primarily a Crossover came early in interviews, but managed to be missed by a lot of people who weren't following the news that closely. In the end, the completed film doesn't really have a traditional Scooby mystery and is just centered around quest and adventure while stopping a bad guy instead of unmasking a monster. A Scooby-Doo film that lacks a mystery turned off plenty of Scooby-Doo fans.

Alternatively, the idea of Scooby and Shaggy teaming up with various other Hanna-Barbera characters would've worked much better if they excluded the rest of the Mystery Gang from the plot and only focused on a handful of characters. Dynomutt/Blue Falcon's sub-plot in particular was worthy of a film by itself.

For those that did want to see a Hanna Barbera cinematic universe launch, the direction of making an Alternate Continuity and putting it in a modern setting was an issue. Some feel this setting needed the freedom to pick and choose and to avoid the Canon Welding the Scooby-Doo Direct-to-Video Film Series had been doing for the previous year. For what it was worth, the movie ended up with a dual tone that on one hand clearly showed a loving embrace to many of the characters but made some changes that lead to a lot of "if it isn't broke, don't fix it" reactions. While others will admit that, given this film could launch a series of films, it is entirely possible some of these changes have intentional payoff plans that will lead to them being better appreciated. Until then, though, if this is all they wrote, it would make some older fans feel cheated to have not gotten the more classic versions.

3.While most of the characters were funny and likable, the new character, Brian Crown/Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg's character) was very annoying and unlikable dude bro instead of being a serious and competent personality hero (not even for the mid-2000s standards anymore) as many fans were disappointed that this version of him is actually his son for Radley Crown and not the original of the classic Blue Falcon where it never appear in this movie. However, the classic Blue Falcon does makes a cameo appearance and it was later revealed that Radley Crown have retired to

whackman

5/9/2022 12:41:43 pm

I a guessing their is a limit to how much text you can post, hence I am going to divide my post about Scooby in several paragraph sorry about this.

4.Despite being part of the main cast for the characters, the three Mystery Inc. members, Fred, Velma, and Daphne (while likable) feels rather pointless and forgettable, as they spend most of the film away from Scooby-Doo and Shaggy ending up getting kidnapped by Dick Dastardly in the process of trying to find them and served no purpose to the actual story.

In fact, they actually did get the least more amount of screen time and were wasted out of the major characters (with the exception of Captain Caveman, who is knocked out by Dynomutt for protecting the third skull of Cerberus) as Scooby-Doo and Shaggy are the characters that the story gives the most focus to, while they were underdeveloped and more underutilised; they could have been written out and it wouldn't have made a difference. It wouldn't even be that much of an issue to cut them from the story since they didn't appear in several movies and shows in the 1980's.

5.Similar to the animated reboots shows and movies, like the 2016 reboot of The Powerpuff Girls, the Mystery Inc. members (except for Scooby-Doo, who is still current voiced by Frank Welker) were recast with celebrity voice actors for no discernible reason. The recurring voice actors for the main cast, like Matthew Lillard (Shaggy), Kate Micucci (Velma), and Grey Griffin (Daphne), were disappointed that they were not contacted to reprise their roles for the film. Despite that, however, the recurring voice actors still continue to voice their characters in the rest of the franchise, especially for direct-to-video, video games and even shows.

For the biggest example, Will Forte's voice performance as Shaggy isn't very good and lacks the charm, compared to the rest of Shaggy's actors, like Matthew Lillard, even though he was trying his best to make it similar to Casey Kasem's impression, to which he considers Kasem an icon.

Amanda Seyfried did a weak job at voicing Daphne Blake since she can sound deeper or may not sound like her cartoon voice actors.

Zac Efron didn't do very well choice as Fred, since he was weak impression of Frank Welker, Fred and Scooby-Doo's voice actor.

On the subject of Frank Welker, while its great to hear that he reprised his role of Scooby-Doo, it comes off as hypocritical as they got him reprise his role as Scooby-Doo but not as Fred and to get any of the other voice actors from the original shows such as Matthew Lillard, making it pander to nostalgia for Welker for the classics, similar to the 2019 remake of The Lion King how they got James Earl Jones to reprise the voice role as Mufasa, but not everyone in the cast.Gina Rodriguez does the below average voice performance as Velma.Tracy Morgan did a terrible job as Captain Caveman since he just normally spoke in his normal voice rather than a growly broken voice as originated by Mel Blanc, which retcons the character. That said, he didn't even bother saying his signature "unga bunga" catchphrase.

6.While the animation is great overall for Reel FX Creative Studios, it tends to look uncanny at times, like Simon Cowell's incredibly realistic rendering design that doesn't get age well with the Tex Avery-esque cartoony designs of the other characters, who only appears at the first and third act, and Dynomutt's neck is an Inspector Gadget-like cute affection in more traditional animation but due to his more realistic design becomes extremely creepy whenever it moves, resembling something like a python or a severe injury result.

Speaking of which, while the redesigns for Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, and Daphne have been widely praised, Fred's has been met with much divisiveness. This is attributed to the fact that he no longer sports his signature ascot and looks more like a stereotypical TV jock. Not the first time, most of the Post-"Zombie Island" movies and "What's New Scooby Doo" were hit by the same criticism on his design. Fans just can't picture the guy without his ascot.

7.Overused of many unnecessary dated pop culture references, modern teen slang, and product placements used in the film. Such as Brian Crown/Blue Falcon dabbing in one scene after he was introduced in the Falcon Fury, the scene where Captain Caveman referred the Mystery Machine as some "dope" wheels, the mention of toxic masculinity from Velma that comes out of nowhere, and the mentions of IKEA, Netflix, Tinder and Walmart. Furthermore, the soundtrack also contains too many overuses pop-culture songs that are out-of-place and unfitting.

whackman

5/9/2022 12:47:43 pm

Right picking up where I left about Scoob
8.Scooby and Shaggy's friendship, while decent and faithful to the source material, feels rather unfocused and the movie wants you to have believe this bond is the glue that holds the film in place and yet it didn't, since it was quite underdeveloped.

9.The movie copied many scenes of other movies, such as The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, another film produced by Warner Animation Group. For example: in the said The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, Emmet's friends got captured by General Mayhem, which is exactly the same thing as Shaggy's friends have been captured by Dick Dastardly, but unlike Dick Dastardly however, General Sweet Mayhem isn't actually an actual villain, since she was revealed that she just wanted to make peace with the citizens of Apocalypsburg, just like the rest of Systar System.

10.Even though this isn't the first time that the franchise has done crossovers, this film's crossover is not done too well as the film tries to shoehorned too many Hanna-Barbara characters in, resulting in Mystery Inc. not getting a lot of focus as Scooby. Also, even though there was Scooby-Doo crossovers with Blue Falcon before, it was done way better because the primary focus of the film was kept on Mystery Inc. interacting with Blue Falcon, giving them an even number of screen time, and mystery solving was the main theme instead of typical superhero, science-fiction, action and adventure.

11.The story is rather generic and cliché. Particularly when Shaggy and Scooby-Doo's friendship breaks apart as it coming off for used the "Friend or Idol Decision" cliché, when they are heading out to get the last skull of Cerberus.

12.hile the characters portrays faithfully, some characters are not accurate from their cartoon shows that retcons the character, especially in this case of Dynomutt and Captain Caveman. In the cartoon shows, Dynomutt was bumbling silly robot dog sidekick; here, he is rather changed into more sarcastic straight and smarter in the movie. And Captain Caveman just spoke normally words in the movie rather than his "cave-talk" dialogue in the show.

13.The unnecessary faster energy pacing make the movie rather cluttered and hard to follow at times where it never taking time to stop and breathe.

14.While the film does pay homage to many Easter eggs, in-jokes and references, the cameos and references of other Hanna-Barbera characters, like Dee Dee Skyes and Captain Caveman, were out of place and intrusive. As the result, only older audiences and cartoon nerds will know who the hell characters are.

whackman

5/9/2022 12:56:52 pm

Right last part about Scoob and very sorry about the mess I made on this site.

15.The conflict arc between Shaggy and Scooby-Doo is pretty much forced, mean-spirited and childish, especially with the infamous line "I never thought I'd say this, but Simon Cowell was right! You can't count on friendship!"

16.Most of the jokes and humor were either forgettable at best, just cringeworthy and unfunny at worst or even unoriginal, including an opening joke involving a young Shaggy going through a playlist that plays music about being lonely that was ripped off straight from Zootopia and the Blue Falcon's intro being played to "All I Do Is Win" by DJ Khaled.

17.Too many locations in the movie that are just only shoehorned for around in the entire one scene such as Colosseum in Rome and not common Scooby-Doo locations (save from the opening montage with the theme song) and basically can't decide what the locations are, as it was just road trip with the subplot, adventures on aircraft and adventures with hell.

18.Very weak direction from Tony Cervone, the same director behind The Flintstones & WWE: Stone Age Smackstone.

Good Qualities

1.t doesn't have the same spirit to the live-action Scooby Doo films, it tends to steer away from its usual mystery genre, and it manages to stay rather faithful to the Scooby-Doo! franchise through its heart and comedy.

2.It does has some good messages about friendship and teamwork; two of the main themes of the source material, and yet this movie takes them to the most elaborate, with examples such as how friendship can live on and how teamwork can lead to more than just the sake of pairing up with one another, which are positive influences on the film's character development and for its target audience

3.The CGI animation is great, it works well with the film's tone, and it creates very spooky-themed aesthetics, all thanks to Reel FX Creative Studios. Even the character designs match their original versions, except Fred.

4.It does have an amount of fast and thrilling action that ties into the film's cartoony and adventure-like tone, especially the air chase scene when Dick Dastardly's ship battles against the Falcon Fury in the beginning.

5.The scene where Dastardly and Muttley reuniting for the treasure is touching.

6.The ending isn't too bad.

7.The voice acting isn't all that bad, despite the voice acting of Mystery Inc. members being hilariously miscasted. particular, Jason Isaacs did an awesome job voicing Dick Dastardly, which makes him an impressive villain

8.Although the pop-culture songs were out-of-place and unfitting, the musical score by Tom Holkenborg is good. ummer Feelings", the credits/main theme sung by Lennon Stella and Charlie Puth, is a great summer song with catchy and boppy synths, while the cover of the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! theme by Best Coast is super fun and a solid rearrangement! hough to be fair, there are some good pop-culture songs that were rather fitting, like "Sirius - Chicago Bulls Theme Song" by The Alan Parsons Project.

9.Like mentioned before, most of the characters are likable and funny like Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Crew themselves, despite Fred, Velma, and Daphne being pointless and forgettable.

10.There is over 340+ Easter Eggs and Pop Culture Reference, In-Jokes and Homages to the original source material, which make the film rather fun and interesting to watch, despite being out of place and intrusive.

11.he Film does a good job portraying culture of both, California and Greece, as during scenes in both places, they incorporate real elements to make both places look real rather than look generic like most movies would (for example, in California, real places and street performers can been seen in the streets of Venice Beach and in Greece, the restaurant that is shown when the gang first arrives is indeed a real restaurant at the acropolis in Athens).

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 02:37:58 pm

Wow, this is a bit random and quite long (probably the longest comment I've ever seen on here). I wasn't aware of any character limit, but there may be one. I'll try to respond to each of your points, but since it's so long, I may miss something:

1. I didn't really mind the lack of mystery solving aspect. I know you're certainly not alone in that criticism, but I didn't mind that this leaned a bit more into the adventure genre.

2. I've always found it odd that they were talking so much about a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe but then never followed through with it. It seems like the idea has been scrapped. However, Jellystone! has aspects of a Hanna-Barbera Cinematic Universe, so maybe they repurposed the idea for that show. I think Jellystone! does the concept much better than this film, so if that's the case, I'm happy they went that route. I agree with you that Dynomutt and Blue Falcon felt like they had more of a presence in the film than Velma, Daphne and Fred. It felt like those three characters were sort of pushed to the side. I don't think I would have liked if they were completely excluded, but they could have taken more time to flesh out the characters. I'm not sure what you mean by "they could have let the gang have a Multiple-Choice Past instead." What is a Multiple-Choice Past?

3. I didn't particularly mind Blue Falcon's new personality, although it was very different.

4. You make a good point about it not making a difference to the plot if Fred, Velma and Daphne were written out. I disagree that "It wouldn't even be that much of an issue to cut them from the story since they didn't appear in several movies and shows in the 1980's." I think a lot of people would have been upset if they didn't appear, but I get what you're saying.

5. I agree that Captain Caveman barely had a presence in the film, and it was odd he got top billing. I would have liked to see them explore how he met Dee Dee, rather than just not acknowledging they know each other at all, given they're from the same show. I wasn't overly bothered by any of the new voice actors, although I like the main ones better and wouldn't want any of those voices to replace the current ones. It also makes me sad that they didn't tell any of the voice actors they were not going to be in the film, and they had to find out with everybody else when it was announced.

6. I didn't mind the different animation style, but I can understand why you would.

7. A few lines, such as the "dope wheels" one were definitely a bit cringey, as well as Blue Falcon dabbing, but it fell into the "so bad it's funny" category for me, so I didn't mind it.

8. Yeah, certain aspects of the film could have been developed a bit better.

9-15, 17 & 18. None of these particularly bothered me, but they're fair criticisms. I guess I'm more in the "I enjoyed this film for what it was" category, but all your criticisms are understandable and I've heard many of them before.

16. Yeah, Blue Falcon's intro song being a DJ Khaled song was pretty cringey.

1. This was one of the things I most enjoyed about this film. It stays very true to the Scooby-Doo brand and comedy style. I liked how this explored new ground that the previous live-action films hadn't.

2. Yeah, the message of the film was very sweet :)

3. I really like the animation too!

4-6. Agreed!

7. Yeah, I liked Jason Isaacs as Dick Dastardly too. I didn't mind the new voice actors for the gang, but I respect your opinion.

8. I love "Summer Feelings" too! It's such a fun song. I don't think I've heard Best Coast's version of the theme song. I also really enjoyed "I Fly" and "Yikes."

10. I enjoyed the Easter Eggs as well, but I wish they would have been less in-your-face. It would have been nice to have them more hidden and occasional rather than in every scene, but it's a minor complaint.

11. I wouldn't say I know enough about either of those places to be able to accurately say if the cultures are well-portrayed, but it's good to hear they are!

whackman

5/9/2022 03:49:52 pm

What is a Multiple-Choice Past? this is not easy to explain, this post explains it much better then I.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MultipleChoicePast

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 04:43:58 pm

Oh okay, I understand what you meant now. Thanks!

Matt

5/10/2022 05:15:40 pm

I gotta admit, I was not expecting to see a novel of a review of Scoob in the section of this post lol

I probably could not make a review of this movie that long, so props for that I guess

John Locke

5/9/2022 01:41:22 pm

Nice! Glad they were willing to do the interview, I can't wait to read it!

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 02:11:08 pm

Thanks! :)

whackman

5/9/2022 03:59:59 pm

Here is my opinion about Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Bad Qualities
1.Excessive amount of fart and burp jokes, though there are nowhere nearly as many as there were in the first film. To be fair, most of the non-toilet humor isn't amusing, either.

2.The plot is confusing and badly executed - and the story is not even an original concept for the Scooby-Doo! franchise, as the 2002 game Scooby-Doo! Night of 100 Frights had already done this concept.

3.Awful CGI effects especially in the transformation scene.
4.Alicia Silverstone's performance as Heather Jasper-Howe is incredibly bad, so bad it's one of the reasons for why the next point is so bad.

5.The mystery in this movie is very poorly put together. First off, it's far too easy to figure out who the villain is, mostly because of the casting of Alicia Silverstone. Her poor acting to try and look innocent, and the film trying way too hard to make it look like her character isn't the villain by making the characters portrayed by Seth Green and Peter Boyle look way too suspicious, don't help at all. And second off, Zahf Paroo's character who was Ned the Cameraman for Heather's reporting, he's revealed to be the one who disguised as the Mastermind to make Heather look innocent even though he appears as a background character in the movie and is given no dialogue and practically no screen time for the audience to know who he is, which makes the reveal of him covering for Heather come off as totally out of nowhere.

6.Laughable and forgettable dialogue.
7.Most of the villains don't come off as scary and instead seem lame and pointless. Their designs also look awful, even by 2004 standards.

8.Shaggy and Scooby are even DUMBER in this film. In one scene, the two are seen drinking unknown science formulas, the formulas resulted in
1.Scooby turning into an alien
2.Shaggy getting the body of a woman.
3.Scooby turning into the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes.
4.Shaggy growing muscles with a dumb personality to go along.
5.Scooby turning into a smart scientist and speaking normally.

9.The title doesn't make any sense since there is no ties to the original movie and feels less like a sequel and instead a stand-alone film.
10.The Luna Ghost (a fan favorite from the first movie) isn't seen or mentioned in this one, making him a bit of a wasted opportunity. The Mud Bog Ghoul mentioned at the end of the first movie wasn’t seen at all.

whackman

5/9/2022 04:16:27 pm

Final thoughs about Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.
Good Qualities
1. has a better grasp of the source material compared to its predecessor; the monsters in the movie are actually from the cartoons and the events of the first film are completely ignored (with the exception of a fleeting reference to Mary Jane), which makes it look like those events didn't even happen. It helps that James Gunn (the films' writer) is a fan of Scooby-Doo. The gang also goes to a traditional haunted house like in the cartoons.

2.Most of the acting is great (Matthew Lillard's portrayal of Shaggy Rogers is also still great), and, the new cast members (with the very notable exception of Alicia Silverstone) are fitting additions to the cast, including Seth Green, Tim Blake Nelson and Peter Boyle. The acting of Velma, Daphne and Fred has also improved noticeably.

3.The main characters are better portrayed than in the previous film. remarkable aspect is how the characters develop when doubting the roles that in the original cartoon they followed to the letter:
1.Fred wants to show that he can be a true team leader and not just the handsome guy.
2.Daphne begins to distrust herself for thinking that she's just "a pretty face".
3.Velma feels insecure about her image and feels that she deserves that her personality be something more than "the smart girl".
4.Shaggy and Scooby are fed up with being seen as buffoons or the team's fools and are desperately trying to prove their bravery to others by trying to solve the mystery themselves. n fact, the scene where Shaggy and Scooby lament and reflect on how they do nothing but mess things up for the team despite their efforts and wish for being able to do things right is pretty sad and even relatable for some people.

In fact, the scene where Shaggy and Scooby lament and reflect on how they do nothing but mess things up for the team despite their efforts and wish for being able to do things right is pretty sad and even relatable for some people.

4.Some of the jokes are pretty funny, such as the Cotton Candy Glob part and “You’re pushing your luck, Scoob!”
5.Even though the monster designs are bad, they're somewhat better than those in the first film. Daphne's outfit is also more accurate (although she still wears pink go-go boots in some scenes) and Scooby-Doo looks nice in his Jimmy Hendrix-like costume.

6.Decent soundtrack by David Newman.
7.Some of the dialogue is quite memorable including, "I think Coolsville sucks".
8.MXPX's cover of the Scooby-Doo theme song from the first film was reused in this film's climax.
9.The only genuinely terrifying villains are the Tar Monster and the 10,000 Volt Ghost, especially when the Tar Monster cover his enemies in tar.
10.Even though Heather-Jasper Howe was poorly executed, her story arc aged well in a post-Donald Trump era with the rise of "fake news".
11.The Evil Masked Figure’s mask is quite expressive and unique.
12.There is a heartwarming flashback showing the Mystery Inc. crew playing fetch with Scooby.
13. had some neatly put fanservice that catered to Scooby-Doo fans without pandering. For example, a few monsters from the cartoons can be seen as displays at the museum and the Black Knight Ghost was mentioned by Fred as Mystery Inc.’s first case, which is a reference to the very first Scooby-Doo cartoon and had the Black Knight Ghost as the villain.
14.The genuinely good visual effects came from the Black Knight Ghost, which was made from a man in armor and CGI.
15.Decent climax.

Jakob123

5/9/2022 04:44:14 pm

Excuse me! but....that is one of my childhood favourites your talking about!

I sujest that you quit bitching at the things that I like.

whackman

5/9/2022 04:53:02 pm

No offence Jakob123, but that's just my Opinion about Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed everyone is entitled to their own about this.

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 05:00:27 pm

Jakob, everyone is allowed to have their personal likes and dislikes. While you're more than welcome to disagree, I would appreciate if you'd remain civil in expressing your disagreement with other people. Thank you.

whackman

5/9/2022 05:34:17 pm

Further thoughts about Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. 11. The reveal that Heather Jasper-Howe happens to be Dr. Jacobo has little foreshadowing. It would have been better if Heather was the secret daughter of Jacobo rather than his persona. 12. Plot holes: When Velma first put on her spandex, she can see without her glasses but by the end, she can’t see without her glasses. The people at the Faux Ghost don't seem to know that their costumes were being transformed into monsters. 13. The Skeleton Men changed from menacing villains in the cartoons to gibberish speaking Minion prototypes. 14. Some jokes tend to be repeated at times, such as the joke where The Black Knight gets injured in the crotch in two scenes, first with Velma's foot, then from Fred clamping his crotch with lighting clippers, which gets rather repetitive due to the joke not really being that funny in the first place. 15. Overuse of cartoon sound effects, particularly during the potions scene. 16. There is some product placement for Burger King.

WildwindVampire link

5/9/2022 05:46:17 pm

I liked Monsters Unleashed overall, other than I wasn't the biggest fan of the bodily humor jokes. I didn't necessarily care for Heather Jasper-Howe as a character either, but I wouldn't go as far to say as I hate her.

I also like this movie a bit better than the last one. It felt a lot more nostalgic with the classic villains. I also enjoyed the acting and especially like Matthew Lillard's Shaggy portrayal. I'm happy that he ultimately became the voice of Shaggy when Casey Kasem had to retire. I liked the character development a bit better in this one as compared to the first film too. Particularly the development with Shaggy and Scooby was quite engaging. "I think Coolsville sucks!" is definitely a memorable line haha. The Tar Monster and the 10,000 Volt Ghost were among my favorite villains in this film; the CGI and visual effects for them were amazing! I also liked the Evil Masked Figure as a villain.

Also, I edited this post to remove your original #14. This is a kid-friendly site, so that particular point crossed was pretty inappropriate and I think we'd all prefer not to discuss topics like that on a Scooby blog. Thank you.

whackman

5/9/2022 06:13:56 pm

I apologize for my original #14 post regarding Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, you are right such that was rather Inappropriate on my half and thanks for removing that. I Promise to be more careful about what I post here in the future, Peace to everyone and sorry about that.

Lamont

5/10/2022 04:41:27 pm

I still wished that Daphne and Velma got a movie sequel. I thought the movie was pretty good!

WildwindVampire link

5/10/2022 05:36:49 pm

I thought the film was amazing, and it remains one of my top 10 Scooby films to this day. I think they set it up super well for a sequel, so I wish we could have seen one! Without giving too much away, Suzi made it sound like the option remains open for one even though it's not in development.

Lamont

5/10/2022 08:39:21 pm

I hope that option stays open cause I definitely want to see what happens next!

WildwindVampire link

5/11/2022 09:03:44 am

Me too! It would be cool to see a continuation that had them solving the mystery of the ghost/demon that popped up on their computer screen at the end of the film.

Fun Fact of the Week #400

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