Shaggy and Scooby-Doo want to be detectives. That is the problem. “Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed,” the 2004 sequel to the earlier live-action outing, hands the two crime-solving dogs a secret plan and lets them run with it. What follows is a movie about a villain who steals monster costumes and turns them into real ghosts, while Shaggy and Scooby-Doo try to solve the mystery all by themselves.
Trailer, via Warner Bros. Worldwide.
The Plan
The setup is simple. A masked figure steals two monster costumes from the Coolsonian Criminology Museum, and the gang’s former foes — the 10,000 Volt Ghost, the Cotton Candy Glob, the Skelemen and the Pterodactyl Ghost — appear as real threats. The gang suspects a former enemy is behind it all, and they settle on Jeremiah Wickles, the former Black Knight Ghost, as the mastermind.
Shaggy and Scooby-Doo refuse to let the others help. They sneak off to the “Faux Ghost” nightclub, a hangout for exposed villains, to question Wickles. They learn he has given up crime. Then the patrons see through their ruse and chase them out.
The Grimoire
Velma finds a key ingredient in the grimoire, a book once owned by mad scientist Doctor Jonathan Jacobo. The book serves as an instruction manual for creating real supernatural beings through black magic and mad science. The gang visits Wickles’ mansion to find it.
The plan falls apart fast. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo cannot handle the mystery alone. Their friends Fred, Daphne and Velma watch in confusion as the duo tries to prove themselves. The movie keeps circling back to the same idea: Shaggy and Scooby-Doo feel guilty over ruining a plan to stop the villain’s escape, and they want to make amends.
The Cast
Freddie Prinze Jr. plays Fred. Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Daphne. Matthew Lillard plays Shaggy. Linda Cardellini plays Velma. Neil Fanning voices Scooby-Doo and the Tasmanian Devil. Seth Green plays Patrick. Peter Boyle plays Old Man Wickles. Tim Blake Nelson plays Jacobo. Alicia Silverstone plays Heather Jasper Howe, the journalist who starts a smear campaign against the gang. Pat O’Brien plays himself. Bill Meilen plays the chauffeur. Zahf Paroo plays Ned.
The movie was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 26, 2004. It grossed $181 million worldwide, less than its predecessor. A third film written and directed by Gunn was planned, but it was canceled following the second film’s lower financial earnings.
The Verdict
This is a movie that knows its own joke. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are the problem, and the movie spends its runtime making that joke bigger instead of smarter. The secret plan is a device for forcing the two characters to act alone, not a clever twist. The result is a film that keeps repeating the same gag about Shaggy and Scooby-Doo’s failures, without giving them a way out.
The film eventually gained a cult following, even as critics dismissed it at the time. That reputation is earned, but it is a small comfort. This is a movie that asks you to watch Shaggy and Scooby-Doo fail again and again, and then fail some more, and it never quite decides whether that is funny or sad.
Key Facts Box
- Title: Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
- Year: 2004
- Director: Raja Gosnell
- Writer: James Gunn
- Runtime: 93 minutes
- Genres: Mystery, Adventure, Comedy
- Box office: $181 million worldwide
- Critical score: 3.4/10
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
