 Potentially, Scooby-Doo is nothing but one huge skulking excuse for disaster - on the scale of The Avengers. Unpotentially - if that's what comes diametrically opposite - it's pretty damn cool.
Bouncing from one bout of self-parody to the next, I found myself laughing - out loud - at the same things the kids around me found funny . . . probably for different reasons but we were laughing all the same.
CGI has come a long way since Roger Rabbit and Scooby-Doo literally saunters over any indication that CGI is what's going on. Scooby himself is flawless, as are the actors that play opposite the great expanse of nothing. Some feat really. Not missing a beat, Scooby and Shaggy walk off with the whole show.
The premise? With Mystery Inc. disbanded through ego, they are lured back together a couple of years later, by ego, to discover why teenagers are leaving a theme park practically zombified . . . and so it continues.
If there's a characterisation up for grabs; it's in. If there's a shot at the genre worth a gag; it's in. If there's a joke at someone else's expense; it's in. Once they're all in, the book goes out the window and CGI mayhem ensues - but not in a bad way. By the end of the movie, we are all sold through it's charm and are just here for the ride.
Check out the brilliant Scrappy Doo flashback scene. Wallow in the eternal sexual frustration between Fred and Daphne. For what is - for all intents and purposes, a kids flick - the dialogue can get pretty adult at times. At the end of the day, it's Scooby-Doo. What were you expecting? :: Sion Smith |
