The above is my impressions of the cast chosen for the 2002 live action version of the cartoon classic "Scooby-Doo." I grew up on Hanna Barbera´s long syndicated cartoon and it was among my favorites. I was initially excited when I had first heard that the mystery solving teens and their talking dog were heading to the big screen, but that was quickly shattered when I heard that Freddie "I Killed Wing Commander" Prinze, Jr. was attached to the project. I had high anticipation for "Wing Commander" and Prinze somehow managed to sink that film, even with the game´s creator at the helm of the film. I have other reasons, but I´ve just come to loathe Freddie Prinze, Jr. Chico should be turning in his grave if he were to see how his son is absolutely butchering classic franchise screen adaptations or the television show "Freddie." Freddie Prinze, Jr. is horribly miscast as the good looking and muscular Fred from the cartoon series. How could anybody imagine this skinny dufus as Fred? Seriously.
I´d love to conclude my review and simply state how incredible Matthew Lillard is as Shaggy. His performance is absolutely amazing; from the way he recreates Kasey Kasem´s vocal work on the television show to his mannerisms. For as much as I despise Freddie, Matthew Lillard is a comical and entertaining actor that is sadly underutilized in Hollywood. He was great in "Scream" and even better as the iconic Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the live-action adaptation. Shaggy always came across as a bit of a stoner in the television show and Lillard takes that concept and just runs with it. The Academy Awards has no sense of humor. Lillard deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his work as Shaggy. For as tremendously stupid as the casting of Freddie Prinze, Jr. was, the casting of Lillard as Shaggy goes down as one of the best casting decisions ever.
Linda Cardellini was another good call as Velma Dinkley. Cardellini is a lovely girl, but managed to bring out a striking similarity to the orange sweater wearing dork from the television series, but also delivers a few scenes of surprising sexuality from the character. I doubt anybody who watched the Scooby-Doo cartoon would ever have thought of Velma as a ´hottie,´ but a low-cut orange shirt in a scene where Velma has lost her soul thingie certainly changed my mind of the character. Growing up watching the show, the red-headed Daphne was the good looking one of Mystery Inc., but for a few scenes during the film, the rather nice looking Sarah Michelle Gellar takes a backseat to her thick-rimmed glasses wearing counterpart. Cardellini nails the role of Velma and Gellar shows up to look nice, but is hardly reminiscent of her animated equivalent.
I´m not even going to delve into how badly done the CGI Scooby Doo was.
The film itself just fails on so many levels, that Matthew Lillard´s valiant and amazing turn as Shaggy just can´t save it. Prinze, Jr. is a curse to any adaptation and if anybody needs to solve a mystery, it is who is the person responsible for casting Prinze? Director Raja Gosnell intended the entire film to look like a cartoon and he tried to capture the feeling and moods of the television show. However, the screenplay by James Gunn is poor and Fred is so bad as Fred, that the addition of the horribly animated Scooby Doo sinks the film faster than a lead weight thrown into the river. I tried to like the film and whenever Lillard was onscreen, I typically did. It was just that every other moment in the film was beyond cheesy and beyond stupid. The idea of having Scrappy Doo as the final villain? That was just plain awful. I guess they were looking for a big plot twist that would come as a surprise. Well, it was surprising alright. It was surprisingly bad. "Scooby Doo" may be the worst cartoon adaptation ever. Poor Matthew Lillard.
I´d love to conclude my review and simply state how incredible Matthew Lillard is as Shaggy. His performance is absolutely amazing; from the way he recreates Kasey Kasem´s vocal work on the television show to his mannerisms. For as much as I despise Freddie, Matthew Lillard is a comical and entertaining actor that is sadly underutilized in Hollywood. He was great in "Scream" and even better as the iconic Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the live-action adaptation. Shaggy always came across as a bit of a stoner in the television show and Lillard takes that concept and just runs with it. The Academy Awards has no sense of humor. Lillard deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his work as Shaggy. For as tremendously stupid as the casting of Freddie Prinze, Jr. was, the casting of Lillard as Shaggy goes down as one of the best casting decisions ever.
Linda Cardellini was another good call as Velma Dinkley. Cardellini is a lovely girl, but managed to bring out a striking similarity to the orange sweater wearing dork from the television series, but also delivers a few scenes of surprising sexuality from the character. I doubt anybody who watched the Scooby-Doo cartoon would ever have thought of Velma as a ´hottie,´ but a low-cut orange shirt in a scene where Velma has lost her soul thingie certainly changed my mind of the character. Growing up watching the show, the red-headed Daphne was the good looking one of Mystery Inc., but for a few scenes during the film, the rather nice looking Sarah Michelle Gellar takes a backseat to her thick-rimmed glasses wearing counterpart. Cardellini nails the role of Velma and Gellar shows up to look nice, but is hardly reminiscent of her animated equivalent.
I´m not even going to delve into how badly done the CGI Scooby Doo was.
The film itself just fails on so many levels, that Matthew Lillard´s valiant and amazing turn as Shaggy just can´t save it. Prinze, Jr. is a curse to any adaptation and if anybody needs to solve a mystery, it is who is the person responsible for casting Prinze? Director Raja Gosnell intended the entire film to look like a cartoon and he tried to capture the feeling and moods of the television show. However, the screenplay by James Gunn is poor and Fred is so bad as Fred, that the addition of the horribly animated Scooby Doo sinks the film faster than a lead weight thrown into the river. I tried to like the film and whenever Lillard was onscreen, I typically did. It was just that every other moment in the film was beyond cheesy and beyond stupid. The idea of having Scrappy Doo as the final villain? That was just plain awful. I guess they were looking for a big plot twist that would come as a surprise. Well, it was surprising alright. It was surprisingly bad. "Scooby Doo" may be the worst cartoon adaptation ever. Poor Matthew Lillard.
The above is my impressions of the cast chosen for the 2002 live action version of the cartoon classic "Scooby-Doo." I grew up on Hanna Barbera´s long syndicated cartoon and it was among my favorites. I was initially excited when I had first heard that the mystery solving teens and their talking dog were heading to the big screen, but that was quickly shattered when I heard that Freddie "I Killed Wing Commander" Prinze, Jr. was attached to the project. I had high anticipation for "Wing Commander" and Prinze somehow managed to sink that film, even with the game´s creator at the helm of the film. I have other reasons, but I´ve just come to loathe Freddie Prinze, Jr. Chico should be turning in his grave if he were to see how his son is absolutely butchering classic franchise screen adaptations or the television show "Freddie." Freddie Prinze, Jr. is horribly miscast as the good looking and muscular Fred from the cartoon series. How could anybody imagine this skinny dufus as Fred? Seriously.
I´d love to conclude my review and simply state how incredible Matthew Lillard is as Shaggy. His performance is absolutely amazing; from the way he recreates Kasey Kasem´s vocal work on the television show to his mannerisms. For as much as I despise Freddie, Matthew Lillard is a comical and entertaining actor that is sadly underutilized in Hollywood. He was great in "Scream" and even better as the iconic Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the live-action adaptation. Shaggy always came across as a bit of a stoner in the television show and Lillard takes that concept and just runs with it. The Academy Awards has no sense of humor. Lillard deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his work as Shaggy. For as tremendously stupid as the casting of Freddie Prinze, Jr. was, the casting of Lillard as Shaggy goes down as one of the best casting decisions ever.
Linda Cardellini was another good call as Velma Dinkley. Cardellini is a lovely girl, but managed to bring out a striking similarity to the orange sweater wearing dork from the television series, but also delivers a few scenes of surprising sexuality from the character. I doubt anybody who watched the Scooby-Doo cartoon would ever have thought of Velma as a ´hottie,´ but a low-cut orange shirt in a scene where Velma has lost her soul thingie certainly changed my mind of the character. Growing up watching the show, the red-headed Daphne was the good looking one of Mystery Inc., but for a few scenes during the film, the rather nice looking Sarah Michelle Gellar takes a backseat to her thick-rimmed glasses wearing counterpart. Cardellini nails the role of Velma and Gellar shows up to look nice, but is hardly reminiscent of her animated equivalent.
I´m not even going to delve into how badly done the CGI Scooby Doo was.
The film itself just fails on so many levels, that Matthew Lillard´s valiant and amazing turn as Shaggy just can´t save it. Prinze, Jr. is a curse to any adaptation and if anybody needs to solve a mystery, it is who is the person responsible for casting Prinze? Director Raja Gosnell intended the entire film to look like a cartoon and he tried to capture the feeling and moods of the television show. However, the screenplay by James Gunn is poor and Fred is so bad as Fred, that the addition of the horribly animated Scooby Doo sinks the film faster than a lead weight thrown into the river. I tried to like the film and whenever Lillard was onscreen, I typically did. It was just that every other moment in the film was beyond cheesy and beyond stupid. The idea of having Scrappy Doo as the final villain? That was just plain awful. I guess they were looking for a big plot twist that would come as a surprise. Well, it was surprising alright. It was surprisingly bad. "Scooby Doo" may be the worst cartoon adaptation ever. Poor Matthew Lillard.
I´d love to conclude my review and simply state how incredible Matthew Lillard is as Shaggy. His performance is absolutely amazing; from the way he recreates Kasey Kasem´s vocal work on the television show to his mannerisms. For as much as I despise Freddie, Matthew Lillard is a comical and entertaining actor that is sadly underutilized in Hollywood. He was great in "Scream" and even better as the iconic Norville "Shaggy" Rogers in the live-action adaptation. Shaggy always came across as a bit of a stoner in the television show and Lillard takes that concept and just runs with it. The Academy Awards has no sense of humor. Lillard deserved the Best Actor Oscar for his work as Shaggy. For as tremendously stupid as the casting of Freddie Prinze, Jr. was, the casting of Lillard as Shaggy goes down as one of the best casting decisions ever.
Linda Cardellini was another good call as Velma Dinkley. Cardellini is a lovely girl, but managed to bring out a striking similarity to the orange sweater wearing dork from the television series, but also delivers a few scenes of surprising sexuality from the character. I doubt anybody who watched the Scooby-Doo cartoon would ever have thought of Velma as a ´hottie,´ but a low-cut orange shirt in a scene where Velma has lost her soul thingie certainly changed my mind of the character. Growing up watching the show, the red-headed Daphne was the good looking one of Mystery Inc., but for a few scenes during the film, the rather nice looking Sarah Michelle Gellar takes a backseat to her thick-rimmed glasses wearing counterpart. Cardellini nails the role of Velma and Gellar shows up to look nice, but is hardly reminiscent of her animated equivalent.
I´m not even going to delve into how badly done the CGI Scooby Doo was.
The film itself just fails on so many levels, that Matthew Lillard´s valiant and amazing turn as Shaggy just can´t save it. Prinze, Jr. is a curse to any adaptation and if anybody needs to solve a mystery, it is who is the person responsible for casting Prinze? Director Raja Gosnell intended the entire film to look like a cartoon and he tried to capture the feeling and moods of the television show. However, the screenplay by James Gunn is poor and Fred is so bad as Fred, that the addition of the horribly animated Scooby Doo sinks the film faster than a lead weight thrown into the river. I tried to like the film and whenever Lillard was onscreen, I typically did. It was just that every other moment in the film was beyond cheesy and beyond stupid. The idea of having Scrappy Doo as the final villain? That was just plain awful. I guess they were looking for a big plot twist that would come as a surprise. Well, it was surprising alright. It was surprisingly bad. "Scooby Doo" may be the worst cartoon adaptation ever. Poor Matthew Lillard.
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