Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Raja Gosnell
Produced by
Written by James Gunn
Based on Scooby-Doo
by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears
Starring
Music by David Newman
Cinematography Oliver Wood
Edited by Kent Beyda
Production
company
Mosaic Media Group
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures[1]
Release date
  • March 20, 2004 (2004-03-20) (Hollywood)
  • March 26, 2004 (2004-03-26) (United States)
Running time
 92 minutes[1]
Country United States[1]
Budget $25 million[2]
Box office $181.5 million[3]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is a 2004 American live-action/computer-animated family horror comedy film, based on the animated television series. It is the second installment in the Scooby-Doo live-action film series and a sequel to 2002's Scooby-Doo, and was directed by Raja Gosnell, written by James Gunn and released by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The film stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, Matthew Lillard, Seth Green, Tim Blake Nelson, Peter Boyle and Alicia Silverstone, with Neil Fanning reprising his role as the voice of Scooby-Doo.

Plot

Mystery Inc. (Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo) attend the opening of an exhibition at the Coolsonian Criminology Museum commemorating their past solved cases with monster costumes on display. However, the celebrations are interrupted by a masked man known as the Evil Masked Figure who steals two costumes using the reanimated Pterodactyl Ghost. The gang are ridiculed by journalist Heather Jasper Howe, who starts a smear campaign against them. Concluding an old enemy is the mastermind, the gang revisit old cases, dismissing the former Pterodactyl Ghost, Jonathan Jacobo, due to his death during a failed prison escape, they guess that Jeremiah Wickles, the Black Knight Ghost's portrayer and Jacobo's cell mate in prison, is the culprit.

Going to Wickles' mansion, the group fall through a trapdoor and into a cage targeting unwelcome callers, but escape with the aid of Daphne's cosmetics. Inside, the gang find a book that serves as an instruction manual on how to create monsters. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo find a note inviting Wickles to visit the Faux Ghost nightclub. They are attacked by the Black Knight Ghost, but escape when Daphne fights him off while Velma discovers its weak spot and disables it. Before fleeing, the rest of the gang had previously discovered through the book found in Wickles' mansion that the key ingredient to creating the monsters was a substance called "randomonium", which can be found at the old silver mining town.

After Daphne helps Velma overcome her fears of intimacy and assert herself by changing up her image, Daphne, Velma and Fred go to the museum accompanied by the curator Patrick Wisely, but discover that the rest of the costumes have been stolen. Heather Jasper Howe ridicules the gang further by turning the city against them. The gang go to the mines, finding Wickles' plans to turn it into an amusement park. As they confront Wickles, he states that he and Jacobo were cell mates who hated each other, and denies any connection to the museum robberies.

Shaggy and Scooby, after overhearing the rest of the gang criticizing their tendency to bumble every operation, and especially their most recent offense in failing to secure the Pterodactyl Ghost at the museum, resolve to better themselves and become real detectives. Following the lead from Wickles' note, their first clue ever, they sneak into the Faux Ghost wearing disguises to try and solve the mystery. After speaking to Wickles, they learn he has resolved his ways. Scooby eventually causes a scene and his disguise falls off, leading Scooby and Shaggy to escape through a trash chute. On their way out, they spot Patrick uncharacteristically assaulting someone who appears to be a member of his staff, ordering him to find answers to who vandalized his museum. Escaping an awkward interaction with Patrick, Shaggy and Scooby spot Wickles leaving the club and follow him.

The gang then find the Monster Hive where the costumes are brought to life as real monsters. Shaggy and Scooby play around with the machine's control panel, bringing several costumes to life, and the gang flee with the panel as the Evil Masked Figure terrorizes the city. Escaping to their old high school clubhouse, the gang realize they can reverse the control panel's power by altering its wiring. Captain Cutler's Ghost emerges from the bayou, forcing the gang to head back to the mines, encountering the various monsters along the way. Velma sees Patrick in the mines, finding a shrine dedicated to Jacobo built by Patrick, but Patrick proves his innocence by helping Velma after a catwalk unexpectedly gives way under her.

The gang confront the Evil Masked Figure, but the Tar Monster captures and attempts to drown all of them, but Scooby escapes, and uses a fire extinguisher to freeze the Tar Monster's body. He reactivates the control panel, transforming the costumes back to normal. The gang take the Evil Masked Figure to the authorities, unmasking him as Heather. When asked why Heather did what she did, Velma suddenly pulls and peels Heather's face off, revealing she is actually Jacobo in disguise; Jacobo had actually survived the fall from the prison wall, and sought to get revenge on Mystery, Inc. by discrediting them. Jacobo's cameraman Ned is also arrested as an accomplice.

Mystery, Inc. are praised as heroes once again in Coolsville. In the Faux Ghost, the gang celebrates their victory with the now reformed criminals, whom they unmasked in the past (including Wickles).

Cast

Voices

Cameos

Production

In June 2002, at the time of the release of Scooby-Doo, Dan Fellman, the president of Warner Bros., confirmed that a sequel was in the works, and was slated for a 2004 release.[4] In March 2003, it was announced that Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Neil Fanning, Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini would reprise their roles in the sequel.[5] In April 2003, the next month, filming for the sequel began in Vancouver, with Seth Green joining the cast.[6]

Reception

Box office

The film opened March 26, 2004, and grossed $29.4 million (over 3,312 theaters, $8,888 average) during its opening weekend, ranking No. 1.[7] It grossed a total of $84.2 million in North America, and went on to earn $181.5 million worldwide, more than $90 million less than the $275.7 million worldwide Scooby-Doo grossed two years earlier. It was the twenty eighth most successful film of 2004,[8] and ranks as the sixth highest grossing film featuring a dog as a major character.[9] The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2004, and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being dethroned by Kill Bill Volume 2.[10][11][12]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 22% based on 117 reviews and an average rating of 4.3/10. The site's consensus reads, "Only the very young will get the most out of this silly trifle."[13] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[14] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, an improvement over the previous film's "B+".[15]

The film won a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.[16]

Home media release

Warner Home Video released the film on DVD and VHS on September 14, 2004 in both full-screen and widescreen editions. The DVD included deleted scenes from the film's production and other special features, such as two music videos, a "making of" and trailers. On November 9, 2010, Warner Bros. released both the film and its predecessor as a double feature Blu-ray.[17]

Soundtrack

A soundtrack[18] was released on March 23, 2004 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.

  1. "Don't Wanna Think About You" by Simple Plan (Simple Plan had also performed the titular theme song)
  2. "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals
  3. "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian
  4. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Big Brovaz
  5. "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim
  6. "Wooly Bully" by Bad Manners
  7. "Shining Star" by Ruben Studdard
  8. "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger
  9. "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited
  10. "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
  11. "Here We Go" by Bowling for Soup
  12. "Love Shack" by The B-52's
  13. "Friends Forever" by Puffy AmiYumi
  14. "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi

Prequels and reboot

The film was followed by two telefilm prequels: Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins and Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, which both aired on Cartoon Network in 2009 and 2010 respectively. A spin off film, Daphne & Velma, was released in May 22, 2018 and a reboot will be released on May 15, 2020.[19]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed". AFI Catalog of Feature Films. Retrieved August 8, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)". The Numbers. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved November 25, 2016.
  4. ↑ "Scooby Doo 2 in the Works Says WB President". June 17, 2002.
  5. ↑ "Original Cast Returning For Scooby-Doo Sequel". March 31, 2003.
  6. ↑ "Seth Green Joins 'Scooby-Doo 2' Cast". April 7, 2003.
  7. ↑ Scooby Doo 2, Box Office Mojo
  8. ↑ 2004 rankings, Box Office Mojo
  9. ↑ , Box Office Mojo
  10. ↑ "Weekend box office 2nd April 2004 – 4th April 2004". 25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  11. ↑ "Weekend box office 9th April 2004 – 11th April 2004". 25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Weekend box office 16th April 2004 – 18th April 2004". 25thframe.co.uk. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  13. ↑ "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed".
  15. ↑ "CinemaScore". cinemascore.com.
  16. ↑ "2004 RAZZIE® Nominees & "Winners" – The Official RAZZIE® Forum". Razzies.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2013. Retrieved January 27, 2013.
  17. ↑ "'Scooby-Doo/Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed' Announced for Blu-ray | High-Def Digest". Bluray.highdefdigest.com. 2010-08-18. Retrieved 2013-01-27.
  18. ↑ Scooby Doo 2 soundtrack
  19. ↑ McNary, Dave (May 4, 2017). "Scooby-Doo Animated Movie Moves Back Two Years to 2020".
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