Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed | |
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Directed by | Raja Gosnell |
Written by | James Gunn |
Based on | |
Produced by | |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Oliver Wood |
Edited by | Kent Beyda |
Music by | David Newman |
Production company | |
Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures [1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 92 minutes [1] |
Country | United States [1] |
Language | English |
Budget | $25–80 million [3] [4] |
Box office | $181.2 million [5] |
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (also referred to as Scooby-Doo 2 or Scooby 2) is a 2004 American mystery adventure comedy horror film based on the animated franchise Scooby-Doo . The second installment in the Scooby-Doo live-action film series and the sequel to 2002's Scooby-Doo , it was directed by Raja Gosnell, from a screenplay written by James Gunn, and 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.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was released by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 26, 2004. Like the first film, it received mostly negative reviews from critics but eventually amassed a cult following. [6] While profitable, the film grossed less at the box office than its predecessor, resulting in a third film, set to be written and directed by Gunn, being canceled. [7] A telefilm reboot featuring a new cast, Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins , aired on Cartoon Network in 2009.
Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo attend the grand opening of the Coolsonian Criminology Museum, featuring an exhibit of monster costumes from Mystery Inc.'s solved cases. However, the celebrations are crashed by the Evil Masked Figure, who announces the gang's destruction, before stealing several costumes with help from the reanimated Pterodactyl Ghost.
A smear campaign is started by journalist Heather Jasper-Howe against the gang. Shaggy and Scooby vow to stop bungling up in cases, making attempts to solve the mystery themselves. The gang suspects a former enemy may be the culprit. After dismissing the former Pterodactyl Ghost, the late Jonathan Jacobo, they settle on his cellmate Jeremiah Wickles, the former Black Knight Ghost.
The gang drives to Wickles' manor house, finding a grimoire previously owned by Jacobo that serves as an instruction manual for creating monsters. Shaggy and Scooby find an invite to the "Faux Ghost" nightclub, a hang-out for unmasked criminals. They are attacked by the Black Knight Ghost, but the gang escapes. Shaggy and Scooby sneak out to the Faux Ghost in disguise to interrogate Wickles but are thrown out when the patrons recognize them. Velma identifies a key ingredient in the grimoire as "randominium", located in the old silver mines. Fred, Daphne, and Velma drive to the museum, accompanied by its curator Patrick Wisely, whom Velma has a crush on. However, they discover the entire exhibition has been stolen.
Fred, Daphne, and Velma confront Wickles at the mines, learning he is planning to reopen them as an amusement park. Upon learning Wickles hated Jacobo, they conclude that he is innocent. The gang reunites upon finding the Monster Hive, containing a machine that transforms the costumes into monsters. Shaggy and Scooby play with the machine’s control panel, carelessly activating the Hive and transforming more monsters. The gang flees with the control panel, pursued by the 10,000 Volt Ghost.
The Evil Masked Figure, along with the monsters, begins to terrorize Coolsville, forcing the gang to flee to their old school clubhouse in shame. The gang realized they could reverse the control panel's power by altering its wiring. When Captain Cutler emerges from a bayou, the gang races back to the mines to reinstall the panel and reverse the Monster Hive's effects. One by one, the gang split off to lure away the monsters, leaving Shaggy and Scooby to deliver the panel to the Hive. Velma finds a shrine dedicated to Jacobo built by Patrick, leading to her suspicion that he is the Evil Masked Figure; this is proven false when he saves her from a collapsing catwalk.
The gang confronts the Evil Masked Figure and the other monsters in the Hive but are all captured by the Tar Monster. Luckily, Scooby freezes the Tar Monster with a fire extinguisher, before resetting the control panel, defeating the monsters. Shocked and enraged after their defeat, the Evil Masked Figure tries to escape but is caught on the catwalk. Outside, Mystery Inc. unmasks the criminal as Heather, only to reveal she is Jacobo in disguise. Having survived a prison escape, Jacobo plotted revenge, framing Wickles to cover his tracks. With Jacobo and his cameraman-turned-accomplice Ned arrested, the gang is praised as heroes in Coolsville once again, dancing in the Faux Ghost with Ruben Studdard.
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. [8] 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. [9] Filming for the sequel began on April 14, 2003 in Vancouver, with Seth Green and Alicia Silverstone joining the cast. [10] During the film's 20th anniversary in 2024, screenwriter James Gunn revealed that the original title for the sequel was Scooby-Doo Unleashed. [6]
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed opened March 26, 2004, and grossed $29.4 million (over 3,312 theaters, $8,888 average) during its opening weekend, ranking No. 1. [11] 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-ninth highest-grossing film of 2004, [12] and ranks as the sixth highest-grossing movie of all time featuring a dog (animated or otherwise) as a major character. [13]
The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2004, topping the country's box office for three straight weekends before being dethroned by Kill Bill: Volume 2 . [14] [15] [16]
On Rotten Tomatoes, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed holds a rating of 22% based on 119 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." [17] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [18] 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+". [19]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Times gave the film two stars out of four, stating, "This is a silly machine to whirl goofy antics before the eyes of easily distracted audiences, and it is made with undeniable skill." [20] Dave Kehr of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, saying, "In the strictly secular-humanist world of Scooby-Doo, there are no real ghosts, but only humans desperate for attention who disguise themselves as supernatural figures." [21]
Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film a two out of five stars, stating, "it's straight down the line family fare, nothing inspired, nothing objectionable: a few funny lines." [22] Nick DeSemlyn of Empire Magazine also gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "This sequel is a step up from the first. Scooby's animation is improved, there are some fun action sequences and a smattering of amusing moments. But the same manic mugging that spoiled the original mars this movie, and the result is a film only a six year-old on a sugar rush could love." [23] Common Sense Media gave the film two out of five stars, saying, "Sequel is milder than original; potty humor, peril, violence." [24]
The film won the Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel. [25]
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. [26] On November 9, 2010, Warner Bros. released both the film and its predecessor as a double feature Blu-ray. [27] [28]
Two video games loosely following the plot of the film were released in 2004 to coincide with the film's release; a 3D point and click adventure on the PC and a 2D beat 'em up platformer on the Game Boy Advance. In both games, one ending could only be seen by entering a code displayed at the end of the film after the credits.
A soundtrack was released on March 23, 2004, on compact disc and cassette tape. [29]
In October 2002, Warner Bros. approved production of a third film. Dan Forman and Paul Foley were hired to write the script for Scooby-Doo 3. In August 2004, Matthew Lillard said in an interview that the third Scooby-Doo film was canceled because the second had not done as well as expected, which he attributed to Warner Bros. releasing it at an inappropriate time. [7] In a 2019 interview, James Gunn revealed that he was set to write and direct but the film did not happen due to the financial disappointment of the previous film, stating, "although it did well, it didn't do well enough to warrant a third, so the movie was never made." [30] Gunn tweeted the plot for the canceled film in 2020. Which was that "The Mystery Inc. gang are hired by a town in Scotland who complain they are being plagued by monsters but we discover throughout the film the monsters are actually the victims. Scooby and Shaggy have to come to terms with their own prejudices and narrow belief systems." [31]
Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise owned by Warner Bros. Entertainment and created in 1969 by writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears through their animated series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera. The series features four teenagers: Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps, while traveling using a brightly colored van called the "Mystery Machine". The franchise has several live-action films and shows.
Daphne Blake is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. Daphne, depicted as coming from a wealthy family, is noted for her beauty, red hair, purple heels, fashion sense, and her knack for getting into danger, hence the nickname "Danger-Prone Daphne".
Norville "Shaggy" Rogers is a fictional character and one of the main characters in the Scooby-Doo franchise. He is characterized as an amateur detective, and the long-time best friend of his dog, Scooby-Doo.
Velma Dinkley is a fictional character in the Scooby-Doo franchise. She is usually seen wearing a baggy orange turtleneck sweater, a short red pleated skirt, knee high socks, Mary Jane shoes, and a pair of black square glasses, which she frequently loses and is unable to see without. She is seen as the "brains" of the group.
Scooby-Doo is a 2002 American mystery adventure comedy horror film produced by Mosaic Media Group and based on the long-running animated franchise of the same name. The first installment in the Scooby-Doo live-action film series, the film was directed by Raja Gosnell from a screenplay by James Gunn, and stars Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and Rowan Atkinson. Neil Fanning provides the voice of the titular character. The plot revolves around Mystery Incorporated, a group of four young adults and a talking Great Dane who solve mysteries, who reunite after a two-year disbandment to investigate a mystery at a popular horror-themed tropical island resort.
Fred Jones is a fictional character in the American animated series Scooby-Doo, leader of a quartet of teenage mystery solvers and their Great Dane companion, Scooby-Doo. Fred has been primarily voiced by Frank Welker since the character's inception in 1969.
What's New, Scooby-Doo? is an American animated television series produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Kids' WB. It is the ninth incarnation of the Scooby-Doo franchise that began with Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and the first Scooby-Doo series in a decade, since A Pup Named Scooby-Doo ended in 1991 and the first since both the foreclosure of Hanna-Barbera, the first Scooby Doo series to be produced by Warner Bros. Animation and William Hanna's death in 2001
Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins is a 2009 American made-for-television comedy horror mystery film directed by Brian Levant. It is based on the cartoon series Scooby-Doo by Hanna-Barbera and is a prequel to the films Scooby-Doo and Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed. The film reveals how the Mystery Inc. gang met and the events of their first case. The live-action cast features Nick Palatas as Shaggy, Robbie Amell as Fred, Hayley Kiyoko as Velma, and Kate Melton as Daphne. Scooby-Doo was created using computer-generated imagery and his voice is provided by Frank Welker, who was a cast member of the original animated series. A sequel, Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster, was released in October 2010.
Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated is an American animated horror comedy television series serves as the eleventh incarnation of the Scooby-Doo media franchise created by Hanna-Barbera, as well as the first that was not originally run on Saturday mornings. The series is produced by Warner Bros. Animation for Cartoon Network UK and premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network on April 5, 2010, with the next twelve episodes continuing, and the first episode re-airing, on July 12, 2010. The series concluded on April 5, 2013, after two seasons and fifty-two episodes.
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