Well, I finally saw Scooby Doo II Monsters Unleashed. While it was better than the first movie, a lot of the problems with the first film were carried over to the second. And quite frankly, I'm glad if Lillard is right and there won't be anymore Scooby Doo movies.
I think that statement alone shows how badly Warners have screwed up what should have been an A-1 franchise. After all, they're still producing a steady stream of animated Scooby Doo DTVs.
The execs at Warners must all be on crack or something. They are greenlighting no end of movies based on existing properties, but do nothing to keep the spirit or charactaristics of the property itself.
Scooby Doo, Catwoman, the new Excorcist film (which has a rating of only 5% on Rotten Tomatoes as a result). They seem determined to destroy characters and concepts that have stood the test of time.
The first Scooby Doo movie managed to destroy the characters of the Mystery Inc gang totally (Fred and Daphne especially - I was pleased to see the gang were truer to their established character in the sequel. But of course this means the film has very little connection to the first film). They also thought that Scooby Doo's humour was all about farting and burping... sadly something that was carried over to the sequel.
That said they did try harder for the sequel. As I mentioned the characters were closer to their animated personnas. (I am so glad that Fred wasn't a total idiot in this, like he was in the first). It was also good to see the 'classic' monsters from the series, the only fault being that they were "real".

I wanted to like the new movie so much, but scenes of Daphne doing martial arts, Scooby farting and Velma in leather just left me cold.
Lillard once again put in a stunning performance as Shaggy. And Cardellini was as good as always as Velma. Out of the rest of the cast only Seth Green really stood out, but he was criminally underused. And you know somethings wrong when the great Peter Boyle can only manage a "workman" like performance.
However, its not all bad news. The movies gave birth to the new What's New Scooby Doo? animated series. Unlike the movies this series celebrates Scooby Doo, its characters and its formula. It's not above making a few jokes at the expense of the series, but it does so with affection and love.
Long live the
real Scooby Doo and death to the pretender!
Thankfully the new What's New Scooby Doo? DVD has a trailer for a new animated DTV film "Aloha Scooby Doo!" coming soon.