Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Scooby-Doo (2002)
Director: Raja Gosnell
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Although its breezy CGI ghosties and many fart jokes are clearly aimed at the junior audience, this live action update of Hanna-Barbera's early '70s animated TV series will be best appreciated by fans of the original. The film-makers have latched on to its mild scares, teenage sleuthing and food-obsessed canine anti-hero with unpretentious affection. While the jaunty computer-generated Scooby doesn't wholly convince, it's fun seeing humans meld into the cartoon roles. Vapid poster-boy Prinze is all too credible as cravat-sporting, self-proclaimed gangleader Fred; Gellar struggles to make flouncy Daphne more than a squealing damsel in distress; Cardellini plumbs unexpected depths of smart-girl resentment as bespectacled Velma; while Lillard is uncannily excellent as Shaggy, down to the quavery vocal inflections, dopey flower child sincerity and the telling instinct for pioneering sauce combinations. The plot? Well, you don't go to a Scooby-Doo movie for the plot. After an acrimonious split, the team reunite when they're summoned by magnate Emile Mondavarious (Atkinson, slippery but not quite sinister) to his Spooky Island resort, where dark forces are turning visitors into soulless zombies.Author: TJ
Cast & crew
Director: Raja Gosnell
Producer: Charles Roven, Richard Suckle
Cast: Freddie Prinze Jr, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, Rowan Atkinson, Miguel A Nuñez Jr, Isla Fisher, Steven Grives full cast
Genre(s): Children's
Duration: 86 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade
Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this
Jim Jarmusch on 'The Limits of Control'
Jim Jarmusch has followed ‘Broken Flowers’ with an esoteric crime mystery. Dave Calhoun speaks to him from his New York office
Richard Linklater on 'Me and Orson Welles'
Dave Calhoun meets the 49-year-old, Houston-born filmmaker Richard Linklater to discuss his new comedy
Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones
Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation
On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'
Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie
Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?
How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains
A gateway to all things 'New Moon'
In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.
The films that deserve a TV spin-off
With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations
Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam
In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations











What do you think?
Post your review now