William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were, for most people, a staple of their childhoods.  The creative force between Hanna-Barbera Productions gave the cartoon world some of its most enduring characters. Top Cat, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Yogi Bear, Magilla Gorilla, Space Ghost, Wacky Races are among their most enduring creations, but perhaps most famously is the cartoon series about four teenagers and a great dane that go around the United States solving mysteries in a van. 

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?

The characters of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?, the original 1969 series that launched a mega-franchise, are deceptively simple – de-facto leader Fred Jones, his flirtatious but accident prone love interest Daphne Blake, the smart but insecure Velma Dinkley and the duo of cowardly heroes Norville “Shaggy” Rogers and his dog, Scooby-Doo. By 2002, the Scooby-Doo brand had been revamped several times. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? had given way to The New Scooby-Doo Movies, The Scooby-Doo / Dynomutt Hour, Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-lympics, Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo, The New Scooby and Scrappy-Doo Show, The Scooby-Doo Show, A Pup Named Scooby. By the 90s, the Scooby-brand had run, eventually Warner Bros. animation, who owned the rights to Hanna-Barbera's animation, resurrected the Scooby-Doo character with the straight-to-VHS release Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island.

Zombie Island was a surprise hit on release, mixing real monsters with the gang in a feature length adventure that set the template for what would become a run of very successful adventures featuring real monsters. Around the same time Amblin Entertainment had produced a live-action version of The Flintstones starring John Goodman and Rick Moranis. The success of both films spurred Warner Bros. into trying to develop a live-action film based on Scooby-Doo. In 2002, director Raja Gosnell, hot off success with Big Momma's House and screenwriter James Gunn, rising up after working with Lloyd Kaufman's Troma Studios, made Scooby-Doo: The Movie.

The film borrows many elements from Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island to good effect. The Mystery Inc. gang have split up after yet another run in with a guy in a mask. After a two year time jump we find each member has been summoned to the mysterious Spooky Island holiday resort by the enigmatic owner Emile Mondavarious. The case, it appears, is one where teenagers are being possessed and stripped of their youthful ways. At first the gang intend to solve the mystery separately, until they realise something much deeper is going on.

Just another episode of the series…

Gosnell and Gunn open the film as if it were another episode of the series, each actor – Matthew Lillard (Shaggy), Sarah Michelle Gellar (Daphne), Freddie Prinze Jr (Fred) and Linda Cardellini (Velma) are all dressed and act exactly as their animated counterparts do. At first it's uncanny, Lillard's chuckle, Prinze's effortless idiocy, right down to the deadpan delivery of Cardellini as Velma.

The two year time jump after the tensions escalate within the group allows for the characters to progress past their animated forms. The split has allowed each of them to look inwards and establish what it was about themselves they didn't like. When brought back together at the airport to fly to Spooky Island the hurt feelings of their breakup are still apparent and yet we see that they have each matured and changed.

Gunn's screenplay is one of his deceptively sharpest, filled with hilarious dialogue. The earnestness with which Fred responds to Velma's criticism that he only chooses to be around attractive women with “dorky chicks turn me on too”, belies the more mature screenplay most of the cast originally signed up for. 

The original plan, an adult orientated film that cast Velma and Daphne as lesbians, and Shaggy as a hardcore stoner was brought in for a more family friendly film – though some scenes remain. Especially moments of flirtation between Daphne and Velma in which they both tease on another and the fact that Shaggy's love interest is called Mary-Jane (Isla Fisher).

The film is filled with dialogue that is endlessly quotable, delivered by performers at the top of their game. Not least the suspicious Mondavarious – Rowan Atkinson – whose overtly friendly demeanour might be a ruse.

Fred's leadership questioned

Gunn and Gosnell address some of the issues of a cartoon from the 60s. Fred's de facto leadership is questioned given that he is hopeless when it comes to logic. His growth across the film sees him realise that it's not just arrogance he exudes, but in not acknowledging the contributions from the rest of the team, especially that of Velma, there is a gulf in his heart. Fred is the first of the gang to be taken by the large demon monsters that attack the island. It's during him proclaiming there is no such thing as monsters that he is proven wrong. Fred's assurance that he is always in control is undermined by the events of the film.

Daphne, whose position within the group was always the damsel-in-distress and being danger prone, is revamped – also to help capitalise on Gellar's own fame as a certain Vampire Slayer. Her interim time has been taken up with her learning to defend herself, and become more capable. During the climax of the film, it's she who takes the physical fight to henchmen Zarkos atop the mountains of the Island. Her desire to be seen as capable takes second place when her friends are in danger and instead she is happy to hold her own and improvise a route to executing the plan.

Velma and Shaggy's place in the group

Much of the film is about Velma and Shaggy finding their place within the group. Velma who has always been seen as just the smart one is allowed to pull in her own direction – while the sequel would develop this further – we see flashes of her desiring a more rounded external image of herself. When possessed by the monsters Velma is shown to be more self assured, dancing and wearing revealing clothes, once returned to her normal state she still retains a level of confidence from the out-of-body experience that spurs her to try and take on a more physical role in the team. A deleted scene alludes to this burning desire when Velma becomes drunk and performs a song atop the piano to impress a young man who has shown interest in her, only for the monsters to interrupt.

Shaggy and Scooby

The heart of the film, though, remains Shaggy and Scooby. The two of them appear to be exactly the same throughout the film but what Gosnell does is slow the cartoony action down for character moments. Scooby's melancholic questioning “do I quit?” and Shaggy's response “No, Scooby, friends don't quit”, to Scooby's concern over Mary-Jane being a potential monster. 

It's the strain of their friendship that provides the emotional thrust. We learn that Mondavarious is in fact behind the entire plot, attempting to complete a ritual that will bring about eternal darkness over which he shall rule. Bringing Scooby to the Island is necessary because he has a pure soul. His desire to help his friends even when scared makes him pure and his willingness to fight and potentially lose Shaggy to protect him from danger shows that of the five he is the one with the purest heart.

By the end of the film when Shaggy earnestly looks at Scooby and proclaims he loves him, it's a sign of the film's affection for the characters. While allowing them to grow, and change, they keep the core of why people invested in these characters for so many years. The film also allows for a darker heart, not just in the depiction of real monsters in the world but in the revelation that Mondavarious is in fact Scrappy-Doo, Scooby's nephew, who plots revenge on the gang for kicking him out.

Scrappy

The decision to have Scrappy in the film is one that cost it the casting of lifelong fan Tim Curry, who was originally asked to play Mondavarious. But, in casting Scrappy as the arch-villain, plotting for years to bring about a new world order, we see a criticism of the show skewered. The introduction of Scrappy and his long-lasting time in the show was one that many people found annoying and difficult to enjoy. In making him the villain it appears to be an acceptance of a issue with the series.

The film might be aimed at children, but what Scooby-Doo does is examine the ways people can change and yet still remain who they are fundamentally, the way in which groups can fracture and then come back better than ever. Scrappy's plan to have a fractured Mystery Inc witness him triumph is his own undoing as they're natural and long lasting bond inevitably draws them back together as a team.

Moreover, the film happens to be filled with great dialogue. “What's that?” Scooby innocently asks a plotting Mondavarious. “It's a cat with a bobbing head, don't touch it.” It's a film that offers an insight into what it means to be human and to love people unconditionally, it just happens to feature a talking dog. Zoinks.

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