Director: Raja Gosnell
Release Date 2004
Running Time: 1hr 29 minutes
Genre: Family/Comedy
Rating: PG
Format: Sky Cinema
Synopsis:
The Mystery Inc gang must save Coolsville from an attack of past unmasked monsters brought to life by an evil masked figure trying to "unmask" the gang.
After the success of the first film it was only natural that director Raja Gosnell would attempt a sequel. Is it as entertaining as the first? Unfortunately not. Although the storyline excellently stresses on the terrific imagination of the original cartoon, the idea to modernise it through the use of contemporary music has somewhat ruined it's authenticity. The characters have grown and developed since the first story. We can understand from the length of Fred's hair and their newly equipped lab that perhaps a few months have passed since the events that took place in the first film? The idea to use key references from the cartoon have worked excellently. It's unfortunate that the storyline is rather messy.
When Coolsville is attacked by past unmasked monsters, the Mystery Inc team must work together to find the culprit. Is their evil nemesis behind it, or is it the museum owner? It's unfortunate that Freddie Prinze Jr is the only actor to deliver a strong performance. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini all appeared to be rushing their lines. Matthew Lillard in particular really looked like he was forcing his character, instead of giving a very natural and genuine performance as Shaggy. Considering how excellent his performance was in the first film this was very disappointing. Seth Green delivers a somewhat interesting performance as museum owner Patrick Wisely.
Although the special effects in hindsight are very clever, they still don't look excellent. Scenes involving CGI unfortunatly look rushed and messy, giving the impression that a lot of effort didn't go into making it look good. The first film really took audiences back to the cartoon's original roots in terms of special effects and characterisation. More often than not, sequels work exceptionally well, however sometimes they are best left alone. The storyline really didn't need modernising. Really quite disappointing, it's no surprise really that another film wasn't made shortly after.
2.5 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment