When I first heard the news that there was going to be a live-action version made of the classic Scooby-Doo cartoons, I groaned. I'm not a fan of live-action adaptations of cartoons. From the first Flintstones movie to The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle to Inspector Gadget, I¿ve always thought the movies were unnecessary desecrations of an adult¿s childhood memories, before and after I viewed the films. In fact, I can only think of one live-action adaptation that I really enjoyed, and that¿s the little seen but well done Josie and the Pussycats. So I entered Scooby-Doo with more than a few trepidations. From the original casting announcements to when the first pictures of the Scooby gang were released, my expectations for the film haven¿t been high, although I decided early on to reserve judgment until I¿d seen the final product.All that said, I'm happy to report that Scooby-Doo is easily the best cartoon-to-film adaptation I¿ve seen to date. Enjoyable for both adults and its target audience (which includes my 7-year-old daughter, who's a huge Scooby fan), SD has fun with its subject matter. The film has plenty of humor for adults (including a Scrappy cameo that adult Scooby fans are sure to love, unless you¿re one of the bizarre few people out there who actually likes Scrappy-Doo) and kids ( there's an extended gas-expulsion gag with Shaggy and Scooby that I really could have lived without, but the kids in the audience absolutely loved it). And while there are plenty of in-jokes for fans of the cartoons, the characters and the concept itself is never openly mocked – you can tell that the filmmakers involved really do have a love for Scooby-Doo.Most of the cast does a passable job, but the actor that steals the show by far is Matthew Lillard. I was impressed by his Shaggy impersonation in the trailers, thinking, ¿Wow, he sounds exactly like Shaggy¿¿ but I was even more impressed by him throughout the film. In every moment of Scooby-Doo when Shaggy¿s onscreen, Lillard is just spot-on with his voice and mannerisms. It truly feels like you¿re watching a cartoon character that's come to life. I wasn¿t all that impressed the first few times I saw the computer-generated Scooby, in print ads and in trailers. But onscreen, the CG Scooby played extremely well. His cartoony expressions and movements fit perfectly; he was just the right mix between looking like a real dog and like the cartoon Scooby to fit into the surrounding environment. Linda Cardellini does an okay job as Velma – at times she had the Velma voice right on, at others not so much. Freddie Prinze Jr.¿s Fred wasn¿t nearly as annoying as I thought it would be (the scene in the trailer where Fred¿s talking in hip-hop speak made me cringe, but in the movie, I was pleased to find that it actually fit in context and wasn¿t annoying, just amusing). Sarah Michelle Gellar didn¿t sound or act much like Daphne – although, admittedly, there's not really much to the original character to work with, aside from being a bit dim, obsessed with her looks and being a damsel in distress (which the character tires of in the film). The ending was a total surprise to me, and that¿s something I definitely didn¿t expect, considering this is a Scooby-Doo movie, arguably the most formulaic cartoon series ever made (not that that¿s a bad thing; the show and concept work great for kids). I'm not going to spoil the ending in any way; suffice to say it was a refreshing surprise, humorous and very entertaining.Overall, there's very little in this film that I didn¿t enjoy. I could nit-pick about little things like how Velma oddly reappears wearing her original sweater at the end of the movie (after she had been wearing a hipper, low-cut version for the last chunk of the film) but why bother? This movie was made to be fun for current Scooby fans (like my daughter, who absolutely loved it, clutching the doll she brought along during the scary ghost/monster parts and laughing happily during the gags) and those adults who grew up with the cartoons, and it succeeds in both endeavors wonderfully. Not only would I not mind seeing a sequel to Scooby Doo (I can already see the posters for Doo Two in my head), but this film has done something I wouldn't have expected: it¿s actually given me hope that there can be good cartoon-to-film adaptations made. So now I feel that childhood memories like Underdog won't necessarily be trampled upon – future cartoon adaptations could actually be as funny, well written and entertaining as Scooby-Doo. Here¿s hoping.
