Scooby-Doo! Der Fluch des See-Monsters

I'm a fan of the original animated Scooby Doo TV series (1969-1970). It was against these episodes I judged the theatrical releases Scooby-Doo (2002) and Scooby Doo 2: Monster's Unleased (2004). When I saw Curse of the Lake Monster was a feature length movie, without thinking about it I had my expectations set for something comparable to the two theater releases. Oops! Curse of the Lake Monster was a B-movie in many ways, including overt over-the-top acting. I'm not a fan of B-movies and must confess to having some trouble sitting through it all. I would say the movie is a bit worse than Scooby Doo 2. The pace was good and the plot moved along reasonably well. I had no problem at all with the special effects--they were fine.

I consider the brown-haired Fred a production decision blunder. While it stopped bothering me half way through the movie, I never started thinking of Fred as Fred. He was more like a new character to me. Shaggy is very difficult to translate from animation to live action, and I think greater energy put into the character would have been an improvement. The girls will be played better as the actresses gain in confidence and experience.

If you liked Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleased, then Curse of the Lake Monster is probably worth watching.