Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins

I sat down to watch the 2009 movie "Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" with my 9 year old son, as he wanted to watch it. And since we usually watch the animated movies together, I sat down to watch this live-action movie with him.

Right, well whereas he enjoyed the movie, I found it to be, well less interesting. The storyline was adequate, for sure, because it definitely had the spirit of the classic formula used in the Scooby-Doo! animated movies. But there was just something that didn't appeal to me. Oh wait, it was the live-action part. Scooby-Doo! does not translate well as a live-action movie, especially not with such horrible CGI animation.

Scooby-Doo looked like something from an early 2000s computer game and he stuck out like a sore thumb. It was just impossible to take a liking to that aspect of the movie. But at least my 9 year old son enjoyed it.

I quickly lost interest in this abysmal foray into the Scooby-Doo! universe, but my son endured it to the end and he was genuinely entertained.

This 2009 movie is without a doubt aimed for a young audience, whereas the animated movies are more easily adaptable to a mature audience as well.

I wasn't entertained, and my rating of "Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" is a mere four out of ten stars.

My brother & I probably watched every episode of the original Hannah Barbara Scooby Doo cartoons in the 80's and so I am very leery of all these newer versions that keep popping up. There was a certain feel in those originals that will never be reproduced and perhaps Scooby is best left in the 70's. I was pretty let down by the Freddie Prince Jr. movies which tried to update Scooby (like a lot of CGI updates, Alvin & the Chipmunks, Smurfs, Garfield, Transformers, etc.)with modern lingo & culture which for some reason means crudeness, krass jokes and even sexual innuendos. This movie was better in that sense, but is annoying when they stray from the original (Freddie is blond, ghosts are ALWAYS people in masks, etc.) And since we're making a "realistic" version, why is Scooby CGI? Why not just use a real Great Dane? Nick Palatas, though doing a decent impression of Casey Kacem's "Shaggy" voice comes across annoying and contrived after a while. Maybe I'm a purist...maybe I'm a grouch, but I kind of wish people would leave the old cartoons alone.

And it's not the Mystery Van....

The star of this movie is the scene-stealing Hayley Kiyoko, who has that sure-fire combo of a pretty face that's rubbery enough for broad comedy. There's no doubt that this DVD is her calling card to Big Things.

I like this iteration of the series despite its creaky gags, thin plot and underwhelming visual effects. The four human characters imbue the film with an infectious, bubbly chemistry.

The plot unfolds so rapidly you won't have time to fret over its flaws. Many of the gags, for instance, were old when they were done in Mack Sennett comedies. And some of the details may irk "Scooby" purists, such as Fred's dark hair this time around. On the other hand, there are a number of amusing back-story gags -- for instance, three of the characters are too young to drive. So guess which one has his license because he's been held back a couple of grades.

As for the special effects, the rendering of the title character puts him in the Salem the cat league ("Sabrina the Teenage Witch") -- cheesiness is part of the fun. When I caught this movie, I happened to be watching ABC's "Kingdom Hospital" miniseries, which features a remarkably lifelike anteater character. It crossed my mind that the money that went into creating that anteater was probably four or five times the budget for this entire motion picture.

"Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins" also provides a lot of material for drinking games here. Take a gulp every time you see Velma's knees, every time Shaggy says "Zoinks," every time you understand one of Scooby's lines -- you get the idea.

This made for TV prequel to the fun, all-star Warner Brothers movies suffers from dodgy casting decisions (a non-blond Fred, a Japanese Velma, a rather chunky Daphne, a curly haired Shaggy), very iffy CGI, and a mystery that is far too easy to figure out. It's lightweight, silly, spooky fun, and passable entertainment for the kids, I suppose, but it's not a patch on the gang's two previous live-action outings.

The simple story sees a young Shaggy (Nick Palatas), Scooby (voiced by Frank Welker), Fred (Robbie Amell), Daphne (Kate Melton) and Velma (Hayley Kiyoko) teaming up to find out who is behind the resurrection of a pair of ghosts who are haunting their high-school. In traditional Scooby Doo style, there are several suspects, but the real culprit should be glaringly obvious to anyone who has been paying attention.

Admittedly, there's some fun to be had from seeing how Mystery Inc. formed, and I enjoyed the scene in which Velma gets a sexy makeover by Daphne (gotta love a hot Asian nerd!), but all in all, this adventure lacks the magic, spectacle and quality that a better cast and a bigger budget allows.

It may not have the gloss of the two previous live action Scooby films but this one still has all the heart and fun of those two films. It will entertain families in the same way that the classic cartoon did over forty years ago.

An all new cast do a fair job of playing the iconic characters and the story plods along at a pace that can be enjoyed by both parents and kids alike.

There are flaws in the plot but it does come across as more than just a DVD spin and that is a testament to the cast.

Overall this is funny and entertaining enough of a film for those who have enjoyed the previous live action Scooby outings.