Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed is the second instalment in the canine crime caper cartoon's live action transfer to the big screen. Following the success of their 2002 outing, we join Mystery Inc. as they attend the opening night of an exhibition at Coolville's Coolsonian Museum, featuring items from all of the cases they have solved. However, the event turns into a disaster when monster costumes come to life and start terrorising the charity crowd.

However, as Mystery Inc. take on this case, they find themselves hampered by a public relations nightmare, created by an overzealous reporter, Heather Jasper-Howe (Silverstone), who criticizes the gang on local television. This, along with other factors, slowly starts to force the gang apart.

Director Raja Gosnell seems to have done more homework this time round, in that this film is even more true to the original animations than the first. It features a range of wonderful and suspect locations, the action is relentlessly funny in a way only thought possible in cartoons, and there are some great set-pieces and corny one-liners. The movie is also boosted by a loyal, good all-round cast, led by the excellent Lillard as Scooby-Doo's friend Shaggy. Prinze Jr. (Fred), Gellar (Daphne) and Cardellini (Velma) have all become their human characters personified, and offer much more than just supporting Lillard's antics. Scooby Doo is again CGI-animated to great effect, interacting with Lillard particularly well.

Also, as with the cartoons, there is a large supporting cast to ensure there are numerous suspects to the crime to be solved. Examples include Alicia Silverstone, a trash-TV reporter who is determined to debunk the myth of Mystery Inc., and Seth Green as the museum curator whose exhibits have become more than he'd bargained for. And then there are the monsters... Zoiks!

Norville Rogers