Written by: James Gunn
Starring: Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini
Rating: [3/5]
Taking on evil individuals hidden behind masks has served as the bread and butter for the Mystery Inc crew in the ways they disprove what appears as supernatural at first. When these disguises become real monsters, it presents a completely different challenge and one these heroes need to overcome in their most challenging mystery yet.
Following the opening of an exhibit detailing the disguises of villains they have caught in their past, an evil masked figure appears and seemingly brings them to life. Now with these monsters on the loose, Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), and Scooby-Doo must find the villain behind it all.
With the commercial success of the first feature, it made sense to bring back the gang for a new adventure; this time with some elevated stakes prepping this crew for a much more dangerous endeavor. This feature just like the last one presents an intriguing quandary to the plot and how the supernatural plays a part. Through the story’s origin, the show has sought to downplay the existence of supernatural monsters as nothing more than evil men behind a mask trying to scare people. It became the running idea, but when this story shifts into costumes becoming actual monsters, it ensures the narrative goes all in that magic and creatures of this sort exist. An interesting change, which the show has ventured into in the past, but in a way goes against the established core idea.
Introducing these creatures brings plenty of fun occurring in the feature as this crew must take on these monsters in their attempts to get to the bottom of this mystery. It makes for some very entertaining sequences where they must fight off their fear of these monsters and take them head-on. They take these creatures on both as a team and then individually when the time comes, which gives each of these characters the opportunity to shine in their own way. Each of these characters has always fit their particular archetype and they certainly receive the chance to display what makes them each a valuable member of the team.
As explored in this feature and the previous one, the gang has developed huge fame for the mysteries they solve and in a way become celebrities. It gets to the point where the beginning of the film shows a whole exhibition at a museum celebrating them and how they took down all of these bad guys who hid behind these masks. They live a life of luxury with their own headquarters. This feature, in turn, takes them back to their basics to get to the bottom of this mystery, which grounds them back to their basics. This makes the flashbacks to when they were kids all the more impactful as at the end of the day, despite all of the fame they obtain they remain a group of friends who enjoy solving mysteries together. Certainly something quite admirable and lovable about them.
Once again this second go-around with the cast assembled for this feature proved these were the perfect individuals to portray these characters. They each capture the essence of what these characters represent, especially Sarah Michelle Gellar as Daphne and Linda Cardellini as Velma. It’s truly difficult to imagine anyone else stepping into these roles and doing it any better than them. They certainly have fun with the opportunity they receive and allow a sense of freshness of the story to remain even when the story does not have the same strength as the preceding film.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed fully dives right into the idea of monsters existing and presents the biggest challenge the crew has ever taken on. It allows them to return to basics while prompting us to spend more time with this amazing cast portraying the iconic mystery-solving team. We have a team reckoning with their own fame along with the threat of actual monsters out there and manages to still find new ways to entertain. Even with the narrative issues this feature has, it provides plenty of memorably funny moments and enough goofiness to satisfy anyone who would want to crank on this movie for a good time.
Films with Josh 
