Scooby-Doo (film)


 * This article is about the 2002 film. For other uses, see Scooby-Doo.

Scooby-Doo, also known as Scooby-Doo: The Movie, is an American-Australian live-action/CGI American-Australian horror comedy film. It was written by James Gunn, produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, and directed by Raja Gosnell. Production was handled by Mosaic Media Group and Atlas Entertainment. Warner Bros. Pictures distributed the film on June 14, 2002. Two years later it was followed by the sequel, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed.

After an argument, the members of Mystery Inc. break up and try to make lives for themselves. Years later, they are forced to reunite when they are called by an eccentric amusement park owner to investigate the strange happenings on his island.

Memorable quotes
Reporter: Fred, what's the secret of your success? Fred: Teamwork. I do I tremendous amount of teamwork.

Old Man Withers: I would've gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for you meddling kids and your dumb dog! I'll get you for this!

Fred: How many times do I have to tell you? There are no such things as ghouls, ghosts, goblins, or monsters. Now listen up. There is absolutely, absolutely no such thing as... Monster!

Scrappy-Doo: Yeah, and I've would've got away with it, If it weren't for those meddling sons of a--.

Characters
Frank Welker (voice)
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Luna Ghost
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Nicholas Hope
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Daphne Blake
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Sarah Michelle Gellar
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Velma Dinkley
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Linda Cardellini
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Fred Jones
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Freddie Prinze Jr.
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scooby-Doo
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Neil Flanning
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Shaggy Rogers
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Matthew Lillard
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Pamela Anderson
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Herself
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Reporter #1
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Alex Ruiz
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Old Man Withers
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Nicholas Hope
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| George Clooney
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Spooky Island emmissary
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Rio Nugara
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Velma's friend
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Charles Cousins
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Brad
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Kristian Schmid
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Cat
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Frank Welker (voice)
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Emil Mondavarious
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Rowan Atkinson
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Carol
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Michala Banas
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Skeleton man
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Frank Welker
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| N'Goo Tuana
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Steven Grives
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Zarkos
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Sam Greco
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Bartender
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| David Vallon
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Melvin Doo
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Martin Broome
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Hong Kong Phooey
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Tiny henchman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Chris Cruickshanks
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video presenter
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Holly Ann Brisley
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video guy #1
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Robert Diaz
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video guy #2
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Remi Broadway
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Papa Smurf
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scrappy-Doo
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scott Innes (voice)
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Don Knotts
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Demons
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Jess Harnell (voice)
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Bartender
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| David Vallon
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Melvin Doo
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Martin Broome
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Hong Kong Phooey
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Tiny henchman
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Chris Cruickshanks
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video presenter
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Holly Ann Brisley
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video guy #1
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Robert Diaz
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Training video guy #2
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Remi Broadway
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Papa Smurf
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scrappy-Doo
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scott Innes (voice)
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Don Knotts
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Demons
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Jess Harnell (voice)
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Remi Broadway
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Papa Smurf
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scrappy-Doo
 * style="background-color:#clear"| Scott Innes (voice)
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Don Knotts
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Demons
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Jess Harnell (voice)
 * style="background-color:#FDB56C" colspan="2"| Don Knotts
 * style="background-color:#d2d2ff"| Demons
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Jess Harnell (voice)
 * style="background-color:#aaffaa"| Jess Harnell (voice)

Organizations

 * Mystery Incorporated
 * NASA
 * Led Zeppelin (mentioned)
 * The Powerpuff Girls (mentioned)
 * Coast Guard

Locations

 * Earth
 * United States
 * Wow-O Toy Factory
 * Beach
 * Airport
 * Spooky Island
 * Spooky Hotel
 * Voodoo Doll Lounge
 * Dead Mike's
 * Voodoo maestro's residence
 * Spooky Castle
 * France (mentioned)
 * The Moon
 * The Sun

Objects

 * Luna Ghost action figures
 * Pamela Anderson dolls
 * Fred on Fred: The Many Faces of Me
 * Super Food Ideas 101
 * Scooby Snacks
 * Emil Mondavarious robot
 * Deamon Ritus

Vehicles

 * The Mystery Machine
 * Spooky Island plane
 * Spooky Island boat

Development
Interest had started in 1994, and went through several writers and potential actors. The film was intended to be a co-production between Atlas Entertainment and Turner Pictures (before Time Warner bought Turner Entertainment), with an original treatment written by Craig Titley (dated February 16, 1996) who had the gang meet at Kingston College. Incidentally, Jon Colton Barry had a similar idea twenty years later, when he used Kingston as the name of a university in "Mystery 101," the first episode of Be Cool, Scooby-Doo!

In 1998, actor Mike Myers was reported to have been hired to write a new script, and possibly star.

Casting
Mike Myers and Jim Carrey were attached in the beginning. Christina Ricci was set to play Velma, but was replaced with Linda Cardellini.

Real-life couple Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sarah Michelle Gellar were cast to give legitimacy that Fred and Daphne could be a real couple on-screen. Prinze Jr. had his hair dyed.

When Matthew Lillard was cast as Shaggy, he would have to scream every morning to get the scratchy voice.

Neil Fanning was hired only to only voice Scooby during rehearsals, but he worked well with the cast and crew that he was hired for the finished movie. Scott Innes claimed that while Fanning had been hired to do the off-camera work, he had been hired to do the voice of Scooby, which took him two days to perform. He originally had know idea that he was going to do the voice of Scrappy. He believes that while Warner Bros. was "dead set" on him being the voice of Scooby, Raja Gosnell and Richard Suckle had grown accustomed to hearing Neil Fanning's voice after six months, so according to Innes, either having been told by someone else or due to his own inflated ego, that the press expected him to be the voice of Scooby, so Innes was described as being in the movie with the implication that he would be Scooby, but it was really for voicing Scrappy, which was done in Houston for three separate days, which Innes had to fly out on each ocassion.

Filming
Principal photography took place February 2001 in Queensland, Australia, unlike the following films, which were filmed in North America. The island scenes where shoot at Tangaloom Island Resort.

The film was much "edgier," but test screenings got the adult references dialed down or removed entirely to make the film more family friendly. The use of the word "soul" was also replaced with "protoplasm." There was a kiss between Daphne and Velma cut,

There was an alternate opening with Mystery Incorporated in animated form as they appeared in Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! This was animated by Bob Kurtz of Kurtz and Friends. It was removed when screened for test audiences that it just slowed down the film and an unnecessary introduction as everybody knew the film was based on the cartoon.

There were also several scenes deleted for time; some of which had a more mature context:


 * The opening of the film wasn't supposed to begin with Old Man Smithers as the Luna Ghost. Instead, he was intended to be an onlooker on the island when Scrappy was arresting, setting up Old Man Smithers to be a villain in the sequel.
 * There were more implicit gags for Shaggy being a stoner/selling drugs:
 * A sign reading "Pot - $5," although the camera pans out to reveal they're actually selling a clay pot with flowers for five dollars.
 * After Mondavarious first tells the gang about the possessions, Fred makes a snide remark about being Shaggy selling pot, that the only thing the students have to worry about is their possessions going through customs.
 * Velma is in love with Daphne:
 * Velma checks out Daphne as she's struggling with her luggage, which was replaced with Fred looking at Daphne instead.
 * Velma drunkenly serenades Daphne or Fred with the song "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You." It's also revealed that despite acting intoxicated, Velma wasn't drinking alcohol after all.
 * There was an alternate take where Velma sings Cypress Hill's "Insane in the Brain."
 * The only way that Velma and Daphne could get their souls back in their rightful bodies was to kiss.
 * There were flashbacks to what Fred and the girls had been doing between the time they split up and reunited at the airport, which was only spoken about in the finished cut.
 * Fred attends Fan-Con-A-Thon to promote his book. He mentions the Black Knight Ghost a callback to the episode "What a Night for a Knight," although the monster was actually just called the Black Knight. The Black Knight Ghost, as he is called in the deleted scene, did appear in the sequel. At the convention, there was also logos for Cartoon Network with a booth for The Powerpuff Girls, a stand of a Batman costume without the cowl, badges for of Wonder Woman, and a Batman Adventures comic. The most important takeaway, perhaps, is that Fred is implied to dye his hair blond.
 * The gang are driven through Nightmare Boulevard on their first night; Shaggy says to Mary Jane it was giving him the creeps but in a good way, right when he was accidentally looking at one of her shoulder straps having fallen off. Also, the Lep Zeppelin fan that Velma befriends believes that she was once a man.
 * Fred and Daphne have adjoined rooms, allowing Fred to stay the night in Daphne's room, under the pretense of keeping her from being scared, but she was just faking it to the lull the island into a false sense of security. She also says that was the only thing she was faking, implying that they had an unfulfilled sexual encounter with Fred.
 * Daphne discovers Velma is possessed, who is dancing with other girls in the locker room. It was cut because parents believed that the girls were in their underwear instead of clearly in their bikinis.
 * Shaggy witnesses Daphne's spirit being removed from her body and being possessed by a creature.
 * Despite Scrappy being defeated, the demons successfully infiltrate the Pentagon, which had a poor audience reaction.
 * Two endings were filmed; one with the culprit behind the demons being Old Man Withers, who followed up on his revenge claim, and the one where Scrappy was the culprit. Neither James Gunn nor Raja Gosnell liked Scrappy, Gunn in fact hated Scrappy to his very core, and saw this opportunity to get his own revenge on the character. He still hates him to this very day.

Post production
The original cut was R-rated due to a joke misinterpreted by the MPAA, according to James Gunn. There was some minor alterations aswell to appease the Christian audience, such as "demons" and "souls" being redubbed with "creatures" and "protoplasm." Cleavage was CGI'd away.

Music
The music was composed by David Newman.

Songs

 * 1) "Pass the Duchie" - Musical Youth

Release
Dates are in order of release:


 * United States: June 14, 2002
 * Australia: June 20, 2002

Behind the scenes

 * Velma says "Jinkies" three times.
 * Shaggy says "Zoinks" three times.
 * The Pamela Anderson dolls are a parody of Mattel's Barbie.
 * The Mystery Machine's vanity plate reads "MYST INC."
 * The gang breaking up and being independent is suspiciously too similar to the first direct-to-video film, Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, although, in that film, the gang broke up on good terms, as they're excited to finally be back together, unlike Daphne, Fred, and Velma in this film.
 * Pamela Anderson was added as a reference to the random times a celebrity would pop up in The New Scooby-Doo Movies.
 * "Mary Jane" is a euphemism for drugs, so of course, that's why it's Shaggy's favorite name.

Errors

 * There is no backstory given for the demons.
 * Scooby rather irresponsibly leaves his nephew out in the desert to fend for himself, such an action could lead to more serious consequences. But then again in this timeline, he wasn't a puppy, he just had a gland disorder.
 * During the scene when the monsters attacked the hotel, Daphne runs up the stairs wearing sneakers, instead of her pink go-go boots.
 * Shaggy wanting to leave the island and being fine with the monsters "eating Fred and Velma" seems very mean and cowardly even for Shaggy, considering Fred and Velma are two of his best friends.
 * How N' Goo Tuana is allowed to live on the island, which is owned by Mondavarious, is unexplained.
 * How the creatures are connected to the Daemon Ritus and how Scrappy learned about either is also left unexplained.
 * The gang didn't get the monsters that left the island, and one of them could have been spared from the sun if they were inside.
 * When Shaggy found the real Mondavarious, he had long, scraggly hair and a beard, but a few minutes later when he walks to the reporters, his hair is cut and is clean-shaven.
 * The short henchman wasn't detained on the helicopter with the rest of the culprits. He was either overlooked or had also been possessed by a demon.
 * The film doesn't explain how and when Mary Jane got captured and possessed by the demons.

Everlasting influence

 * Due to past friendships and working with the cast in the sequel, Seth Green has continuously brought in Prinze, Lillard, Gellar, and Cardellini to voice Mystery Inc. for his stop motion series Robot Chicken, which airs on Adult Swim.
 * In the Gilmore Girls episode "Knit, People, Knit," Rory attends a 2002-themed party, where a poster of the Scooby-Doo film has been put up on a door.
 * Lillard ended up being Casey Kasem's replacement for Shaggy in official cartoon productions since 2009.
 * In Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, an unrelated TV series, the Luna Ghost costume was used by Velma's parents as an exhibit at the Crystal Cove Museum.
 * Cardellini had guest spots as Hot Dog Water, Velma's rival.

Home availability

 * In the United States:
 * October 11, 2002: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo on VHS.
 * October 11, 2002: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo on DVD.
 * January 16, 2007: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo on Blu-ray Disc.
 * November 9, 2010: Warner Home Video releases Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection on Blu-ray Disc.

Trailers
Teaser trailer:

Original theatrical trailer:

Standard theatrical trailer: