Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Plot

Mystery Inc. (Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo) attend the opening of an exhibition at the Coolsonian Criminology Museum commemorating their past solved cases with monster costumes on display. However, the celebrations are interrupted by a masked man known as the Evil Masked Figure who steals two costumes using the reanimated Pterodactyl Ghost. The gang are ridiculed by journalist Heather Jasper Howe, who starts a smear campaign against them. Concluding an old enemy is the mastermind, the gang revisit old cases, dismissing the former Pterodactyl Ghost, Jonathan Jacobo, due to his death during a failed prison escape, they guess that Jeremiah Wickles, the Black Knight Ghost’s portrayer and Jacobo's cell mate in prison, is the culprit.

Going to Wickles mansion, Fred insists on ringing the door bell twice, which activates a trap door that drops the gang into a cage. Velma identifies that the lock can be unlocked with Wickles's fingerprint. Daphne ingeniously releases them all using the makeup from her bag to recreate the previous thumb print left by Wickles, thereby effectively unlocking the prison. The gang find a book that serves as an instruction manual on how to create monsters. Shaggy and Scooby-Doo find a note inviting Wickles’s to visit the Faux Ghost nightclub. They are attacked by the Black Knight Ghost, but escape when Daphne fights him off while Velma discovers its weak spot and disables it. Before fleeing, the rest of the gang had previously discovered through the book found in Wickle's mansion that the key ingredient to creating the monsters was a substance called "randomonium", which can be found at the old silver mining town.

After Daphne helps Velma overcome her fears of intimacy and assert herself by changing up her image, Daphne, Velma and Fred go to the museum, accompanied by the curator Patrick Wisely, but discover that the rest of the costumes have been stolen. Heather Jasper Howe ridicules the gang further by turning the city against them. The gang go to the mines, finding Wickles's plans to turn it into an amusement park. As they confront Wickles, he states that he and Jacobo were cell mates who hated each other and that he has no connection to the museum robberies.

Shaggy and Scooby, after overhearing the rest of the gang criticizing their tendency to bumble every operation, and especially their most recent offense failing to tie the rope and secure the Pterodactyl Ghost, resolve to better themselves and become real detectives. Following a lead from their first clue ever, which was stuck to Scooby's foot after he played around in Wickles mansion, sneak into the Faux Ghost to try and solve the mystery. After speaking to Wickles, they learn he has resolved his ways. Scooby eventually causes a scene and his disguise falls off, leading Scooby and Shaggy to escape through a trash chute. On their way out, they spot Patrick uncharacteristically assaulting who appears to be a member of his staff, ordering him to find answers to who vandalized his museum. Escaping an awkward interaction with Patrick, Shaggy and Scooby spot Wickles leaving the bar and follow him.

The gang then find the Monster Hive where the costumes are brought to life as real monsters. Shaggy and Scooby play around with the machine’s control panel, bringing several costumes to life, and the gang flee with the panel as the Evil Masked Figure terrorizes the city. Escaping to their old high school clubhouse, the gang realize they can reverse the control panel’s power by altering its wiring. Captain Cutler’s Ghost emerges from the bayou, forcing the gang to head back to the mines, encountering the various monsters along the way. Velma sees Patrick in the mines, finding a shrine dedicated to Jacobo built by Patrick, but Patrick proves his innocence by helping Velma after a catwalk unexpectedly gives way under her.

The gang confront the Evil Masked Figure as Tar Monster captures all of them but Scooby, who uses a fire extinguisher to freeze the Tar Monster’s body. He reactivates the control panel, transforming the costumes back to normal. The gang take the Evil Masked Figure to the authorities, unmasking him as Heather. When asked why did she do all this, Velma suddenly pulls and peels Heather's face off, revealing she is actually Jacobo in disguise, having escaped death and sought to get revenge on Mystery, Inc. by discrediting them. Jacobo’s cameraman Ned is also arrested as an accomplice. Mystery, Inc. are praised as heroes once again in Coolsville. In the Faux Ghost, the gang celebrates their victory with the now reformed criminals whom they unmasked in the past (including Wickles).

After the credits, Scooby-Doo is seen playing a Scooby-Doo 2 Game Boy Advance game. After he succeeds, he tells the viewers to enter the Scooby-Doo 2 Game Boy Advance code. (This is only seen on the VHS and DVD release)

Cast

Voices

Cameos

Production

In June 2002, at the time of the release of Scooby-Doo, Dan Fellman, the president of Warner Bros., confirmed that a sequel was in the works, and was slated for a 2004 release. In March 2003, it was announced that Freddie Prinze Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Neil Fanning, Matthew Lillard and Linda Cardellini would reprise their roles in the sequel. In April 2003, the next month, filming for the sequel began in Vancouver, with Seth Green joining the cast.

Box office

The film opened March 26, 2004 and grossed $29.4 million (over 3,312 theaters, $8,888 average) during its opening weekend, ranking #1. It grossed a total of $84.2 million in North America, and went on to earn $181.5 million worldwide, more than $90 million less than the $275.7 million worldwide Scooby-Doo grossed two years earlier. It was the twenty eighth most successful film of 2004, and ranks as the sixth highest grossing film featuring a dog as a major character. The film was released in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2004, and topped the country's box office for the next three weekends, before being dethroned by Kill Bill Volume 2.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a rating of 21% based on 114 reviews and an average rating of 4.2/10. The site's consensus reads, "Only the very young will get the most out of this silly trifle." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

The film won a Razzie Award for Worst Remake or Sequel.

Home media release

Warner Home Video released the film on DVD and VHS on September 14, 2004 in both full-screen and widescreen editions. The DVD included deleted scenes from the film's production and other special features, such as two music videos, a "making of" and trailers. On November 9, 2010, Warner Bros. released both the film and its predecessor as a double feature Blu-ray.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released on March 23, 2004 on Audio CD and Compact Cassette.

1. "Don't Wanna Think About You" by Simple Plan (Simple Plan had also performed the titular theme song)
2. "You Get What You Give" by New Radicals
3. "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian
4. "Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin)" by Big Brovaz
5. "The Rockafeller Skank" by Fatboy Slim
6. "Wooly Bully" by Bad Manners
7. "Shining Star" by Ruben Studdard
8. "Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger
9. "Get Ready for This" by 2 Unlimited
10. "Play That Funky Music" by Wild Cherry
11. "Here We Go" by Bowling for Soup
12. "Love Shack" by The B-52's
13. "Friends Forever" by Puffy AmiYumi
14. "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi

Deleted scenes

Cancelled sequel

In October 2002, during the filming of Scooby-Doo 2, Warner Bros. gave the green light for production of Scooby-Doo 3. Writers Dan Forman and Paul Foley were hired by WB to write the script for the third film.

However, after the release of Scooby-Doo 2, Warner Bros. felt the film should have made more money, which prevented the production of another sequel. In January 2006, during a press conference for the release of Without a Paddle (2004), Matthew Lillard stated that the third film had been cancelled, and was not going to go ahead.

Prequels

The third main film Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins was aired by Cartoon Network on September 13, 2009, the 40th anniversary of Scooby-Doo. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on September 22. Directed by Brian Levant. The plot is an origin story for the Mystery, Inc. gang, portraying the beginning of everything: how the gang met, their first mystery, their lives at school and how they got the Mystery Machine.

The fourth main film Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster was aired by Cartoon Network on October 16, 2010, with the same director and cast from the previous film. In this film, the Mystery, Inc. gang is heading towards a beach club owned by Daphne's uncle, for temporary summer jobs. While involved with their tasks, they stumble on a new mystery.

Reboot

On June 17, 2014, Warner Bros. announced that they will restart the film series, with Randall Green writing a new film. Unlike the previous films, the reboot will be an animated film titled S.C.O.O.B, set for a September 21, 2018 release. In May 2017, the film was pushed back nearly two years to May 15, 2020.