Greetings Ladies and Gents! It is I, The Shaman of Animation and welcome back to Scooby-Doo Month! Today's installment is one that I actually own a physical copy of (It was $5 at a CVS) and it inspired this year's theme. With The Mystery Begins being a huge ratings success, a sequel was developed and released the very next year. Was it worth my 5 bucks? Let's find out as we dive into Scooby-Doo! Curse of The Lake Monster.
School's out for the mystery solving kids and their dog and they're heading out to the Country Club of Daphne's Uncle to work and help pay off debts after setting a barn on fire during a case. On the night of the club's opening however, it is attacked by the titular lake monster. Now the gang must put an end to this creature's haunting while also dealing with romance blossoming within the group.
I am happy to report that this sequel seemed to learn the lesson of its predecessor when it comes to the mystery, while you get an idea as to where it's going from the first scene alone, the story this go around is more engaging and leaves little breadcrumbs before the "twist", so I was more interested in where it was going.
What helps keep the intrigue going are the romantic subplots throughout the film, which I find funny considering this movie and Mystery Incorporated, a series that also focused on the gang in relationships, premiered the same year. It makes me wonder if this was some kind of mandate from a higher up.
But that's besides the point, the romance in this film I thought was done well and honestly, it was arguably the biggest source for laughs in this film and I thought the cast did a fantastic job with making this feel genuine, the MVPs in this are Nick Palatas's Shaggy and Hayley Kiyoko's Velma, who's whole relationship in the film to me mostly comes off as endearing. It does become a problem when the gang comes into conflict about their relationships and I'm reminded this is a kids' film, but I do feel as though it does have something of a mature resolution.
And the big problem with this particular subplot is how they use Scooby in this, and I have to go back to the Mystery Incorporated comparison because much like in that series there is a, for lack of a better phrase, love triangle between Scooby, Shaggy, and Velma. In Curse of the Lake Monster, Shaggy asks Velma out on a date and Scooby, out of fear that he'll be replaced if his friends become an item, tries to sabotage the date.
Now it's been a while since I've seen Mystery Incorporated, but I distinctly remember the show portraying Scooby and Velma in both positive and negative lights when it came to their relationship with Shaggy. Here, Velma hasn't necessarily done anything wrong, so Scooby comes off as a huge jerk in this part of the film.
I've gone on long enough about the romance, Let's move on.
But as I think about it, compared to the Mystery Begins, it feels as though Scooby is kind of an afterthought. When he's not ruining friends' dates, Scooby doesn't do anything outside of the usual gag, and I've brought it up in the last review and it's worthy repeating, the cartoon gags do not work. I appreciate the film for trying to pay homage to the original show with these gags, but there's some stuff that just doesn't translate in live action, or at least on a TV show budget.
And finally as for the villain, while I'd be lying if I said they left a memorable mark (I can't even remember her name as I type this review) but as movie sequel villains go, she does a good job of spicing things up from the first film, providing a new, different kind of challenge for our heroes, and ramps up the stakes for the sequel.
Scooby-Doo! Curse of The Lake Monster is a pretty decent film, much better than its predecessor. The story is entertaining, the new dynamics between characters make for funny situations and jokes, jokes that will have you laughing just for the strangeness of them. In no way a waste of $5 if I do say so myself.
But one film down, one to go. Stay posted on the blog here folks, as next time, Scooby-Doo Month concludes with Daphne and Velma. Til then I'm The Shaman of Animation and I'm glad to finally have one of these live action films not have a fart joke in them.
We're moving on up in the world gents!
Take Care...
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