E-Mail This Article to a Friend SCOOBY DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED

This time out, the mystery-solving retro-hip live-action squares from Hanna-Barbera’s Saturday-morning cartoon factory are the toast of Coolsville, which gives them their very own museum. Of course, the opening gala is crashed by the Black Knight and the Pterodactyl Ghost, and soon almost every diabolical incarnation from Mystery Inc.’s past is on the rampage — and they’re not the usual monsters in rubber costumes, they’re the real deal. Directed by Raja Gosnell, the flick itself is a CGI-laden monstrosity where the rendering of the eponymous Great Dane is more creepy than cuddly. Nerdy Velma (Linda Cardellini) dispels any lesbian tags by getting romantic with the museum curator (Seth Green); Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.) stand around looking antiseptic, apart from when Gellar does her Buffy kung fu thing. But credit the creators with hanging their film on the screwball antics of Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and Scooby (voiced by Neil Fanning). Lillard gets Shaggy’s staccato down, and he looks more animated than the special effects. (85 minutes)