I just watched the second live-action Scooby Doo movie this afternoon, and I have relevant commentary. The Scooby Doo movies are by no means the best pieces of filmography in movie history, and my initial gut reaction was to pass them over (as I did the Garfield movies) and write them off. However, I enjoyed this movie and think that it has much to teach us about Superman.
Now, it's really not possible (or at least practical in any way) to have read, seen, or heard every Superman adventure in existence, while with Scooby Doo such a feat IS possible. Still, it was interesting to note in the movie that:
* all of the Scooby Doo characters' previous cartoon adventures actually happened, and are referred to in the movie
* while time has passed and there are some years of history that we haven't seen, the characters are essentially still themselves- Velma is nerdy, Shaggy and Scooby are butterfingers who have the munchies, etc.
* in spite of the fact that we are familiar with the characters and what they do, the writers have gone all out to create new challenges for all the residents of the Mystery Van
* By the end of the movie, it appeared that whatever land they all live in seems like a really fun place to be. I want to go there and dance with Alicia Silverstone and Frank Verone and all the happy people too.
My question is, why hasn't the live-action Superman, or the other DC superheroes for that matter, ever received this kind of treatment?
George Reeves' Superman/Clark seemed to have a genuinely good time. Adam West's Batman was kind of fun...but that's because it was a parody. Other than that, I can't say that the Fortress of Solitude from the Christopher Reeve movies is really the kind of place that I would want to hang out in for several unaccounted-for years. I would not want to work in Kirk Alyn's Daily Planet, and don't even get me started on the amount of nerve pills it would take to live in Tom Welling's Smallville. The 1990 Flash series' Central City seems to have been based on the 1989 Batman movie, but more flat.
The DC superheroes have gotten giant budgets compared to whoever made Scooby Doo, so the special effects transition from comics to film can't be the reason. Actors aren't to blame, either...John Hamilton and Kevin Spacey have hit Perry White and Lex Luthor right on the head, respectively. So why is it so hard to make the depths of the DC universe believable in front of the camera? Scooby Doo 2 (yes, I laugh at it too) has shown that it is possible.