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Author Topic: SCOOBY DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED (???)  (Read 3319 times)
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Gangbuster
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« on: October 10, 2006, 12:36:37 AM »

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.

 Cheesy
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davidelliott
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« Reply #1 on: October 10, 2006, 04:15:21 AM »

Good points...

I think the fact that Scooby Doo is aimed at kids and kids want to see a literal translation.  To children, Scooby and other cartoon characters are "real", so it's logical that the Scooby movies are a natural extension of that.

Superhero comics, however silly at times, are somewhat more realistic in tone (except for the sci-fi Batman stories of the late '50's and early '60's).  They portray the characters in the "real world" rather than an obvious "cartoon world".  It's more logical to translate them into the real world in movies.

HOWEVER I do agree that the mythos should be kept close to the source material, unless that source material can be improved upon, yet stay faithful.  The ONLY movie I appreciate that has done this is the first Spider-Man film.  Very logical to have Peter naturally spin webs, show how he grips walls and so forth.

Now, when superhero films take themselve lightly and humorously (poking fun at themselves), they don't work... Batman Forever, Batman and Robin, Superman III & IV come to mind.

my 2 cents

PS... despite how familiar the public is with Superman and Batman I think the producers need to constantly remind everyone of their origins.  Why, I don't know.  I just want to see an adventure and not be weighed down in flashbacks and origin rehashes.  Thats why the Scooby Doo movies work... no real drama, just fun, which is what you're getting at!
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Permanus
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« Reply #2 on: October 10, 2006, 09:07:07 AM »

I haven't seen the Scooby Doo films, but I'm not so sure that they are intended for children, David - I was under the impression that they had a kind of kitsch value. There seems to be a fad recently, among people of my infantilised generation, to revive old television series they used to love in the 70s as feature films. (Personally, I'd love to see a Persuaders movie.)

Gangbuster does make a good point: why do the Superman movies seem to try to recreate the character, and so coldly at that? I imagine that much of this stems from the fact that these are bigger, more ambitious projects, involving all sorts of producers who have little or no feeling for Superman, or even much knowledge of the stories. The Daily Planet of the original Donner film was quite true to how I felt it should be (and probably borrowed a lot from His Girl Friday, too), but beyond that, Krypton was a cold, austere place and the Fortress of Solitude was depicted as its outpost on Earth, not at all the sort of Smithsonian Institution place Superman built. (It's interesting, actually, that Superman in the film doesn't build his own fortress, it builds itself; it's almost as if the scriptwriters wanted him not to be an active participant in his own life.)

Superman movies are of course deeply affected by their need to pander to wider audiences than their source material affords, but even so, there seems to be little affection for the comics. This results in a rather stiff narrative, that doesn't dare refer to itself lest it give too much away. It's a bit like being at a party where nobody breaks the ice.

I should mention that I am writing this after a several month-long, bizarre quest to watch every episode of the Simpsons ever made, thanks to an illicit website. I have now fulfilled this, and was intrigued to find that there actually is an internal continuity in the series (I didn't know, for instance, that Flanders loses his wife at one point, and subsequent episodes refer to this quite openly), but that it also gleefully contradicts itself very often. It is self-referential in a joyous way, which would be nice to see in Superman films.
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davidelliott
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« Reply #3 on: October 11, 2006, 08:36:52 AM »

I agree with you on the changes the films make... I hated sterile Krypton.  Krypton Pre-Crisis looked like a place that was a utopia.  Post-Crisis and Donner Krypton deserved to blow up.  I had no compassion for its destruction.

I saw the first Scooby Doo movie a few years ago and it was pretty much a live action version of the cartoon IIRC... I never saw the 2nd one
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Uncle Mxy
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« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2006, 01:24:07 AM »

Quote from: "Permanus"
why do the Superman movies seem to try to recreate the character, and so coldly at that?

They wanted something "real" and "serious" to appeal to adults, and didn't have many models of how to do this in the superhero genre.  Think of the timeframe.
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