Review of Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009) by John D — 13 Oct 2009

I'm not to well informed with Scooby-Doo lore, but if you were to follow the animated series then this group of detectives originally formed around the time of late elementary school or early middle school-age. But that minor detail shouldn't prevent you from seeing this film. I'm not a fan of any of the Scooby-Doo animated series. And the first two live action films I really hated because they almost seemed like parodies of its source material. Brian Levant's Scooby-Doo!: The Mystery Begins may contain the same problems I have with any Scooby-Doo incarnation, but it's the first to present it in a fashion that is entertaining, and not frustrating to get through.

The movie features the all too familiar gang of Fred (Robbie Amell), Daphne (Kate Melton), Velma (Hayley Kiyoko) and Shaggy (Nick Palatas) all being strangers to each other in high school. It isn't until Scoobert, later to be named Scooby, comes into the life of Shaggy where the gang finally meet. After the group is blamed for a "prank" performed at a pep rally, they join together to solve the mystery of who truly performed this act, and what their real intentions were.

Call me crazy, but I liked this group of actors more than I did the ones who played these characters in the previous two films. Sure, Robbie Amell doesn't look the least like Fred but he's well enough in the performance for you not to care that his hair isn't blond or that he doesn't have that scarf thing around his neck. And both Kate Melton and Hayley Kiyoko slip perfectly into their roles. I especially liked Kiyoko's way of handling Velma's bizarre behavior, like her need to run in a zig-zag fashion anytime the group had to sneak into a location.

I couldn't help but find myself impressed with the performance by Nick Palatas. Out of all of the characters in the Scooby-Doo gang, Shaggy seems like the hardest to pull off just right. Well, Palatas I feel pulled off the role perfectly. He's got the look and the voice, but that doesn't become all that he's capable of offering. It's one thing to look and sound like a character, but it's another thing to do both of those and bring your own charm to the role. I really enjoyed Palatas in this film.

I still find it odd that no one finds a talking dog like Scooby-Doo (voiced by Frank Welker) the least bit weird. But for a film that takes its source material seriously, the strange feeling I had with Scooby slipped away quickly. Scooby-Doo!: The Mystery Begins is a hugely charming and surprisingly funny film. I went into it expecting more of the same, a dull film that furthered my hatred of these characters. But Brian Levant's film defied my expectations, and became of the of the best made for television movies I've seen this year.