SCOOBY-DOO 2: MONSTERS UNLEASHED — * 1/2 — Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini, Sarah Michelle Gellar; rated PG (violence, vulgarity, brief drugs).
When the best you can say about a sequel to a bad movie is that it's a tiny bit better, there are definite problems.
And "Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," a live-action sequel to the 2001 hit (which was a spinoff of the long-running Saturday-morning cartoon series) is just slightly better than the first film — only because there's less flatulence humor and smarmy, winking sexual innuendo this time around.
Of course, there is still some flatulence humor and sexual innuendo in this sequel — enough that it should have garnered a PG-13 rating. And enough that it greatly diminishes the handful of chuckle-worthy moments here.
As promised by the film's title, monsters have been unleashed on the town of Coolsville, home of the intrepid members of Mystery Inc. And strangely enough, they're ghostly versions of some of the monstrous frauds those meddling kids — er, our heroes — have unmasked in prior cases.
So the Scooby Gang — which, along with the cowardly canine, includes Shaggy (Matthew Lillard), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) and Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.) — is determined to get to the bottom of this new mystery.
Their suspects are many and varied: Creepy Jeremiah Wickles (Peter Boyle), one of crooks they imprisoned; TV news reporter Heather Jasper-Howe (Alicia Silverstone), who really seems to have it in for them; and Patrick Wisely (Seth Green), the museum curator who's interested in Velma.
To be fair to the filmmakers, the set designs are imaginative and colorful. And the specific visual references to episodes of the animated series are appreciated. But the level of humor at work here is still too sophomoric. And for a movie that's less than 90 minutes, it sure seems padded out.
Also, the introduction of a romantic subplot between Daphne and Fred seems contrived more to appease real-life couple Gellar and Prinze than to develop the characters. The film also leaves talented actors Cardellini, Boyle and Green adrift, or makes them the butt of some of the flatulence gags . . . so to speak.
"Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" is rated PG for scenes of violence (monster attacks, vehicular violence, slapstick and explosive mayhem), crude humor involving bodily functions and brief drug content (use of whippets, as well as some "secret formulas"). Running time: 88 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com