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Scooby-Doo 1 and 2 Collection: Family Double Feauture Blu-ray Review

  • Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
  • Video Codec: VC-1
  • Resolution: 1080p/24
  • Audio Codec: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (Monsters Unleashed), English Dolby Digital 5.1 (Scooby-Doo The Movie), French Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (Scooby-Doo: The Movie), Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 (Monsters Unleashed)
  • Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
  • Region: ABC (Region-Free)
  • Rating: PG
  • Discs: 2
  • Studio: Warner Home Video
  • Blu-ray Release Date: November 9, 2010
  • List Price: $24.98

Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection (Family Double Feature) [Blu-ray] on Amazon.com

BestBuy.com:
Scooby Doo: Movie & Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleash -

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

Overall
[Rating:3/5]
The Film(s)
Scooby-Doo: The Movie:

[Rating:3.5/5]
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed:
[Rating:2.5/5]
Video Quality
Scooby-Doo: The Movie:
[Rating:3.5/5]
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed:
[Rating:3.5/5]

Audio Quality
Scooby-Doo: The Movie:
[Rating:2.5/5]
Scooby-D00 2: Monsters Unleashed:
[Rating:4/5]
Supplemental Materials
Scooby-Doo: The Movie:
[Rating:3/5]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed:
[Rating:1.5/5]

Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures

(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG  thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

The Films

Scooby-Doo: The Movie:

[Rating:3.5/5]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

[Rating:2.5/5]

When I was wee one I used to love watching the old re-runs of Scooby-Doo cartoons. Of course, most of the supposed drug references and what-nots went right over my head. I think I just liked the funny dog, the scary ghosts and all the crazy color schemes.

Jump forward to 2002 with the live-action/animated combination flick Scooby-Doo: The Movie and I was definitely intrigued. The first film brings the gang back to life, including a CG-animated Scooby, and who knew Velma (Linda Cardellini) was so sexy? Either it’s a latent crush on the dorky cartoon character or I’m still in love with Cardellini from her days on Freaks and Geeks. Anyway, with Sarah Michelle Gellar fresh off of Buffy as Daphne, Freddie Prinze, Jr. as the blonde pretty boy Fred, and Matthew Lillard as Shaggy, the Mystery Inc. gang was brought back together to solve the mystery of what was changing the personalities of vacationing college kids on the island amusement park Spooky Island.

Fairly successful at capturing the cartoonish atmosphere of the animated series with several “wink, wink” drug reference jokes that will definitely go over the heads of the younger crowd, Scooby-Doo: The Movie was decent if purely average fun.

Jump forward again to 2004’s Sccoby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, and the sheen has worn off. The gang is once again together this time trying to solve the mystery of why all the “faux ghosts” from their past cases are back and haunting Coolesville. The film’s pseudo-psychedelic appearance updated to the 2000’s, obligatory drug references concerning Shaggy and Scoob, and dull script make it a bore. And you know the filmmakers are in trouble when they have to resort to farting and belching jokes to get a laugh.

Video Quality

Scooby-Doo: The Movie

[Rating:3.5/5]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

[Rating:3.5/5]

Filmed in 2002 and 2004 respectively, neither one of these films arrives on Blu-ray looking as good as they should for something of such relatively recent vintage. Scooby-Doo: The Movie looks a bit gritty, with grain definitely lapsing into video noise in its 1.78:1 1080p VC-1 encoding. Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed looks much cleaner, but definitely too clean. It’s a smoothie and seems absent a bit too much of its 35mm grain structure. Both titles do, however, offer up some vibrant colors and nicely extended shadow details.

Audio Quality

Scooby-Doo: The Movie

[Rating:2/5]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

[Rating:4/5]

Scooby-Doo: The Movie is crippled with a mere Dolby Digital 5.1 lossy soundtrack that definitely cripples the realism of its aggressive sound effects and ambient trail-offs. Scooby-Doo 2 is given a step up in fidelity with a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack that has good, smooth high frequencies, tight, fairly extended lows and a decently encompassing mix.

Supplemental Materials

Scooby-Doo: The Movie

[Rating:3/5]

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

[Rating:1.5/5]

The first Scoob flick gets the better set of supplements, with filmmaker and cast commentary in addition to numerous behind-the-scenes featurettes, but both offer the same sorts of extras and all bonus content is served up in DVD-era standard definition.

The supplements provided with this release are:

  • Scooby-Doo:
    • Behind the Story:
      • Filmmaker’s Commentary
      • Cast Commentary
      • Unmasking the Mystery (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:22.10) — A behind-the-scenes look at the making of Scooby-Doo.
      • Scary Places (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:04.22) — A look at the sets and how they were constructed to create a creepy, scary, yet cartoon-like environment.
      • The Mystery Van (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:01.02) — A look into the many iterations of the Mystery Van, plus a personal tour of the final version.
      • Daphne Fight Scene (1.33:1; 480i/60l 0:02.28) — Watch Sarah Michelle Gellar as she works her fight scene with a Hong Kong Kung fu team.
      • Rain on the Set (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:01.18) — Steal a look at an ill-fated happenstance that arose while shooting the film.
      • Additional Footage:
      • Additional Scenes w/ optional commentary (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:13.32)
    • Music:
      • Music Video — “The Land of a Million Drums” by Outkast (1.33:1; 480i/60)
    • Trailers:
      • Theatrical Trailer (1.78:1; 480i/60)
      • Soundtrack Spot (1.33:1; 480i/60)
  • Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed:
    • Scooby-Doo’s Triple Threat Featurette (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:10.20) — Take a look behind-the-scenes at the Monters Unleashed set with Scooby and the cast.
    • True Ghoul Hollywood Stories (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:05.47) –The softer side of ghouls is explored in this faux exposé.
    • Scooby-Doo is The Dancing Dog (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:05.30) –The animators make Scooby dance.
    • Music Videos (1.33:1; 480i/60):
      • “Thank You (Falletin’ Me Be Mice Elf Again)” by Big Brovaz
      • “Don’t Wanna Think About You” by Simple Plan
    • Deleted Scenes w/ Optional Commentary by Director Raja Gosnell (1.33:1; 480i/60; 0:07.15)

The Definitive Word

Overall:

[Rating:3/5]

Despite the drug references, the Scooby films do make for good family entertainment — just make it for slightly older kids. Scooby 1 leads in content quality, but not by much, over the  dull, Scooby 2, but both will look vibrant on any HD display.

Additional Screen Captures:

Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection (Family Double Feature) [Blu-ray] on Amazon.com

BestBuy.com:
Scooby Doo: Movie & Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleash -

Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com

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