Scooby-Doo
Warner Bros. Pictures | Release Date: June 14, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
35
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
12
Negative:
13
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
Washington PostHank Stuever
You don't want to love this, but you will. Although Scooby-Doo falls far short of becoming the "Blazing Saddles" of Generations X, Y and Z, it is hard to resist in its moronic charms. Read full review
70
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
No serious film fan could stomach the cheap gags and farting contests in this goofball tribute. I laughed myself stupid anyway. Read full review
70
Film ThreatRon Wells
At least the 20 people who saw it with me -- found it hysterically funny. On the other hand, they all seemed pretty stoned. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
Bland, inoffensive, formulaic and occasionally amusing - just like the animated kids' show that inspired it.
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Would I see it again? Not even for a Scooby snack. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneRobert K. Elder
Knows when to take itself seriously and when to laugh at itself -- even if its audience isn't laughing along at every gag. Read full review
60
VarietyJoe Leydon
Just fast, frenetic and funny enough to amuse both new fans and longtime devotees of the characters who have inspired more than 30 years worth of animated TV episodes and made-for-video features. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
As live-action adaptations of cheap, unapologetically stupid cartoons go, this is top of the line: The cast is appealing, the sets brightly colored and fun to look at, the mystery as lame and goofy as any featured in the many inexplicably beloved Scooby-Doo cartoons. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Scooby's just so dang cute, what's the point in grousing? Read full review
50
Charlotte ObserverMark Washburn
I took a 12-year-old along to Scooby Doo just in case I didn't get it. Our verdict: one paw up, one paw down. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeChristopher Muther
This dog will inevitably let down purists looking for the elusive combination of smart and funny. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The movie is so shiny, bright and noisy, the under-10 set ought to be sufficiently entertained.
50
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
As this movie knows what it is, Scooby-Doo's a relatively painless 85 minutes. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
Do you really want to spend money watching what is essentially marginality, or would those dollars be better used to see a better film or even buy a good book? Read full review
50
TimeJoel Stein
The cast does great impressions of the original cartoon characters, and the computer-generated Scooby is convincing, but it turns out that what we liked about Scooby-Doo in the first place was that nobody was trying. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
The film's technological selling point -- having a computer-animated Scooby in a mostly live-action world -- is strangely unimpressive. In fact, it's virtually unnoticeable: a testament perhaps to the audience's increasing knowledge that in today's CG-driven Hollywood, all movies are cartoons. Read full review
42
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
The antics involving ghosts, chases, and burping that divert the small fry don't mix with the jokey, tribute-band dialogue spouting from the Mystery, Inc. gang. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Not entirely without charm. Read full review
38
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
The best thing you can say about Scooby-Doo is that Matthew Lillard makes a really, really good Shaggy. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
It's unclear why the writers bothered to update the cartoon, unless it was to expand the possibilities for quips and jokey ideas. If so, they failed in their mission, as the movie elicits few laughs. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Captures the essence of its TV inspiration, which is to say that it's not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. It also feels very, very long. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
Mostly, the plot is busy and incomprehensible and the action sequences directed with all the art of a detonation. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesRobin Rauzi
As reformulated by the aggressively mediocre director Raja Gosnell and screenwriter James Gunn, this Scooby-Doo is entertainment more disposable than Hanna-Barbera's half-hour cartoons ever were. Read full review
25
New York PostLou Lumenick
This excruciating adaptation of the innocuous '70s cartoon show makes the film version of "Josie and the Pussycats" look sophisticated by comparison. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Not only am I ill-prepared to review the movie, but I venture to guess that anyone who is not literally a member of a Scooby-Doo fan club would be equally incapable. This movie exists in a closed universe, and the rest of us are aliens. The Internet was invented so that you can find someone else's review of Scooby-Doo. Start surfing. Read full review
25
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
Scooby-Doo is bad. Let's just get that right out of the way. Filled with unclever quips, tired humor, a lazy silliness and bland execution, the picture is a tedious puff of nothing. Read full review
20
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
Director Raja Gosnell apparently doesn't even try to pump life into this wan film version of the beloved Saturday-morning cartoon. Read full review
20
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Get out your pooper-scoopers. Doo happens June 14th, warn the ads for Scooby-Doo. And they say there's no truth in Hollywood. Read full review
10
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A work of Battlefield Earth-level miscalculation. Read full review
10
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
The gratuitous vulgarity is just one more reason that Scooby-Doo should never have left the pound. Read full review
10
New Times (L.A.)Robert Wilonsky
Warner Bros. is presumably aiming this movie not at children but at full-grown dopers with bad munchies glued to the Cartoon Network. Dude, pass the Scooby snacks. Read full review
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