The Scooby Doo franchise began in 1969 and has been producing content non-stop ever since. In doing so, they have created well over 40 films and 13 separate TV shows. Of this, there have been five live-action movies with three separate casts. They include two films, two later released prequels, and a spin-off centering around two of our favorite members of the mystery gang.
But despite this franchise being not only a giant success but a worldwide phenomenon, it doesn’t mean that every film is a masterpiece. In fact, some of the movies are widely hated and often ignored. The most disliked of the bunch by a long shot is the live-action TV film Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster which has a Rotten Tomatoes audience score of 43% and disdain from Scooby stans everywhere.
6 Lackluster Lookalike
Now the most important part of a live action adaption is making sure to get the characters right to please established fans of the franchise. In this film, the cast all reprise their roles from Scooby Doo: Mystery Begins. Leader Fred is played by Robbie Amell, beautiful Daphne is portrayed by Kate Melton, with Hayley Kiyoko playing brainy Velma and Nick Palatas as the ever hungry Shaggy. And similar to the first film, the cast often got slammed for their looks (save Shaggy, as he was pretty spot on).
This second film did seem almost self aware of this fact as they did make changes from the original. In this film, Fred now sports a blue jacket, Daphne has traded in her pink hues for her iconic purple with newly dyed hair, and Velma dones her cartoon orange look at least for a portion of the film – until they all don a country club uniform for almost the rest of the film. But fans were still not satisfied with their beloved characters' on-screen counterparts. This was only amplified during a chase in the movie where Fred and Daphne dress as mannequins to hide from monsters and wind up wearing their actual cartoon attire for about a total of thirty seconds.
5 Too Much Romance
Many fans tune into the films for heart racing adventure but a common subplot of the film is romance. The romance that was often at the forefront was between Fred and Daphne. Many of the movies have subplots that include fliration or even an outright relationship between the two. And this movie is no exception as it shows a romance that quickly turns sour. Many fans disliked this choice, especially with the film concluding with a breakup. Fans know this couple to be inevitable.
Another romance fans weren’t expecting to see was between Velma and Shaggy. And despite fans supporting the idea of this, they felt like the actors lacked chemistry which made the film hard to watch. It did not help that the movie ended with them just remaining friends despite the power of love breaking the spell that held Velma captive. Talk about mixed messages!
4 Real Monsters?
Despiting hunting monsters, the Mystery gang often appear as skeptics as they do not believe in the supernatural (especially Velma Dinkley) and seek to find a logical reason behind the mystery. Despite this, it’s not uncommon for there to be real ghouls and ghosts haunting about in a Scooby Doo movie as evident in the popular Scooby Doo on Zombie Island released in 1998. Additionally, in a few of the first Scooby Doo films (featuring just Shaggy and Scooby before the rest of the group was added to the mix), supernatural beings were accepted as a common occurrence.
But in the more recent continuity, the gang have returned to their skeptic roots. This is why fans were not excited to see that this film not only features real magic but monsterized frog people. And while we can always suspend our disbelief for our favorite investigators, making an actual witch appear so early in the gang's lives (as this film, along with its predecessor, is an origin movie of sorts) didn't please hardcore fans.
3 Recycled Scooby Plot
Something that the franchise is known for is its ability to think of new wacky and fresh adventures for the gang to take part in as its been doing so for more than three decades. But when adding to something that has that much history, it can be hard to not become a serial repeater. And even though fans give the franchise credit for turning these inevitable repetitions into classic Scooby tropes, there are some copycat moments that can not be forgiven.
In the film, Scooby grows jealous at the fact that Shaggy has put all his time into his pursuit of Velma instead of hanging with his best pal. But if this sounds familiar, it should. In the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo movie, a major plot line for these two best friends is Scooby growing jealous over Shaggy’s love for newcomer Mary Jane. And since the film serves as a prequel to the other, it’s safe to say Shaggy should have learned his lesson by now.
2 Trilogy No More
It seems it’s not only fans who think this movie was a dud, as a third film was in the works but was promptly cancelled. There was even talks of a fourth film that was in the discussion stage of production. But this prequel series soon became a simple two-parter as not even producers could justify another sequel in the wake of this disaster.
1 The End Falls Flat
If there’s something fans love, it’s the mystery that surrounds the gang every time they travel somewhere new. And while at times the mysteries are often easy enough for a child to solve (because that’s who it’s made for), fans enjoy trying to solve it before the gang nonetheless. Which is why the ending of this movie is a little too anticlimactic.
Sure, there is a little mystery on who is haunting the country club, but we quickly find out that it’s Velma possessed by an actual witch. And while even frustrated fans have to admit that the plot twist was shocking, it does leave little for the gang to do in terms of figuring anything out. In fact, they only stumble onto the witch's identity and only break her spell by the powers of talking. So, it’s no wonder that fans said they found the ending mess, and this ending is not one to remember.