Directed by Raja Gosnell and written by best Scooby-Doo movies, the project was the beloved characters' first foray into live-action. While there have been other Scooby-Doo live-action adaptions since the 2002 movie premiered, it stands out not only for being the first, but also for making a bold story decision that separated it further from the animated source material.

Although the success of the first live-action Scooby-Doo movie resulted in a sequel also being made, the follow-up didn't perform quite as well at the box office. As a result, the cast and crew disbanded after just two movies. While reviews were mixed for both films, the first live-action entry into the Scooby-Doo TV shows, but also made an attempt to surprise the existing fan base.

Scooby-Doo's Real Monster Twist Was A Brilliant Change

The Scooby-Doo cartoon is famous for its "man in a mask" twist

The biggest trope from the original Scooby-Doo show is the fact that real monsters don't exist, but the audience is reminded of this each week. Despite being heavily associated with spooky monsters and scary ghosts, each episode ends with the unmasking of a human villain who has been pulling the wool over everyone's eyes with a complex series of smoke, mirrors, and other deceptive means. When 2002's Scooby-Doo movie begins, the case of the Luna Ghost strongly suggests the live-action adaptation is faithfully incorporating the source material's villain trend. However, the unmasking of Old Man Smithers is a huge misdirect.

Set up by the Luna Ghost turning out to be yet another Scooby-Doo phoney, the Demons being flesh-and-blood beasts (rather than a clever illusion) catches both the audience and the Mystery Inc. team off-guard.

The Spooky Island Demons turning out to be genuine monsters is James Gunn's best writing decision throughout the entire movie. Set up by the Luna Ghost turning out to be yet another Scooby-Doo phoney, the Demons being flesh-and-blood beasts (rather than a clever illusion) catches both the audience and the Mystery Inc. team off-guard. Linda Cardellini's Velma is so convinced that the Demons are fake that she makes a very confident attempt to "unmask" one of them during the movie, which is perhaps the point of no return for Scooby-Doo's biggest tradition being shelved for the rest of the story.

Scooby-Doo Made A Valiant Attempt To Make Changes To The Formula For The First Live-Action Movie

James Gunn chose not to pursue every Scooby-Doo trope

It would have been very easy for James Gunn to pen what would have essentially been a feature-length episode of Scooby-Doo. It's possible that such an endeavor would even have been received better than the movie that was produced. Thankfully, the writer made an effort to make key changes to the time-honored Scooby-Doo formula and keep it interesting for those who had and hadn't engaged with the source material.

Gunn has since explained that Scooby-Doo's PG rating was never intentional, and suggested that the original cut was a little edgier than what was released. A tweet from the movie's writer states it was initially rated R, despite Gunn, Gosnell, and the producers all aiming for a PG-13 rating. After that, cuts were made and the movie became a more censored version than was planned. So, 2002's Scooby-Doo was almost even more different from the source material.

The Movie's Real Monster Twist Prevented The Classic Scooby-Doo Villain Reveal

Mr. Mondavarious' Scooby-Doo unmasking is unconventional

Scooby-Doo's opening sequence ends with the Luna Ghost being unmasked and revealed as Old Man Smithers. This kind of moment is crucial to almost every episode of the animated show, so it's great that a version of it made it into the movie. That being said, the story's main villain in the live-action adaptation isn't human at all, so the movie's finale is a little different when held up against the source material. When it's revealed that Rowan Atkinson's Emile Mondavarious is the bad guy, it feels predictable, but also unusual.

Abiding by the rules of the source material, it makes perfect sense for Mondavarious to be the bad guy, as he's the first notable character the team interacts with when they arrive at the scene of the crime. However, in the cartoon, it would have been Atkinson's character wreaking havok in a monster costume before being defeated and unmasked. Instead, Mondavarious turned out to be a machine piloted by Scrappy-Doo, and what would have been a traditional unmasking resulted in Fred peeling away the protective layer of "skin" to reveal the robot's inner-workings.

The real Mr. Mondavarious makes a brief appearance near the end of the movie when he is released from his prison after Scrappy has been defeated.

Of course, in the context of a live-action movie, James Gunn's choices suited the scenario much better. At its core, Scooby-Doo is still a mystery franchise. While the animated show is very predictable when it comes to the solution to said mysteries, the movie had a responsibility to restore an aura of mystique, and it was done masterfully. James Gunn may not have followed the time-honored Scooby-Doo framework, but what he did write was a brilliant alternative.

Source: James Gunn