I disagree with the majority of the reviews on this one. I see it as a fitting tribute to Scooby and the gang. Yes, they changed a few things, but the spirit is still there. That being said, one of my sticking points is, yes, there is a shortage of our favorite Great Dane, but the scenes that feature are spot on to the characterization of him. The slapstick is great. I would recommend this if you go in with no expectations.

I have been a big fan of Scooby Doo for as long as I can remember. The original series, The Scooby Doo Show and The New Scooby Doo Movies I love, Mystery Incoporated was a pleasant surprise, Shaggy and Scooby Doo:Get a Clue was a disgrace(the only one I hate) and What's New Scooby Doo and 13 Ghosts are growing on me. I have also been pleasantly surprised by most of the animated movies, and the live action ones too. I wanted to like Curse of the Lake Monster but it didn't work for me really. There are some good points, Scooby is very cute, Shaggy is still the likable goof-ball I love and Daphne and especially Velma are spot. I didn't like Fred though(but I actually didn't mind him Mystery Begins), and this is not just because of the appearance, for my liking he wasn't macho or cool enough here. Some of the locations are nice and the soundtrack has this infectious energy. However, the editing is rather sloppy in some scenes, sometimes rather hectic in the more tense moments. Also the writing was weak with one too many gags that tried too hard and failed due to lacklustre timing and insipid dialogue and the story is rushed and predictable with the whole Shaggy and Velma idea absurd and never once believable. None of the support characters struck me as memorable either, and the rest of the acting as well as the direction seemed rather bland for my tastes. All in all, didn't work but not a complete disaster. 4/10 Bethany Cox

SPOILERS!! For one, the point of any episode or film in the Scooby-Doo franchise is to figure out who the masked villain is before the gang does. The best episodes and movies really build up multiple suspects or makes it hard to figure out who the villain really is.Approximately one hour into this film I had it all figured out. That's not good. The plot was way too easy to decipher, even without reading any online spoilers.Why is this not really a Scooby-Doo movie? For one there is not a masked villain and the supernatural aspect is indeed real.Of course, "Mystery Begins" had real ghosts and real magic, but it was easy to dismiss this as a fluke. The first two live action films portrayed real monsters but those films happened much later in their careers, whereas if they battle real monsters and ghosts in the prequels, why is it so hard for them to believe in such things later on? Continuity is completely thrown out.This film could be called "Scooby-Doo Meets The Exorcist And The Frog People Invade Lake Erie".Though I must admit that they handled the love story between Shaggy and Velma 200 times better than what atrocities they've been committing in "Mystery Incorporated".I gave this a 5 because it was alright, but I had hoped for a lot better. They should've watched every sea creature episode of Scooby-Doo before attempting a film in that vein, and they really need to keep in the spirit of classic Scooby-Doo and stop this real supernatural aspect stuff. They're just having the gang encounter real supernatural phenomena way too early in their careers. They would've been better off adapting an original episode to live action instead.

Curse of the Lake Monster was a cute follow up to last years Beginnings. As with Beginnings, there was just a little bit of each of the different cartoons. My kids recognized bits and gags that payed homage to the newer series. Their parents saw bits from the series we grew up watching.The love stories between Fred/Daphne and Shaggy/Velma were cute and brought several chuckles and a few ahhs, and were rewardingly payed off with everyone deciding to be just friends.For those only familiar with the original series, perhaps this would not be the movie to watch. I would recommend Scooby Doo Monsters Unleashed instead. But if you have seen the various incarnations of Scooby from the last few decades, you will probably enjoy Curse of the Lake Monster.