School's out. It's summer time. The gang gets jobs with Daphne's uncle who is opening a country club on the shores of Lake Erie. There is a local legend of a lake monster. The bigger news is that Daphne and Fred have started dating while Shaggy has a growing crush on Velma.

This franchise is never going to be something artistically exceptional. This live-action version is a step down from the 2002 version. The quality is lower but it's not unexpected. The biggest change is exploring the sexual chemistry among the group. It's still very high school but they are dipping their toes into the waters. They are still best as friends. I like these actors and I'm even willing to accept Robbie Amell's non-blonde Fred. Shaggy is adorable in his clueless puppy love. The cartoon Scooby is very cartoonish. The story is as thin as ever. It's short and it's even shorter considering a prolong music montage to pad its running time. The investigation runs out of steam and the romancing peters out.

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

"Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster" is a Comedy - Adventure movie in which we watch Scooby-Doo and his gang enjoying some time off since school is out. On their vacation they find a Lake Monster and they come together to solve this mystery.

Since I had already watched the previous movie of Scooby-Doo, I knew what to expect from this movie and I had some expectations by it. I have to admit that, I was a bid disappointed by it since I was expecting to be better from the first movie. The direction which was made by Brian Levant, it was simple and not as good as in the previous movie because through its whole duration I had the feeling that we were on a hurry to finish the movie and cover every plot hole was created. In conclusion, I have to say that "Scooby-Doo! Curse of the Lake Monster" is an average comedy movie that if you have watched the previous one I am sure you will be disappointed by this one.