You know you're in for a campy, gross-out, post-Farrelly ride with "Scooby-Doo" when the first line is Daphne saying, "I'm getting a wedgie." With this one obviously non-G-rated barb, the film begins its assault on children's sensibilities. And why not? "Scooby-Doo" is just as popular with adults as it is kids. Shouldn't mom and dad have a little fun too? Should a campy kids' classic be G-rated?

The film, for those living in a cave, is a live action version of the 'toon with Freddie Prinze, Jr. as Fred, Matthew Lillard (Prinze's cinematic boyfriend, this is like their 8th or 9th film together) as Shaggy, "Buffy" star Sarah Michelle Gellar (Prinze's beard) as Daphne and Linda Cardellini (TV's "Freaks and Geeks") as Velma. Scooby-Doo, the loveable pooch, meanwhile, is a CGI monstrosity that looks as ridiculous as his name.

Retrofited for post-millennium audiences, Fred is an egotistical bastard ("Don't touch the ascot"), Daphne is little more than a midriff who has apparently seen "Matrix" one too many times and fights as ridiculously as Drew Barrymore in "Charlie's Angels" (wire-fu must be very difficult in a purple jumpsuit), and Velma is still an egghead, but at least here, finally, she's smart enough to know that the others are conceited users.

Regardless, the real treat here is Lillard as Shaggy. He nails the cartoon slacker character dead-on! Watching him portray the green-shirted-one is never less than delightful. Lillard is a going to be a massive cult icon one day, on the level of Sandra Bernhart or Dennis Hopper, and has continually been America's quirkiest young actor since his debut in John Waters' "Serial Mom." In the remodeled "Scooby- Doo," when it comes to Shaggy, the filmmakers have enormous fun making "pot" jokes about the obvious closet-stoner character. It's funny but so innocuous as to go right over the heads of the kiddies. And Lillard pulls it off with enormous focus and fun.

As for the film itself, it's got a horrid plot and some really silly scenes, which somehow manage to be funny. I mean, there is an extended fart joke in the film (I shit you not - Hannah and Barbera are surely spinning) and several mildly amusing innuendoes. Even Scrappy (the little cartoon dog character that nearly killed the series in the 70's) stops by for a hilarious cameo mid-film for a bit of historical deconstruction. The film may be directed by a hack (Raja Gosnell - famous previously for helming "Big Momma's House") and be poorly edited (ironic since Gosnell spent 15 years as an editor), but nothing can slow down the wham-bam fun the main cast has here. No time is really wasted and the four leads make sure that the pace never drops below interesting. Too bad they've got a really horrid plot, by scripter James Gunn, to work from.

It was a crap shoot as to how a live-action "Scooby" would turn out and even though there is much crude humor (in addition to farting, there is pissing and burping!) and a nearly unfollowable script, the finished product is hilarious and well worth seeing. See it for Lillard's performance, if nothing else.

Now that "Brady Bunch" and "Scooby" have been turned into campy film fun, what's next? (You can bet there'll be a "Scooby-Doo 2!") Maybe film-lovers can hope for a live action "Flintstones," "Casper" or... wait a minute.

Notes:

Also with small roles by Rowan Atkinson, Pamela Anderson, Sugar Ray (who perform "Words to Me"), and Scrappy Doo.

Filmed in Australia.

Lots of annoying pop music bursts onto the soundtrack at the most inopportune times in the film.

The scene from the trailer where Velma says, "Scooby-Doo, you're name means Scooby Poop" is not in the film.

The introduction of Scrappy has been lampooned elsewhere such as on "The Simpsons" (where Homer voiced a new dog character on "Itchy and Scratchy") and on "TV Funhouse" in a cartoon called "Fetal Scooby Doo" where all the characters were fetuses.

Report Card Script: C+ Acting: B+ Cinematography\Lighting: C Special Effects\Make Up: C Music: F Final Grade: C

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