With a few rare exceptions, the entertainment industry has simply given up on developing new ideas. And you know what? The public doesn’t care. How else can you explain that Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed was last weekend’s #1 grossing film? Even more disturbing, the $29.2 million that SC2:MU raked in was more than double the second place film (The Ladykillers). All this for a sequel of a movie based upon a mediocre television cartoon…a movie that garnered some pretty savage reviews way back the good ol’ days of 2002.

Enough is enough. Even if you harbor warm and fuzzy feeling for the Hanna Barbara “golden years” of Scooby and Shaggy, do you really feel satisfied seeing the same cardboard plots being acted out by Buffy The Vampire Slayer and a fifth-rate CGI mutt? For many people, the answer is obviously “yes”.

Hollywood won’t complain…it loves films like SD2:MU because they can be churned out on the cheap. Take a recognizable animated property, add a couple fart jokes and a theme song from the pop flavor-of-the-month, and presto! An instant movie with built-in name recognition. You have to wonder what’s next: A live-action Garfield? How about the Transformers? I’m almost shocked that some young Hollywood type hasn’t yet optioned Fat Albert for a revival; it will be like Barbershop, but with more “Hey hey hey!”. And the Mushmouth hats are a sure bet to become a fashion trend…

Waitaminute. A Garfield movie will be out in June. A Transformers movie is in development. And someone is already making a Fat Albert movie. Fucking hell. We’re doomed.

(Someone tell Rep. Peabs that his running-mate needs to concentrate a bit more on the campaign, instead of adding fire to my cynicism)