It’s kind of like a Scooby Doo deja vu. Two years ago, I thought I had crashed a 9-year-old’s birthday as I sat behind a row of kids with party hats on and watched them laugh so hard at the extended fart and burp scene that they almost fell out of their seats.

This year, the demographic remained the same; they just didn’t wear party hats to the theater.

Two years ago, I gave it two and a half stars. This time around, I give it the same rating – zoikes!

The tagline for “Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed” is “They came. They saw. They ran.” My sarcasm begs to retort: “And you should run too,” but I can’t honestly say that about Scoob and friends.

It’s not just that I have a soft spot for the gang because I grew up with the cartoon versions. It’s that I’m impressed with the second installment of “Scooby Doo.”

Don’t get me wrong. It’s not a great film. But for what it is, it’s well done.

I expected the worst, but within minutes, I couldn’t help but chuckle at the gang’s antics.

“The Matrix” inspired the visually stimulating opening scenes of a pterodactyl flying through the city.

Then the filmmakers stretched the cartoon humor by having the gang emerge from a stretch Mystery Machine. The crew is greeted by Velma look-alikes, a dog begging Scooby to sniff its butt and Shaggy aficionados.

The mystery begins as monsters threaten to take over the city. To its credit, the movie’s monsters scream with invention – from the pink, cotton-candy blob to the huge, eye-donning skeletons.

The original cast of “Scooby Doo” fills out the two-dimensional cartoon characters well, and Matthew Lillard’s portrayal of Shaggy can’t be beat.

Like the first installment, the plot furthers the cartoon characters’ personalities, making Velma (Linda Cardellini) act sexy and go on a date and Fred (Freddie Prinze Jr.) and Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) enjoy a long-awaited kiss.

Shaggy and Scooby’s characters develop after they realize they’re screw ups and set out to prove themselves as “real detectives” (and, in typical Scoob fashion, his first step involves putting on Daphne’s purple go-go boots).

The biggest surprise in “Scooby Doo 2” is that, given the right mind set (read: simple), the 93-minute movie elicits laughs from both adults and children.

I have to agree with the last sentence of my review on “Scooby Doo” in 2002: “Silly humor and a general feel-good, 1970s nostalgic vibe (with a little hip-hop thrown in) carried me through …”

Kimberly Nicoletti can be reached at (970) 668-3998, ext. 245, or by e-mail at knicoletti@summitdaily.com.