Why Nick Palatas makes a better Shaggy than Matthew Lilliard

[daphne]

Hello! How is everyone?

So I'm a huge fan of Scooby-Doo and especially the movies, because it's what got me into Scooby Doo, especially Spooky Island and Monsters Unleashed which were the first Scooby movies I actually saw and even have them on DVD so yeah. However, recently I saw the cartoons and then Scooby Doo 3: The Mystery Begins and found myself rather impressed by Nick Palatas as Shaggy. Matthew was funny, yes but his acting as Shaggy seemed forced and he didn't seem to fit Shaggy look-wise and I don't know they seemed to be more of a parody of the Shaggy/Scooby friendship at least in Monsters Unleashed. I still liked him, but the friendship of Shaggy and Scooby didn't touch my heart as much as Nick did. Shaggy and Scooby's friendship in The Mystery Begins was very touching and a scene where this truly showed was when Shaggy saw Scooby in the cage, his face immediately lost colour and he seemed to lose all sense of fear. He was still scared but he really would do anything for Scooby at that moment, you could tell. Not to mention, look-wise he seemed more like the Shaggy from the series. He even sounded like Shaggy from the cartoon series.

What do you guys think? Whose the best live-action Shaggy and why? To me, it will always be Nick.

[Jeepers]

Nick Palatas; Lillard tries too hard to be funny. Even my mom mentioned how good Palatas was in The Mystery Begins.

[daphne]

I totally agree. Lillard's acting seemed a bit forced at times. Palatas was amazing in Mystery Begins and even in Curse of the Lake Monster, Shaggy's dorkiness really came through with his little crush on Velma.

[ShaphneFan]

I found his shagg to be more on point though. The one thing about I hate about shaggy in this version is that they made him seem stupid. I hate how they made him fail a grade, he's smarte then you think.

[ShaphneLegacy27]

I do hate how Warner Brothers dumbed down Scooby and Shaggy and made them into stupid goofballs. I would like to see a smarter Shaggy like in 13 Ghosts and Boo Brothers.

[daphne]

Yeah maybe they did dumb him down a little, but I think that was to show him the lighthearted one, besides he wasn't that dumbed down since he came up with the suspects and all. Lillard's version of Shaggy seemed like a parody and Scooby Doo/Shaggy weren't screw ups at all as implied by Monsters Unleashed. In Mystery Begins, I felt the gang was more true to the original versions, especially Nick as Shaggy.

[Matt_the_miner_49er]

I like Palatas' acting more than Lilliard. It was so effortless and smooth all while having a hint of insecurity that really made the character. But I do like Lilliard, I like him a lot. I think visually he was a better choice and his voice was more natural. I think Nick's sounded closer to what shaggy should sound like, but I could tell he was really straining. There are good aspects of both characters. It shouldn't be this way, but if I had to choose between the two for another movie I'd pick Lilliard simply because of nostalgia even though a little polishing would make Palatas the better performer. I also consider a lot of the negativity I feel toward Lilliard's character is writer induced.

[Ark]

Nick does a very good job.