Scooby-Doo 2 and Agent Cody Banks 2

Reviewed by EWAN McDONALD

Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed

Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London

(Herald ratings * *)

Second time around time: two sequels for the kids in what's already feeling likes it's going to be a long, wet school holiday break, and a couple more for the teen audience to rent.

Monsters Unleashed reunites the teen — give or take a few years — heroes of Mystery Inc (Matthew Lillard, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Linda Cardellini, and Freddie Prinze Jr) and their computer-generated pet.

The action begins in a museum that is honouring their adventures.

As the TV cameras roll, their enemies — the Zombie, Captain Cutler, Miner 49er, the 10,000 Volt Ghost — come back to life. Well, come back to the afterlife, really, as monsters. Clearly, an evil mastermind is behind this, and the famous five have only 90 minutes or so to sort it all out.

There are some great scenes, notably Lillard and Scooby's rap/breakdancing session, but the plot is confused and confusing, certainly for its under-10 audience.

On the DVD, you'll find six deleted scenes, a Dancing Dog feature which shows how they filmed those moves, a production tour hosted by Scooby, a neat take on the E! True Hollywood Story, plus a couple of interactive features and music videos.

Frankie Muniz resumes his big-screen career as junior spy Cody Banks in Destination London. Cody thinks something's amiss at the secret camp where Diaz (Keith Allen) trains young spies for the CIA.

He's right, there is a plot, and he's given a bunch of secret weapons and sent to London to stop the bad guys getting their hands on a mind control device which fits inside a tooth and turns people into zombies (sounds like a bad root-canal job).

The villains plan to attack the world's leaders when they meet at Buckingham Palace. Cody's answer is to join the youth orchestra which has got the gig. He doesn't play an instrument but his minders supply a clarinet which plays itself.

Less sharp than the first flick in the series, it's notable for those who don't turn up.

You wouldn't expect Tony Blair or the Queen to play themselves, and they don't, and Hilary Duff also opts out, replaced by Hannah Spearritt from S Club 7. Like the guys in Scooby Doo, it's been a while since she was a teenager.

DVD, video rental September 15