Imagine my discomfort then at the notion of having to sit through “Scooby-Doo 2: Monster’s Unleashed.” Quite frankly, based on my feelings towards the last one I am quite obviously the wrong girl for the job. I mean, with the law of diminishing returns when it comes to sequels, “Doo 2” has all the makings of being as comforting a night out as going to the dentist for a root canal just as they’ve run out of Novocain.

Well, I am now quite positive pigs have started earning their wings and Beelzebub is down in Hades having a snowball fight for the impossible just happened: I sort of liked “Scooby-Doo 2.”

Okay, “like” might be too strong a word. Let’s just say this sequel didn’t annoy me. Heck, parts of it I even enjoyed, director Raja Gosnell and writer James Gunn partially redeeming themselves for the tripe-filled travesty that was part one. This time, there is just enough quirky charm, just enough good-natured silliness, just enough fun to make the proceedings practically worthwhile. Kids, the bread and butter audience the first time around, should fall all over themselves enjoying this, and parents aren’t going to feel all dirty and slimed by any putrescent awfulness after watching it, either.

Passing for a plot is the tale of a mad masked genius wreaking havoc on the citizens of Coolsville by creating in-the-flesh monsters out of the costumes of famous villains originally unmasked by the Mystery, Inc. gang. With the eyes of their hometown fixed squarely upon them, Fred (Freddie Prinze, Jr.), Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Velma (Linda Cardellini), Shaggy (Matthew Lillard) and their dog Scooby-Doo have to solve the case before this vengeance-seeking marauder destroys both the town and their reputations.

Complicating matters is an intrepid tabloid TV reporter (Alicia Silverstone) intent upon blaming Mystery, Inc. for all of Coolsville’s troubles. She even goes so far as to insinuate that Shaggy and Scooby are nothing more than useless also-rans, causing more headaches than solutions for their crime-fighting pals. Throw in brooding ex-con Old Man Wickles (Peter Boyle), a funky museum curator (Seth Green) with puppy dog eyes for Daphne and a creepy silver mine guarded by discombobulated skeletons, the quintet has their hands full trying to crack this peculiar case.

So why does this one sort of work while the last one didn’t come close? First off, writer Gunn displays much of the nervy witticism he exhibited in his screenplay for the “Dawn of the Dead” remake. Where “Doo 1” took the safe route by playing to the lowest common denominator, Gunn adds some sly innuendo and sublimely silly in-jokes guaranteed for a chuckle or two. He also remembers to make the proceedings bubbly and fun, neither being traits the original could remotely be accused of.

It helps considerably that the cast doesn’t overplay their hands this time around. Prinze and Gellar are nowhere near as annoyingly awful as they were the last time out, while Cardellini is simply delightful as the nervously nerdy Velma. Like the original, though, Lillard is still the best thing about the movie, stealing scenes with a comedic ferocity the rest of the cast decidedly lack.

The other actors do what they can, none of them really ever able to make much of an impression. (Particularly wasted is the gifted Tim Blake Nelson, a brilliantly loony comedian who deserves much better.) Reuniting for the first time since “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Green and Gellar show none of the cute banter or chemistry they had on Joss Whedon’s fantastic television series. Granted, they have more of it than Green shares with Cardellini, but that can probably be attributed to the fact the former duo spent four seasons working together on network television.

Don’t get me wrong; this is still a supremely silly and sometimes disjointed mess of a movie. There are too many scenes taken up by particularly unfunny fart jokes and assorted moments of bathroom humor. Also, I deplore the CGI-generated Scooby-Doo, the computer animated canine far too ill rendered for my tastes. And as much as I appreciate the quirks in Gunn’s screenplay, this is still a too-dumb-for-words movie, anything remotely construing for intelligence left back on the ubiquitous drawing board.