Dog beats cat in cartoon clash

"Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" has beaten "Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" to top the UK box office charts this week.

17:57 06 April 2004

"Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed" has beaten "Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat" to top the UK box office charts this week.

As the school holidays skew figures towards child friendly features canine crime caper Scooby-Doo, starring off screen couple Freddie Prinze Jr and Sarah Michelle Gellar, took 3.55 million Screen International said today.

"Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat", with Mike Myers playing the eponymous feline, came in second - despite a critical mauling in the states and a "Golden Raspberry" for worst film.

Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ", which took three weeks to be knocked from the top of the US charts, dropped to fourth in its second week in the UK - beaten by thriller "Gothika" as well as by films playing to the children's market.

"Gothika" stars Halle Berry as a criminal psychologist who finds herself locked in her own psychiatric ward.

Last week's number two film, horror re-make "Dawn of the Dead", fell to sixth - beaten to fifth by the surprisingly enduring "Starsky and Hutch".

Action-comedy "Welcome to the Jungle" was seventh and Charlize Theron's Oscar winning performance was enough to put "Monster" in eighth.

Female-power flick "Mona Lisa Smile" and hip-hop dance movie "Honey" rounded off the top ten.

1 - Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
2 - Dr Seuss' The Cat in the Hat
3 - Gothika
4 - The Passion of the Christ
5 - Starsky and Hutch
6 - Dawn of the Dead
7 - Welcome to the Jungle
8 - Monster
9 - Mona Lisa Smile
10 - Honey