Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword

Next stop Japan. In a kind of world tour of Scooby movies, this is one of the better ones for action and adventure. Creativity here mixes things up a bit over the usual robot or ghost. A lot of cliche', sure, but comic relief often leans upon such. Well worth the watch and is good clean mystery fun.

I have seen this movie a handful of times and each time I love it. It's got everything you could wish for in a Scooby movie. It's funny, supernatural, and includes a great mystery. There is an iconic scene in this movie that has made me laugh every time. The Japanese idea and the plot are fantastic and interesting. I wouldn't say this is the absolute best Scooby movie but it's definitely close!

Daphne is relevant...she has a place that is more than bait, more than Fred's arm candy, more than a damsel in distress....in fact, Daphne is Bruce Lee.

Daphne has Entered the Dragon.

The juxtapose of her character is just too awesome to pass by. I can't remember seeing a Daphne like this before. I likely won't see one like this again.

For that reason alone it's worth watching...but like so many others, the ending doesn't exactly live up to the start and falls flat compared to the build up.

The plus side is, even at the end, Daphne has Entered the Dragon. So despite the lackluster finish that seems of so common with the Scooby Doo movies, you still get to see Daphne doing her Bruce Lee impression in a film that wonderfully parodies the master's break out film.

ZOINKS! YEAT! JEEPERS! JENKYS! DAME DA NE!!! Yeah. Search up Fred's new catchphrase and you will find it. Also this movie is decent. Typical scoobydoo movie.

Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword (2009)

** (out of 4)

The gang travels to Japan so that Daphne can take part in a karate tournament but before long the entire thing is ruined by a group of ninjas who plan to bring back the ghost of The Black Samurai. Obviously the gang tries to determine what's really go on and what led to the supernatural being able to take over. It seems most fans of Scooby-Doo are mixed on some of the latest movies to be made and I must say that this one here didn't win me over. My kid, on the other hand, really enjoyed it but the idea of Scooby and ninjas in the same movie won him over before the thing even started. With that said, when it was over he immediately wanted to watch it again so obviously the film worked for its target audience. I just really didn't enjoy the characters and I thought the villain was also rather lame and didn't add up to much. Like most of the recent movies this one here wants to be more funny than anything else. While some of the jokes worked (like the gang and their catchphrases) the majority of them just fell flat for me. The animation is quite good throughout the picture and I really liked the visual look of the villain as well as the darker tones given to most of the scenes that he was in. I really wish the characters had been better written and this is especially true for Fred, Daphne and Velma. They just never really came to life and for that matter Scooby and Shaggy weren't at the top of their game.