Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico

The opening song was worth it. It really was. Actually, the music as a whole was worth it.

And some of the jokes were fully even if one or two of them may have bordered on blatant stereotypes, but in a harmless way.

It starts off strong. It starts off like an old episode of Scooby Doo...it just sort of ends with a "meh." In fact, what kills it is that one can walk away and forget how it ended by the time you get done using the bathroom.

But the first half is memorable and the songs are catchy, so it's a wash.

The Monster of Mexico borrows elements from the classic Scooby-Doo era. The Mystery Machine, the outfits and the soundtrack are all back in this entry. For me this one is better than the similarly styled Legend of the Vampire.

The soundtrack is heard almost all the time again, but it does not distract from the excellent voice cast. There are a lot of funny moments and lines, a staple of Scooby-Doo. The story, characters and setting are all charming. I didn't see the end coming either.

This one is hard to find on Blu-Ray now but is available in HD via streaming services. Highly recommended.

Back again in the brand new slicker animation form, the Mystery Inc gang head down to Mexico to visit Fred's e-mail pal but get caught up in the Chupacapra mystery as said beast begins terrorising the locals. It's not very good as the plot is practically discarded in favor of endless running around scenes and over-indulgence in set pieces.

The recent Scooby Doo feature-length animations have had decent stories, nice atmospheres and a couple red-herrings. It's very post modern and has certainly help revamp the franchise. But Monster of Mexico feels very dated and 60's. The gang are back wearing their old clothes instead of the modern gear they wore in the first four animated movies.

The ending is no surprise and completely unsatisfying. I don't like it. I wish for the next one to be a little more sophisticated. I mean children are intelligent and they deserve intelligent entertainment. Monster of Mexico may have been okay back in the 60's but in the modern day it's quite poor.

The DVD has a great 1.33:1 picture and a rather good Dolby 5.1 soundtrack. The extras are rubbish apart from the commentary by Shaggy and Scooby which is actually a really neat touch. I was excited at the Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman trailer featured here but it's 20 seconds long and shows you nothing. What's the point?

Some redeeming factors include that the location is a different country, the movie keeps the series running, will keep child fans entertained, and the music is above average. Perhaps the the best and surprising part is finding out that Scooby ends up having a gal in Mexico. Otherwise, I'm thinking this one could've used more comedy, twists, and better cultural immersion. The Chupacabra was the biggest puzzle, they should've gone for the gollum-like vampiric creature instead of grape ape.

Scooby-Doo Monster in Mexico was boring and the animation was less than spectacular for me at least. I will give it credit for having a complex plot that required 2 pages in the summary section of Wikipedia. That doesn't change the fact that the voice acting was incredible with the best being Daphne who had a pleasant cougar voice rest in peace Heather North. Shaggy's voice actor Casey Kaseem also died which is unfortunate. The animation is an acquired taste. You'll either tolerate it, like it, or hate it. For some reason, it looks worse than the direct to video late 90s movies despite this film coming out 5 years after Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island. I will give the movie credit for having so many twists and turns especially for a kid's film quite surprising the main villain unmasking even though I think I saw this film as a kid when I was around 7-9. I was half entertained. It's all right but this is one of the weaker Scooby-Doo animated films better than the Reluctant Werewolf, Ghoul School, and Mask of the Blue Falcon. However, it is far weaker than the Classic VHS films like Zombie Island, Cyber Chase, Alien Invaders, and Witch's Ghost. WWE crossovers were also more entertaining and the other late 2000s films greatly improved upon this film's animation, formula and voice acting. This is the second film created after Cyber Chase in 2001 so I'll give it some credit there. Still in the bottom third. If you're Mexican and/or you have Mexican kids you might like the scenery and reference. However, it could make the film even worse for your viewing experience.

TLDR; This is one of the weaker Scooby-Doo Animated Films avoid this one and the 80's TV Movies check out the VHS films, late 2000's films, and pretty much all of the 2010's films. Avoid Mystery Map, and the Lego films unless you have very young kids even still I wouldn't recommend them.