Scooby-Doo! and the Samurai Sword

As people may know already I am a huge fan of Scooby Doo, the original(and best) show Scooby Doo! Where Are You? and The Scooby Doo Show being two of many shows to shape my childhood. The various incarnations after have ranged from surprisingly good(Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated) to terrible(Shaggy and Scooby Doo! Get a Clue).

And I do like the movies a great deal, especially Witch's Ghost, Goblin King and Zombie Island. Alongside Goblin King and Abracadabra Doo, Samurai Sword, even with the flaws, is one of Scooby's better recent efforts.

The movie is too short, the plot rather haphazard and meandering and the music rather uninspired and rushed in places.

Complaints aside, the animation is great. The colours and backgrounds have a colourful and fluid quality to them, and the character designs are thankfully not at all crude. The writing and jokes are amusing, and the samurai fighting is well choreographed and maintains interest. The characters, lead and support, are likable and fun and the voice acting is excellent with nobody really I would consider bad.

In conclusion, an entertaining movie. 7/10 Bethany Cox

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.

"Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" is actually one of the better of the Scooby-Doo! movies that I have seen so far. Why? Well, sure it does follow the blueprint of the franchise to every letter, but it does differentiate itself somewhat. And also because the storyline was good and a tad better than the usual generic story lines seen in the franchise.

If you are just the least bit familiar with Scooby-Doo! then you are already also familiar with "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword", no doubt about it. So I will not delve too deep into the storyline. But briefly summarized, it is about the Scooby gang venturing to Japan where they stumble upon the mystery of the black samurai.

As with almost all other Scooby-Doo stories, then the story contains a fair amount of humor and action. But the setting of modern Japan infused with feudal Japan samurai just made the story all the more interesting.

The animation was good, and as was the voice acting. The two most crucial points to an animated movie. And with those two at the right place, "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" was on a good path.

I was thoroughly entertained by this movie, and think it is definitely a well-worthy addition to the Scooby-Doo franchise. "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" has entertainment for everyone in the family, be it young or old.

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 appreciate the fact that Samurai Sword builds up to the traditional Scooby-Doo unmasking reveal only for it to come less than halfway through the movie and it using that to double down on its premise as a "things just got real" moment.

It opens feeling more about Daphne's accomplishments (the movie kicks off with her competing in a karate tournament) that gets completely pushed by the wayside because Shaggy and Scooby are the two you actually came to see.

And, honestly? I never really connected with the "Ultra Instinct Shaggy" meme (hello, I am massively dating this review here) but for those true believers, Samurai Sword ends up having a couple of weirdly relevant plot developments on that front.

Strange movie, otherwise. Casey Kasem's last role, and you can tell for how significantly more haggard he sounds compared to Frank Welker, who as always continues to sound exactly like Frank Welker has since 1969.

Also, just to get it out of the way: for a 2009 animated movie about Japanese culture, you expect it to be a little ignorant about non-Americans as a matter of course, but you truly won't be prepared for the swerves this movie pulls in its stereotyping of foreign peoples.

Overall, the movie is pretty mid, but you could do a lot worse.