Scooby-Doo! E o Monstro do México

Essentially when you have seen one Scooby-Doo animated movie, then you have virtually already seen them all, as they are all cut from the same mold. But isn't that part of the charm of the Hanna-Barbera franchise? And while "Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico" is indeed an animated movie that follows the blueprint to the letter, then it still turned out to be one of the more entertaining and fun of the adventures of the Mystery Gang.

This time Scooby-Doo and the friends are in Mexico, where they have a face to face encounter with local Mexican legend El Chubacabra. I found the story to be fun and entertaining to watch, and the take on the mysterious El Chubacabra was actually nice.

The animation is good and the art style is good. I love the consistency of the franchise, that they stick to what was initially established back in the early days and continue on with the same style.

As an animated movie, then having a proper cast for the voice acting is very essential, and "Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico" is true to the legacy of Scooby-Doo and brandishes some great talents on the voice acting cast. It is, as always, a real treat to have Casey Kasem and Frank Welker do voices in the animated movies.

"Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico" is definitely one of the better of the numerous animated Scooby-Doo movies that I have seen. If you are a fan of the franchise, then this is definitely a good addition to the Collection.

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.

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?

Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Scooby and the gang get an invitation to come see a friend in Mexico for the Day of the Dead festivities but as soon as they arrive there they learn a Bigfoot like monster is haunting the people. Soon the Mystery Machine is out trying to determine who is trying to scare people off.

This entry in the movies of Scooby-Doo isn't nearly as bad as its reputation makes it out to be. While the film certainly isn't among the best movies from the franchise, it's at least entertaining, colorful and offers up a pretty good monster and a nice little twist at the end. I will say that the only disappointing thing is that there wasn't more comedy because many of the comic bits fall flat.

With that said, I really enjoyed the look of the Bigfoot monster as well as the myth surrounding it. I thought visually the monster looked extremely good and it was certainly entertaining enough to keep you caught up in the story. The animation, as you'd expect, was very good as well as the vocal performances. I really enjoyed the colorful nature to the animation but I will say it's a shame that the Day of the Dead ceremony wasn't used more. Still, if you're a fan of the series then you should enjoy this one.

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.