Scooby-Doo: Mistério na Lutamania

Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The latest mystery has Shaggy and Scooby winning a wrestling video game, which gives them the grand prize of a week at the WWE headquarters. Once there the gang gets involved with the mystery involving a giant glowing bear who is wrecking havoc on the place and plans to ruin the upcoming WrestleMania. The latest movie from Scooby-Doo isn't the greatest and in fact it's a major set back when compared to BIG TOP SCOOBY-DOO but there's no doubt that fans will still want to check it out. While the film remains entertaining for the most part, there's no question that it lacks a certain amount of charm. I'm not sure why on Earth the filmmakers decided to mix in the wrestling stars but it really didn't make for a good combination. I'm not going to lie, I stopped watching wrestling years ago but I thought they could have done a few interesting things with it. Sadly, that really didn't happen as we get the typical types of jokes that you'd expect and of course Shaggy and Scooby eventually have to face down one of the biggest people in the business. The film does have some good stuff in it including the monster bear, which looked excellent and made for a great villain. It's really too bad he wasn't used more. The animation is top-notch as you'd expect and there's no doubt that Scooby is always at the top of his game. The vocal work is good by all, which is another plus. The story itself is pretty standard and it's not too hard to figure out who's going to be behind the mask. Still, even with the flaws, the film manages to be entertaining.

Kane has returned to WWE City. There is a ghost bear monster. Shaggy and Scooby win a trip to WWE City and WrestleMania. The gang arrives to find a mystery to solve.

This is fine Scooby-Doo while incorporating WWE. I would like some more imaginative names for Scooby and Shaggy. I'm not up-to-date with some of the wrestlers but I do know quite a few of them. This is probably more for the WWE fans.

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 3.9/5 stars

Fantastic nostalgia all the way through. Fans of the old Scooby-Doo animated series will love this. It has all favorite mystery solving gang back in familiar pseudo-ghost territory, doing what they always do best. And keeping them company are everybody's favorite WWE stars – past and present. This makes it a combined trip down memory lane.

But make no mistake, this is a Scooby vehicle all the way and the WWE stars are present only to add additional chutzpah to the proceedings (after all its a combined Warner Bros. and WWE Studios production). It has all the ingredients of the classic animated show we grew up with and came to love so dearly. Everything from the mystery van, to the archetypal character traits of Scooby and his pals, to outlandish plots and villains masquerading as diabolical urban legends are there to make it a fun-filled adventure ride.

What's more, these elements are presented with careful development, madcap planning, and precise execution, reminiscent of some of the crime busting gang's most famous TV episodes. The Director, "Brandon Vietti", and the writer "Michael Ryan", merit special praise for this. Even the gang's most famous dialogues such as "Jinkies!", "Nice work Scoob!", "Zoinks!", "Let's split up gang", and "Scooby-Doo, where are you?" are thrown in for added measure. Yet, the characters themselves take a few amusing digs at some of the more obviously silly parts of the show, like how they never change their attire. Along with the brilliant scripting and direction, the animation flows seamlessly considering the constraints of a direct-to-video feature.

In true Scooby-Doo fashion, I'll sign off by saying that this is one of the mystery gang's "grooviest" adventures yet, and while it's a must- see for all those who enjoyed the show, even neutral fans are bound to enjoy this full-length, animated, direct-to-video feature to the hilt.

Not the best Scooby Doo film or among the best, but still great entertainment from start to finish. Some of the story can feel over-stretched, the film could easily have been shorter and still be effective, and the final solution did feel over-complicated, a lot goes on but some of the explanation is rushed. The animation is top-notch however, there is so much detail in the backgrounds that has a uniquely interesting style, all the characters look great and the colours are warm and vibrant. The soundtrack is still groovy with some very catchy moments, and the writing, a vast majority of the story and characters hit the spot excellently. The writing is goofy but of a endearing and hilarious kind that is remarkably true to that of the classic Scooby Doo, and there is a lot of heart. The story never feels dull and the mystery is a good one apart from some padding and an over-complicated final solution, plenty of suspense and the clues as ever are very fun to spot. The ghost bear is a solid and initially scary villain that could have been utilised more, though you do know straight away from the usual formula that it is a person behind a mask, unlike some people here the culprit wasn't that obvious to me. The cross-over of Scooby and WWE worked excellently, I'm a huge Scooby Doo fan if not so much wrestling but the smart dialogue, chemistry between characters and colourful characterisations really worked. The Scooby Doo characters don't disappoint, Shaggy and Scooby have the lion's share of the funniest moments and the best bits are hilarious, but their friendship has a lot of heart to it. Velma(whose personality since the Sander-Schwatz outings has taken some getting used to), Daphne and Fred are likable and do things that are interesting and different to one another. The WWE characters are a huge amount of fun with their personalities as colourful as in real life without being exaggerated yet don't swamp the gang too much, the balance between the two are just right. The voice work doesn't disappoint, Matthew Lillard and John Cena standing out particularly but it is great from all the voice actors and is actually one of Wrestlemania Mystery's strongest assets. All in all, lots of fun and excellent as a cross-over. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Scooby and the gang team up with WWE Stars in their animated counter-parts .. honestly this movie totally sucks, there are only a couple of famous WWE superstars and that burn ape .. puhleeeze .. if you're gonna make a Scooby Doo movie in collaboration with WWE then it should be Live-action mixed with animations like that on Space Jam, that would suite the stage better .. movie-making wise and the story could've been a hundred times better than a burnt ape monster running on the loose.