Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico

Rating:
Summary: Scooby Doo Flies High
Review: Kids loved this one. Catchy music, lovely Mexican setting, several character who seem "suspicious" when scary things start happening. The flying statues scene from the ruins kind of confused my kids, but added to the mystery - did the statues really come to life or was it another trick? (the mystery is solved in the end) Scooby Doo and his crew have endured since my childhood and their newer movies are still entertaining for kids today.

Rating:
Summary: Another Fascinating Locale Offers Tricks and Treats for All
Review: The Scooby-Doo movies of recent years have been generally warmly welcomed in our household. They tend to be of two schools: 1) more silly than serious, low on mystery, and catering to a young audience (Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School or Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf come to mind) and 2) more serious than silly, emphasizing mystery, and catering to an older audience (Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island or Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders come to mind). My wife and I enjoy Scooby-Doo and watch it with our children, but we try to stay away from the sillier films. This movie, Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico, looked to be of the more serious variety, so we bought it. Here are my thoughts:

The Animation: The first thing I noticed was that the movie opens with some nice animation eye-candy. (Generally, key scenes seem to begin with some startling visual, such as rippling water or flickering flames.) I thought the quasi-3D animation was a nice change from that seen on some of the previous Scooby-Doo movies.

The Plot: It is a more serious film: Fred's friends from Mexico are being terrorized by a monster of local legend prior to the Day of the Dead. Is the monster real or the fabrication of criminal minds? What differentiates this from the standard Scooby-Doo plot is the emphasis on the Mexican culture. Local customs (i.e. Day of the Dead) are introduced and explained. The folks in the Mexican village are treated respectfully. The gang and the audience learn some Spanish. This intimacy with the culture makes the monster's threat more significant. You do care what happens to Fred's friends and their neighbors. Initially, the plot seemed rather weak: the first half of the film deals with tracking a monster and the second half deals with the mystery. I wanted more mystery, but it seemed to take the gang a long time to realize that some detective work was required. Upon reflection, I see that the pacing was deliberate to allow the locals to contribute significantly to the gang's detective work; it's a group effort.

The Problem: I enjoyed this movie until the obligatory chase scene, which grew increasingly incredible. I thought I had the mystery all figured out--I was disappointed that I was way ahead of Velma so soon--and then found myself confused by the strange events occurring during the chase. Although all is explained later--and more satisfactorily than in Legend of the Vampire--I thought it was too over-the-top. It didn't help that the accompanying song grew rather tedious. Also, it made the movie feel too long.

Overall: I enjoyed this movie, especially its respect for Mexican culture and the Mexican characters, which, not being dumbed down, reacted normally toward some of the weird events, especially near the end. I dislike the obligatory chase scene, but I realize that this is for the young audience (my son loved this part). I would have preferred more mystery, but it does play out rather naturally. Considering the reactions of both myself and my children, I recommend this latest installment in the Scooby-Doo movie series. Although it has its flaws, I think it makes for a pretty good time. Adults will like it, and kids will probably love it.

Rating:
Summary: Another Fascinating Locale Offers Tricks and Treats for All
Review: The Scooby-Doo movies of recent years have been generally warmly welcomed in our household. They tend to be of two schools: 1) more silly than serious, low on mystery, and catering to a young audience (Scooby-Doo and the Ghoul School or Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant Werewolf come to mind) and 2) more serious than silly, emphasizing mystery, and catering to an older audience (Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island or Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders come to mind). My wife and I enjoy Scooby-Doo and watch it with our children, but we try to stay away from the sillier films. This movie, Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico, looked to be of the more serious variety, so we bought it. Here are my thoughts:

The Animation: The first thing I noticed was that the movie opens with some nice animation eye-candy. (Generally, key scenes seem to begin with some startling visual, such as rippling water or flickering flames.) I thought the quasi-3D animation was a nice change from that seen on some of the previous Scooby-Doo movies.

The Plot: It is a more serious film: Fred's friends from Mexico are being terrorized by a monster of local legend prior to the Day of the Dead. Is the monster real or the fabrication of criminal minds? What differentiates this from the standard Scooby-Doo plot is the emphasis on the Mexican culture. Local customs (i.e. Day of the Dead) are introduced and explained. The folks in the Mexican village are treated respectfully. The gang and the audience learn some Spanish. This intimacy with the culture makes the monster's threat more significant. You do care what happens to Fred's friends and their neighbors. Initially, the plot seemed rather weak: the first half of the film deals with tracking a monster and the second half deals with the mystery. I wanted more mystery, but it seemed to take the gang a long time to realize that some detective work was required. Upon reflection, I see that the pacing was deliberate to allow the locals to contribute significantly to the gang's detective work; it's a group effort.

The Problem: I enjoyed this movie until the obligatory chase scene, which grew increasingly incredible. I thought I had the mystery all figured out--I was disappointed that I was way ahead of Velma so soon--and then found myself confused by the strange events occurring during the chase. Although all is explained later--and more satisfactorily than in Legend of the Vampire--I thought it was too over-the-top. It didn't help that the accompanying song grew rather tedious. Also, it made the movie feel too long.

Overall: I enjoyed this movie, especially its respect for Mexican culture and the Mexican characters, which, not being dumbed down, reacted normally toward some of the weird events, especially near the end. I dislike the obligatory chase scene, but I realize that this is for the young audience (my son loved this part). I would have preferred more mystery, but it does play out rather naturally. Considering the reactions of both myself and my children, I recommend this latest installment in the Scooby-Doo movie series. Although it has its flaws, I think it makes for a pretty good time. Adults will like it, and kids will probably love it.

Rating:
Summary: Scooby Doo Rocks
Review: This New Scooby-Doo movie rocks. The plot is great! Scooby even gets a little romance in Mexico, with a chiwuawau. You get to see into the individual houses of the Mystery Inc. gang and they chat together. The characters are all voiced by the original cast members except for Scooby who is voiced by Frank Welker. The mystery has a few little twists, but not as many and so confusing as Legend of the Vampire. Daphne even gets captured, which I really liked because that is like classic Scooby. There is even a gag reference to Legend of the Vampire when they run by a theater which is showing the movie. This movie is worth buying.

Rating:
Summary: The best Scooby-Doo ever?!
Review: Upon first viewing of this new movie with my five-year-old son, I was prepared to declare it as somewhat disappointing and meandering.

But when the credits rolled, my son looked at me with a big smile and declared, "That was the best Scooby-Doo ever!"

So, what do I know? I bow to his critique and award this movie a full five stars.

Rating:
Summary: Vera Cruz and Mexico City Views by Scooby and the Gang
Review: We (spouse and children and I) just viewed this DVD tonight and are extremely pleased. The familiar "bad-guy-caught-at-the-end" format is used as well as the typical Scooby Doo format of mishaps with the Mystery Machine, food-hungry Scooby & Shaggy, red herrings, ballads, etc. plus a very mild love-interest for Scooby. The clothes and vocals are just like the original series, too.

What really caught our attention was the similar style to the original televsion series when Scooby and the gang visited various locations and learned things about the places they visited. Having visited Vera Cruz and Mexico City, we were struck by the similarities with the cartoon animation of Vera Cruz and Mexico City. We were also pleased to see Mexico/Mexicans portrayed in a positive way rather than as sterotypes.-There is even some basic Spanish used in a way to educate youngsters.

The cupacabra (evil monster/ goatsucker) which frightened tourists from Vera Cruz was a bit dated, but caused us to recall the scare which griped Mexico a few years ago.

We liked the voices and animation and were pleased to see the familar format of catching the bad guys in the end ("those meddeling kids"...) unlike some other recent Scobby DVD's where the monsters/witches are real. The cultural nuances and theme of "things are not always the way the seem" was also educational.

The only negative about this DVD is that the languages are English and French with Spanish available only in subtitles. One would think the title would suggest a DVD with vocals in Spanish...

Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to robertcrabtree's review
Review: Yeah, this really is a great movie! I'm a HUGE fan of the series
and let me say, Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico is NO dissapointment to the series.