Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (2003)

Scooby and the gang are invited to Veracruz, Mexico, by Fred's pen friend to celebrate a local tradition. As usual, they encounter a big, scary monster, El Chupacabra, who scares of all tourists and threatens the Otero's business. So once again, they must investigate and finally elucidate the mystery to help their new friends in need.It's a Scooby Doo movie (like a normal episode, only longer) which manages to be funny, entertaining, quite complex featuring a classic Scooby Doo plot. I enjoyed it a lot, especially it's musical sequences which bring special moments to a new level. It's a good movie but nothing groundbreaking. Enjoy it Scooby Doo fans!

This is possibly the worst animated Scooby-Doo movie. The film just feels uninspired and poorly put together. I liked it when I was younger, but it's amazing how many things wrong with it I now realize there are.One thing I can't review this movie without mentioning is the obvious fact that the Chupacabra here is inaccurate to the legend. In this movie, it is a purple Big Foot, whereas the legends generally depict it as a malformed wild dog. A little research would probably help, you know!The script has many inconsistencies, and there is a fair amount of exposition and redundant scenes to drag things down. Also annoying is how stupid the townspeople were for not realizing how obvious it is that the bird was mechanical, not to mention them immediately believing the bird that Scooby and the gang are criminals without any evidence.The voice acting is surprisingly dull with the voices of the gang phoning it in, especially Heather North as Daphne. I also hated that the villain was somebody we hadn't even seen in the movie at all. His motivation didn't even make much sense.I can't call this movie unwatchable, because I did enjoy the Mexico setting, there are some funny scenes, and the animation is pretty decent. However, this is still a pretty poor Scooby-Doo movie overall. Definitely not recommended to anyone other than Scooby-Doo fans, but even the fans don't really need to see it.RATING: D+

This movie had a lot going for it. The voice cast, sound effects and smoother animation felt more like the original Scooby Doo and I appreciated the classic feel. I really liked that Scott Innes was not voicing Shaggy. Velma is good for relating some good Mexican history. The behind-the-scenes, blooper reel and cast commentary on the DVD are great! There were definitely parts where the plot was interesting and a lot of vintage Shaggy/Scooby comedy that made us all laugh.That being said, the plot didn't hold together very well for me. Somewhere in the middle, things get a little TOO confusing and far-fetched, even for Scooby. The story seems to slow down and then jump ahead making the movie lurch along awkwardly. Daphne's voice seems slow and... old! The dialog really dragged in parts. The extra characters didn't have much personality or add interest to the movie, they were just... there.Overall the movie was OK and my kids enjoy it now and then. Not the greatest... but pretty good.

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?