Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (2006)

 

A fun direct to video Scooby-Doo! movie. 

This movie begins with Fred getting an email from his Mexican pen-pal, who invites them over to Veracruz, Mexico for a Day of the Dead celebration. Fred excited for the trip invites the rest of the Mystery Inc. Gang. When they get there, they stay at Fred's friend's house. They are enjoying a relaxing vacation, but then they find out that there is a monster on the loose, the legendary, El Chupacabra. Before you can say Jinkies, the gang has another mystery on their hands. 

 There is a lot to enjoy about this film. The humor is often excellent. I really enjoyed a lot of the slapstick with Scooby, which offers some wonderful cartoony comedy. This is especially true with the scenes where he tries to impress a female chihuahua. The chase scenes are a lot of fun and full of delightful gags. Fred's difficultly with the Spanish language also gives us some pretty good laughs. The mystery is also quite well realized with some very good plot twists. Yet all the clues add up and make perfect sense when the villain is revealed. This film also has quite a bit of the wonderful looking artwork and atmospheric feel that makes this franchise so wonderful. With a completely different type of setting this film can also stand out among the many other Scooby mysteries. The scene in the museum is also delightfully creepy. El Chupacabra is a lot of fun and I really enjoy his design.

However this movie does have its problems. The main monster does not actually appear onscreen as often as other Scooby villains do. Many of the new characters are not that interesting as they don't have much in the way of personality. Also while it may be a matter of personal taste, I did not find the songs all that memorable. 

This film marked the last time that Nicole Jaffe voiced Velma and Heather North voiced Daphne. Nicole Jaffe was the original voice of Velma and perfromed the role from 1969 to 1974, only to return to it for two direct to video movies, this one and Scooby-Doo! and the Legend of the Vampire (2003). Heather North was the second voice of Daphne and began voicing the character in the second season of the original series. She continued to voice the character through 1997, when Mary Kay Bergman took over voicing the character starting with the movie Scooby-Doo! on Zombie Island (1998). She return to voice the characters for the same two movies as Nicole Jaffe. 

All in all this may not be the best Scooby movie, but it is still a lot of fun.