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in: Cases set in Mexico, Direct-to-video films, Holiday specials, Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico

Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico

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This article is about the film. For other uses, Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico (disambiguation).

Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico is the sixth in a series of direct-to-video films based upon Hanna-Barbera's Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on VHS and DVD on September 30, 2003.

Premise

Scooby and the gang are in Mexico for the Day of the Dead. But there's a Chupacabra on the loose!

Synopsis

Fred's pen-pal Alejo Otero, who lives in Veracruz, Mexico, invites Fred and the rest of the gang to visit him and his family there; after some discussion, they decide to go. However, after Alejo sent the invitation to Fred, an unrealistic-looking monster started to terrorize the population of Veracruz. Both Alejo and his son Jorge see the monster, and the locals start calling it El Chupacabra.

Later, when Mystery, Inc. arrives in Veracruz, they meet Alejo who recognizes them all from Fred's letters. Alejo runs a huge and fancy hotel, and he shows them around and where they will be staying. He then shows them his family which include his wife Sofia, his mother Doña Dolores, his brother Luis, and Luis's fiancée, Charlene. Luis tells the gang he met Charlene when he visited America, at a theme park run by Mr. Smiley. The gang and the family enjoy a meal, and Dolores talks about her late husband. Then, a man named Señor Diego Fuente arrives and asks to speak with Alejo and Luis. Dolores tells the gang that Fuente has been trying to get her to sell the hotel to him ever since her husband died. Meanwhile, Alejo and Luis tell Fuente once again that they do not want to sell the hotel. Fuente leaves, and the family go inside because of a fierce storm. When inside, Alejo is forced to tell the gang about the monster. He says that he does not have many other guests besides the gang because El Chupacabra has been scaring them away. Luis and Charlene tell the gang to lock their doors when they go to sleep.

During the night, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo are scared when they think they hear a noise. They then hear a loud growl and run screaming out of their cottage. They wake up Fred, Velma, and Daphne. After seeing footprints outside of Shaggy and Scooby's window, Fred declares that there is a mystery they have to solve.

The next day, the gang, Alejo, and Luis set out to search for the monster. Charlene gives Luis a charm for good luck. Daphne interviews the townspeople, but none of them are able to find El Chupacabra. When they get back to the van, they find someone has written on it, threatening them to either go away or not see tomorrow. The gang realizes this is serious and decide to search at night. Fred, Velma, and Daphne go one way, Alejo and Luis go another way, and Shaggy and Scooby stay at the van.

At night, Shaggy and Scooby sleep in the van, while someone takes away their brake fluid. Fred, Velma, and Daphne search the woods, and find El Curandero, a medicine man. El Curandero tells them they need to look at history and that they are in grave danger.

Meanwhile, Alejo and Luis are searching when Alejo sees El Chupacabra. Alejo is chased and nearly falls off a cliff, but he manages to hold on. He calls for Luis, but there is no answer. The monster disappears, and Luis shows up, saying he was hit on the head by the monster. Luis helps his brother up from the cliff.

Shaggy and Scooby start driving, but when they realize they cannot stop, they get scared. They meet up with Fred, Velma, Daphne, Alejo, and Luis who were being chased by El Chupacabra. Eventually, the van runs out of gas and stops right in front of a gas station. The van gets fixed, and Alejo gets some ice for Luis's head wound, but Luis does not have a bump on his head. Luis says he is fine.

The gang drives along and finds a sign to a history museum, and thinking that is what the medicine man said, go to it. When they get there they meet a suspiciously hyper museum guide who leads them into an auditorium. There they see a performance about Mexican customs. The guide then makes Daphne volunteer, and she kidnaps her, vanishing with a puff of smoke. The rest of the gang find a secret passageway and follow it, until they come to some Aztec pyramids. They find Daphne at the top of one and rescue her, but the tourists chase after them, thinking they have stolen something. After a long chase scene, they finally return home. However, it is revealed the good luck charm Luis has is really a tracking device, that's how the culprits were able to watch the gang's every move.

The next day is the Day of the Dead, and everyone goes to the cemetery; there they find out from Dolores that Charlene has been captured by El Chupacabra. The family gives offerings to the grave of Señor Otero and hope Charlene can be found. Suddenly, the ghost of Señor Otero comes out of his grave and tells them to sell the hotel and the land or they will be in danger. The family cannot believe that Señor Otero would want them to sell, but Scooby realizes something is suspicious. He follows a scent until he finds a man in a skeleton suit controlling the ghost. The gang catches him, and he is revealed to be Mr. Smiley. Then, El Chupacabra appears and scares everyone.

After chasing the gang, the monster is caught up in some wiring. The gang unzips the monsters back, revealing it to be a costume, worn by the museum guide they met earlier on stilts. She tells them she loves Mr. Smiley and that they were going to get all the land. Luis asks what happened to Charlene, and the guide tells him he will never see her again and he should forget about her. Velma then guesses something is up and realizes that the guide's face is a mask. She pulls it off, to the guide's shock, and reveals that Charlene was both the guide and El Chupacabra. Fred says that the message written on the Mystery Machine ("Sal ahora o no veras el dia de manana!" - Leave today or you won't see tomorrow!) was not written in proper Spanish (as the word "manana" should have been "mañana"), so whoever made the threat had to have been someone who could not understand Spanish. Señor Fuente says that he did want the land, but he respects that the family does not want to sell. Charlene and Mr. Smiley are taken to jail, and everyone enjoys the Day of the Dead.

Characters

Main characters:

Supporting characters:

Villains:

Other characters:

  • Jorge Otero (single appearance)
  • Musician 1 (single appearance)
  • Musician 2 (single appearance)
  • Ricky (single appearance)(picture)
  • Skunk (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Customs officer (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Bull (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Oliver (single appearance)
  • Natalia (single appearance)
  • Cristina (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Fernanda (single appearance)(no lines)(no lines)
  • Carolina (single appearance)
  • Mirelia (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Gabriella (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Sebastian (single appearance)
  • Señor Otero (only time mentioned)(deceased)
  • Street painter 1 (single appearance)
  • Street painter 2 (single appearance)
  • Old woman 1 (single appearance)
  • Uncle Flaco (only time mentioned)
  • Bulldog (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Ice cream vendor (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Coyote (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Hen (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Suspicious tourist (single appearance)
  • Yogi Bear (mask)(cameo)
  • Woman 1 (single appearance)
  • Old woman 2 (single appearance)
  • Woman 2 (single appearance)
  • Little girl (single appearance)
  • Police officers (single appearance)(no lines)
  • Woman 3 (single appearance)

Locations

Objects

Vehicles

Suspects

Suspect Motive/Reason
Diego Fuente He had been trying to get Alejo and Luis to sell their family hotel to him.
El Curandero He knew all about the Chupacabra. He warned the gang they were in great danger.
Luis Otero He said he was hit on the head by the monster, but he did not have a bump on his head.
Museum guide She and her warrior friends kidnapped Daphne.

Culprits

Culprit Motive/Reason
Charlene as the Museum guide and the Chupacabra
Mr. Smiley 		To get the Oteros' land where their hotel was for an amusement park.

Cast

Frank Welker Scooby-Doo
Fred Jones
Skunk

Chupacabra

Casey Kasem Shaggy Rogers
Heather North Kenney Daphne Blake
Nicole Jaffe Velma Dinkley
Jesse Borrego Luis Otero
Musician 2
Suspicious tourist
Maria Canals Sofia Otero
Old woman 2
Brandon Gonzalez Jorge Otero
Castulo Guerra Diego Fuente
Street painter 1
Benito Martinez El Curandero
Street painter 2
Darlene Mendoza Natalia
Little girl
Candi Milo Charlene
Museum guide
Old woman 1
Rita Moreno Dolores Otero
Woman 3
Allyse Rivera Carolina
Casey Sandino Sebastian
Oliver
Eddie Santiago Alejo Otero
Musician 1
Rip Taylor Mr. Smiley
Ghost of Señor Otero
Ted Cassidy[Note 1] Chupacabra

Songs

Song Credits Performed by
"Viva Mexico" Written by Rich Dickerson & Gigi Meroni Maria Carmen Diaz
"Scooby Cha Cha Doo" Maria Carmen Diaz & Rich Dickerson
"Sol (Batucada)" Written by Gilberto Cerezo, Ulises Lozano, Carlos Chairez, Omar Gongora, and Cesar Pliego Kinky
"A Donde Vas" Written by Kike Santander & Javier Gaviria Carolina
"Mueve Mi Sangre" Written by Artro Santillanes & Janko Rodriguez Plastiko

Continuity

Production

The working title was Scooby-Doo! Beware of the Bigfoot, as mentioned by actor Rip Taylor in the DVD's behind the scenes extra.

Notes/Trivia

Miscellaneous

Cultural references

  • Instead of the correct reptilian (or canid) monster, a purple Bigfoot was used for the Chupacabra.
  • Throughout the entire film even the characters native to Mexico say the Chupacabra's name as it's adapted in English. In Spanish it's spelled Chupacabras.
  • The Chupacabra's roaring sounds are the same stock roars originally recorded for Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla animated series from 1978–1979, as performed by Ted Cassidy.
  • One of the lyrics in the "Viva Mexico" song is "Let me hear you scream '¡Ándale! ¡Ándale!'", which was a common exclamation from another Warner Bros. Animation character, Speedy Gonzales.
  • At the beginning of the Day of the Dead ceremony, a child is wearing a Yogi Bear mask.
  • There are a couple of references to the film The Wizard of Oz:
    • Velma, Fred, and Daphne mention "Coyotes, jaguars and boars, oh my", which is a reference to the line "Lions, and tigers and bears, oh my".
    • Mr. Smiley's line, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" is a paraphrase from the Wizard of Oz's line "Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain".
  • The wheel spun by the museum guide stopped when the needle pointed to 1325. That was the year the Aztec capital Tenochtitlán (where modern-day Mexico City is located) was founded.[Note 2]

Adaptations

Animation mistakes and/or technical glitches

  • When Doña Dolores was talking about Diego Fuente, her skirt and Velma's were switched to each other.
  • When Chiquita was giggling at Scooby for walking into a gravestone, and laughing at the Chupacabra tripping over a pumpkin, her eyes were colored black instead of brown.
  • When the Ghost of Señor Otero appeared, Sofia's right wrist band is missing.
  • When Alejo tried to wake up Doña Dolores when she fainted, and Alejo comforting Luis, his wristwatch on his left arm is missing
  • When Fred shows the gang how a tilde is used in the Spanish word for "tomorrow," he writes the symbol over the wrong n, spelling the word as "manaña" instead of "mañana."
  • On the VHS and DVD front covers, Daphne's scarf is purple instead of green.

Inconsistencies/continuity errors and/or goofs/oddities

  • While in split-screen, the gang go from speaking out loud to themselves then to typing, and finally to just speaking without typing and somehow everybody seemingly knows what each other is saying. The four-way split-screen could be breaking the "fourth wall" for them, a narrative device so that the viewers will not be bored by watching an extended silent scene of people typing.
  • It's unexplained how Fred, a teen, got in contact with Alejo, a family man, with a business. (Although this is by no means the only such oddity in the franchise.)
  • Only Jorge is supposed to be Alejo and Sofia's kid, but Carolina, Sebastian, and Natalia are given the Otero name in the credits. It could be that they are distant cousins.
  • El Chupacabra is claimed by to be Mexico's version of Bigfoot, although such a description is grossly inaccurate, as the Chupacabra described is quite different from Bigfoot. There's two popular depictions of the creature: 1) is a strange reptilian (sometimes humanoid) beast with big red eyes and sharp teeth. 2) a strange rabid wolf or dog like creature with gray fur.
  • This movie portrays the Chupacabra as a Mexican legend in origin; however this is not accurate since the Chupacabra has its origins in Puerto Rico. It should be noted, however, that most of these mistakes were made by the ignorant American villains. They chose how their monster costume would look. Although the villagers had noticed the discrepancy.
  • Velma incorrectly states that Teotihuacan (the pyramid complex where the gang emerges after following a secret passage from the Museum of Anthropology) was built by the Olmec civilization. Teotihuacan is thought to have been established around 200 BCE, in the highlands of Central Mexico, near Mexico City. The Olmec civilization flourished from 1500 BCE to 400 BCE in the Gulf Lowlands to the east and south.
  • During the scenes of Paco framing the Mystery Inc and Alejo and Luis just before the tourists started chasing them on top of the Aztec pyramid, Alejo's clothes suddenly changed into the same colors as Luis'. Also, the angry tourists keep swapping positions.
  • When Charlene is unmasked as the museum guide, only her wig and glasses are removed, even though she clearly wears a mask while disguised as the museum guide.
  • It's possible that Mr. Smiley briefly dressed as El Chupcabra to fake kidnap his girlfriend Charlene.

In other languages

Language Name Meaning
Greek Scooby-Doo! και το Τέρας του Μεξικού Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico
Russian Скуби-Ду и монстр из Мексики Scooby Doo and the Monster from Mexico
Turkish Scooby Doo: Meksika Canavarı Scooby-Doo: Mexican Monster

Home media

  • US.png Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico VHS released by Warner Home Video on September 30, 2003.
  • US.png Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico DVD released by Warner Home Video on September 30, 2003.
  • US.png Scooby-Doo! and the Monster of Mexico Blu-ray Disc released by Warner Home Video on March 12, 2013.

Quotes

Mr. Smiley: We could've made billions if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.

Gallery

Videos

Images

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Archived audio from Hanna-Barbera's Godzilla cartoon.
  2. ↑ Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, The (August 29, 2019). Tenochtitlán. Encyclopaedia Britannica. Retrieved January 8, 2022.

External links

  • Buy from Amazon Video (US)
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