Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico is the sixth of a series of direct-to-video animated films based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released
on September 30, 2003, and it was produced by
Hanna-Barbera Cartoons. It is popular for claiming "Chupacabra is Mexico's version of Bigfoot",
although such a description is grossly inaccurate, as the chupacabra described is quite different than Bigfoot.
Plot
Fred's pen-pal Jorge Otero, who lives in
Veracruz, Mexico, invites Fred and the rest of the gang to
visit him and his family there. Fred and the rest of the gang talk about it until they decide to go. However, after Jorge sent
the invitation to Fred, an unrealistic-looking monster started to terrorize the population of Veracruz. Both Jorge and his son
see the monster, and the locals start calling it El Chupacabra.
Later, when Mystery, Inc. arrives in Veracruz, they meet Jorge who recognizes them all from Fred's letters. Jorge 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 Fuente arrives and asks to speak with Jorge 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, Jorge 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, Jorge 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, Jorge, 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, Jorge and Luis are searching when Jorge sees El Chupacabra. Jorge 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, Jorge, and Luis who where 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 Jorge 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 suspicious and 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 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.
The next day is the Day of the Dead, and all go to the cemetery, where they find 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 by 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 scared everyone.
After chasing the gang, the monster is caught up in some wiring. The gang pulls off the mask, and it is revealed the museum
guard they saw earlier is the monster. 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 guard tells him he will never see her again and he should forget about her. Velma then
guesses something is up and realizes the face the guard has is a mask, and pulls it off to reveal that Charlene was the guard and
El Chupacabra. Fred says that the message written on the van was not in proper Spanish,
so it had to be someone who did not speak 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.
Cast
Trivia
- The film Wizard of Oz (1939) is referenced in two sets of quotes
from the film:
-
- Fred, Velma, and Daphne are lost in the woods, and do their own little tribute to the famous "Lions and tigers and bears,
oh my!" sequence.
- Daphne: Do you suppose we'll meet any wild animals?
- Fred: We might.
- Velma: Mostly coyotes, and jaguars, and boars.
- Daphne: Coyotes?
- Fred: And jaguars?
- Velma: And boars.
- Daphne: Oh, my!
- The gang find a man in a skeleton costume controlling a fake ghost.
- Skeleton: Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
- When the gang is chased by the Chupacabra, a theatre in the background is showing the movie Legend of the Vampire,
which was essentially the previous Scooby-Doo movie, Scooby-Doo and the Legend of the Vampire
Inaccuracies
- 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.
- The Chupacabra is a Bigfoot in the film.
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