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With: (voices) Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey DeLisle, Mindy Cohn, Charles S. Dutton, Mary McCormack, John Cena, Sin Cara, Anthony Carelli (Santino Marella), A.J. Lee, Paul Levesque (Triple H), Glenn Jacobs (Kane), Vince McMahon, Mike 'The Miz' Mizanin, George Murdoch, Brodus Clay, Michael Cole, Corey Burton, Bumper Robinson, Fred Tatasciore
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Written by: Michael Ryan
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Directed by: Brandon Vietti
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MPAA Rating: NR
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Running Time: 84
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Date: 03/25/2014
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Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery (2014)
Pin and Grin
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Scooby-Doo! WrestleMania Mystery is apparently the twenty-first of the direct-to-video, feature-length, animated Scooby-Doo movies, but it's the first one I've actually seen all the way through. My son is a Scooby fan, but he never took to the longer stories until now. (I think it was a combination of length and scariness factor.) In any case, I was impressed at how well these beloved old characters translate to the longer running time, and we both enjoyed ourselves.
I probably would have enjoyed myself more if I had been a wrestling fan and knew more about the current WWE superstars. The last time I checked in with wrestling, "The Rock" was the big star. But nonetheless, there is enough information here for even amateurs to follow along.
Shaggy (voiced by Matthew Lillard) and Scooby (voiced by Frank Welker) beat the final level on a Wrestlemania video game, and Scooby is able to perfectly perform the Sin Cara victory dance, winning them a trip to WWE City to see Wrestlemania. The guys convince Fred (voiced by Welker), Daphne (voiced by Grey DeLisle), and Velma (voiced by Mindy Cohn) to come along, although none are too excited by the prospect.
Once there, Daphne is impressed by John Cena's muscular physique and becomes infatuated, Fred becomes involved with shooting photos on his new camera, and Velma embarks upon a study of wrestling and its correlation to ancient male rituals. Of course a monster appears, the championship belt is stolen, and Scooby is blamed for it. Shaggy and Scooby must endure a match with Kane to clear their name. This includes a training session with A.J. Lee. The great Charles S. Dutton lends his voice to an old caretaker.
Director Brandon Vietti has chosen to go all the way back to the character drawing style of the original 1960s shows, with a few jokes about how they always wear the same clothes, but the animation is slick and clean. Movement isn't up to par with many theatrical releases (the point of the original Hanna-Barbera cartoons was to produce content for television quickly and cheaply) but it gets the job done easily.
Extras include a featurette about the voice recording sessions, and an episode of the dreaded 1980s spinoff "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo." I watched the Blu-ray release and was very impressed by the sharpness and richness of the colors and artwork.
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