And in another scene, the Indiana Jones fan in me felt appeased as the gang found themselves rushing through ancient booby traps. As the darts flew from the walls and the giant pillars rose and fell, the homage fit in with the traditional Scooby chase scene.
But even if you look past the cliches, there are other little things. There's an animated fight sequence between Daphne and Miyumi after the gang arrives at the tournament island that's just filled with sloppy animation. Little things like a leg bending or stretching the wrong way really take me out of the moment.
The kicker for me was reading the text on the back of the DVD box: "Scooby and Shaggy are indoctrinated by an unlikely sword master who teaches them Boshido, the Way of the Samurai." If you're going to talk about Bushido, you should probably spell it correctly.
In addition to the movie on the DVD, there's also a feature called "Scooby-Doo Dojo" that walks kids through a bit of background on martial arts, stretching, and some safe, simple, and defensive martial arts moves. All too often I think kids have the wrong idea about martial arts and this is a great way to show them some basic blocks without having them trying to chop their way through every fight.
This isn't a bad story, but I was disappointed by the little things I noted earlier. I know my girls (ages 4 and 8) enjoyed it, though my youngest was a bit scared by the Black Samurai and his use of theatrics (smoke, lightning, thunder). So though the movie is unrated and meant for kids, I'd watch with the younger ones if they get scared easily.
If you missed Scooby-Doo and the Samurai Sword, be sure to check it out on DVD at a rental or video store near you if you (or your kids) are fans of Scooby Doo cartoons!
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