"Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" is actually one of the better of the Scooby-Doo! movies that I have seen so far. Why? Well, sure it does follow the blueprint of the franchise to every letter, but it does differentiate itself somewhat. And also because the storyline was good and a tad better than the usual generic story lines seen in the franchise.

If you are just the least bit familiar with Scooby-Doo! then you are already also familiar with "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword", no doubt about it. So I will not delve too deep into the storyline. But briefly summarized, it is about the Scooby gang venturing to Japan where they stumble upon the mystery of the black samurai.

As with almost all other Scooby-Doo stories, then the story contains a fair amount of humor and action. But the setting of modern Japan infused with feudal Japan samurai just made the story all the more interesting.

The animation was good, and as was the voice acting. The two most crucial points to an animated movie. And with those two at the right place, "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" was on a good path.

I was thoroughly entertained by this movie, and think it is definitely a well-worthy addition to the Scooby-Doo franchise. "Scooby-Doo! And the Samurai Sword" has entertainment for everyone in the family, be it young or old.

Daphne is relevant...she has a place that is more than bait, more than Fred's arm candy, more than a damsel in distress....in fact, Daphne is Bruce Lee.

Daphne has Entered the Dragon.

The juxtapose of her character is just too awesome to pass by. I can't remember seeing a Daphne like this before. I likely won't see one like this again.

For that reason alone it's worth watching...but like so many others, the ending doesn't exactly live up to the start and falls flat compared to the build up.

The plus side is, even at the end, Daphne has Entered the Dragon. So despite the lackluster finish that seems of so common with the Scooby Doo movies, you still get to see Daphne doing her Bruce Lee impression in a film that wonderfully parodies the master's break out film.

This may have a minor spoiler in it.

I was surprised that Termite Terrace was able to instantly churn out another new direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movie, especially since "Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King" only came out seven months ago! Usually the trend is a new Scooby-Doo movie every fall season, since 1998 when Warner Bros. Animation started the series with "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island." However, while this film was more enjoyable than the notorious "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" or even its predecessor "What's New, Scooby-Doo?", it wasn't as good as "Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island," "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost" or even the previous "Scooby-Doo and the Goblin King." The plot isn't too bad, keeping real supernatural elements, but the plot is basically like a Japanese variation of "Scooby-Doo and the Witch's Ghost," complete with a phony samurai ghost at one point, followed by a real one near the end. It strays a little close to the line with the real ghost resembling a kind old man but wearing a mask of the monstrous face. But I REALLY like the dragon that Scooby and Shaggy visit at one point in the movie that teaches them to be samurais, partly because I really like friendly dragons, and partly because it's about time a real dragon was used in a Scooby-Doo cartoon (well, there's Matches from the Ghoul School movie, but he was a baby dragon). However, once again, there is not much originality with the movie, since the gang had already been to Japan (I know they did so on "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" and "Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo"). I was still a little irked about seeing the dumbed-down Fred (ala "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo" and "What's New, Scooby-Doo?") and the fashion-paranoid Daphne (same as previously mentioned shows),but I thought it was hilarious when after Shaggy, Scooby, Daphne and Velma said their catchphrases ("Zoinks!" "Rikes!" "Jeepers!" and "Jinkies!", respectively),Fred moaned, "Dang! I STILL don't have a catchphrase!" But the thing is, I guess the writers forgot that Fred DID have a catchphrase in "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo"... "Let's split up, gang!" But it was still enough to make me laugh. The Scooby gang gets an equal amount of time, and there were more scenes of them together than the previous films, but there was still quite a bit of scenes with just Shaggy and Scooby, and a few scenes with just Fred, Daphne and Velma. But at least Scooby-Doo has gotten more screen time than in "Aloha Scooby-Doo" and various "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" episodes, since he's my favorite character.

Voices are decent, with Casey Kasem still being able to voice Shaggy (need I mention that terrible Scott Menville's Shaggy voice?) and Frank Welker pulling double-duty as Fred and Scooby-Doo. The latter sounds much like a combination of his Brain from "Inspector Gadget" and Scott Innes's Scooby-Doo voice, so at least he's getting a bit better.

As for sound effects, once again they haven't changed much since they started doing the direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies since 1998, only limiting the classic H-B sound effects to exaggerated comedy sequences or nearly any scene with Shaggy and Scooby-Doo. Maybe this H-B sound effect limitation worked just fine with the original made-for-video movies, but here it just sounds awkward, even though at least they've brought back the old Scooby teeth chattering noise, which "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" and the 2004-2006 made-for-video movies never did. This also goes for the Haunted Mansion-esquire "Castle Thunder," which they still thought was too obsolete to use and instead recorded real thunder sounds (since the Samurai Ghost has the ability to generate lightning). I wonder if they came to my hometown to do so? (we had a particularly bad storm last summer that sounded exactly like the one in this film) But what annoys me about that is how the annoying "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" series used the old thunder sounds, but the made-for-video movies (which are WAY better than "Get a Clue!") don't bother.

And speaking of "Get a Clue," now on to the animation. The Scooby-Doo gang is still drawn in their typical "What's New, Scooby-Doo?" style, which is, I must admit, easier on the eyes than the crude animation/designs used on "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" TV series. Good thing those awkward character designs only stuck with that show! But I think they should try showing the characters in their original outfits like the newest Scooby-Doo comics usually do, or at least make up a new style, maybe combining their "What's New?" outfits with the ones they wore on "Zombie Island" to "Cyber Chase." Movements are fluid and realistic, and like the previous film, it is heavy with CGI effects.

But I do wish they'd start making them actually resemble "Zombie Island" and "Witch's Ghost" in look and feel again. Though it looks like a Joe Barbera dedication is definitely out of the question now, they have continued the trend from all the other made-for-video Scooby-Doo movies made since 1998 and ended them with a Hanna-Barbera logo, even though this patently hasn't been true at all! (At least Bill and Joe were alive when "Zombie Island" and "Witch's Ghost" were made.) In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they used that remake of the old 1970s Hanna-Barbera "box" logo to replace the still Scooby/H-B graphic at the end of the first four movies!

Overall, good to rent or catch on TV, but I'd only recommend buying if you're a hard-core Scooby-Doo fan. Besides that, it's definitely better to watch if you're sick of "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!"