Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace
Science mystery has robot dog battles and sexual rivalry.
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Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace
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A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this movie.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace is a Scooby-Doo mystery with the usual amount of peril and slapstick action, but also a subplot around the sexual rivalry between two women. Characters flirt and Mystery Gang member Daphne (voiced by Grey Griffin) is hostile toward Melanie (Lacey Chabert), a woman the movie presents as "attractive." Fred (Frank Welker) takes a shine to Melanie but states that he's "not attracted to Melanie's brain." Spoiler alert: Daphne gets a "told you so" moment when Melanie is revealed to be the villain, seemingly justifying her negative behavior. The movie has slapstick violence as well as scenes of threat with a huge robot dog firing lazers from its eyes and chasing characters. Some of the characters are cliched stereotypes, such as a scientist being awkward and unable to behave normally around the opposite sex.
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What's the Story?
In SCOOBY-DOO! MECHA MUTT MENACE, a robot dog destined for Mars starts to behave erratically at a science fair. Can Scooby-Doo (voiced by Frank Welker) and the Mystery Gang find out what caused the dog to go wild?
Is It Any Good?
As a break from all things spooky, a rogue mechanical dog at a science fair takes center stage in this Scooby-Doo adventure. Unfortunately thoughtless gender issues lets Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace down. At the heart of this is Melanie (voiced by Lacey Chabert), the daughter of a prominent astronaut and celebrated scientist. When she enters the story, Fred's jaw hits the floor and Daphne (Grey Griffin) hits the roof. Fred makes it clear her looks are the best thing about her and Daphne makes it clear she feels threatened by an attractive woman being near the gang. From this point, the stereotypes are leaned into hard. Fred and a damaging archetype nerdy, stalker scientist are unable to keep themselves together around her. Meanwhile Daphne snipes at her at every opportunity.
Spoiler alert: When Melanie is unmasked as the villain, Daphne claims victory with a "I told you so" justification. Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace's message seems to be that it's OK to behave in a rude and mean way, if at some point your target turns out to not be perfect.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the themes around jealousy that are depicted in Scooby-Doo! Mecha Mutt Menace. Why did Daphne behave the way she did toward Melanie? Have you ever felt jealous? How did it make you feel?
Did you feel that any of the characters played on stereotypes? Why can stereotypes be damaging? How do stereotypes in movies and on TV impact kids' development?
How did Scooby and the others show teamwork and courage? Why are these such good character strengths to have? Can you think of any examples in real life when you've shown these traits?
Did you feel that the movie endorsed the importance of physical beauty? Why could this be deemed problematic?
How did this Scooby-Doo adventure compare to others you might have seen? What did/didn't you like about this one?
Movie Details
- On DVD or streaming: September 24, 2013
- Cast: Frank Welker, Matthew Lillard, Grey Griffin
- Director: Michael Goguen
- Studio: Warner Home Video
- Genre: Family and Kids
- Topics: Robots, Science and Nature
- Character Strengths: Courage, Teamwork
- Run time: 22 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: May 24, 2022
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