The Dancing Pumpkin And The Ogre's Plot

The Dancing Pumpkin And The Ogre's Plot is an obscure American Halloween animated movie loosely based on the book of a similar name. It stars Chris Jai Alex, Adam Behr, Barbara Goodson and David Markus.

Plot
Halloween pumpkins protect the world from monsters. The Dancing Pumpkin is the heroic leader of the secret pumpkin world. One day the tiny messenger pumpkin, Perkalese, brings him troubling news about a plot by an evil ogre named Finkgrinder. With help from his monster fighting team of Heather, Chris, and Perkalese, the Dancing Pumpkin leads the way on a thrilling adventure to stop the Ogre.

Why It Sucks

 * 1) To get the elephant out of the room, the designs for the pumpkins. They're known for being really uncanny. The faces look far too human and realistic to the point where it feels creepy rather than comforting.
 * 2) *A reminder that hyperrealism can work in some animated movies such as The Adventures of Tintin or The Polar Express, but The Dancing Pumpkin takes a different turn, trying to make the pumpkins' faces look extremely realistic without paying attention to the quality of the animation.
 * 3) Stated recently, the animation is mediocre, and is comparable to films such as Ice Age 6 or Norm of the North. The animation is particularly awful in the scene where a goblin falls down the fence and shrinks.
 * 4) *In one scene where the pumpkin dances, he freezes in place for a couple of seconds. This shows the horrendously low budget that was put into the making of this film.
 * 5) The logic makes absolutely no sense.
 * 6) *In the beginning scene, a goblin is being bitten by a small pumpkin, falls down the fence, shrinks and the Pumpkin starts dancing for no reason.
 * 7) *How can the Dancing Pumpkin have no nose when all the other pumpkins do?
 * 8) *The Pumpkin King is said to be older than earth itself, when in reality, pumpkins are believed to originate from Central Mexico over 7,500 years ago.
 * 9) Many characters just appear with no proper introduction.
 * 10) The plot is boring and predictable.
 * 11) There are these two pumpkins called "Thunderbellies". The basic concept is a human enters them via a hole in their head. The hole is then sealed up and the Thunderbellies start running at a very fast rate, which is a rather strange concept and even creepy (in the words of Saberspark).
 * 12) *Like most other characters, their designs are creepy to look at.
 * 13) The characters range from unlikable to bland to annoying beyond belief.
 * 14) *The Dancing Pumpkin will just break into dancing at random times for no particular reason.
 * 15) *The girl and boy serve no purpose for the plot whatsoever. Not only are the children pointless, but extremely bland. The designs in particular look extremely generic.
 * 16) *The witches are extremely clichéd, and get no karma for their actions.
 * 17) *The skeletons are VERY annoying. Their dialogue is cringeworthy, their jokes are unfunny and their voices are grating. They also have stereotypical Italian accents for some reason.
 * 18) Plot Hole: The skeletons joins the team in one scene. Weren't the pumpkins at war with the monsters? If so, why is one of their enemies acting friendly towards them?
 * 19) The part of the logo that reads "and the ogre's plot" copies the font from the Harry Potter series.
 * 20) The dialogue is laughably awful. It sounds childish, unsophisticated and boring.

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) The voice acting is passable.
 * 2) Some character designs are decent, such as the Skeletons, the Ogre and Peraklese.
 * 3) The animation can be nice to look at at times, despite the designs looking discomforting.

Reception
While The Dancing Pumpkin and the Ogre's Plot received no reviews from any professional critics, The Dancing Pumpkin and the Ogre's Plot was heavily panned by audiences, who criticized the film's writing, uncanny designs, predictable plot and unfinished animation. It currently holds a 5.1 on IMDB, and a 2/5 on Letterboxd.