Spookley the Square Pumpkin

This is my favourite children's film since Thomas And The Magic Railroad. My three year old likes it too but not as much as me. The story of a pumpkin who is held back from success because of his shape, this is an absolute must-see! There are very few spooky cartoons that work for the under-5 age group (Scooby Doo, of course), and fewer still than manage to do something interesting with Hallowe'en, but Spooklee hits the mark. It manages to celebrate the festival without being in any way disturbing, but is not saccharine either. I only bought it because it was going cheap in a Woolworth's clear-out but even if I'd paid full whack I wouldn't have been disappointed.

We've all been pretty spoiled by Disney/Pixar, DreamWorks, etc. This short feature is something my kids have been enjoying for several years now. It has a good message (comparable to the Rudolph story), there's no political angle, and has some fun music interludes. I won't bore anyone with some drawn out critique on why I think this doesn't meet my standards. It doesn't matter. It's not the best holiday cartoon, but it's certainly not the worst. My kids like it and there's nothing controversial about it. End of story.

At my school system, it is required to watch Spookly EVERY YEAR, K-12. While that is a problem with my school system, it would be better if I didn't vomit every time I saw this dumpster fire. The graphics are comparable to Super Mario 64, the plot is convoluted. The only thing that tries to redeem this is the voice acting. The "Disability" plot is a little too deep for grade schoolers, and the "Jack-A-Lymipcs" are just filler, and have no point other to add plot points. Several students agree with me on these points. Again, I may just be a tired student bored with this movie and have grown to resent this movie.

Spookley is about what you'd expect from a direct-to-video kids movie made on a relatively low budget.

It's fine. That's about the line I draw. The songs are fine. The story is fine. The animation isn't quite fine. Overall, it's fine.

The movie, in general, is about not judging people based on their appearances or other shallow reasons. That's a fine moral, and I don't really have any problems with kids' movies having a clearly defined (and stated) moral.

There are some issues, however. First, they play off two characters for laughs due to the fact they are a little 'slow'. It's strange to have this movie about acceptance have two characters playing with qualities that are often played off for laughs in a damaging way to people who really may be different.

Other than that, the biggest issue is how simple it all is. Granted, that's not a bad thing for a movie for toddlers, but there are a lot of kids' shows on Disney Jr. or Nick Jr. that feel a little more complex in about a quarter of the runtime this one had.

Again, it's fine. If you're struggling to find something Halloween-related to watch with your young kids but don't want them downright terrified for hours, this is probably a fine bet.

This movie is supposed to be all about not judging someone based on their appearance but is nothing but rip-offs and lazy "humor" even by toddler standards. They have TWO "slow" or intellectually challenged characters that are played for laughs which again is lazy and runs against the "don't judge" message. They have TWO Joe Pesci from Goodfellas rip-off characters. They also rip-off the Olympic games for some reason. Terrible songs, terrible animation, terrible voice acting. My young child thought it was "okay" and I thought it was a very long 45 minutes.