Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike

Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike is a 2007 American computer animated film based on the game Elf Bowling and starring the voice talents of Joe Alaskey, Sean Hart, Tom Kenny, Jill Talley, and the film's director Rex Piano. The film was outsourced in South Korea for its animation department and visual effects and it was directed by Dave Kim with Piano as co-director. It received negative reviews.
Plot
Santa Claus and his brother, Dingle, are pirates roaming the open sea, where they and their crew steal toys and sell them back to orphanages. The two also make money off the crew through bowling matches where Dingle finagles the score for Santa to win the game. On one game, however, Santa's parrot calls out Dingle's foul play, which angers the crew to the point where they kick Santa and Dingle off the ship.
The two become trapped in ice and float until they wash ashore at the North Pole. There, they meet elves who recognize Santa as the prophesied "white beard" and they thaw him and Dingle out. Shortly afterward, they ask Santa to lead their factory. The elves already had been making toys, but they didn't have anything to do with them, so they kept them in storage. Santa had the idea of giving the toys to the world's children, and thus, Christmas is born.
After 1400 years, Santa becomes sick of his brother Dingle loafing around in his apartment and insists that he leave. This upsets Dingle, so he plots against Santa in order to take over Christmas from him. He challenges Santa to a game of Elf Bowling, which Santa agrees. The match involves each player performing one bowl, and whoever knocks the most pins down wins. Dingle uses his two penguin henchmen, Erwin and Claudio, to cheat, and initially is considered a winner. However, after the elves discover he cheated, his plan is foiled.
Dingle then tricks Santa into getting frozen, and writes a fake note about how Santa hates the elves and is leaving. With the elves upsets, Dingle uses the opportunity to make them follow him on a trip to Fiji and trick them into a sweat shop. After Santa's wife finds him, Santa must get back to the elves in order to save Christmas. While Dingle hypnotizes the elves, the only elf not hypnotized, Lex, saves them by accidentally hitting the reverse switch.
Dingle attempts to escapee by using Santa's sleigh, but Santa catches up him and (through the use of orb power by Lew) puts Dingle in a scenario where both he and Santa will fall. This gives Dingle the opportunity to call an elf bowling re-match, which Santa accepts. Santa, however, wins the match, thwarting Dingle's plan and saving Christmas.
Voice cast
*Joe Alaskey as Santa Claus, Bagger, Chief Manamana
*Sean Hart as Lex the Elf, Claudio, Stone Giant #1
*Tom Kenny as Dingle Kringle, Rappelstiltskin, Pirate
*Jill Talley as Mrs. Claus and Veronica Kim
*Rex Piano as Candle, Erwin, Stone Giant #2
History
Simi Valley, California resident David Kim was asked to direct Elf Bowling the Movie while studying editing at the Academy of Art University; Kim took the offer as a way to break into the film industry, previously working as a production assistant on music videos. After finishing Elf Bowling, he got work as a production coordinator on The Simpsons Movie (2007) and The Golden Compass (2007). Produced by Filmbrokers International, Elf Bowling the Movie began production in Fiji and South Korea before moving into a Simi Valley house owned by Kim's mother, where the film's story reel was edited. before being released on Amazon Prime on January 1, 2008 and Blu-ray on May 18, 2016.
Reception
Elf Bowling the Movie: The Great North Pole Elf Strike has no critical reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, and out of its 360 audience reviews, only 24% are positive. However, it has been panned by several online film reviewers, such as Bobsheaux.

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