My Thoughts on My Little Pony: A New Generation

Hello, everyone! I promised a while back I’d discuss my thoughts on the recent MLP G5 movie, and at long last here it is. Naturally, I will be spoiling quite a lot, so do be sure to watch the movie itself before you read this review.

With all the preamble out of the way, let’sget into my review of My Little Pony: A New Generation.

STORY

Let’s get this out of the way first: My personal biggest concern regarding G5—and many others’ biggest concern too from what I’ve heard—was how it takes place in same world as G4, only now the pony tribes have separated again for unknown reasons.

The movie doesn’t explain why Equestria has become so divided, and while the question of how things got so bad is asked, the main plot is not about solving that particular mystery. And to be honest, I’m glad for that.

Whatever may have happened to cause Equestria to become how it is now is a story best handled by the new G5 series where it can be tackled in several individual episodes. Trying to solve the mystery in the movie would have merely cluttered the plot needlessly, especially when the movie already had other, more important things it needed to do. So while the mystery is left unsolved, the movie instead focuses on the current state of Equestria and how the characters intend to fix it.

The plot’s rather simple, all things considered; it’s your average “Get the McGuffin to save the world end racism” plot, but that doesn’t make the story dull by any means since getting said McGuffin brings plenty of enjoyment in its own right. And more importantly, the simple plot affords the movie plenty of time and breathing room to properly showcase the new setting and characters without much distraction.

That said, the story won’t quite blow you away either. The villain is rather one-note, there are a few pacing issues in the latter half and a contrivance or two, and the ending, while thankfully devoid of G4’s overused rainbow lasers of doom, felt somewhat rushed.

Ultimately, the movie, rather than telling some spectacular, grandiose epic of godly proportions, opts for a relatively grounded plot that’s driven primarily by the characters. And while that may be disappointing to those expecting more, I think keeping the story simple and easy to follow was the right decision.

WORLD BUILDING

Because this is our introduction to the new state of Equestria and the characters living in it, we don’t get a lot of significant world-building. In fact, we only see three major locations: Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood. That said? The world-building we do get is superb!

First, let’s discuss the racism aspect between the three tribes. I love how it was handled, and a lot of what made it so good, for me at least, came in the subtlety of how it was handled.

Each of the tribes have their own specific reason why they hate and fear the other tribes: Earth ponies are terrified pegasi and unicorns will one day use their magic against them; meanwhile, the pegasi and unicorns both believe the other has stolen their magic. And what’s even better(From a world-building perspective), the tribes’ isolation from each other is shown to have significantly worsened the issues.

If the pegasi had contacted the unicorns at any time, they would have realized the unicorns lost their magic as well; thus, they couldn’t have been responsible for stealing the pegasi’s magic. And had the unicorns contacted the pegasi, they’d have cleared up that confusion as well, and then perhaps both tribes could have worked together to discover what stole away both of their magics. Earth ponies, meanwhile, had they contacted either tribe, would have found out about the magic issue as well and realized the pegasi and unicorns weren’t a threat to them—that they had never been a threat at all.

None of this happens, however; the tribes have secluded themselves away from each other and refused to reach out because…well? The tribes are taught to hate to each other, so they don’t bother making friends with the others which only prolongs and worsens the ideals that resulted in the tribes hating each other to begin with.

It’s a loop of self-perpetuating bigotry, and it’s absolutely fantastic how the writers were able to establish it so well! But perhaps my absolute favorite moment regarding the racism allegory?

Very early on into the movie, there’s a moment where some earth pony foals are playing with each other, but they stop to look at one of the propaganda posters showcasing pegasi and unicorns as evil monsters. Afterward, one of the kids begins playacting as a pegasi/unicorn monster and chases after the other, both of them laughing all the while.

It’s such a small moment, but it shows how horrible the inter-tribal bigotry is and has become beautifully and without a single word.

I find that racism as a topic in kids’ cartoons—or any show or book, really—can be rather hit-or-miss depending on how it’s handled, but I love how My Little Pony: A New Generation handled it here. That said, I do think it’s resolved a little too quickly.

After the Lighthouse is destroyed, it makes perfect sense why the representatives of the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns have calmed down enough to finally listen to Sunny, and with the magic restored, obviously the ponies wouldn’t have nearly as great a reason to hate each other as they did before… But the movie makes it seem everypony has accepted everypony again, and that’s a little too idealistic to be realistic.

I can’t really hold this against the movie, however; I understand it had to end on a positive note. Still, one of the things I hope the show will tackle is whether or not there are ponies who are still holding onto their bigotry.

Some other subtle world-building I loved was the technological aspect. G5’s Equestria being so much more technologically advanced was yet another thing I heard people were skeptical of, but I like it. The world is set so far into the future that G4 is considered “Ancient Equestria,” so it’d be unrealistic for them to not make any scientific or technological advancements in that time, especially with magic having disappeared entirely.

That said, technology isn’t omnipresent; Maretime Bay is a pretty normal-looking seaside town that just so happens to be where Canterlogic is located.

Zephyr Heights is the true technological utopia. And can I just say how awesome a detail it is that the place the pegasi settle is the remnants of Canterlot? With Cloudsdale and Las Pegasus no longer accessible(And probably long-since gone), Mount Canter is the closest the pegasi can get to living in the sky.

Bridlewood, meanwhile, is the least technologically advanced of the three tribes. They do have some things, but it’s more the fantasy kind of technology(Alphabittle’s dancing game is powered, not by conventional electricity, but by his critter pals running in a wheel). It makes sense too since the unicorns fled to depths of a forest; there’s not exactly a surplus of metal to forge with in a forest.

On the note of unicorns, I appreciated just how badly the loss of magic impacted their culture.

The pegasi adjusted rather well to the loss of their magic(Likely thanks to the Royal family’s charade), and the earth ponies seemed to have completely forgotten they had magic at all(I can’t help but wonder if that’s a dig at how G4 gave practically no attention to earth pony magic whatsoever).

However, most unicorns seem to be stuck in a state of complete lethargy, apathy, and dare I say depression. They’re clearly not that bad off, but it’s understandable why the unicorns are so miserable when you remember they were the tribe typically shown to have the greatest degree of magical prowess back in G4(Starlight, Sunburst, Sombra, etc.).

Ironic then, that the unicorns are now the most terrified of magic, so much so that the very word “Magic” has become effectively a slur to them, and upon hearing it, every unicorn instinctively performs a “Banish the jinxies” ritual. That last part may be played for comedy, but it’s rather unnerving to think about how the unicorns have been teaching their children to fear magic for generations.

Sadly, we don’t learn much about Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood themselves. Sure, we spend a lot of time in the first two, and yes, we get a glimpse at how pegasi and unicorn culture are like now. But as for the locations themselves? Aside from them all being a few hours trot apart and possibly established before the tribal split, we don’t get much information on them or their histories.

Although, again, I can’t quite hold that against the movie when that’s certainly something the show will discuss. My disappointment stems less from genuine criticism of the movie itself and more from eagerness to see more of the new Equestria and learn all the sweet, juicy lore!

CHARACTERS

While I do enjoy the story and adore the world-building of the movie, what I love most is the characters! The writing team knew the characters were the most important part of the story and gave them the greatest prominence, and I’m glad they did; they’re all amazing!

1) Sunny Starscout

When it was revealed Sunny would be an “Activist,” a number of people were hesitant, to put it mildly, and while I wasn’t exactly one of them, I am glad Sunny’s activism turned out to be for exactly what I expected: Friendship.

Activists and protesters have acquired a bit of a bad reputation in recent times for various reasons, but Sunny isn’t hostile by any means.

Sunny is kind, considerate, passionate, and optimistic. And yet? For as optimistic as she is about uniting the three tribes once again, she’s also somewhat of a defeatist which unfortunately works against her. Because for one brief moment halfway into the movie, Sunny succeeded.

She managed to get both the unicorns and pegasi to cease their quarreling for a few minutes and listen to her, possibly even consider making amends with each other. But when the McGuffin fails to work, Sunny immediately gives up. She had the perfect chance to talk more to the two tribes and get them to make amends with each other and work together to discover what really happened to Equestria’s magic, but the moment she seems to fail, she gives up completely.

Probably the best part about this scene is how subtly it was foreshadowed. When Sunny’s protest at Canterlogic fails miserably, she concedes defeat calmly and leaves willingly, and at first, you’d think that’s just Sunny being respectful toward Phyllis and the other ponies and accepting she had failed to make a difference. But then you remember Sunny’s been at this for most of her life now, making absolutely zero headway and even being banned from Canterlogic entirely.

All the while, she has to watch as all the ponies of Maretime Bay simply go about their lives, perfectly content to be perpetually afraid of the other pony tribes and teaching their children to feel the same, and she has absolutely no one to help support her outside of Hitch.

After remembering all of this, that moment she’s sitting by herself and staring at the ocean has an even greater meaning because she was likely considering giving up then and there, and it’s only because Izzy showed up that she didn’t(Until the movie’s Third Act anyway).

It all serves to make Sunny that much more of a compelling protagonist; you really feel and empathize with her desperation to make everything right and reunite the pony tribes again.

All that said, however? Once Zipp, Pipp, and Hitch join the team Sunny loses the focus for a while so the movie can give them the spotlight. It’s understandable this is the case, but it’s still somewhat unfortunate Sunny gets swept up in the flow of the others’ zaniness until the dance-off against Alphabittle.

Also, I both like and dislike Sunny’s reaction to the Lighthouse being destroyed.

I don’t like it because Sprout destroyed her home and nearly killed her and Izzy, and she’s not the least bit mad about it(Unless the show plans to deal with this later). The movie was ending in the next ten or so minutes, so it’s clear the writers were forced to ignore the fact that Sunny would realistically be either angry at Sprout, grieving over her home, or traumatized from nearly dying.

On the other hand, I like it because it does fit Sunny’s character that she’d be more immediately concerned with sharing what she learned about what really caused Equestria’s magic to disappear and finally succeeding at getting everypony to begin making amends again.

Aside from these minor issues though, I really enjoy Sunny Starscout! She’s fun, spunky, cheerful, and just an overall sweetheart, yet she’s still a flawed and relatable character with a burning desire to bring back the Magic of Friendship to Equestria. I definitely can’t wait to see more of her in the show!

And on that note, we NEED more scenes of her and father, Argyle. Their relationship was way too wholesome and adorable to ignore and do nothing with for over six seasons.

2) Hitch Trailblazer

All hail the new Best Pony! Seriously, I love Hitch!

For one thing, I’m so happy we finally have a male character in the main roster that’s actually treated like he’s part of the main roster rather than as a glorified, hum-drummy sidekick, and even better, Hitch isn’t constantly abused or ridiculed for the sake of cheap, terrible comedy!

But you know what’s even better than that? Unlike other law enforcement officers in cartoons who are often portrayed as useless(Royal Guards, MLP G4), incompetent(Erik Alhburg, Hilda) or just plain evil(The Flecs, Infinity Train), Hitch is allowed to be genuinely good at his job! He tracks down Sunny despite having little idea of where they were going, is smart enough to make himself a disguise to sneak around Zephyr Heights, and is mature and logical enough to not let the bigotry he was raised on as well color his perception of the other ponies. And if you can believe it, it gets even better!

Other ponies love Hitch! The ponies of Maretime Bay respect, trust, and look up to him, and when Sprout is put in charge, they all still view Hitch as their true sheriff, proclaiming that he would know what to do and how to handle the whole “Izzy” crisis. And he totally would; Hitch knows exactly how to be a sheriff, and he takes the job seriously.

That doesn’t mean he’s a complete hardss though; he’s still very much best friends with Sunny, but when she finally does “cross the line” as it were by helping Izzy escape, he cracks down and goes after her because it’s his job. Even still, when he does catch up with them, he’s still amicable to her and acts completely reasonable, if a bit irritated and understandably so.

All of this is helped by how much of a complete dork Hitch is. The whole animal thing is obvious, but it’s the little things that really sell it, like how whenever he hears music, he can’t help but bop along or how theatrical he gets when he has an audience. Seriously, the guy puts on a deep, super serious voice whenever he’s giving orders or doing something heroic just so he sounds cool; what else do you need to love a character!?

The only thing about Hitch I can objectively criticize is that he’s a little too perfect. Unlike Sunny, he doesn’t go through a character arc of his own, despite having roughly the same amount of screentime as her. Yeah, he’s got the whole bigotry thing, but right from the get-go, you know full-well he’s nowhere near as racist as Phyllis or Sprout(Him being best friends with Sunny probably has something to do with that).

That said? I’m fine with him not having any major flaws here; this movie is still an introduction to him and the rest of the cast after all, so I can excuse it here. I’m sure the show will do its best to make sure Hitch doesn’t come across as a Gary Stu.

I just hope Hitch doesn’t get hit with his own “Spike at Your Service.” Of all the characters, Hitch is the one I fear the most being written OOC because he’s already so amazing of a character. Hitch is the best new pony so far, and he deserves to be treated as such!

…

Can you tell love Hitch? I’m worried I’m not getting across just how much I love Hitch Trailblazer.

3) Izzy Moonbow

Izzy is a scatterbrained ball of adorable, chaotic fluff, and I love her!

She fulfills the same role as Pinkie Pie did(That being the comic relief character), but I don’t consider that a bad thing since Izzy is humorous in her own unique way, focusing less on sheer randomness like Pinkie’s brand of humor did, and instead being rooted more in how she reacts to the world around her and how the world reacts to her.

I can’t really comment more on her style of humor since: 1) Comedy is subjective. And 2) Izzy’s comedy is a lot more subdued, so there’s less notable examples of it.

I guess, in a way, one could say Izzy “Operates on her own wavelength” and the comedy comes in how others react to what she does or how her actions contrast the current mood(The others arguing about how to get to Bridlewood while Izzy just steps to side and channels her inner woodpecker was certainly something that got a good chuckle out of me ).

But while we’re on the topic, I do appreciate that the New Mane Five are indeed different to the Mane Six. They may fulfill similar roles, like how Izzy and Pinkie are both the comic reliefs, Sunny and Twilight are the leaders, and Hitch and Applejack are both groups’ straight ponies, but the New Mane Five are very much their own characters with clearly different personalities to that of their predecessors, even if there is some overlap.

One such way Izzy is different than Pinkie is how artistic the former is compared to the latter. I suppose you could say Pinkie was artistic in her culinary skills, but Izzy is all about that arts and crafts—Played for laughs or no, that fake crown of hers was gorgeous. And she even made her own pseudo-replica of the treasure chest from G4’s Season Four, and this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Sunny is also shown(Via background details in the Lighthouse) to be rather artistic as well, but Sunny is on a whole different level of creative, and it’s an absolute travesty we didn’t get see much of her house. Seriously, I pray we see more of Izzy’s house in the show; it was equal parts beautiful and whimsical—much like Izzy herself.

Speaking of Sunny, however, I do have one complaint regarding her and Izzy. And it’s not their friendship, no-no; that was handled excellently. My gripe is that when we learn Izzy was the one who found Sunny’s balloon message, Izzy automatically realizes it was Sunny who sent it even though she realistically wouldn’t.

Yeah, Sunny smiles upon seeing it, but she doesn’t say anything at all until after Izzy says something first. Izzy just sees her smile and realizes it was Sunny, and while we, the audience, know the context behind that smile, Izzy doesn’t. It felt more like the movie was trying to hurry things along and had Izzy immediately figure it out just to avoid having Sunny confirm it was her, and that somewhat pulled me out of what should have been one of the best, most emotionally impactful scenes of the movie.

I mean? It is still one of the most emotionally impactful scenes of the movie, and it only further cements how both Sunny and Izzy—and the group as a whole—are best friends(Not to mention calls back to Argyle and Sunny’s awesome relationship). I just wish Sunny had stated she was the one who sent the message rather than Izzy just knowing it was Sunny.

All that said, Izzy Moonbow is great! I wouldn’t say she’s the best character in the movie, but she’s definitely up there. And I’m glad I can say that because, full disclosure? I wasn’t all that interested in Izzy when she was first revealed before the movie , but now I can definitely say I’m excited to see more of what the show will do with her.

4) Zipp Storm

I wish I had more to say about Zipp, but I really don’t; Zipp sadly doesn’t get much time to truly shine. I don’t dislike her character by any means, of course, but what’s great about her is very bare bones.

I adore how much she hates lying to her subjects about being able to fly—it helps further sell how noble and honorable Zipp is—and I enjoyed her cliffside parkour scene.

Something else I enjoy that I didn’t notice until Damon Wolf Cub pointed it out to me was how Zipp is implied to have a budding interest in science, if that giant fan and equation-riddled chalkboard are any indication. And on that note, I also like how Zipp uses the Canterlot Castle remnants as a sorta “Save haven” to help calm down from the stress of her royal duties and constantly pretending she can fly.

Honestly, Zipp is a much more reserved character than that bombastic mane-cut of hers would have you believe, and I do like that about her too—in a group as bright-eyed and cheerful as theirs, Zipp being overall more quiet and contemplative makes her stand out in her own way.

And I especially love how Zipp is the one who encourages Hitch to join the other girls at their campfire; it’s just so nice of her—and all the mares, really—to reach out and want Hitch to be part of the group despite his attitude concerning them all at first. That, along with how she teamed up with him to face off against the Sprout Mobile, has me really excited for a potential buddy cop episode in the show featuring Zipp and Hitch.

Beyond all of this though, Zipp Storm gets squat. Same goes for her sister, and speaking of which…!

5) Pipp Petals

I feel bad for Pipp. She suffers the most from being introduced halfway into the movie’s runtime. I like her social media/content creator gimmick personality and the potential stories the show can tell with her, but in regards to the movie, Pipp is a complete non-entity. Her only contributions to the plot are picking up the pegasi’s half of the McGuffin and getting Sunny in the dancing groove against Alphabittle. Besides that, nothing. Pipp gets. Nothing.

To be honest, I’ve no idea why Pipp wasn’t the one who faced off against Alphabittle. You’d think Pipp would since: 1) She has more dancing experience thanks to all of her Zephyr Heights performances. And 2) She just joined the group; she both deserved and needed a chance to prove her worth and loyalty to the team. If the problem was that the group would still need to be revealed as non-unicorns, you could just have Pipp instinctively flare her wings to show off like she does back home in Zephyr Heights(It’d have made a lot more sense than Sunny’s fake horn “conveniently” falling off at that exact moment; that’s for sure). But nope. Sunny’s the protagonist, so she had to be the one who won the unicorn’s half of the McGuffin, and Pipp just has to settle for being a glorified cheerleader.

There’s no doubt Pipp Petals got screwed in the screentime department, and it unfortunately results in her feeling like she’s not actually friends with the others. That said? I do hope to see more of Pipp(As well as her relationship with both her sister and mother) in the show. She has the groundwork for a really interesting character, and I hope the show makes the most of it.

It’s such a shame that Zipp and Pipp suffer effectively the same issue that Fluttershy and Applejack suffered back in the 2017 MLP movie: Having great personalities, but getting barely any time to show said personalities off.

6) Phyllis Cloverleaf

I thought I’d hate Phyllis right from the get-go, but she turned out to be a far better character than I was expecting. And what turned me around for her was one single word from her.

“What?”

When Sunny and Hitch reveal to Maretime Bay that the unicorns and pegasi have been missing their magic for generations and were never a threat, this one word is all Phyllis can say, but it’s all she needs to say; you know immediately that Phyllis is reevaluating everything she’s ever believed about the other races upon learning this fact.

Remember how I said the earth ponies feared the pegasi and unicorns would use their magic against them? This is Phyllis’ entire motive throughout the majority of the movie; she runs Canterlogic and makes all of her anti-unicorn/pegasi products because she holds onto this exact fear. But once she learns that fear was unfounded the entire time, she rethinks everything and risks her very life to help protect the Lighthouse in the very end, even if it was all for naught.

Another thing I liked was her relationship with Sprout. It’s not the healthiest relationship in the world, but it’s obvious she genuinely loves her son and wants him to accomplish great things(Even if she goes about it in a very “Corporate ladder climber” kind of way). Even then, like most real world parents, she does still get annoyed with Sprout(Rightfully so) yet never stops loving him.

So, yeah. Surprisingly enough, I do hope to see more of Phyllis Cloverleaf in the future.

7) Sprout Cloverleaf

Ughhh… Okay, the role Sprout plays in the movie is the antagonist, and he’s a pretty good one(First genuine earth pony villain, woo-hoo!), even if he’s another MLP villain who gets off scot-free despite nearly committing murder.

Unfortunately, I can’t exactly say I want to see more of Sprout’s character. I wouldn’t necessarily be opposed to him getting a redemption arc(I can imagine Hitch is gonna crack down hard on Sprout’s flank for destroying his best friend’s home), but I doubt he’ll get one. Not much else to say here.

8) Queen Haven

I may like Phyllis more from a story-telling perspective, but Haven’s got her beat in the personality department—she’s an absolute blast anytime she’s onscreen. I’ve honestly very little say about her otherwise though. I just thoroughly enjoy Haven’s personality, and I appreciate that she wasn’t the movie’s “True” villain(I had heard rumors that was the case, but thankfully it wasn’t). I also appreciate that her charade wasn’t purely because it afforded her and her family luxury, but also because it gave the pegasi at least some glimmer of hope regarding their magic.

And while this is more a compliment to the Zephyr Heights’ guards, I am really happy that, after catching up to her and the others in Bridlewood, they defend Haven when Alphabittle starts insulting her. They were loyal to her for quite a while and naturally, that loyalty wouldn’t be so easily eradicated.

One movie in and already the Zephyr Heights Guard alone are given more respect than the entirety of the Royal Guard from G4.

9) Alphabittle

This guys gets so little screentime thanks to being introduced so late into the movie that I have almost nothing to say about him. I like his fondness for puzzles, his smug attitude—in that “I want to punch this guy so much” way—and how he defends his critter pals from Sprout… I have no idea why he was the representative of the unicorn tribe at the end though when he’s a glorified barkeep. But that’s about all I have to say about him. I do hope we see more of him though; he seems fun.

So, yeah. The new cast of characters we have are all handled fantastically! Even though, as I brought up earlier with Izzy, there’s some familiarity between how the Mane Six and the New Mane Five are written, I’m glad that the former are all given their own unique traits and characters and aren’t mere carbon copies of the Mane Six. Either way, I can’t wait to see more of all the new characters—minus Sprout—once the G5 show proper finally begins.

Before moving on though, I want to sing my praises to all the voice actors and actresses as well; they did a phenomenal job! Personal favorite performance was—surprise, surprise—James Marsden as Hitch with a close second being, curiously enough, Ken Jeong as Sprout. I may not like Sprout’s character, but his actor certainly had fun playing the role.

Vanessa Hudgens and Kimiko Glenn also definitely had fun playing Sunny and Izzy respectively. Same goes for Sofia Carson as Pipp, Jane Krakowski as Queen Haven, Elizabeth Perkins as Phyllis, and Phil LaMarr as Alphabittle. And though he doesn’t get many lines, Michael McKean gives Argyle this soft, gentle voice that helps sell just how wholesome of a dad Argyle is(I can’t say it enough: WE NEED MORE ARGYLE!)

If I’m being fully honest, the only performance I can’t say I preferred was Zipp, and let me make this abundantly clear: It’s NOT because Liza Koshy gave a bad performance; she does a terrific job voicing Zipp. Zipp just doesn’t get the chance to express as broad a range of emotions as the other characters, so she ends up getting outclassed by the other, more expressive cast as a result.

Regardless, the voice cast did an outstanding job making everypony sounds unique as well as capturing each of the characters’ own distinct personalities and charm.

ANIMATION

I don’t know much about animation, so I can’t really comment on the technical aspects of it. What I can say is I absolutely loved it! The designs of both the ponies and the world of Equestria are gorgeous—Bridlewood especially!—and the movement of the characters is fluid and full of life(At times)! Seriously, Sunny’s roller-skating segment and Zipp’s parkour through the shadows are absolutely fantastic, and that’s nothing compared to the other musical numbers! It’s abundantly clear that the animation studio, Boulder Media, and the people working there put a lot of work and passion into this movie, and their efforts paid off magnificently!

I know quite a few people were somewhat worried about the animation style changing from 2D to 3D, but I do believe they handled the 3D aspect excellently, and I can’t wait to see what kind of stunts they’ll be able to pull in the new style.

That said though? There are two things I feel deserve some criticism regarding the animation.

Firstly, I felt there was a bit of that “Uncanny Valley” issue with the characters at times. Not whenever they were talking, moreso whenever they were gasping in shock at something. That said, I think that’s probably more a personal issue than a legitimate problem with the animation—I think I’m just so used to how comically exaggerated the characters gasping was back in G4’s animation style, that the understated gasps of the G5 characters often felt “off” to me.

And secondly, I felt the characters moved a little too slowly at times. This criticism was actually something I remember being aimed at the MLP 2017 movie, and it’s a little hard to describe.

Basically, sometimes characters felt like they were moving too slowly than it appeared they should be moving; for instance, toward the end of the movie, there’s a scene where Sunny is sprinting through Maretime Bay and panting, clearly winded from the exertion… But then the camera pans up, and it looks like she covered the exact same distance running as she would have walking. Granted, this may be because she ran all the way from her home to Maretime Bay, so she’s probably just slowing down because she’s exhausted from the run, but still… It looked rather odd. It isn’t exactly helped whenever background characters are trotting along at a snail’s pace at times.

Again, this is hard to describe, but if I could describe it as anything? It’s that whenever characters are supposed to be moving fast, they will, like with Zipp’s introductory scene. But if they don’t need to move fast, then the movement slows down tremendously. Like I said, I’m not an animation expert, but I suspect this is likely because of technical reasons; 3D animation has completely different strengths and weaknesses than 2D animation, and perhaps this is one of them? I’m not sure.

Either way, I wouldn’t say it’s an issue that effects the entire film, merely a few “Blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” parts of it, and even then, it certainly didn’t effect my enjoyment of the movie if my earlier praises are any indication. The movie is absolutely beautiful, and while I think some parts of it could have benefited from faster or more exaggerated motion, I still love the art and animation style and am really excited to see how far they go with it going forward.

MUSIC

Okay, so? I know even less about music than I do animation, so I’ll keep this brief.

1) At both the beginning and end of the movie, there’s a segment of background music that sounds—for lack of a better term: Celtic. I don’t have much to say about it other than that I liked it, and I hope it’s an indication that G5’s musical scores will tap a bit more into that particular style of fantasy music.

2) Gonna Be My Day.

The first musical number of both the movie and G5 as whole, and it serves as a good introduction to Sunny’s character(As well as Sprout’s) that simultaneously continues establishing the movie’s main conflict about the inter-tribal bigotry. Not quite the heavy hitter that many other MLP songs are, but still a very good song in its own right.

7/10

3) Looking Out For You.

Another fine enough song that primarily shows the bonding friendship between Sunny and Izzy as well as more of the latter’s comically short attention span. It’s a tad short and a few rhymes felt forced, but otherwise it’s pretty good.

6/10

4) Danger, Danger.

From the moment I heard the line, “Let’s enter a blind irrational state” I knew this would be a personal favorite. It’s so hilariously over-the-top, yet the lyrics are so unnervingly sinister; I can’t help but love it! Special shout-out to these particular lines:

“Fight, see and black and white; that’s your pony right.”

“Millions can’t be wrong, especially when they’re screaming loudly.”

“It’s all gonna work out painlessly if you follow my orders brainlessly.”

Admittedly, it does suffer from that same “Forced-rhyme” issue the last song did, but they at least make a joke about it here. And besides, the visuals definitely make up for that problem anyhow. Not the best MLP villain song but still a great one.

8/10

5) Glowin’ Up.

It’s a generic pop song, and nowhere near in the same league as I Can See A Rainbow. Definitely fits Pipp’s character to sing it, but it doesn’t say a thing about either her or pegasi culture at all. Granted, it’s not exactly supposed to. Glowin’ Up is mostly background music to Sunny and Izzy’s crown heist, and while it does this job well, it doesn’t try to be anything grander. Shame really. It’s not that bad. I didn’t like it that much when I first watched the movie, but on a repeat watch, I warmed up to it somewhat. Still the second weakest of the movie’s soundtrack though.

4/10

6) You’re Gonna Fit Right In.

Why do we need an entire two minute musical number to show the New Mane Five putting on faux horns? More importantly, why do we need to recap the whole “Pony tribes hate each other” thing again even though we’re at the last third of the movie and the racism conflict has long-since been established! It certainly isn’t because the characters needed to know how to act like unicorns to sneak into Bridlewood without being chased away; they get in easily and without using any of the “Unicorn know-how” Izzy teaches them.

Yeah, I’m not a fan of this one; it feels the most pointless of the musical numbers. That said? Like Glowin’ Up, I warmed up to this song on the re-watch. Izzy is a great singer, and You’re Gonna Fit Right In just barely ekes out Danger, Danger for having the best visuals of all the songs. Also, Hitch gets really into the song toward the end, and it’s adorable.

Also-also, I missed this line from Sunny on the first watch but caught in on the second, and it made me appreciate both her character and the song even more:

“We’re running out of options, and we’re desperate…”

Other than that, I still don’t care for You’re Gonna Fit Right In. To me, it still feels shoe-horned into the movie, less to serve the plot or character, and more just to have an extra musical number. A decent song, just an unnecessary one.

5/10

7) It’s Alright.

Another generic pop song. And you know what? It’s a pure, energetic bop! … That’s over in less than a minute. … Why!? You ever hear a song that ends far too soon than you feel it should? This is one of them, and I guess it’s so short because of the scene it plays in, but still. I mean, I’m glad we still get to hear the full version in the credits, but its usage in the movie proper is so short that it leaves almost no time to actually savor the song itself. So while I may like It’s Alright, I can’t deny it’s the weakest of the movie’s musical numbers.

3/10

8) Together.

It’s an end credit song, alright. It encapsulates Sunny’s character, the movie’s overall message, and that traditional “My Little Pony-Friendship” charm, and that’s all I have to say about it.

6/10

EXTRA TIDBITS

And here are some last little details I still wanted to talk about, but aren't entirely important to the rest of the review:

1) Something else I hope the show will address is unicorns who still fear magic despite having it returned to them; same goes for pegasi who may be afraid to fly.

2) Hitch’s animal pals mimic the “Best Friend” hoofbump he and Sunny do at the beginning of the movie, and it was too cute to not call attention to.

3) I found it rather interesting how Sunny seemed to focus her friendship activist efforts primarily on the children of Maretime Bay. Like, she’s clearly reaching out to everypony she can, but if she spots foals, she’ll try to focus on them more, such as the unicorn balloon animal she gifted a foal and later at the Canterlogic presentation when she’s speaking more to the foals than the others. Says a lot about Sunny that she seems to connect more with the children around her than the adults…

4) Those contrivances I mentioned earlier but never fully elaborated on were:

A) Sunny instantly finding the missing glass piece instead of Zipp who’s used that chamber for possibly years.

And B) Sunny somehow missing the McGuffin engraving button on her desk. I know she wouldn’t have known what that engraving meant until after she learned of the McGuffin, but it’s not easy to believe Sunny—or Argyle, for that matter—would have never thought to press down on the engraving and activate it, even on accident, let alone never see the thing at all.

5) So, do all the animals in Zephyr Heights have wings or was it just Queen Haven’s dog and that one rat that appears in the credits?

6) Did anyone else notice that everypony’s cutie marks now appear on only one side of their flanks rather than both?

7) Izzy wearing glasses is one of the most adorable parts of the movie, and that is not up for debate.

8) Speaking of Izzy, I wonder how she managed to avoid believing in the same jinx nonsense that the rest of the unicorns adopted. "Magic" is one of the trigger words, yet Sunny says it within five minutes of meeting Izzy, but she has no abnormal reaction to it whatsoever.

9) And lastly, for those of you that hated how G4 often ignored the real world physics of the ponies’ hooves, you’re gonna be absolutely livid when you see just how little G5 cares about that.

CONCLUSION

Whelp! That’s everything I have to say about My Little Pony: A New Generation.

Although I’ve made it abundantly clear already, I have to say again that I really enjoyed the movie! It wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever scene, but it didn’t have to be. I was thoroughly entertained all the way through; I absolutely adore the New Mane Five; and I’m eager to see what direction G5 will take from here on out.

I am admittedly still hesitant about how they plan to explain what happened to cause Equestria to divide again. It’ll take one heck of an explanation to justify why Equestria divided again without making all of G4,everything the Mane Six went through, and everything Twilight learned and accomplished mean absolutely nothing.

I am still hopeful though; I’m sure the writers have a plan in store, and I’ll be right here waiting to see how that plays out. I just hope they’d don’t make it Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy’s fault; that’d be such a cheap and easy way to explain everything.

I suppose I could also say what else I hope for G5 going forward, but my hopes are pretty obvious: Seeing what became of everyone and everything from G4, having more time devoted to non-ponies, Pipp being plot relevant, and of course, more Hitch.

Beyond that, all I can really hope for—what any of us can really hope for—is for My Little Pony: A New Generation to be a good series in its own right. And I think it will be.

But for now, all we can do is wait and see just what the writers and Hasbro have in store for us in the next generation of My Little Pony.

I know I’m eager; how about all of you?

Comments

[Anon E Moose]

The movie would have really benefitted, IMO, of a ending/post-credits scene of Sprout having to pick up litter as community service. Maybe with an orange jumpsuit.

[redsopine]

Eh for me sprout came across as a coward for the most part felling like he’s constantly in his brothers shadow wanting the same love and adoration hitch gets from the town and he’s he dies go a bit mad with power but when you think about his personality upbringing and feelings about his brother you can understand a bit why he goes mad towards the end plus I honestly have no clue why he had such hate for the lighthouse