MLP: The Movie Review

So I recently started watching 1986 version of MLP, because Season 6 doesn't seem like it's coming anytime soon and I have to consume some sort of pony content in order to stay alive. Plus, I thought if I watched all of it I'd be able to understand all of the G1 references and what-not in FiM. So I sat down in front of my TV and started playing my illegally downloaded copies of G1 MLP. And it was... okay. You know, watchable but... not great.

But okay, you're right. What was I expecting? Sailor Moon or something? But get this; I goofed up. I was like 20-ish episodes in and by luck, I found out that the G1 MLP movie actually came before the show, and that the show served as a sequel to the movie. Dang. Silly me. Looks like I didn't do enough research. Welp. Now I had to go and download an illegal copy of the film.

My expectations were... pretty low, to say the least. So what was the movie really like? Was it worse than the show? Or was it actually a masterpiece in disguise? Only a true reviewer can answer that! That basically means you have no reason to keep reading! So let's move on to the review!

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Alright, let me start by saying I loved the movie. Suprise! Why? Well, let me break it down for you:

ANIMATION

It's only appropriate that we start with this, right? So like I said, my expectations were pretty low and since this one came before the show, I thought the character designs and movements would look more awkward. And in some ways, it did look more awkward. But what surprised me was that the animation was much more lively in this one. There was less standing around and talking and more action (not just fast movement, but like action action too... yeah, seriously). And the action was much more interesting because they put all these interesting things in the background that added depth to the movie and its characters. It was most likely due to having a bigger budget. It was a theatrical movie after all.

The movie was a theatrical failure upon its release. Combined with Transformers: The Movie's underperformance, it convinced the studio to cancel the Jem & The Holograms theatrical animated film.

Oh... That's... Umm... just goes to show that people didn't have a good taste back then... I guess.

CHARACTERS AND STORY

My favourite part of the movie! Let's start with the main character. So... just who is the main character? Umm... is it Megan? She is the main human character after all. But wait, in the movie's poster, Shady is in the front center and she's wearing the amulet of rainbow of light. So she must be the main character, right? But hold on, Lickety Split has the most important character arc and has much more screen-time. Is she the main character? But then, the witches have the most screen-time. Are they the main characters?

The movie suffers from what most of the movies suffer; not having a clear protagonist. (And no, the witches don't have the most screen-time. I just made that up.) Buuut the movie does have an advantage on the subject because it does what The Avengers does really well. Making all the characters interesting. Well, obviously not all the characters but the movie has several character groups that have their own arc/journey and they all come together in the end. There are mainly 3 groups and all 3 have interesting characters in them to make 'em enjoyable to watch. I love that stuff, and I love it more when it's done well.

You got Megan and Shady's journey to find the flutterponies and stop the Smooze, Lickety Split on her journey to self-discovery with Spike helping her out, and my favourite one; the villains just being bad.

Shady is the kinda character I like. In the movie, everybody hates her because she's ''bad luck'' and she's trying her best to prove that she's not a failure. Remind you of someone? *hint* Bacon Hair *hint* Although we don't get to see why she's being treated that way and her conflict wasn't fully resolved in the movie, they do explore that subject and develop her character more later on in the TV show. Megan—she's one of three main human characters—is the most mature character in the movie but I found her little siblings kinda... meh. But there was this one scene where Danny kisses her younger sister Molly on the cheek and she's like ''Eww! Danny kissed me!''. I love that scene . I don't think any modern animation movie can get away with it. I... don't really remember the names of other ponies in the group, but there was this one unicorn that did like a badass trick in a forest chase scene. I could look up her name, but that would be missing the point.

Then we have Lickety Split—who has the best name and also the cutest voice in the movie—who is the most relatable character. She wants to be a star, somepony special and wants everypony to admire her but everypony keeps telling her 'no, you're not special, you're too small, don't try to be someone you're not' etc. so like a complaining brat she is, she runs away from her home to go on an adventurous journey on her own. That's basically me right there . But fortunately she's not on her own, because Spike—who is surprisingly characterized well in this movie—acts responsible and after trying to convince her not to leave and failing, goes with her for her safety, leaving a note behind for other ponies to find and know about the situation. I'd rather have this Spike over the G4 Spike because this one's much more mature. Well... that or they just didn't have enough time to mess up his character. I'm still watching the show, so who knows?

And then we have villains; The witches from the Volcano of Gloom. I love them. They're being bad because they want to be bad. And they're loving it. It literally runs in their family. There's this one musical scene where Hydia—the mother of the witches—tells her daughters Reeka—who eats insects and worms all the time and is really fat— and Draggle—my favourite, I'll get to that later— about their ancestors' accomplished bad deeds in the past. There is also a scene where Hydia threatens her daughters by making them eat ice-scream... Just. Yes. They're all awesome. But Draggle was actually my favourite character in the whole movie. She's the only witch who has some good in her. Unlike her sister who always blames her for everything, Draggle has shown some kindness throughout the movie and she is the one who kept accidentally calling Hydia 'mama', which makes Hydia angry all the time. Draggle just looks like she wants to break out, but is unable to. I have a thing for characters like this. So she was easily my favourite.

Well, to sum it up, what I liked about the story was that, while it wasn't perfect, it didn't have any unnecessary filler in it. Everything added to the main plot in the end, which shows that 1 and a half hour was perfect for this movie.

VOICE ACTING

Thankfully, they were all serviceable, but there were couple of voices I rather enjoyed. Like Lickety Split's—cutest voice—, Shadey's, that one blue Bushwoolie's (''Yeah, I do. Bushwoolies always agree with everything. Yes we do. Always.'') and Spike's—which kinda sounded like the gollum's voice—.

SONGS

Okay, I'll keep it brief. Just like with the voice acting, all of the songs were serviceable but there were a couple of them which I can go as far as to say they were kinda catchy. In fact, I found myself singing along with the Reeka and Draggle's ''I'll Do The Dirty Work'' song in particular.

DA BAD STUFF

Aww, do I have to? Well... last time I checked, this WAS a review so I guess I have no other choice. It has mistakes you'd expect a 1986-made cartoon to have; differing animation quality from scene to scene, inconsistent lip-syncing from time to time, same footage being used again for some talking scenes, slap-stick humour, outdated dialogue and plot-holes (in the wishing well scene, why wasn't Morning Glory screaming for help instead of singing along with Lickety Split?). But they're fairly minimum so it doesn't bother you that much.

THE MORAL

Umm... was there one? I guess it was something like... if you help others, they will help you back..? or was it keep believing in yourself..? being bad is... not good? You know, the default stuff. If there was a moral that was executed well, I'd probably remember it. Which I don't think was what they were going for. They just wanted to make a fun adventure movie with a little character growth. If you want to see an adventure story with a moral in the end, we have Friendship is Magic for that. Just go watch the pilot again or something.

IN CONCLUSION

I'm really surprised that I had fun with this. While it's not a great movie, it's certainly a good one. For comparison, it's way better than the first Equestria Girls movie, but nowhere near as good as the Rainbow Rocks or the Friendship Games.

THE FINAL RATING

I recommend it. It's a lot of fun .