My Little Pony: The Movie · 2:29pm Oct 9th, 2017
Warning: This may contain spoilers of the movie. Reader discretion is advised.
After months and months of hype and expectations, I’ve finally watch the most anticipated animated movie of the year (aside from LEGO Batman, of course). And after checking a pair or reviews (from both fans and critics) and thinking about it a couple of times, I have to ask: was it worth it?
Don’t get me wrong, it was entertaining, but I have to say this is the most difficult animated movie I’ve to watch since Ice Age 3. The reasons: I’ve to set apart the fan, the casual spectator and the critic apart. Because of this, I’ve to split my point of view for this movie and alternate between these three categories throughout this review. So, without further ado, here are 5 things I liked and 5 things I didn’t like about My Little Pony: The Movie.
First of all, I must say that I won’t judge the animation (as the rest is doing) simply because it would be very easy to say that it’s beautiful, it’s well done and it’s good to see a 2D animation considering the proliferation of 3D (and all of them are true), but nowadays that can no longer be a virtue, a positive or the only redeemable thing of the film, but an obligation. This is something that even a piece of shit such as The Nut Job understood. I repeat, the animation is fantastic, but I no longer judge the visual section of an animation. With that being said, let’s start.
No pretentions whatsoever
Unlike other shows that seem to lose their essence or specialty when they are moved to the big screen, My Little Pony still feels like the show, all the pieces are kept in place without any hint of misunderstanding. Knows what it wants to tell and goes straight to the point. It’s true that it still has fanservice for those who are veterans (as well as those “buy our toys” moments), but here it’s much more dosed and not overexposed like in, let’s say, Slice of Life or Fame and Misfortune.
The new characters
So much advertising, marketing and commercial ads, so many appearances in the trailers and posters... for a maximum of twenty minute appearance, a sudden attitude change to help the protagonists and serve more as an occurrence or a plot device instead of actual characters near the ending? Even when writing these lines I can’t remember their names. Most of them are not very appealing or interesting, others are rushed in development and some of them don’t have a purpose in the story (such as the parrot pirates).
The Mane 6 behave as themselves
Many characters lose their essence or, in an attempt to make the new characters shine, are lowered to the background in a film. It doesn’t happen here. All our characters feel like the animated series. There are moments where Rainbow Dash shines with her cockiness, Rarity becomes a drama queen and Applejack puts the order inside the group (since she’s the sanest of the group). Perhaps the only complaint I would have is that Fluttershy needed more screentime and more things to do, but beyond that really all behave as they should.
The villains
How many times can I repeat what I have said with works like Zootopia or Moana? What is happening to the world of entertainment in general?! Why are villains being flattened and one-dimensional? Again, this isn’t limited to Disney and Marvel, it’s happening everywhere. I understand, heroes are our focus, they're the one we're supposed to learn from and supposed we want to be (some of the best heroes I’ve encounter are current). Both Tempest Shadow and the Storm King don’t fulfill for what the trailers promised and both feel like they could have been more (even Tirek, whom I have criticized so much for having wasted potential, is better villain in comparison). One has few screentime and is one-dimensional and the other has a background story and motivation as absurd as Starlight Glimmer’s (at least the latter has recovered from this stumble in the seventh season). Not only this trend is starting to get old, but we’re losing our connection to enjoying our dark side. P.S: Although the reformation works here. STOP. DOING IT. PLEASE!
Twilight Sparkle
Since her ascension to princess, the writers haven’t known what to do with Twilight. There have been many situations where they could have taken advantage of her position or do something useful, but they have come to nothing (Twilight’s Kingdom is what has come closest to this point, however still leaves many things pending). Well, that doubt has been left behind. Here, Twilight assumes a much more important position than before, you feel the pressure and the burden with which she must endure. Even the movie lets you understand why Twilight was chosen to be a princess. This is exactly what she needed to justify her title, it’s glorious in every way and it was worth it.
Pinkie Pie
OH. MY. GOD. WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU?
Technically the pink pony is in character like the others, but I felt her more flanderized than the rest. And the worst part is that she felt annoying for most of the movie. Yes, she fights with Twilight, but that’s almost forgotten immediately to return to jokes without grace. I understand, these are not complex characters, but they’re not one-dimensional either, the rest of the Mane 6 don’t have this problem, why does she? In the end, Pinkie Pie joins that long list of funny characters that work in small doses, but in a feature film become annoying (Minions, Scrat from the Ice Age franchise and the penguins of Madagascar welcome you). Sadly, the movie made me realize 2 things: Pinkie Pie hasn’t change in all these years (unlike the rest of the Mane 6 [except maybe Applejack, but since she’s the most “normal” of the group, her slow growing is comprehensible]) and her best episode to date is still Party of One.
The music
This is by far Daniel Ingram’s best work on the show. I didn’t expect all the songs to be something that I hummed after I left the cinema, however there are a couple of tunes and songs that stayed with me. Although the lyrics are nothing new, the music is excellent. Just listen to this.
The pacing
While not terrible, there are several points in which the story stops completely to explain things that are happening and then progresses quickly, either with action scenes or with a song, only to stop completely again. It seems that the creators thought that, since this is a kid’s film, if there’s nothing moving on the screen they would be bored. As I said, it’s not terrible but it’s not good either.
Expanding and exploring Equestria
After 2 seasons of unfulfilled promises, finally the creators have fulfilled: we see much more of this wonderful place. New creatures (there’s a bokoblin from Zelda in the first location), new ways of life, new places and new mythology to add to the stories. If the seventh season started this concept as the main theme, here was made the most of it.
More of the same
This is, by far, the weakest point in the whole movie and I left it at the end for a reason. Let’s address the elephant in the room: the film is not for the casual audiences, because it doesn’t waste time explaining the characters or their world, so the movie is not kind to the newcomers. Okay, it can be argued that it’s for the fans and it’s obvious they will give us the same dish with which we have been fed for seven years. However, I expected that same dish with different ingredients. It’s incredible that, for all the promotion and publicity made and all the hype surrounding this project, the story is so similar to any other episode of the series. And I know this is a common problem with movies based on animated series, but if we compare, for example, the Thornberries, SpongeBob or the Powerpuff Girls with their respective films, the experience is totally different. Here I didn’t feel the same, perhaps because I expected a comedic situation similar to this.
Or a serious moment similar to this.
I’ve heard that the comics explain more of the plot, but like Equestria Girls, if I have to take a look to another source material to understand the film, it’s a sign of a bad script. There's nothing wrong for kids to watch and for them is fine, but lacks interesting material for grown-ups.
As a casual I felt excluded, but it’s understandable because the film is made for fans, but as a fan I left jaded because they gave me more of the same and as a critic I think the film is average at best. However, in the end, it’s definitely worth checking out. You’ll have a lot of fun, as well as your kids. In terms of animated movies of this year, it’s in the middle of the road: it’s not as bad as The Emoji Movie, but it’s neither as good as LEGO Batman.
3/5 (For fans ONLY)
But what do you think?
As a final note, the same day I watched My Little Pony, I had the chance to also watch the competition and... you can guess which one was best. And believe it or not, both MLP The Movie and Blade Runner 2049 have a lot in common.
I actually enjoyed the movie does it mean it had problems yes but i didnt notice them till they were pointed out. I found the movie darker then the show with selling ponies twilight trying to steal the orb and that they killed a villan. But it was good movie and better then the 80's version and from what i hear is from season 8 beyond there bringing the movie characters into the show
If nothing else I was annoyed with how the Storm King was presented. He wasn't threatening as a villain or even cool. Here he is built up as this all powerful monster who can bring down a country and instead we get a goofy, over the top clown, who doesn't have any magic of his own, doesn't seem to take anything seriously and sounds more like he's voiced by Wayne Knight. Was a serious villain really too much to ask for.
Also feel like the movie should have been longer, as that would have solved a lot of the pacing and characterization issues.
Everyone says that this movie has a pacing issue. I didn't notice this. Like at all. I thought the movie was great. Even my mom, who is more like a casual brony really liked the film. I think it had something that appealed to everyone. The animation was gorgeous. The characters were on point. Just everything was really great. I am glad that this movie got made.
But hey, to each their own.
I feel like it has the same issue as Sonic Mania: if you aren't a fan from any point before the film, it can alienate you in many scenes or just downright confuse you in others. Seeing as many of us are long time fans, this was a textbook example of visual eye candy, but for something not Disney related, it's good
4692385
I agree the only time I felt the pacing was too fast was with the pirates as they didn't spend enough time with them before they move on, other than that the pacing was fine.
With Storm King I found him incredibly entertaining he was basically a combination of Discord's goofy nature and Tirek's lust for power and control. What I like is that he doesn't make a single dumb decision, once he has the staff the first thing he does is move to get rid of Twilight and Tempest since he has no further use for them, when Twilight's friends start causing trouble he summons a storm to blow them all away and when the Main 6 let their guard down he's prepared to take them out. Honestly he's everything I want in a villain competent and entertaining, being 3 dimensional is just a bonus when that happens.
I'm not sure how for fans it is, because fans are sick of the princesses being nerfed, frequently want more background ponies which this movie seems to lack and it apparently has a Twilight Sparkle moment that is very OOC at this point
as for villains, I am sick of stories trying to give us more on them so good riddance to that
4693124 I agree! I actually thought that the Storm King was really great. :)
4693124
I dunno, I think the Storm King might have been great if he wasn't just evil for the sake of being evil. I mean, he had a great personality, but his motivation just reads like he was a shot at the big corporation mentality (and maybe he was). He seems to have no motivation other than stealing all the power he can and taking over everything so he can be the biggest most evil guy around. And as for his immediate betrayal of Tempest...yeah no, that wasn't smart, as in typical villain ball fashion she turned out to be responsible for his final downfall in the end. As for competency, the only smart move he had in my view was putting Tempest in charge of everything...which, again, he fracked up the second he got his staff working. I understand some of the prequel comic stuff expands on him...but you don't get points for character development that isn't in the actual movie.
As for the rest of the movie, the animation and art were great. I loved the upgraded Canterlot and actually kinda hope they try and work the new design into the show. My only complaint there is we never get to see even a glimpse of Ponyville...though given some of the stuff I saw in previews of the art book, we MAY have dodged a bullet there... (One of the redesigns for Twilight's castle was...bad. As in, worse than the show's design.)
The new characters aside from the Storm King, which we've covered, were hit and miss.
Tempest was definitely the main attraction here, though her backstory seems like a rehash of Starlight's...at first. Then you think about it and realize that her backstory is Starlight's DONE RIGHT. Tempest suffers actual trauma, and her former friends actually did abandon her. Starlight...had her friend move away and not keep in touch. The comparison just makes Starlight look even less mentally competent than before, since her backstory is something that can, and probably has, happened to most people and is something we all have to move past. Tempest suffers a brutal and disfiguring attack, and her 'friends' all dump her when she needed them most. One of these backstories actually warrants becoming a villain...the other just makes you look pathetic, and it doesn't take much to guess which one.
Songbird was exactly what her voice actor was, a pop star cameo, so I can't really fault her anything for being exactly what she was advertised as (in movie and out). The parrot pirates were cool but very underdeveloped (again, no points for stuff not in the actual movie), Capper was...okay if cliche, and Princess Skystar and Gabby Griffon must never meet or the world might be destroyed due to the levels of squee they would unleash. On the whole though, my main issue with the new characters is that they're almost all new species as well. While this isn't a bad thing really...the MLP world already has a large selection of sapient species, and I don't think any of the per-established ones (aside from the ponies themselves and dragons in the form of Spike) show up at all, even as background characters. Even the sea-ponies (which, granted, are comic only outside of the Dazzlings) in this aren't actually Sea-ponies but transformed Hippogriffs (which are described as part pony part EAGLE instead of part griffon *sigh*).
They story itself was ok. I've read a lot of people comparing things to the G1 Transformers movie, and it's a very apt comparison. Really, about the only major difference is that we didn't spend the first quarter of the movie killing off most of the old cast here. Another thing I've seen people say is that it feels like it would have worked better if this had come out maybe after season 4, and I agree, as Twilight really feels like she still has her princess training wheels on, and that current Twilight might have avoided her major dumb move. Speaking of dumb moves, Pinkie and Rainbow are kinda at the forefront in this category too, but for them and the circumstances said dumb moves were made in, it still feels in character for them. The other three are...kinda sidelined for the most part. Rarity has some plot importance and provides great comic relief, AJ is in her usual straight mare role, but except for one or two moments, Flutters is just kinda there. Props to the writers for not benching Spike for this, though he kinda pays for his presence by being a bit of a butt monkey.
Still all in all, I liked it. I was an enjoyable movie, and I think some people are going into this with expectations that this should be Casablanca instead of a kids movie, and forget to try and enjoy the show. It has flaws yes, but it's not terrible, and certainly not the pile of crap Sony wanted to turn it into...
4693690
I have no problem with villains just being evil for sake of being evil as long as they are entertaining which Storm King was. As for his betrayal of Tempest it makes sense if you consider he lied about being able to fix her horn, so getting rid of her when she least expected it was the best move. But yeah there's just something fun about a bad guy who just fully embraces the fact that he is the bad guy.
4693700
Yeah, I suppose. But he still didn't actually get rid of Tempest, he just threw it in her face that he'd manipulated her and wasn't going to (or actually couldn't) help her and just...ignored her until she ended up causing his death. Heck even Twilight was only out of her cage because he wanted to smack her around as part of testing his new toy. So yeah, he was entertaining. Competent...not so much.
4693705
Actually he was about to kill both her and Twilight before Twilight's friends came out of nowhere and knocked him out.