My Little Pony: The Movie Review

Finally, after nearly 7 years since it's conception by Lauren Faust, My Little Pony has FINALLY gotten it's own movie in theaters!

Like many fans of MLP, I was both excited, and a bit nervous behind the implications of a "Movie" added to a series, especially one as a theatrical release.  Usually a movie of this grand of scale usually means the end of series, or at least the downhill slope that a series has reached it's end.
I've been kind of off the series for a while, not by choice mind you, so I've kind of missed out on the events of the series because of forces that demanded my attention.  Between 2014-2016, I was in college for a major degree, and in order to pass and ensure I did well, I had to put 110% in my studies and my internship at the time, so I couldn't afford to be distracted.  That being said, I was able to know what was going on in the series due to the awesome Brony fandom producing such awesome work.

Plus, we kind of had a "semi-movie" in the form of MLP: Equestria Girls, and look at the series since then? Still stronger than ever.

And now that I've graduated, I'm free to go back into the fandom with a bit more of a presence.  After all, I finally got the courage to attend Bronycon 2017, and I sure as hell wasn't going to miss my chance to see the MLP movie in the theaters.

Thus, here's my review of the MLP movie, which I've been dying to see since it's conception!

***WARNING, MAJOR SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!  THOSE WHO DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, STOP READING AND WHAT THE MOVIE!!***

However, before we actually get to the movie, there was a little short that appeared before the movie, as an "minisode" of the Youtube series, "Hanazuki: Full of Treasures".

While I've only seen glimpses of the series of Youtube, I was really impressed by the animation, and even some of the visual gags of the series had me chuckling a bit.  While the premise and the characters were a biiiiiit too "cute" for my taste, it still has gotten my interest peaked in the series, and I would recommend other people to give the series a look.  It's a bit nonsensical in plot and sometimes random, but it has that charm that has brought us to both MLP and even Steven Universe.

But now, ONTO THE MOVIE!

PLOT:
In terms of plot, this movie is actually pretty generic in terms of a typical MLP episode.  In fact, it kind is that of a call back to the very first two episodes of the entire series.

The film begins with the Mane Six preparing for yet another of the generic festivals (This time, known as the First Friendship Festival) that have been the exposition dump for many times during the series.  The difference being, SIA is a part of it!  While it is a plus to have a celebrity as big as her included into the movie, she's only in the movie for at least 3 scenes of the movie, and I can't help but roll my eyes at the marketing attempt of this movie is trying to do by attaching a lot of big-name celebrities to it, and that's in the first quarter of the movie.  Still, it's to be expected, since this whole series is, again, based on a toy-franchise.

But I digress, as SIA's design is at least true to her real-counterpart, and I couldn't help but chuckle at a few of the gags that were featured of her.
Once again in preparation for this festival, Twilight is again her usual nervous self in trying to make her image as the "Princess of Friendship" as perfect as possible.  A lot of us may roll our eyes at the fact that Twilight is once again her nervous self, considering she's had SEVEN seasons to try to overcome these issues, we have to remember that Twilight is a bit of a perfectionist and has doubts on her self-image.  This aren't problems that just don't go away overnight or over a season, and I'm okay with the writers still using that angle with her character, because it's through these imperfects that make us relate to the characters of MLP so much.

Back to the plot, just about when the festival is about to start, Canterlot is suddenly attacked by an army, lead by the broken-horned unicorn, Tempest Shadow, her bumbling attendant Grubber whose pretty much there for comic relief, lead by the insidious ruler, the "Storm King".  Demanding that all four Princess hand over their magic, once again like before, both Celestia, Luna, and Cadence pretty much have their butts handed to them, while Twilight and the Mane Six narrowingly escape the near destruction of Canterlot that follows.

I'm beginning to seriously wonder about the state of security in Equestria, considering it's been nearly conquered MULTIPLE TIMES in the entire series.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not the kind of person who invests in the "Lunar Empire" camp of the alternate timeline in the series, but I wish that both Celestia and Luna had at least put up more of a fight in the first battle, considering these are the RULERS of both the SUN and MOON for Faust's sake?

But again, I digress (I seem to do that a lot).  The plot that follows is Twilight and the gang venturing beyond the boundaries of Equestria to seek whom Celestia spoke as "The Queen of the Hippos" before she was imprisoned in crystal.  And yes, this is a joke that of course Pinkie Pie milks to it's fullest during the entire movie. XD

What follows throughout the movie is a journey that allows our heroes to see the world beyond Equestria, which is both vibrant and unique, but in some areas both grim and dullard.  This part of the movie is leaving me absolutely livid for the fandom in the future, cause can't wait to see what sort of world-building the fans are going to do with this new part of the MLP world, and I applaud the writers for making that effort to go beyond the comfort zone of Equestria and explore the grittiness of the world beyond.  (In fact, I think the state of the world outside Equestria may be the subject of another journal/blog).

Along their way, the Mane Six are taken to sights like a slumming port town in the middle of the desert, an airship ride with a group of SKY PIRATES, and discovering a Kingdom of Merponies, who actually used to be a race of Hippogriffs!  Honestly, that last one kind of caught me by surprise.  I at first thought it was a way for Hasbro to quickly introduce 2 races to save screen time, but actually the implications that another race can be transformed into another could really create some interesting plots for the fandom.

As far as seeing these new worlds and locations, while they are very beautifully animated and very vibrant to look at, this movie unfortunately has the same problem that both the Transformers movie had, and also with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story had: It's a bit fast paced, especially near the later locations.  While we did spend a lot of time in Klugetown and got to know Capper, there wasn't really that much time we had with the Sky Pirates to make a lasting impression, and even the merponies was a bit quick.  I think we only got to explore that one room in their "palace" underwater.

As for the climax for the movie, it really stays true to the MLP tropes that we've already come to know, in that the mane six arrive with new friends to save the day, the sympathetic villain gets her redemptive arc, and the big bad is defeated.

But, it still was a fun blast to watch all the characters have their moment to shine in the final battle.

And good FREAKING LORD, using SPIKE as a FLAMETHROWER?!  How has the MLP staff not thought of this yet?!

That being said, the climax is a bit predictable in the end, in where there's a scare moment where it looks like Twilight has died, but COME ON, there is no way Hasbro would go the length to kill off Twilight Sparkle of all people!

What I was surprised with was the fact that for main villain, the Storm King, that Hasbro would go the route to KILL HIM OFF by shattering his frozen stone statue!  That's a pretty bold move that they went for.

Overall, while the plot is a bit here-and-there in terms of pacing, it's still a fun movie where our favorite ponies use what makes them special to bring out the best of others.

...In fact, you could say that this movie is kind of like a call-back to the very first two episodes of MLP, where instead of the Mane Six use their talents to bring them closer to together, they are in turn inspiring others to embrace the magic of friendship.

VILLIANS:

When it comes to villains of the MLP franchise, their definitely isn't a shortage of villains that both excite us and make us love to hate them, or just love them outright.  Tirek, Chrysalis, Discord, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, all these characters have definitely left their mark on both the series and the fandom.

However, when it comes to the villains of the MLP Movie....this is kind of where the category kind of falls a bit flat.  Don't get me wrong, the design of both the Storm King, Tempest Shadow, the Storm King's Minions, and even Gruber very original.

But in terms of motivation and characterization?  This movie kind of misses the mark, at least with the MAIN baddy.

Tempest Shadow is definitely a threatening pony, both in looks, skill, and personality.  She's imposing, has a piercing-gaze, and Emily Blunt's performance definitely sent a mild chill up my spine.  She definitely is the more memorable villain of the movie.

However, it terms of backstory and motivation, it does feel a bit lacking.  I was hoping that there would've been more hints throughout the film of why she chose to abandon her heritage and side with the Storm King, but instead we got a backstory in the form of a song that felt a bit more like exposition than a real-fleshed out reasoning for her motivations.  Heck, even with the addition of the Ursa Minor as the reason for why her horn was broken seemed a bit more like fanservice than an actual congruent backstory.  I'm sure more was explained in the Prequel comics, but a casual viewer is going feel that her motivation falls a bit flat.

That being said, her redemption was a bit predictable (considering how many villains have reformed thus far), but it did still somewhat organic and believable in the scope of the story, as a kind of parallel to Twilight's arc of redemption with her friends after her outburst.  In a sense, it's a parrallel to Twilight both she and Tempest were betrayed, but Tempest chose a more darker path than Twilight going back to her friends.  It reminded me a lot of Darth Vader's redemption in "Return of the Jedi", expect without her of course, well, dying.  If Tempest does appear in the series, I hope that she goes through the same arc that both Sunset Shimmer and Starlight Glimmer had to go through, because forgiveness does take time with others, and it would show that she's committed to the ideals of friendship.  :)

And seriously....FizzlePop Berrytwist?  XD

But the Storm King in terms of a villain?  I really wasn't seeing it.  I could tell that the writers were definitely trying to go for the standard Trope of "The Man behind the Dragon", like Emperor Palpatine with Darth Vader.  But the biggest difference between Palpatine and the Storm King is that we had a LOT more build-up time for the Emperor.  Here's this old frail man that makes you wonder that why everyone is so afraid of him, but he just EXUDES such a dark presence, you can tell there is just something more to this man than just how he looks, but also how he acts.  And when the Emperor finally reveals his true strength, you KNOW it's coming, but it STILL manages to shock you (no pun intended).

Even Tirek from the main series, aside from being a one-shot villain, still had some presence in the fact he was able to take a Super-Powered Twilight head ON and tank her.  He at least showed he had the strength to back up his power.

With the Storm King?.....Eh, he doesn't really have that, even with the idea of him having his own empire beyond Equestria.  He just doesn't seem that threatening, especially with his bumbling and modern-esque jargon talk.  I actually was REALLY hoping that he would've turned out like Kefka from Final Fantasy VI, a villain whose insane and hides behind such a randomness nature to hide his TRUE evil and uncaring nature.

Because we don't really get that much screen time with him, we don't really see him as a threatening force aside from a generic "Insert Bad Guy Here" trope.

NEW CHARACTERS:
Probably the other most thrilling feature we expect from anything new in MLP, is the variety of characters to introduce, and this movie is definitely full of them.  With the prospect of building a new world beyond Equestria, the MLP staff were very creative in both the design of the characters, both main and background, and also very liberal with the types of creatures that exist in this world.  We have humanoid Cats like Capper, our main charming thief, we have humanoid sharks, humanoid salamanders, humanoid mole rats, humanoid parrots (I actually thought the Sky Pirates were griffins at first), but man, the pie's the limits as far as the mlp staff when it to designing these characters.

Capper to me was a great addition to the new cast.  So suave and charming, how could you NOT just fall in love with this guy.  He reminded me a bit of Aladdin, if he was a con-artist in the way he operated in Klugetown.  And the fact that he can be both inspirational and improvisational as well (spike as a flamethrower was HIS idea), I really hope that he becomes a staple of the series.

The Sky Pirates were a good edition, cause who doesn't love pirates, and each of them had their own design and scheme that was completely unique.

And as for the Seaponies, Princess Skystar was pretty much Pinkie Pie 2.0, so who couldn't fall in love with her bubbly nature, and her rather concerning shell obsession.  Although, I did feel that Queen Novo was a bit quick to not provide any aid for the Mane Six, considering they came all the way for help, but I can understand that she was trying to protect her people from the Storm King.

And honestly, once I heard the word "Hippogriff" from the merponies, I could only imagine the look on Silver-Quill's face.  Hopefully, that won't go to his character's head though, and I expect a THOUROUGH REVIEW from you, buddy. XD
(And as I write this, he already posted a review of the movie, but I'm glad that he's choosing to keep his own OC design for the Hippogriffs. :) )

Unfortunately, there is a bit of a problem with introducing so many new characters.  Just like the pacing of this movie, there are a lot of character we kind of plow on through, but don't really have a lot of time to develop or grow to know.  Out of all the new characters introduced besides the villains, the one that comes to the top of my head that I remember most is Capper the Cat because of both his song number and the suave presence he had in the movie, Princess Skystar because who could forget her bubbly and funny mannerisms, and... that cross-eyed parrot pirate from the Sky Pirate crew because....well, he's kind of like Ed from the Lion King, you can't really forget a face like that. XD

Honestly, I think that a lot of the characters were put in because of the marketing factor of the movie, both putting in Sky Pirates and merponies just to have an excuse to sell more toys.  I'm sure if the characters were more fleshed out and we had more time to have them develop and sink in, I would've remembered the extra characters a bit more.

MANE SIX:
These characters are still the ones we know and love, and they stay true to their respective elements even after the Elements of Harmony are gone.  Rainbow Dash is still loyal as every, Rarity's genorisity helped win Capper over, Pinkie Pie still remains the best jokester in the entire movie, and as a treat, we got to see the Sonic Rainboom in a whole new depth of animation!  It's all the ponies we know and love on the big screen, and it's a huge plus to see them interacting and struggling against this whole new part of their world.

That being said, there were a couple of scenes that I did find a bit jarring towards what we know now of our main characters and how far they've come.  For those of you who have already watched the movie, I think you know the scene in which I'm talking about: When Twilight tries to steal the merponies pearl, and when she yells at Pinkie Pie afterwards.

I'll admit, I found this scene at first to be a bit jarring, and maybe a bit OOC for Twilight, considering she's had several seasons to know that earning trust is a lot more effective towards having people help you then outright stealing.  In fact, it's because of the Mane Six's friendly and helpful nature that allow them to gain the allies of the people they've met in the film at the end.

The fact that Twilight, the Princess of Friendship, saying she wished she DIDN'T want friends like Pinkie Pie almost kind of made me question whether or not this movie would be good for Twilight's character, and possibly ruin it for future movie-watchers.

But luckily, with some actual quiet moments, subtle details, and actually thinking this scene over actually managed to salvage it in my eyes.
It's understandable now to me why Twilight would resort to stealing the pearl, despite her position as the Princess of Friendship.  With Equestria in shambles, the Princesses frozen in crystal, and the fact that almost every outsider has tried to turn them in and betrayed their trust, it's understandable why Twilight would resort to stealing the pearl and lashing out at her friends.  Twilight has been known to put a lot of unnecessary pressure on herself when it comes to both her duties and her title, and now with that actual pressure come crashing down on her with the fate of Equestria on her shoulders, it's no wonder she breaks down.

Does that make it right? Of course not.  Am I grasping at straws?  Possibly.

But luckily, the movie rescues this scene with, as I said before, some quiet dialogue, and subtle details, such as Pinkie Pie telling her, "I just can't talk to you right now", which shows that her friends understand that she's angry and yes she hurt them, but right then, they just all needed some space.
It could've been so easy for them to do the whole movie cliche of them going their separate ways and splitting up, but I applaud them to a more organic approach to their friendship, cause that's how true friends behave even when they fight.

In fact, there is one line AFTER this scene, with the rest of the Mane six, that makes up for this scene, and redeems itself from being a cliche:
When Applejack asks: "Do you think we should talk to Twilight now?" after their fight.  THAT line shows that even though they may yell at each other and even hurt each other sometimes, every one of them knows deep down that they're all still friends, and sometimes even friends need space to cool off when things get rough.

So, while I was a bit frustrated with Twilight's sudden outburst and her attempts to steal the the merpony's pearl, it's in these subtle details that make me both see and appreciate the bond that these seven friends have with each other, that will stand the test of time.

That being said, while Twilight does have a huge presence in the movie because of her importance, I wish I could be truthful to my earlier statement in that all the mane six had their moments to shine...but unfortunately that's not true.

While at least some of the main characters had a chance to at least have a scene or two to show off their talents, the one who did NOT have that really much of a presence was actually FLUTTERSHY.

That's right, fan favorite Fluttershy was pretty much non-existent during the duration of the movie, with maybe only a few lines here or there.  This was actually surprising to me considering how much of a presence she has in the series.  I was actually hoping that she would've had a moment to show her true talent in talking to animals, maybe summoning some animals to help them find their way.

But nope, she barely gets maybe less than 20 lines in this movie, and that's kind of disappointing considering how much of a favorite she is.

In fact, here's how I would categorize each of the Mane characters in terms of relevance to the plot or in terms of onscreen antics:  Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Applejack, and Fluttershy lastly.

This was kind of disappointing to me, because I was expecting that at least that each of the characters would have an equal focus in the movies, just like the very first episode, considering that for many parents, this movie could be an introduction to the MLP series, and....Fluttershy is just.....there.

It shouldn't have been hard, I've seen movies with TONS of characters, Like Marvel's Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy have more than 5 characters, and each of them was at least given some time to flesh their character and show their niche.

But then again, those were live action series, and animation is a bit more expensive and time-consuming, so I guess they wanted a bit more emphasis of the outside characters more.  Still though, it was a bit irkful to me a least.

But, at least there was one scene that kind of made up for Fluttershy's lack of a presence.  In the final battle against the Storm King's army, Fluttershy goes goo-goo eyes on one of the guards, and actually makes him cry by talking to him about his feelings.  That's right, Fluttershy went THERAPIST on one of the bad guys!  I'm beginning to thing that DRwolf010 has had a bit of an influence on Fluttershy. XD

However, out of all the Mane Six, there is one that stands out the most both in terms of the plot, her character, and especially my opinion of her:

Pinkie Pie.

I will admit, when the series first started out, and past the first season, Pinkie Pie was a character that I...really wasn't fond of in terms of in terms of the other characters.  I found her antics, her hyperactive nature, and even her insistence to "help" others (I'm looking at you Cranky Doodle) to be a bit overwhelming and even somewhat annoying, a fact that I'm not exactly proud of.

However as the series continued on and more of Pinkie's character was established, there as an aspect of her that became revealed as a fundamental part of her character, which was even more apparent, and essential for the movie:

Pinkie Pie, is the "HEART" of the mane six.  What I mean by that is despite her antics, her hyperactivity, and her tenancy to put her foot in her mouth, Pinkie Pie is the one who keeps the Mane Six together and helps them remind them of who they are.

But that influence doesn't extend to just the mane six, but to everypony in Equestria, and even beyond.  Pinkie Pie is a pony who wants to bring out the best in everypony, and help see them smile.  I've known this fact from the other Brony Analysts, such as Silver-Quill and DRWolf010, but this movie helped me appreciate this fact about her even more and made me love her even more as a character, and I will definitely be watching this movie again just to make me love her each time.

ANIMATION:
If there is one factor of this movie that I will give a 100% praise for, it is the level of animation that went into this movie!  The animation of this movie is both unique and distinct from the main show, but keeps the spirit and style of our main ponies perfectly.  The characters movements are much more fluid and albeit "squishier" compared to the main series, but it allows more room for a lot more variety of expression and movements not normally done for the series, especially in the little details of the movement of their hair and how each individual character moves.  I could tell that the animators where pretty much pushing their limits when animating these characters, especially Pinkie Pie in terms of her own facial expressions and gags.  It almost reminded me of the level of effort put to animate the Genie from "Aladdin" back in 1995, and it really shows!

I also need to praise the animators for using a "hand-drawn" from the Toon Boom Harmony software instead of using the Adobe Flash for this movie.  When it comes to animation, aside from Japanese animation and very view western sources, hand-drawn is still pretty much an obscure art, which at least is trying to have somewhat of a revival.

What's even more amazing is how our characters are able to blend into the 3D-rendered environments that surround them.  While the Canterlot Opening scene is a bit jarring on the differences between 2D and 3D, for the rest of the film, I was having a really hard time in the rest of the movie seeing where the 3D and 2D blended or not.  I'm not sure if there were any ground-breaking techniques compared to either Disney or Pixar in animation done, but this movie is definitely a visual treat to enjoy to see our favorite ponies on the big screen.

REFERENCES AND JOKES:

Oh sweet Celestia, is this movie ripe with jokes and references.  Hell, in the first 15 minutes alone, I was counting how many of the background ponies I could see in Canterlot, from literally the "seventh member" of the mane six, Starlight Glimmer (and of course Trixie):

To even the face of the Brony fandom Derpy:

Heck, she's actually the one that SAVES Twilight during the first attack of Canterlot!  That makes a heck of a lot from the staff towards the Brony Community.

It would take me HOURS just to list all the references from the first part of the movie ALONE, and that's just the pony references.  The movie is CHOCK full of references from all over, from the obvious pop culture references, and even Hasbro's other licenses.  When Grubber first appears for example, his megaphone of course makes the oh-so-memorable "Transformer Noise". XD

As for the jokes, this movie is definitely a joke-fest, and I mean that in a good way, and of course Pinkie Pie is the subject of nearly all of them with her high-speed antics.   While there weren't really any jokes that had me "laughing my ass off" in terms of hilarity, there were some that did get me to blurt out a laugh or two when it hit me, especially when it comes to the facial expression of the main six.  This is where the upgraded animation REALLY helped in terms of the hilarity factor in the movie.  But hitting me with a joke was a bit of the hard part, cause just as the pacing of the movie was a bit too fast, the same can be said of the speed of the jokes, especially when it's Pinkie Pie at the reigns.  A lot of them went by me a bit quick that I needed to catch up and have a mental breather, only to find that I'm missing the plot a bit.  This is definitely a movie that's gonna need to take several see-throughs to get all the jokes.

SONGS:
While the choice of both SIA and Lukas Graham were good celebrity choices for the MLP soundtrack, Danial Ingrams has done it again with creating such catchy tunes with such a beat.  In fact, as I write this review, the two songs that I've been listening to the most was Capper's "I'm the friend you need", and the beginning tune of "We've got this together", and Tempest Shadow's haunting tune of "Open up your Eyes".  None of the songs feel forces or excessive to the tune of the story, and each is catchy in their own right.  Heck, in the theater, during almost each song (except Open up your Eyes), there was this little girl that actually got up from her seat and actually started DANCING to each song!  It was freaking ADORABLE, and her parents weren't the least bit embarrassed by it.  If there's one thing that this movie, or this entire series shines through, it's through the art of music, and this movie does not disappoint one bit.  I'm definitely going to purchase this soundtrack. :)

FINAL VERDICT:

Overall, this movie was a BLAST to see and experience in theaters, especially as a Brony again.  While the plot was pretty much that of an MLP episode, and the villains were a bit flat in terms of execution, it still is a fun movie to see for both the casual family viewer, and especially the Bronies; I have a huge feeling that we'll be kicking ourselves into high-gear looking for all the references when the movie is out on DVD (unless some of you guys have time to watch the movie more than twice. XD )

And while this movie does have some flaws in some of the current characterizations of the main characters and plot, which I will definitely expect a HISHE rendition of the movie, even if they're is already one on fimfiction, it's still a great movie to enjoy not only as a Brony, but even as a casual fan, especially if you're just starting out.

Overall, I give the movie a decent 8.3/10.

It's not perfect, but it's certainly not bad in anyway.  For any of you out there who haven't seen it yet, hurry up and see it in the theater!  It is definitely worth a look.