MLP G5 Movie - opinion. · 6:15pm Sep 24th, 2021
Okay, so I just finished G5 movie and it's... tough to evaluate. First things first - I won't be spoiling the plot, because there already is pretty much none. If you watched the trailer, you will know how this goes. I'll start with my overall feeling about the movie, then point out the bad just to get it out of the way, and finally get to the good part which I think makes the whole thing worthwhile.
So, my overall opinion - if you're invested in the lore of Equestria and if you've been in this through g4 and you're in it for g5 and the long haul, watch it. It's worth it. I liked it a LOT mainly for a reason I'll point out later.
Unfortunately, I think that if someone who ISN'T from the 7+ ESRB rating sees this movie as a standalone, they'll think it's BAD, like REALLY BAD. The plot is incredibly shallow (like... really), interactions between characters limited (worse than Tower of Time and I considered that THE bottom for character interactions and sudden 180s in attitude), songs... pretty terrible but that's subjective (to me, straight up the MLP worst songs), and the runtime gives next to no time for progression from zero to friendship. As for Equestrian history and answers even to how the "problem" actually started, you get NOTHING. So, if you compare it to, let's say, Frozen as a good standard for a kids' movie, G5 movie just hits the ground with a weak splat with zero impact and sparking little to no interest. I doubt it will bring new blood to the fandom, it's just not good as a movie. In fact, I think it will disappoint a good chunk of the old base who hoped for a new view of the complex and rich Equestria we know from the end of g4.
HOWEVER!
Here comes the good part (and slightly spoilery - for the overall tone, not scenes or anything):
1) The movie is ENTIRELY visual storytelling and where all the other aspects get tossed into a shallow grave without even the tiniest effort to cover it, every scene looks thought through, beautiful, and fitting the mood and setting. I think you could literally see the movie on mute and still get 95% of what it offers. I actually felt a chill run down my spine in the horror chase moment of the first visit to Zephyr Heights. Songs are... there and don't clutter anything, which is the best I can say about them. Instead they fill up travel or other montage time and that is absolutely fine.
2) I really can't stress the visual storytelling enough, and I think the movie is worth watching and even bears re-watching just for that. It IS the movie. It illustrates the differences between the development of all the three races, every little movement tells more about the feelings of the characters than anything they say or "do in the name of plot", and the background of the scenes usually offers a much bigger chunk of lore than anything that actually HAPPENS in the movie.
3) It's funny, or if not downright funny, it's chuckle-worthy and the visual comedy is done pretty well. Actually much more funnier than common animated comedies that force it.
And I don't think that the point of the movie is to be a movie at all - it is the equivalent of the opening double episode of FIM. It sets up an incredible amount of open ends. It even FLOWS in almost the same way, straight up. Several scenes are basically reimaginings of the first double episode, and I mean it in a good way. I'm getting pretty much the same feeling I had after watching first FIM, and I got into the fandom fairly late.
It was a good opening for G5, I think. All of those loose ends in the film gives the characters lots of room to develop. If you watch the film knowing that this is only an introduction for the new series, you can see that there's so much potential, so much to uncover and explore. Not only are there questions about the old generation that need answering, such as "what happened to all the famous places like Canterlot Mountain and Ghastly Gorge?", but now we'll get to find out about the cultures and societies of the different tribes and how differently they've grown with their separation.
There are lots of places for fanfiction authors to start filling in the gaps again, and to spin the new generation how they like to make their unique adventures, kind of like how you did.
You could incorporate G5 into the Narratorverse one day. I mean with Blaze still eternally suffering down in pony hell, you could probably find a way to timeskip him another few thousand years or so. Though, it would be a good idea to fix the sun first before all of that, eh?
So in short, what I personally got out of that movie was the realization of the potential that is there. There is so much to discover about the future, and so much to uncover about the past. And all the while, we'll be watching as sunny and her friends grow and strengthen their relationships. I think that with the setup of this movie, we might be able to have a longer, richer series than G4. And hey, if that doesn't work out, there's always all of the shipbait we can come back to.
so uh..:
if i made my brother watch it, would he not be bad at me for making him watch it with me?
5586406
Oh yeah, the "at some indistinct point of the future" fits extremely well with Narratorverse. It would take just a little bit of fiddling with corruption to make travel a little safer and it's basically the 300-years-later situation - ponies are split into separated settlements with minimal contact, and the technology level would be roughly there as well. All incorporating g5 would take would be to say something along the lines "And in the next XXX years, corruption got partly cleared with the help of the griffons, Nightshade has her own territory, and the world is mostly safe to travel again" That's not a big deal.
I was honestly just extremely disappointed in the movie... as a movie. It's shallow, it doesn't answer even its own presented problems, and I think the fandom doesn't need that much focus on the people who are still around, reading and writing fan content. It needs new blood, and to bring new blood you need a good hook, and I think on its own the movie failed in that pretty hard. New people won't be able to appreciate the details in the scenes and the small questions we, as horrible pony nerds, get excited about. But we'll see what G5 itself brings. As I said, if one thinks of this movie as the first episode of FIM, it's a completely different evaluation.
5586512
Depends on how old he is, I'd say. If he's little, I think the absolutely beautiful look of the movie, detailed and visually well thought through scenes, and the fantastic animation and details will be good enough not to disappoint. If he's older and more critical of the other elements, then it won't feel particularly good but I mean, it's always a feel-good little movie.