King Sombra's Fantastic Movie 4: King-Sized Cancer (Warning: GROSS)

King Sombra’s Fantastic Movie 4: King-Sized Cancer

Plot: King Sombra finds out he has a massive tumor growing in his stomach and that he needs to get it treated right away. But when it turns out the cancer can’t be cured, the normally arrogant equine dictator must come to terms with his own mortality and rethink the way he’s been living his life. 

Why This Film Will Cause Cancer:

1. The absolute worst part of this film is how utterly disgusting it is. There’s so much gross-out imagery, including frequent close-ups of Sombra’s tumor. It’s often shown throbbing with detailed veins and pustules, with pus and blood leaking from it. 
2. The entire premise of this movie is disgusting, nauseating, and frankly offensive to people who have actually been diagnosed with cancer. Not to mention how inappropriate it is for a children’s film. 
3. Everything feels incredibly slow and dragged out; it feels more like an extended cartoon episode than a real movie. 
4. The story begins with Sombra waking up and noticing the lump that has formed on his stomach. His initial response? He thinks he’s pregnant. This shows that Sombra is a total idiot given that he is BIOLOGICALLY MALE and as a result cannot get pregnant.
5. It’s also very cringey to watch Sombra announce his “pregnancy” to all of his subjects, especially when he shoves his bloated and disgusting tumor right in his subjects’ faces. 
6. The doctor diagnoses Sombra with stomach cancer without any evidence. He also tells Sombra he only has a short time left to live, which is very dark for a kids’ movie. 
7. When it’s suggested that Sombra should get surgery to remove the tumor, he outright refuses, showing his stupidity considering surgery could probably save his life! 
8. Like the other films in this series, the ending makes the entire thing pointless, as it’s eventually revealed that Sombra didn’t have cancer after all and it was really just a huge tapeworm that he got from eating rotten meat. 
9. On that note, said tapeworm is depicted as a hideous, disgusting parasite that will make you throw up just by looking at it. It doesn’t help that Sombra decides to keep the worm as a pet, naming it “Little Sombra.”
10. There’s a time lapse showing the tumor growing bigger and bigger over time, which is downright revolting. 
11. The title “King-Sized Cancer” is a stupid and somewhat offensive title.
12. Major plot holes: if the tumor was actually a tapeworm the entire time, then how come it wasn’t able to be treated before? And even if it was actually a tumor, then why couldn’t they have been able to heal it with magic?
13. The second half of the plot, in which Sombra attempts to change his ways once he realizes he’s on borrowed time, is a blatant rip-off of Mr. Krabs’ behavior in the Spongebob episode “Born Again Krabs.”
14. Terrible, low-quality animation. 
15. Most of the sound effects and music tracks are lifted right from Spongebob and other similar shows.
16. Sombra immediately reverts back to his old ways the SECOND he finds out he didn’t actually have a tumor, which is infuriating to see since the film makes it looks like he’s reformed. 
17. There’s loads and loads of filler, such as the scenes where Sombra and Hope set out to finish the things on Sombra’s bucket list. 
18. It attempts to be serious at times, but most of these moments end up falling flat because of the absurdity of the film’s premise and the awful dialogue.
19. False advertising: the film’s poster makes it look like most of the film takes place in the hospital, when in the actual movie the hospital is only the setting for a few minutes. 
20. The stupid twist of the “tumor” actually being a tapeworm comes out of nowhere. 
21. It doesn’t make any sense that Sombra should be so scared of dying, considering it’s mentioned that Sombra has died before. 

Redeeming Qualities:

1. Although the storyline is terrible and gross, it’s at least original and does something unique and different from the previous films.
2. The relationship between Sombra and Radiant Hope in this film is actually quite touching, as Hope attempts to comfort Sombra when he’s sick and Sombra decides to start treating Hope better.
3. Watching Sombra and Hope doing things together is admittedly heartwarming. 
4. There are actually some very funny lines in this movie, such as when one of the Crystal ponies exclaims “Are you sure it’s in his stomach and not in his brain?” while watching Sombra act insanely kind and generous to his subjects.
5. There’s more of a coherent plot and story arc to this movie, unlike its prequels.
6. Sombra and Hope actually get some character development, with Sombra learning to be kinder and Hope being forced to cope with Sombra’s cancer. It’s too bad Sombra goes back to his old ways the second he finds out he isn’t actually dying. 
7. “Behold my slaves!! I’m pregnant!!”
8. “I’m too young to die!” “Sombra, you’ve died before. And you’re over one thousand years old so you’ve got no reason to complain.”
9. Sombra and Hope’s discussion of mortality is surprisingly deep. 
10. It might be enjoyable for fans of dark comedy and gross out humor.

Trivia: 

1. Some of the scenes with the tumor were actually animated with CGI, a first for this series of films.
2. According to the DVD commentary, it was originally just going to be titled “King Sombra’s Cancer.” 
3. In the hospital waiting room, Sombra is shown reading a book called “The Fault In Our Stairs.” This is a reference to the novel “The Fault In Our Stars,” a story that also happens to have cancer as a main plot point.