(I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY,
REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY,
REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, WANTED TO LOVE THIS MOVIE!)
I’m not ashamed to admit that one of my favorite cartoons is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. When I first heard that the fourth iteration of the "My Little Pony" franchise proved to be popular even with adults, I checked it out of mild curiosity. Before I knew it, I was binge watching every season. I was impressed with the writing, humor, music, world-building, fantasy elements, voice-acting and most of all the characters.
It feels similar to "Arthur" and "The Simpsons" except everyone is a pony or fantasy creature of some kind with magic involved and not to mention an enormous list of characters that’ll take forever to explain; so I’ll narrow it down to the main leads and a brief synopsis.
The series centers on six ponies, each representing the elements of harmony learning about the magic of friendship in the land of Equestria. The studious Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) who becomes an alicorn princess (half unicorn & half-Pegasus) at the end of season 3 representing the element of magic. Applejack (Ashleigh Bell), a hard-working apple farmer pony representing the element of honesty, fast flyer Rainbow Dash (also voiced by Ashleigh Bell), a competitive pegasi who represents the element of loyalty, Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain) a diva unicorn with a penchant in fashion with the element of generosity, Fluttershy (Andrea Libman) a timid pegasi who has a way with animals representing the element of kindness and fan favorite Pinkie Pie (also voiced by Andrea Libman), a true party pony with the energy of Daffy Duck and Gogo Dodo combined, she represents the element of laughter. Almost forgot to mention Spike (Cathy Wesluck), a baby dragon and assistant to Twilight Sparkle who tags along with the group. Every episode has the characters learning a lesson in friendship; many with story arcs that last an entire season with allies and enemies being made.
Even though it’s aimed for kids particularly girls it treats its audience with respect and the lessons never feel force-fed or mushy. With the fan base consisting of adults, there a couple of things thrown in for them but never crossing the line of being crass or pointless; many episodes are filled with in-jokes, parodies, and homage’s to other popular work.
Naturally, when I heard that show would be getting a movie on the silver screen, the excitement meter went up and the trailers only fueled my anticipation. Then the day I finally came, I bought my ticket and went to the theater eager for the movie to start. There is nothing more I would love to say that that the movie captures everything that makes the TV series great but as Applejack would say, I gotta be honest and say it as it is. "My Little Pony the Movie" was a tad bit disappointing.
The six are preparing a friendship day celebration when the festivities are disrupted by airships lead by Tempest Strom (Emily Blunt Edge of Tomorrow) serving the evil The Storm King (Liev Schreiber, Ray Donavan) who seek the powers of the alicorn princesses including Twilight Sparkle. Outnumbered and out of their league, Twilight with the rest of her friends travel outside of Equestria to seek assistance while facing against Tempest’s minions and meeting new faces.
Despite the bigger budget and beautiful animation, the movie didn’t feel all that grand and felt more like an extended episode with many recycled elements that have been previously done in the show from the villains who were a lackluster to the theme of friendship which felt very cliché and little pandering.
I honestly found the made-for-television film "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls" the superior movie. It presented a new concept that has never been explored in the series (in this case the human world), the stakes are bigger as it affects both the human and pony world, Twilight Sparkle starting from scratch on the lesson of friendship, reintroduced to her friends in a new aspect, a villain one step ahead etc. Here, it’s all run-of-the-mill with not many surprise or even thrills that made the show fun.
That’s not to say there weren’t some things I enjoyed.
For starters, high praise to the voice-actors reprising their roles for the big screen; I love seeing professional voice-actors getting recognition with their names on the posters and in the trailers. Some of the new characters were a lot of fun, Michael Peña (Ant-Man) as the comedic lackey Gruber, the sea ponies voiced by Uzo Aduba (Orange is the New Black), and Kristin Chenoweth (The Peanuts Movie), but the scene-stealer award goes to Taye Diggs (Chicago) as Capper a shady bipedal cat.
I was sad when this guy was not onscreen because he elevated the movie every time he was around. Give this guy a spin-off or guest appearance on the show or something. (But if Pokémon the First Movie or even Equestria Girls has taught me is that theses kind of films aren’t considered canon in the show). Zoe Saldana’s (Guardians of the Galaxy) Captain Celaeno and her pirate crew are also great but wished more was done with them.
The music didn’t disappoint as it exceeded my expectations; I don’t listen to Sia or Lukas Graham but they achieve what Meghan Trainor did on "The Peanuts Movie" and "Smurfs: The Lost Village" on making better music in movies than with their mainstream material.
Now for any (if any) fans of the show reading this, I want to reiterate that the movie is not terrible. If you like it, that’s alright but as a fan myself I didn’t get into the film as much as I hoped to. Who knows? I might enjoy it more on a second viewing and end up eating my own words. If anything, it’s nice to see an animated film that’s not in CGI but in traditional 2D animation.
5 Sonic Rainbooms out of 10
Manny is a fellow film critic, fellow Texas A&M University-Commerce Alumn, and fellow wandering wordsmith for hire now that he's graduated from his local college paper, who has even been fortunate enough to have some of his work retweeted by the very creators that he has written about.
For more of his content, including movie reviews, his Cinema Spotlight series, studying the careers of upcoming blockbuster directors, and of course, yours truly's review of "My Little Pony: The Movie," check him out at http://httpsmoviemanmadness.blogspot.com/
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