My Little Pony: the Movie (2017) Review by TreyVore

My Little Pony: the Movie (2017)

Distributor: Lionsgate

Director: Jayson Thiessen

Cast: Tara Strong (Twilight Sparkle), Ashleigh Ball (Rainbow Dash, Applejack), Andrea Libman (Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy), Tabitha St. Germain (Rarity), Cathy Wesluck (Spike), Emily Blunt (Tempest Shadow), Michael Pena (Grubber), Liv Schreiber (the Storm King), Taye Diggs (Capper), Zoe Saldana (Capt. Celaeno), Sia (Songbird Serenade)

Runtime: 99 min.

MPAA rating: PG (mild action)

While Twilight Sparkle is put in charge of an upcoming Friendship festival and her friends are all on board to help her make it a success. However, when an invasion by the Storm King, led by his minion Tempest Shadow threatens the festivities and crystalizes the princesses, the six (seven, counting Spike) manage to escape and set out to seek the aid of the Hippogriffs, who are holding a MacGuffin to stop the villains. Can Twilight Sparkle and her friends save Equestria?

This movie is a feature film adaptation of the memorable Hub/Discovery Family series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. There are times when I wonder about timing when it comes to making a movie about a popular show. If this movie was released in 2013, you know, instead of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, it probably would have made hundreds of millions of dollars regardless of whether or not it was any good. Coming in the year 2017, one could argue that it might have been a bit late, seeing as the show may have taken a dive in popularity by then. I was a fan of the series up until the Hub dissolved into Discovery Family; during that time I started to lose interest and moved on to other things.

Being that we have a new Pony series coming soon, I felt this would be appropriate, though I do have mixed feelings about it. With another popular product like say, Pokemon, where when it first came to us from Japan, it was seen as the best thing ever; video games were selling themselves, an anime series that debuted in 1998 was top of the ratings charts, merchandise was inescapable, Burger King sold out of toys in a week at best and kids were absolutely wild for it. One could say that the initial craze probably died down in the early 2000s, but despite the fact said craze had passed it keeps coming back in popularity. What might be an explanation is they always push the ideologies of friendship and trust; and in it it’s always within a deep and immersive world. While you as a player might be going along building a strong bond with your Pikachu or Eevee there might be the idea that you always have to be caring and kind and it comes back to you in your partner’s effectiveness. Plus there are kids that start to mature and develop an attachment to the world and characters; it’s also a great way to bond with parents or older siblings that remember playing the game and winning with their favorites. It didn’t depend solely on the original anime series that people nowadays ask “Is that show still on?”

With My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic though… the show may have always remained good and had a consistent level of quality. It managed to appeal to adult men in addition to its intended audience of grade school-age girls and the characters had copious amounts of merchandise invading Hot Topic that people could not get enough of; many people loved the characters as they each where supposed to represent “Elements of Harmony”; pushing the meaning of how to be a nice friend.

Despite that though… once the taboo factor of liking something not originally meant to appeal to you had wore off, it’s success probably would rely on your personal loyalty to the show and if you didn’t have other responsibilities and interests that would interfere. All the while trying to get you to want to run out to buy some plastic toy ponies that don’t really have any significant use. Because of this I can probably say I can't picture this coming back to be popular once more. People probably will have fond memories of watching the show but I can’t see Bronydom suddenly becoming a hot button issue again.

…then again, no matter what I try to use as an example, whether it’s Legos, Ninja Turtles, Sonic, Pokemon, Harry Potter, SpongeBob SquarePants… they weren’t just a toy commercial that spent over 30 years as the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Anyway, now about the movie. I will start by saying it does remain true to the series it’s built around; the movie has plenty of charm and a pleasant disposition. Fans will love the small nods to their favorite episodes and seeing their favorite secondary/tertiary characters. The only thing you would probably need is a 5-pound bag of Skittles and you would have the full experience. The level of animation quality also seems a bit improved from the show; the use of what looks like the series’ traditional animation with clearly integrated CGI is bit sharper than what you might expect.

The course the 6 leading ponies go on is more of an emotional journey rather than physical; the power of Friendship is one that relies on the bonds of the heroines rather than the artifact they must seek. True to the series and they have the same VAs do their traditional voices. The antagonists of the movie are the Storm King and Tempest Shadow, the latter in particular since she is more active. Probably the most developed of the newer characters as she’s supposed to be a fallen unicorn that broke her horn and doesn’t believe in the power of friendship. Her voice fits, her song is blatant but intense, her motivations are reasonable, she’s the best of the characters introduced in the movie. The Storm King is also supposed to be a menace but seems more like a goofball than one you really should take seriously.

I will say though… if you are not already a hardcore fan of the show, it will most likely not change your mind about the series. That creates a few problems. For one, the story doesn’t waste a lot of time on history or give a non-fan incentive to catch up; they expect that you are more than likely a fan of the show and are well-versed in the series’ lore. The movie is very much Twilight’s story and you can’t have it without her. However, the others—Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Fluttershy and Spike the dragon—are pretty much just there for the sake of continuity; they get some character beats and moments of development but they don’t contribute to the story at least until the climax. The newer friends they make—a con artist cat named Capper, a group of air pirates led by Captain Calaeno, Princess Skystar and her mother Queen Novo—are all characters that just seem to act like a series of examples to fulfill the “Friendship is Magic” quota. Their methods that they use to win them over though are so brief and quick it almost makes me wonder if what the show was saying about friendship was all that effective.

The fact that Twilight Sparkle is such a prominent character is something of a double-edged sword though. For one thing, like her mentor figures, she is an alicorn (a Pegasus/unicorn mix) which was supposed to have happened when she had mastered the art of Friendship. However, the movie seems to make her regress as a character. She starts by being completely timid about the whole Friendship thing, then she seems to get an ego about her, and… did she just try to steal the MacGuffin? What the hell Hero?

Plus if I remember correctly, this movie was supposed to be about the series My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Barring the awkwardness of the movie’s title otherwise (it’d be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic: the Movie), they left out the “Friendship is Magic” subtitle because the climax does seem to undermine what it says about friendship. During the climax Twilight Sparkle is captured and her friends now get to be meaningful. Do they stop the Storm King and his minions with patience? Kindness? Empathy? Love? No, that’s a load of crap. Likely to appease the “other demograph” (you know, the adult male fans), they use acts of deception, hitting, throwing food, tying them up and even set them on fire. Aesop: broken.

My Little Pony: the Movie is ultimately harmless but as I said, if you are a hardcore fan you’ll probably already own it and it won’t make you change your mind on the series if you don’t pledge your allegiance to Princess Celestia. It just never feels like it’s supposed to be anything more than four back-to-back episodes of the series. It’s honest about the fact it’s supposed to be a commercial for toys and I do respect that. If you just take it lightly and don’t harp on it too much then it’s going to do its job.

 

My Little Pony: the Movie (2017)

TreyVore rates it: C - Decent!