My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has been one of the most surprising shows ever from the 2010s. Not only was it a surprise that it was as good as it was, or that it became a massive phenomenon. What was really surprising was that it found a large audience of male viewers above it's target age. Many fans were taken in by the shows charming and relatable characters, beautiful animation and important morals. What you got to remember is that this is the fourth generation of this franchise, and while Generation 1 had a movie, and Generation 3 had a couple, which many would rather forget about, Friendship is Magic only had a spin-off series of movies known as "Equestria Girls", which I am not planning to look at currently. So, come around 2017 and a feature length film that will be released in theatres and actually takes place in the land of Ponies, and the fandom, myself included, had some high hopes.
I remember seeing this movie in the theatre. I was actually thinking it wouldn't be showing in my city, not that I live in a small one, I live in the capital of the province, but a lot of people think that the capital is another city altogether. Anyway, it did get shown, and I did end up going to see it. While I was watching it, I loved it. The movie looked great, had wonderful songs, and had the characters I loved going on an adventure, what was not to love? Watching it recently, turns out there is a bit that is not to love, but is that a bad thing?
While Twilight Sparkle and her friends are setting up a massive festival, a new villain emerges called The Storm King, and he sends his lackey, Tempest Shadow (A Unicorn with a broken horn), to crash the festival and capture the princesses. Twilight and her friends manage to escape, and must go on a large adventure that takes them away from Equestria to find the kingdom of Hippogriffs. Along the way, they meet some colourful characters and get hunted by Storm Guards led by Tempest on her mission to regain her broken horn. Plot wise, this movie hits a lot of familiar beats. Grand opening song number? Check! Big dangerous location that our characters manage to get out of? Check! The big fall out? You better believe that is a check. In some respects, this is not really a bad thing, I mean, boiling it down this is basically the plot of the SpongeBob movie and the Simpsons movie, I guess you could also include Toy Story 3 in that line-up. I liked all of those movies, in the end it isn't the plot that drives a movie like this, it would be more the characters, humor and settings. So how are those aspects?
Character wise, well, the Mane Cast are still the same characters from the show. Pinkie Pie is just impossible for me to hate, full of energy and joy. Fluttershy is Fluttershy, she is timid a lot, but she does have a cute sassy moment in the opening and I just love it. Twilight is still my favourite pony, Rarity is very much a primadonna, but she still has some entertaining moments. If you like the show, you're not going to be let down by how the movie handles the characters. As for new characters, Tempest Shadow is pretty cool. Honestly, it's nice to see some canon about what happens when a unicorn breaks their horn. Capper is suave and charming, the bird pirates are pretty cool, the Hippogriff's are fine. I think this movie was good an introducing characters and giving them some motivation and character arcs, but as we spend most of our time with Twilight and friends, it is kind of a mixed bag.
The other two characters worth talking about are The Storm King and Grubber. I am, not really fond of either of these characters. Grubber is that comic relief character that villains have to make them less intimidating. You know, Iago from Aladdin, Kronk from Emperor's New Groove, Max from Yellow Submarine (Not like the Blue Meanie really needed one anyway). Grubber is the worst of these characters, worse than Iago. He's a big eating character, and does nothing to really advance the plot outside of notice Rainbow Dash's Sonic Rainboom. Which Tempest could have easily spotted on her own, and reveal the characters while they are trying to rescue Twilight. Aside from Grubber, The Storm King is also pretty lame, from the introduction of Tempest, you would expect him to be big and menacing. Instead, I think they tried to aim for the Blue Meanie, but instead hit more, Discord crossed with Lord Tirek. This is not an interesting villain, one of the worst I've seen in an animated movie, up there with The Horned King from The Black Cauldron. When it comes to character, this movie is mixed. It does the familiar characters well, but the new characters, not so much.
As for the humour, this movie has some funny moments. Never laugh-out-loud funny, but amusing and sometimes the movie did get some genuine laughs out of me. I don't think this is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen, but I don't think humour was the biggest focus for this movie. The movie isn't an adventure-comedy, it's a musical-adventure. So, how is the music? It's okay. The first song that plays is forgettable, I had no memory of the song playing at all, and really I only remember it now because I wrote it down in a notebook;
"Song 1: Forgettable"
The rest of the music is fine. When I used to talk about music, I wrote a blog post on the songs from the movie, but to summarize, the music is fun and bouncy. Looking back, I think I was a bit too enthusiastic, but there were worse musicals I've watched. The background music on the other hand is really good. Again, it hits on a lot of the same beats as other movies, but a lot of it is really good and helps emphasize the tension of the scenes. Special mention goes to the instrumentals of Capper's song, they were wonderful.
And this brings us to the animation. As expected, the animation quality would be higher than the TV show's would. Not that the show looks bad, the show looks amazing honestly. However, it definitely is not of cinematic quality. Now, whether or not one likes the change in art-style is their own preference. Personally, I love it. It looks so smooth, the characters look properly three-dimensional, and the colour palette of the movie is gorgeous. Again, this all comes down to preference, I can totally understand if you dislike the change in art-style. However, on the other side of the animation spectrum is the actual animation, and while it is really good for the most part, fluid and smooth. There are some pretty bad facial animations here and there. Nothing on the level of that Hercules and Xena movie I reviewed prior, but still pretty laughable.
I am a little torn on this movie. On one hand, there is a bit that is worth watching here. The songs are fine, the animation is beautiful, and I do like some of the new characters and settings. On the other hand, it is a familiar plot, and even the stuff I liked is not anything really new. I guess in the end, it all depends on what you want. Do you want a charming adventure with your favourite characters, or do you want a truly fantastic movie? I'll admit, I've kind of fallen out of the MLP fandom as of late, so maybe I'm not the best person to get a review of this movie from. However, I am of the belief that the main goal of the entertainment industry is to entertain, and there is some entertainment value to be found in this movie. Thank goodness I have a rating for movies like this. My Little Pony: The Movie, is a fine, charming, cute and at times, even a fun adventure, but it is not anything truly great, so if you are looking for something great, or just aren't in the mood for it, this movie might not be for you.
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