- Genre: Fantasy, Adventure, Comedy, Musical, Family
- MPAA Rating: PG
- Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes
- Medium: Animation (2D, Traditional)
- Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Scope)
- Country: United States, Canada
- Company: Lionsgate (distribution), Allspark Pictures (Hasbro Studios), DHX Media, Top Draw Animation (animation services)
- Director: Jayson Thiessen
- Cast: Tara Strong (The Powerpuff Girls, The Fairly OddParents)
Ashleigh Ball (Littlest Pet Shop, Johnny Test)
Tabitha St. Germain (Dragon Ball Z, Littlest Pet Shop)
Andrea Libman (ReBoot, Dragon Tales)
Cathy Weseluck (InuYasha, Dragon Ball Z)
Nicole Oliver (Littlest Pet Shop, Maison Ikkoku)
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada, Looper)
Michael Peña (American Hustle, Ant-Man)
Liev Schreiber (X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Spotlight)
Kristen Chenoweth (The West Wing, Pushing Daisies)
Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black)
Taye Diggs (Private Practice, How Stella Got Her Groove Back)
Sia (Finding Dory, Wonder Woman)
Zoe Saldana (Avatar, Guardians of the Galaxy)
SPOILER-FREE!!!
Hey, everypony! The moment we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived! The feature-length motion picture of the beloved cult hit TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is now in theaters! Before that show came along, the Hasbro toy line on which it was based and its previous incarnations were passed off as mindless cutsey-wootsey mush for little girls. Then, everything changed when Lauren Faust, of Powerpuff Girls and Wander Over Yonder fame, brought us a totally new take on the franchise with a show that has been praised for its unique visual style, splendid morals and great relatable characters. Most surprisingly, it has spawned a HUGE fanbase of young adult men called ‘bronies’, who love the show for its lessons and its gigantic cast of colorful characters and have followed them on their adventures for seven seasons on Discovery Family. (Being one of them, I should know!) But now that Princess Twilight Sparkle and company soar onto the silver screen for the first time, is this film as magical as the power of friendship? Let’s find out.
The film takes place in the peaceful realm of Equestria, home of our heroes, the Mane Six: the intelligent and conscientious Princess of Friendship Twilight Sparkle (Strong), the athletic, adventurous and loyal pegasus Rainbow Dash (Ball), the strong-willed, honest farm girl Applejack (also Ball), the glamorous and generous unicorn Rarity (St. Germain), the timid and kind pegasus Fluttershy (Libman) and the fun-loving goofball Pinkie Pie (also Libman), as well as Twilight’s pint-sized dragon companion, Spike (Weseluck). During the group’s preparations for a friendship festival in Canterlot, the city is under attack by the evil forces of the Storm King (Schreiber), led by the cold-hearted, broken-horned unicorn commander Tempest Shadow (Blunt) and her bumbling henchman Grubber (Peña). Overwhelmed by the sudden invasion, Twilight and company flee from their home and set out on an epic quest to seek the only creatures who can help them defeat the Storm King’s army and save Equestria, all while Tempest and her minions are hunting them down to obtain their magic to help the Storm King to, you guessed it, take over the world. Boldly going where nopony has gone before, the six friends will encounter new friends along the way, including a cool con artist cat named Capper (Diggs), a crew of parrot pirates led by the swashbuckling Captain Celaeno (Saldana) and the light-hearted Princess Skystar (Chenoweth), daughter of the strict Queen Novo (Aduba), ruler of the ‘sea-ponies’ (pony mermaids, if you will). I would talk more about them here, but that would lead right into spoiler territory.
So, what did I think of the film? I didn’t like it at all. I LOVED it! My Little Pony: The Movie is some kind of a miracle in this modern movie age where 3D CG animation with hit-and-miss toilet humor made for profit is pushed aside for bringing back the simple joys of animated films from the classical era, namely the ones from Disney. The story, while not the strongest compared to Disney and Pixar’s plots, gets its strengths not from the events or details of the plot itself, but more from the feeling it gives the viewer, like the feeling children get from listening to their parents telling them a bedtime story. And most of the time, it’s a feeling of happiness, which is what I felt from start to finish. It’s a throwback to the classic family films of a bygone era, again, like the ones from Disney. You have the wonderful songs. You have the appealing villain. You have these weird and wonderful characters that you meet one by one. It’s jolly, bright, colorful and just plain fun. I have never seen a film like this in a long, long time and I’m so glad that I did.
It also makes me so happy to finally see traditional 2D animation back in theaters. Not only is the film done on Toon Boom Harmony (as opposed to Adobe Flash on the show), but the film is also shot and shown in anamorphic widescreen (Scope) and the animators on this film take full advantage of both. The animation here is bright, colorful and simply gorgeous! You always feel a grand sense of scale and scope with all the beautifully detailed backgrounds and locations, from Equestria to the underwater realm of the sea ponies. The character animation is a massive upgrade from the often stiff and rigid nature of Adobe Flash on the show. Now, the characters move in such a fluid and graceful manner that it almost resembles Disney in its Golden Ages! The animators also add shading and lighting on them to make them look more three-dimensional, and to give a live-action feel, they even incorporate realistic motion blurs on the characters, something that even the classic hand-drawn Disney films could never do! But perhaps the parts where the animation is the best is in the musical numbers, with spectacular camera moves and hoof-tapping choreography, it’s always guaranteed to put a smile on a little girl’s face! The return to traditional animation here is part of the reason why I love this film, and the highest selling point of the film.
As for the new characters, the film has plenty to offer! Starting off with the villains, the Storm King, while not as menacing as his cool design, still comes off as a funny villain, thanks to Liev Schreiber hamming it up. Grubber is the classic bad guy comic relief of many bygone classics, similar to LeFou from Beauty and the Beast (1991) or the hyenas from The Lion King (1994), and kudos to Michael Peña making the character one of the funniest show-stealers of the flick next to good ol’ Pinkie. The new friends the group meets are also really fun to watch with likable characteristics, from the suavity of Capper to the swashbuckling awesomeness of Captain Celaeno and her hearty crew to the high-spiritedness of Skystar in contrast to the seriousness of her mother Novo, who also wants to keep her people safe. It certainly helps that the characters both old and new are supported by strong voice acting from the entire cast.
But, for me, my absolute favorite new character out of all of them has to be the film’s villain, Tempest Shadow. She has to be the best villain in any non-Disney animated film since Lord Shen in Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). The perfect way to describe her is that she is the pony love child of Scar from Lion King (1994) and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty (1959)! Her design is so badass (Look at me, calling something My Little Pony-related badass!) with her shattered horn, scarred face and jagged mohawk; it’s delightfully creepy! (And it certainly helps with an equally creepy performance by Emily Blunt) She’s cold, calculating, conniving, and intimidating, all in one package of evil! The lengths she’ll go to in order to hunt Twilight and her comrades down are just insane! She is the kind of character I have missed seeing in an animated feature for a long time.
Also like the classic Disney animated features, this film is also a musical with five original songs throughout the course of the plot. One thing I never liked about the show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was the songs. I never found them that catchy or memorable. However, all of the songs here have the opposite effect. All of the songs here are reminiscent of the glory days of Alan Menken and the classic showtunes he created for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992)! From the Mane Six’s empowering anthem “We Got This Together”, to Capper’s tango-inspired “I’m the Friend You Need”, to Rainbow Dash’s rousing “Time to Be Awesome”, to Pinkie Pie and Skystar’s dynamic duet “One Small Thing”, to Tempest’s chilling villain song “Open Up Your Eyes”, the songs all help to drive the story forward and give way to some beautiful animation. There is also a song played during the end credits called “Rainbow”, written and performed by pop superstar Sia, who also voices Songbird Serenade in the movie. Another fantastic song played at the credits is “Off to See the World” by Lukas Graham. Like Frozen (2013) and Moana (2016) before it, this movie has such great songs I might consider picking up the soundtrack sometime!
Now for as much as I’m praising the heck out of this film (and for good reason), I have a serious issue I need to address with this film. Because it’s based on a TV show, the film is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you’ve already set up this world and these characters over the course of seven seasons and have a loyal fanbase who are more than happy to see them on the big screen and immediately identify with them. They’re the ones who will be completely satisfied with this movie. On the other hand, you have the other side of the audience who have never watched the show and have no background about who the old characters are or what their personalities are like, so they feel left out as a result. So even though I will give this film a high rating, keep in mind that I don’t recommend this to everyone, only the intended audience (little girls and families with very little kids), the fans of the show and those who miss seeing traditional animation in cinemas. Another nitpick I have is not with the film itself but its MPAA rating. WHY in the HECK was this given a PG rating!?!? There are more frightening, violent and questionable things in the classic Disney films than this, and those are all G-rated! In an age where the G rating is practically extinct, films like this don’t deserve the PG rating. If Cars 3 got a G rating, why couldn’t this? Oh, well. On to my final thoughts.
Overall, My Little Pony: The Movie is not only one of the best movies I’ve seen this year so far, but one of the more magical film experiences of the decade. With its jolly and fun tone, its wonderful characters old and new, its epic scope, its excellent songs, its awesome villain, and its bright, colorful, beautiful and sometimes spectacular 2D animation, this is a triumph for every cast and crew member involved. But this is not a movie for everyone however, only for little girls, families with very little kids and fans of the show. I still recommend it for those who want to see traditional 2D animation back on the big screen. It really makes me wish there were more 2D hand-drawn animated movies like this nowadays. As for all you MLP: FIM fans reading this, then by all means, go see this in theaters while you can! Just like friendship in Equestria, this movie is, indeed, magic.
UPDATE: Before the movie begins, there is a 5 minute short film based on the Hasbro web series Hanazuki: Full of Treasures. The only reason why they did this, I suppose, is because they’re trying to do what Pixar is best known for doing: showing a short treat before the main attraction. Even it had some good colorful backdrops and nice cartoony animation, like something out of Cartoon Network, I had no knowledge of the web series or its settings and characters and it left me waiting impatiently for the feature presentation. If you’re like me, it wouldn’t hurt to be fashionably late (5 minutes after scheduled showtime).
My personal rating: 5 stars out of 5
Supreme Dream Machine 
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