Is My Little Pony the Movie a super saccharine kid’s movie or a colorful adventure just for the fans? we find out.
If you’ve spent any time at all on the Internet over the last few years, I’m sure you’ve at the at least once encountered the My Little Pony series by Lauren Faust or at the very least, bumped into their copious fans. This isn’t the first MLP movie that we’ve been given (Equestria Girls, ugh) but this is one that fans have been asking for since Season 1 came to an end.
A whole lotta plot
As the story goes, the kingdom of Equestria gets assailed by the forces of the Storm King just as they were about to kick off the celebrations. Our heroes then embark on a journey to once again save Equestria, with rather mixed results.
They do eventually save Equestria but not without instiling the importance of showing kindness and friendship that is often conveyed in the series itself. But still, the plotline is pretty predictable as it is still at its core a kid’s movie.
The Mane Six are voiced by their respective voice actors from the series itself and I feel their performance was pretty good. We have Ashleigh Ball as Applejack and Rainbow Dash, Andrea Libman as Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity and Princess Luna alongside Tara Strong and Cathy Weseluck as Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike.
We have some pretty big names behind the production as well, with Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schreiber as the Storm King, Michael Pena as Grubber, Taye Diggs as Capper, Uzo Aduba as Queen Novo, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno and of course Sia makes an appearance as Songbird Serenade.
Not all the characters get a lot of lines, however, but they’re fairly well represented, from Twilight’s concerned voice all the way to Pinkie’s high-pitched yammering that permeates a fair bit of the movie. Granted I think some of the things that the Mane Six actually get up to are a bit naive at times (well, Equestria is a happy, safe place) but they manage to get on by but not without a bit of drama.
In terms of production quality, it’s certainly a huge step up from that of the show. The backgrounds are far more detailed and lush, while the character animation is more fluid and expressive. The songs were decent but none of them really stood out to me.
Of course, despite the somewhat serious tone of the movie, there’s a bit of humour thrown in, and fans will certainly realise a few things that your casual watcher won’t. But in the end the show should still be pretty entertaining for the kids (though not necessarily for the parents) but fans should come off somewhat satisfied at least.
I really like the bad guy
As for the characters, I really liked the “main baddie” Tempest Shadow. Granted she isn’t the real villain in the movie (that would be the Storm King), as far as I’m concerned she’s the main star of the movie. She’s bad-ass and powerful despite her broken horn, and to be frank I’m just a sucker for that colour scheme.
Also, the movie does expand more on the lore of the world, introducing more “races” to the story, especially that of the Seaquestrians (shoo be doo), but the introduction of the race is so inconsequential to the plot, they might as well have been absent from the movie entirely.
Love their designs though, and that alone will probably push a fair bit of sales in the merch department.
I also think its great that the studio didn’t just decide to fill the entirety of the background cast with nameless ponies, but rather the vast majority of the background ponies (with the exception of the Seaquestrians) are recognisable characters from the show. No slack on attention to detail either, even in scenes where some ponies look like exact duplicates of each other, they still took pains to make sure that their cutie marks are at least different.
In the end, it’s still a kid’s movie
Overall as a fan, I think the movie was alright but it wasn’t anything earth-shattering for me.
The plot was mostly predictable and kinda expected of a kids show. Of course, there’s plenty of laughs for the kids (and the fans) and the music is decent, but would I watch it again? most likely yes.
My Little Pony the Movie begins screening today at TGV.
