My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

Stylish but barely mediocre overall

Am I Missing Something?

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

In all fairness to this film, take my review with a grain of salt. I'm a nineteen-year-old viewer who finds My Little Pony childish and dopey, the brony phenomenon just a case of nerds who refuse to grow up, and the animation to look cheap and painful. Of course I'm biased. That being said, if you're looking for a good clean family film to numb your brain with and enchant your three-year-olds, this one's not a bad choice. If your kids are already fans of the show, this film is more or less just a longer version of it, much like the Bratz animated films that were huge in the early 2000's when I was still in elementary school. You'll get similar Flash animation and audio, the same ever-popular themes of friendship, unity and respect among other things, and unlike a lot of children's animated works to grace the silver screen these days, you won't get any vulgarity or crude sex/fart jokes, so that's definitely a bonus if you want a simple, clean family film. If you're an adult lone viewer going into it and you've never seen My Little Pony before, you'll either really love it or hate it with a burning passion like you've never felt before. It's a very unrealistic utopian look at how the world should be, which is all well and good if that's what floats your boat, but it's so sickeningly rainbow and glittery and perfect that it's a complete bore-fest to me, and the voices - oh lord, the voices! It takes me back to the days of having my English teacher drag her fingernails down the chalkboard to get my attention! ARRGH! What a headache! It's simply annoying and preachy to me, and really doesn't offer much in the way of a well-developed plot or a solid story with any sort of actual meaning to it. I wasn't expecting some pretentious philosophical sermon in this film, but why couldn't there be more to it than exactly what you'd expect? I'm sorry, but I just can't force myself onto the big fat bandwagon for these stupid cartoon horses, no matter how often my friends drag me to the movies to see them.

Marking this as spoilers just in case something I say could be construed as such.I think at this point the writers for the show and movies are doing a far better job at creating more likable and interesting side characters than main characters. If I could have a movie or series based solely off of the redeemed villains and their adventures and struggles to overcome their differences and learn how to deal with life after their periods of evil, then I'd gladly take that over another "Look here at Princess Twilight! Isn't she great? WORSHIP HER." movie. At this point I feel like Twilight is being shoved down everyone's throats in the MLP movies and show and I dislike her even more now than ever. Her character traits only cause more problems than they solve and this movie is no different. She's just so unlikeable now that I was rooting for the bad guys to win the whole time just to end the Twi-fest. For once I'd like to see someone else take center stage for an MLP: FIM movie because so far no version of movie or TV Twilight (including in Equestria Girls) has any redeeming qualities or character development.That all being said, the animation was very good. It had the feel of the show, but on a higher level and I'd like to see another movie done in this style. The voice acting was great as well. The songs were generally decent and the singing was good. Overall forgettable tunes, to be honest, with the exception of Tempest's solo though. The addition of the new species and kingdoms was a huge plus as there was a great range of new characters and something other than ponies to look at for once. Going off of that, the character design aspect of all the new characters was on point, and, and maybe it's just me thinking this, but bold for an MLP piece. The decision to actually scar a pony and give them a physical alteration as a result of trauma is something new to MLP, but the story behind it as well as the overall character development because of it was spot on. Tempest, by far, is one of my all time favorites now up along with Sunset Shimmer. I was a little disappointed that she didn't get her horn back, but to be fair even without it she is a completely capable character with the ability to literally kick butt on a level that no other character has ever been able to accomplish before. It's sad to think we'll probably never see her again.Overall my lower score is due to Twilight, pure and simple. She was just so unlikeable and really taught no lessons in this movie. So much focus was put upon her when really she was practically useless and was the central cause of many of the arguments, downfalls, and stress of the story. Yet for some reason we're supposed to treat her like some kind of god character that is integral to everything and who is the only one who can ever solve any problems. It's so aggravating at this point that only she is is made out to be the competent hero when clearly there are others who better deserve the spotlight. For example, Pinkie, Dash, and Rarity given that it was their contributions that led to the alliance of characters that successfully managed to save the kingdom in the end while Twilight did NOTHING other than go against the very thing she is a princess of, that being friendship. It's actually kind of sad that it was the other characters who went out and made friends and won the day while the "princess of friendship" only resorted to mistrust and thievery to try and accomplish her goals. While the former does make sense given the early betrayal by Capper, the latter is uncalled for given what she is supposed to stand for.Anyway, rant over. The only redeemable qualities about this movie were the visuals, the side characters and villains, and the soundtrack.

The story and screenplay of the movie will make you say something like, "Wow! My mind is totally blown!" It's epic to the point of suspense, dramatic to where you feel like crying, and funny to the point of laughter! The writers incorporated great messages in the story involving friendship, hope, and leadership. The story was written by veteran MLP writer Meghan McCarthy, and by newcomer and fan Joe Ballarini (best known for contributing to the Blue Sky Studios films "Epic" and "Ice Age: Continental Drift", and the Dreamworks film "Turbo"). The screenplay was also done by McCarthy, but also by veteran MLP writer Michael Vogel, and newcomer Rita Hsiao(best known for her work on Disney's "Mulan" and Pixar's "Toy Story 2").The animation was done by an entire team of animators lead by veteran MLP director Jayson Thiessen. One big thing they had to do was replace the equipment they used called Adobe Flash and instead use Toon Boom Harmony. With the new equipment, they were able to make the backgrounds of each scene look real, especially the water. The part where our heroes go underwater and meet the sea ponies is so realistic, you feel like your in the ocean. The character designs were amazing as well, especially with the characters with fur or feathers, such as Capper and Celaeno.On the directing, Thiessen does it again by making another winner to the franchise, and marking an excellent comeback to theatrical hand-drawn animation. The dramatic and comedy moments are also perfectly timed. The cinematography is colorful, and the camera angling to every scene is so engaging, you don't want to miss it even when you want to get more popcorn.The characters were wonderful! Each of them had a quality and personality about them that made them so interesting and lovable. The writers kept the current characters from the show the same. The new characters were well thought out and in all seriousness great!The voice acting done by the people old and new were top-notch. But the most intriguing performances come from Tara Strong, Emily Blunt, and Liev Schreiber. Their performances made their characters realistic with so much feeling and emotion.Tara Strong's performance as Twilight gives a sense of the conflicts she's going through, and how she's feeling in certain moments, places, and situations.And I know Tempest Shadow is a villain, but Emily Blunt's performance helps give great sympathy towards her character because of what she's been through in the past involving her horn. To top it off, she even sings!With Liev Schreiber, his performance as the Storm King delivered the best and most intense MLP villain by far! His character has a range of emotions and personality. He's sarcastic, comedic, enraged, delighted, and evil, all with a voice that chills your spine. The Storm King was made for him! It makes you wonder why he didn't star in a family or children's film before or become a voice actor in the first place!The music and songs made by veteran MLP musician Daniel Ingram will make you joyfully emotional. The lyrics are heartfelt, and will touch you deep down into your soul.Overall, by watching it and looking at it closely without falling into stereotypes about movies based on toy lines, you'll find that this movie and everything about it is one that is worth seeing. It delivers something that hasn't been seen for a very long time in the animation industry. A movie full of heart, passion, and commitment.

I absolutely LOVE the TV series. The characters are well thought out, the writing is witty and fun. But this movie? Seriously...WTF is this? This is NOTHING like the TV show. The plot is horrible, too slow in some places, too fast in others. They don't do ANYTHING to make me actually CARE about ANY of the characters. The new characters help the ponies, yet they have no real reason to. Their motives aren't explained. The motives behind the main antagonist (Tempest) are lame, and only explained near the end like an afterthought. EVERYONE is so out of character it's like a badly written fanfic. Each one of the main ponies has flaws, but in this movie they intentionally exaggerate these flaws and make the characters super annoying and un-likable. And the animation? It's passable, but pretty bad compared to the show. It has more detail, yes. But the animation isn't smooth at all, and the characters have no SOUL to them. I seriously feel like I'm watching a plastic toy instead of a living, breathing pony. Which is weird to say because the TV show's animation isn't exactly realistic. The songs didn't fit in at all with the movie. Most of them weren't pony songs, but rather ripoffs of other songs just stuck in there EVERY 10 MINUTES. A large budget does not a good movie make. Once I heard that Hasbro outsourced the creation of this movie to another studio, this disaster of a movie finally made sense. This was obviously made by someone that has NO idea what ponies are really like. They probably watched an episode and a few fan compilations and called it good. They blew off/shirked their responsibility because they knew they'd get paid anyway (gee, where has this happened before?) and Hasbro paid the price. Next time Hasbro, do your own work. I don't care if the movie is in flash, and I seriously doubt any 6 year olds will either. You could have saved a TON of money and had a BETTER end product.All in all this movie was a MASSIVE let down. If they make another one, I'm going to make sure that it's actually MADE by Hasbro otherwise I won't even bother seeing it. This movie added NOTHING to the show or the MLP universe. We saw a few places, but where they were really didn't matter. Everything might as well have happened in Twilight's bedroom for all the importance the setting had to the plot. If there was one word I could use to describe this movie, it would be TrainWreck! I'm a brony myself, and I can guarantee you that most of these reviews are just other bronies that are in denial about how bad this movie really is.NOTE: The season 7 finale would have made a MUCH better movie than this. The season 7 finale was a 2 parter (about 40 minutes), but there was just so much potential there. They could have easily made it into a full length movie. Instead we got this steaming pile of crap from a third party studio. WTF?