There probably isn’t a more colourful or enthusiastic movie this year than the first feature movie of My Little Pony. If you find yourself entering a theatre with your young children or older, “Brony” fans, you may be questioning what horrible things you’ve done wrong to find yourself in this situation.
My Little Pony: The Movie has a very focused audience. This film was made for young children 8 and under (though not necessarily girls) and the fascinating, passionate adults fans of the television series, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
But for the chaperones and other unlucky film-goers who wander into the cinema, it won’t be as unpleasant an experience as you might expect. Sure it’s a simple story, and it’s hard to keep track of the silly, saccharine names of all the different ponies. It’s also sincere, whimsical, and very well produced.
The movies follows the same characters as the television series, led by Pony Princess Twilight (Tara Strong) as she prepares for the magical pony kingdom’s friendship festival. After the arrival of the Storm King (a hilarious Liev Schreiber) and his minions, the ponies must go on an adventure to save their equestrian home.
What follows is a musical quest through fantasy lands about friends working together can do anything. The surprising moral of the story, however, is the power of trusting our friends. The ponies learn trust and vulnerability are important in friendship - and it makes the movie thematically strong from start to finish.
These are really great messages and ideas for a kid’s movie. While the action is wholesome and the loud optimism a bit annoying, it’s ultimately more entertaining than generic, lazy or rude humour that family films often have these days. (Like recent animated films The Nut Job 2 or Lego Ninjago.)
As for the music? The sweeping orchestral score gives it a satisfying emotional feel as the ponies gallop to adventure, though the songs are hit-and-miss. The music is as pleasant as the lyrics are painful to listen to. The lyrics talk about nothing and have cheap rhymes - it’s a better animated movie than musical film.
Lastly, hats off to the casting directors on the movie for the strong cast they’ve built. So many great celebrity characters benefit the story and make for fun scenes on the quest, instead of being a cheap trick to sell tickets.
Taye Diggs' cool cat, Zoe Saldana’s pirate parrot, Micheal Pena’s evil minion and Uzo Aduba’s mermaid queen are all great. Even Sia as a pop star pony is a giddy treat. The cast as a whole may be too large to be wholly effective; my advice is not to focus on following names too much. You’ll have a lot more fun.
My Little Pony: The Movie is clearly for little kids and fans. If you’re not in this group, there’s no substance or interest for you to watch. But the movie itself is surprisingly well made. It shouldn’t be unbearable torture for unwilling victims or companions to sit through.
Just start praying they don’t plan a sequel. Anyone who mentions more crazy pony musical playtime is getting kicked in the charlie horse.
My Little Pony: The Movie
2 1/2 out of 4 stars
G, 99 minutes. Animated Family Musical Fantasy.
Directed by Jayson Thiessen.
Starring Tara Strong, Emily Blunt, Taye Diggs, Zoe Saldana and Liev Schreiber.
Now Playing at Film.Ca Cinemas, Cineplex Winston Churchill, and Cineplex Oakville & VIP.
