My Little Pony: The Movie – An Eyeroll-Inducing Animated Film

I’m not a Brony by any means but I have to learn to broaden my horizons. How bad can it be?

Synopsis: A new dark force threatens Ponyville, and the Mane 6 , Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity , embark on an unforgettable journey beyond Equestria where they meet new friends and exciting challenges on a quest to use the magic of friendship to save their home. (eOne Films)

Starring: Tara Strong, Emily Blunt, and Kristin Chenoweth

Writers: Meghan McCarthy, Rita Hsiao, and Michael Vogel

Director:  Jayson Thiessen

Rating: G (Canada)/PG (United States)

Running Time: 99mins

Trailer: 

For showtimes and more, check out My Little Pony: The Movie on movietimes.com.

This won’t come as much of a surprise to anyone but this film is strictly for fans of My Little Pony and no one else (myself included). It knows who its target audience is and does not try to appeal to anyone else. In fact, the film assumes that viewers have any previous knowledge of the series and its characters and those who don’t may be lost and/or confused but will probably not care as much as these people will most likely be parents forced to take their kids to see it.

The film’s animation style was decent and reminiscent of a Saturday morning children’s show with the story feeling like an extended episode. The flashy colors and the cute, incredibly silly story should keep children entertained but will induce eye rolls from just about everyone else. The story was exactly as one would expect from a children’s film as the Mane 6, Twilight Sparkle (Strong), Applejack (Ashleigh Ball), Rainbow Dash (also Ashleigh Ball), Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman), Fluttershy (also Andrea Libman), and Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain) must save Equestria from the evil Storm King (Liev Schreiber) and his General Tempest (Blunt).

In order to save Equestria, the Mane 6 had to venture out of Equestria, meeting some new friends along the way. There, the ponies’ hijinks thus the eye-rolling silliness continued. This stretch probably didn’t need to be as long as it was but why not? There were also many songs and musical numbers as well which were admittedly well done and be catchy for some, however, will only resonate with children. Being a children’s film, it will have a message and in this case, it was the value of friendship.

The voice acting was decent for what it was. The voice acting fit the characters, however, some will enjoy it while some will find the cutesy voices annoying. The film boasts an impressive cast, besides the many career voice actors, including Blunt, Chenoweth, Michael Peña, and Zoe Saldana just to name a few but they are hardly noticeable while watching (I had to look them up on IMDB afterwards). The best of those was singer Sia who plays a singing pony in the film and sings a decent song at the end called Rainbow.

Overall, this was a mediocre, eyeroll-inducing animated film which My Little Pony fans will go crazy over while others will mostly just stay away.

Score: 5/10

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.