Since a Youtube video response to his review...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya7wi-9E0p8

...is currently not feasible for me and Youtube comments are too limited, I'll respond in written form. I'll directly address Adam here, so don't get confused by the "you"-form.

I will try to condense this into relatively brief paragraphs so it doesn't become too lenghty.

Hi Adam!

I enjoyed watching your Iron Man review a lot.

As you said, EqG is a different kind of movie, resulting in an accordingly different rewiew. But you still apply the same standards to EqG as you do to other movies.

Have you never interacted with the fandom regarding to EqG? Not seen the trailer or pictures before? Because you say when you first saw the humanized forms, you were kinda shocked.

You also said you really can't understand why Hasbro did this, while the pony show was such a success. Did you never hear of the thought that Hasbro sells toys and spends money for the show and movies in order to sell toys, and that they wanted to sell a new line of dolls? This is almost naturally occuring. Also, never heard about the thesis that Twlight became an alicorn so tha Hasbro can sell more types of toys?

If Hasbro decided to sell toys using conventional marketing, the awesome show MLPFiM wouldn't exist, so in a way, it's a win-win situation.

You said there was only one song that was really defining, captivating, not just background music. Did you forget the party cleanup musical? And the celebratory music near the end? This makes at least three musical numbers.

You said to a non-brony, EqG will look dumb as hell. Well, cou can just make a guess or an estimate, and the same might applies to many non-bronies and the show.

You seem to still be very attached to superficialities if you are bugged by the human form so much. Personally, it was just slightly new to me but didn't bug me at all once I realized it's our beloved ponies under that skin. Also, with all the transformative magic going on in Equestria, I'm very used to seeing shape changes.

You called the students' Opinion change in 36 hours about Twily crap? Well, the effect of slander is fleeting when facing solid positive impulse like their uniting mensa musical. They might not even have taken it serious, but just amusing and based on not really knowing her. This is actually quite realistic. And since you admit that after the musical, you'd probably have voted for them too, why is this still an issue for you? You have an inner contradiction there. Two different parts saying two different things. (I'd metaphorically call it mind vs. heart, and cutting the heart some slack can be a great task, because the mind is about control, and the heart can only flourish when the mind can sacrify a part of itself.)

The speedy re-befriending was probably due to play time constraints. I've seen this in other types of movies without ruining it. And while one might doubt that some simple intrigue and malevolent meddling could drive friends apart for years like that, I'd come to realize that proper communication is one of the biggest problems pretty much everywhere. Sunset Shimmer just knew well how to push their hidden buttons. It's not unrealistic at all, albeit a bit frustrating to watch maybe.

Exactly what about that demon/gargoyle is Disney? They're mythical creatures ... just like manticores. Need I say more?

What else would you have considered 'better' in that scene?

I don't find the movie sillier than the show. Remember (just to name one example) Steven Magnet? The silliness is part of what makes the show so enjoyable and fun.

And then even the magically revealed wings, ears and tails are bothering you? These are attributes of our beloved ponies in their original shape, so I don't see what's the problem here? It's totally awesome!

As a sidenote, you explained everything quite detailed in that part, as if expecting the viewer to not have seen the movie already, but this would mean you are consciously making the review an undeclared spoilerfest.

All the oddness in regards to credulity of the people at the school, how they are relatively quick to accept all the magical stuff going on, as fas as I can say this is almost the norm in the movie world, without characters continuing to freak out about these things at length being the exception (and very enjoyable to watch because it's more realistic). I think this would have ruined he flow of the EqG plot.

Yet, the writers did that event with talking dog Spike to slightly defuse this disbelief, and even in a comical way.

About the imporance of high school: That's just a personal priority-applying, because many opportunities to do things right are provided there, and that's what the movie encourages. The view that high school is not that important might be a belief system that works for people who had a very rough time there, but ironically especially those people can benefit greatly from the message of the movie.

Even so, I'd say EqG is about as much about "surviving high school" as Buffy the Vampire Slayer is.

You say people will not like the movie if they haven't seen the show. But you cannot know that, because some people would never have believed they end up loving the show, but did.

EqG has all the important stuff from the show. The other things are mostly just superficialities and technicalities, and when those things are bugging you, it means that MLP has sent you on a spiritual journey and you're driving over the potholes now.

To clarify, I'd say that MLPFiM is very much an antithesis to Star Trek, in the sense that the latter is very much about intellectual virtue, where analyzing every detail with the expectation to come to a realistic explanation is elemental, while the former is very much about putting that in the background and letting the heart rejoice. Sometimes it's almost bordering on mindless pleasure.

An example of a show that pleases both heart and mind quite well: Firefly

An example of a movie that does neither well: Abrams' Star Trek

If you can find something positive and personally helpful in these words, then I'm happy.

If not, I'm still happy, because ponies.

Feel free to leave a comment here (doesn't require registration) or on your video page or in my Youtube mailbox if you like. Or ask Spike to send it directly if he's around.

Keep going!