My Little Pony: The Movie (2017) - Reviews/Reactions/Discussion Thread

[shadowprince2 19]

MY LITTLE PONY THE MOVIE 

is in my opinion a movie that upon first viewing was an “ok” movie now I admit I got a snicker or two out of it but the rest feels like it’s just a giant toy commercial now I can understand why hasbro doesn’t want discord in it because he’ll just fix everything in about a minute but I felt like this was meant for older bronys (I’m only now starting season 6) but the parts I did like was the “open up your eyes” song from temptst and “rainbow” by sia now tye diggs is an actor I honestly never really heard of but the guy who played that hedgehog looking thing (ant man and other movies I can’t think of) was ok I’m not gonna spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen it yet but I will say that there are a lot of reference to other hasbro toys/games 

my name is shadowprince2 and have a great day 

Edited July 29, 2019 by shadowprince2
Forgot a tag

[PinkieShadow 4,056]

To me the movie was just jumping in where the book “Tempest Story” left us hanging. We only got a very short look back on Tempest as a kid. I really hoped for that book to be animated. But ok for the movie, I liked exactly the parts you mentioned. The songs, just awesome! And I also liked how expanded the whole world was, Equestria is big, but this world was way out of my dreams for the ponies. In short, to me it was way better than I ever thought.

[Splashee 28,563]

 

 

I am very critical of "The Movie" myself. Not because of the good background art or the super smooth animation. Those things were excellent. Everything else however has something odd about it that makes me either sad or angry.

We are talking about taking a good concept with a good art style (that's the show), and just put in a huge amount of money for something completely different (that's the movie). I am 100% sure Tempest would have looked great as a G4 pony instead of the expanded cheek/shell ears movie style, and she would have worked great with a normal voice actor as well (so that she could have been in the show as well).

I don't know any of the celebrities that were in the movie, so to me they all sounded like voice actors to me. Back in the day of G1, the movies had celebrity voice actors as well, so Hasbro was just trying to do a proven concept I guess.

 

To me, the movie was pretty much the same failure as the first Equestria Girls (written by the same writer), with a rushed story skipping out of too many elements, and something completely off (princess stealing pearl).

I think Lauren Faust still got credited somehow at the end of the movie. But anything Equestria Girls or the Rainbow Roadtrip special (movie style ponies) don't credit her at all, showing Hasbro's true intentions for MLP (get rid of the popular style, get back to their real target audience, but keep the cash for Rainbow Dash sales).

Edited July 29, 2019 by Splashee
No backseat mod

[Xe__or 4,377]

10 minutes ago, Splashee said:

I think you forgot a couple of periods in your very long sentence there @shadowprince2. (I have seen similar post in banished members here on the forum, so just a heads up!)

 

I am very critical of "The Movie" myself. Not because of the good background art or the super smooth animation. Those things were excellent. Everything else however has something odd about it that makes me either sad or angry.

We are talking about taking a good concept with a good art style (that's the show), and just put in a huge amount of money for something completely different (that's the movie). I am 100% sure Tempest would have looked great as a G4 pony instead of the expanded cheek/shell ears movie style, and she would have worked great with a normal voice actor as well (so that she could have been in the show as well).

I don't know any of the celebrities that were in the movie, so to me they all sounded like voice actors to me. Back in the day of G1, the movies had celebrity voice actors as well, so Hasbro was just trying to do a proven concept I guess.

 

To me, the movie was pretty much the same failure as the first Equestria Girls (written by the same writer), with a rushed story skipping out of too many elements, and something completely off (princess stealing pearl).

I think Lauren Faust still got credited somehow at the end of the movie. But anything Equestria Girls or the Rainbow Roadtrip special (movie style ponies) don't credit her at all, showing Hasbro's true intentions for MLP (get rid of the popular style, get back to their real target audience, but keep the cash for Rainbow Dash sales).

I do NOT like the movie either. I got no issue with the artstyle, the animation, the references or whatever. The problem was the scenario and the writing; to me, these two things are like the skeleton for a body. They exist, but if the skeleton is rotten like in this movie's case, then the whole body will crumble. I didn't feel anything for the new characters, may it be Tempest, the pirate crew, I dunno; to me it's just : "aight; these guys exist in that universe now" And it's too bad. 

 

It's really always the same thing with MLP: good potential, but always wasted.

[Moonlight 7,286]

@shadowprince2

As we currently already have a pinned thread for reviews/thoughts related to the movie, I've merged your thread with it.

[Ittoni 538]

i mean... it's fine, but just fine. 

i guess the thing that completely ruined me and took me out of it every time was the furries. They look SO out of place in the world of MLP when you have a very consisten aesthetic on the show and suddenly you throw it out of the window to fit this weird... humanoids along side other creatures of the same species but not humanoids, like putting Capper and Opal side by side or just anypony or any other mlp race side by side the movie furries. The hippogriphs don't have this problem and I enjoyed that part quite a bit because they are on the same line as the aesthetic of the show but slavetown and the weird monkey beasts things from the storm king? it all look so for the movie only, even tempest, so why... whyyyyyyy... 

i get it, it's not equestria, but... i didn't wanted to know that, i needn't. And now it's cannon.. but the show is coming to an end so i'm at least glad that they didn't try to make it a recurring thing in the show. Same with Equestria girls (i'm going to make so many people mad here) but i don't like equestria girls and i don't care about them so why should you make it part of the cannon if this things are just spinoffs. Leave them as spinoffs! don't try to make me like them!

*sigh*... well, it doesn't really matter now.

 

[SharpWit 2,622]

@IttoniI was alright with the Storm King and the Storm Creatures, assuming they're the same species only polymorphic, or if they're something lesser that he rules but he's not a creature of special significance like the Royal sisters as Alicorns, Discord as a Draconequus, or Tirek as a Centaur, he's just some dude in a position of power technically, so the latter doesn't work quite as well as I'd like it to.

I'm thrown off by quite a by a lot of the new species we were shown in the movie too though. There are already Diamond Dogs but they've largely been forgotten, so Capper and the Parrot Pipers are kind of ok, but we've already got out bird hybrid with the Griffons, and Hippogriffs bring up a whole other question of relations between Griffons and Ponies if we follow their mythological origin. Grubber is weird because he's a fricken hedgehog, so I have to assume there's others like him unless he was somehow given an upgrade from your standard hedgehog at some point, which I think is a good concept, much like how Disney's Maleficent has her Crow servant.

And then there's the primary residents of Klugetown. A myriad of species comprised mostly of I believe fish and lizard people, with some mammalian, and specially that one mole rat guy? And nothing's been done to address who and what they all are.

We have some established hybrids but the movie did go a bit overboard on just how much there really is.

Correction on Griffon Pony relations, I decided to go through the scenes from Klugetown to determine how may new species we're possibly shown in just that little bit (There are 26 by the way, 18 of which are sentient.), and they state that Hippogriffs are part pony, part eagle. Hippogriffs are still part Eagle part lion, and perhaps only the eagle trait was passed along. That could be an interesting origin for the Sphinx if it were the lion trait passed on instead! However it is very well possible that this eagle combination was done separately from one another for simplification of interspecies relations within the show/movie.

Edited September 17, 2019 by SharpWit

[Latecomer 439]

You're right overall* - the movie was kind of weak and best off forgotten, and there were way too many new species - but bipedalism in particular doesn't make sense as a complaint when we have Diamond Dogs and minotaurs and gargoyles.

 

*Which is to say I agree with you.

[Ittoni 538]

24 minutes ago, Latecomer said:

You're right overall* - the movie was kind of weak and best off forgotten, and there were way too many new species - but bipedalism in particular doesn't make sense as a complaint when we have Diamond Dogs and minotaurs and gargoyles.

 

*Which is to say I agree with you.

yeah, but they at least look like they belong to the world, not like they are made for a completely different kind of franchise or public. 

look. i know i'm on the unpopular opinion side of the argument and that's why no one, not even i should take my own opinions to heart. because i'm one of those and in a topic that doesn't really affect anybody aside from my own. I can just try to forget about it and use my imagination to write a better world in my mind, that's how it works basically.

 

[Latecomer 439]

They look weird because everything in the movie does. Capper doesn't stand put any more than Iron Will in show-style animation IMO.

[Moonlight 7,286]

@Ittoni As we already have a pinned thread for discussing the movie, I've merged your thread with it.

[Ittoni 538]

@Latecomer Fine. i don't want to argue if they fit in the style or not. It all really reduces to you like them I don't, You feel like they fit, I don't. But in my very personal opinion I want to express why i didn't like them and that shouldn't stop you from liking them nor is it fair to try to convince me otherwise. 

I just feel like they are just as weird as the giraffe, which looks like it could be as sapient as zebras, cows or mules, but doesn't talk and they treat it in the same way as the other animals? like... what?

The show has had it's hits and misses and for me this was a miss.

Edited September 17, 2019 by Ittoni

[Latecomer 439]

Oh, they're a miss for me too, but that's mainly because they're random and weird-looking, not because they stand on their hind legs.

 

And perhaps the giraffe doesn't speak Equestrian?

[LunaBlu3berry 2]

So, in My Little Pony : The Movie, we're seen something like a good quality ! Some good friendship characters ! The Mane 6 are the best heroes in Mlp. And this make me happy beacuse, every time, the most people loves the Mane 6. And they need to save the world from King Storm and the pony : Fizzle Pop Berry Twist (Tempest Shadow). The final is cool ! And the essence too !    Is in 2 simple words : So awesome !!    Cuz have a good texture and a good script for popularity of My Little Pony. So.. That movie was awesome and gived to My Little Pony seasons, more characters and new creatures. So this is what I think. What do you think ? Well, have a nice day !

[Light Blade 8,673]

LSS, I do not agree with official RT score. The movie wasn't prefect, but it wasn't terrible either and deserves to be treated as something plausible.

[Splashee 28,563]

I wish people would see the movie for what it was, not not praise it like it was the best ever. The story was not that interesting and actually quite annoying. And just because of a cool character that can karate kick (Tempest), doesn't mean that character has a good back story and is the best character in the entire world.

[Moony the Cat 3,702]

I didnt enjoy the Movie as much as i hoped sadly.

The slightly new and more detailed art style and the fluid animation are a big step up from the show, nothing to complain about there, i loved it.

Its the rest i have a problem with. The movie was boring. I actually enjoyed Tempest Shadow as a secondary villain, but since the Storm King is still the main villain, i had no strong feelings towards the climax of the film at all. We dont get any sort of background story really, the storm king barely appears in the film and he is not even doing all that much.

He only creates a single storm towards the end, that is all that he does. And since tempest is just the secondary villain and doesnt do much either in the end, there was no tension, no emotion, it was super anticlimatic. And even though i enjoyed a few songs here and there, i still disliked the majority of the film because it didnt make all that much sense. First we got an evil guy who wants trick the ponys and betray them and then turn good super quick which wasnt really believable, then Twilight starts to break the law which doesnt really fit her character in my eyes, then there were also the pirates who changed their mind so abrupt, it was just all unbelievable.

I really cant give this Movie a good rating and it saddens me. I want to love it, but it really wasnt that good. I would still say it was okay, because of the improved animation that i admire and some of the songs and the one, two cool scenes with tempest, but thats it.

However i have to add that i enjoyed that so much new creatures and lore was added, but because of the nonsensical storyline there were presented in, it doesnt do all that much. Also i am disappointed that they didnt made a reference to the G1 Seaponys, could they not include a single line from the old song? Not all Bronys hate everything except for G4...some of us actually watched the old stuff and i liked some of it.

EDIT:

I still let my original comment stay, but just gotta add this: I really think i was to harsh on the film, i dont know where my expectations for this Movie where. Its a kids Movie and for that it was absolutley fine as it was. Sure, the storm king still sucks in my opinion but i could have just focused myself on Tempest as the main plot point and the movie gets really good!

I enjoyed it regardless of my original comment!

Edited July 10, 2021 by Reason for Cancellation
Changed my Opinion

[Clawdeen 12,190]

Honestly I loved it. I really enjoyed it. It had its flaws sure but overall I really liked it. I’ve rewatched it a few times since the first time I saw it and I still enjoy it.

[TransPirate 121]

I think the movie has ultimately turned out the best it realistically could considering what it is. My two biggest gripes are uneven focus on Mane Six, although I actually enjoyed Pinkie being the second main character, and inclusion of HorSia. At the time of release, I was vaguely aware of Sia and even liked the featured song but just didn't think it was a very well handled cameo but in a four years since, she turned out to be a majorly crappy person and now it's just annoying whenever I rewatch the film.

Edited August 19, 2021 by TransPirate

[Gale Wind 82]

My feelings are very mixed now that I watched it. I liked the hippogriff intro and the animation, but also don’t entirely think some of the creatures fit in. That said, g1 did have a cat character too…The other characters seemed out of place though. Someone mentioned playing to the furry fandom…kinda wish people wouldn’t always put furries down. But the furry aesthetic is definitely different from mlp.

Someone mentioned about how long the storm king was in power…I assumed he had taken over other areas before the attack on Equestria. We don’t know how long he was controlling that area.

I agree with the time and distance issues. Mount Aeris seemed a lot closer in the actual show.

My biggest issue is the gap between when it was written and when it was made. It made no sense not having the Pillars, Starlight, Flurry Heart, and the other races involved. The changelings, maybe the griffons should have been there…and Discord.

Also the mane six weren’t written well enough. Twilight lost a lot of character development and didn’t use enough types of magic, Applejack and Fluttershy hardly did anything. Also Shining Armor and the Royal guards weren't around nor was Sunset though her being missing isn’t really surprising.

Edited February 6, 2023 by Gale Wind

[Shiny Silvermoon 3,737]

I just finished watching the movie and I didn't find it incredible. I don't mean that it's bad, it was really good but with all the hype and the "overwonderful world ending of doom" design of the movie... I mean look how gorgeous the animation is! With all this, I kind of got disappointed because I was waiting for something more. Again, I'm not saying that this movie is bad I'm just saying that Equestria Girls movies are better. It's like when I watched Avengers Endgame! I was dissapointed because it was supposed to be the ultimate Marvel movie! They simply crumbled under the pressure! I think it was the same for this movie. They simply tried to make something too big, like Twilight at the beginning of the movie. I hope I didn't offend anypony by saying that... There were also good parts, you know! Like Tempest! Or the songs! Or all the different creatures we discovered, like the hypos!

Edited April 25, 2023 by Shiny Silvermoon

[Shiny Silvermoon 3,737]

So the best part of the movie was when Fluttershy said "Yay!" twice.

[nataalya 42]

15 hours ago, Shiny Silvermoon said:

I just finished watching the movie and I didn't find it incredible. I don't mean that it's bad, it was really good but with all the hype and the "overwonderful world ending of doom" design of the movie... I mean look how gorgeous the animation is! With all this, I kind of got disappointed because I was waiting for something more. Again, I'm not saying that this movie is bad I'm just saying that Equestria Girls movies are better. It's like when I watched Avengers Endgame! I was dissapointed because it was supposed to be the ultimate Marvel movie! They simply crumbled under the pressure! I think it was the same for this movie. They simply tried to make something too big, like Twilight at the beginning of the movie. I hope I didn't offend anypony by saying that... There were also good parts, you know! Like Tempest! Or the songs! Or all the different creatures we discovered, like the hypos!

I think very much like you. I mean... I like the movie a lot, but at the end it took on a weird really fast pace. The action went on statically for an hour or more and suddenly in those 10-15 minutes we have a moment of confrontation and problem solving. That is a bit strange. I had the impression that the movie supposed to be longer in plans. Anyway it was very cool to see new characters, new places... they were very atmospheric.

It's definitely better to try do something bigger and fail than do something distasteful and definitely too small.

[Twitchy-Tremor 297]

It wasn’t as good as I was hoping. Twilight seemed really out of character for most of it.

[Evil Pink One 13,506]

1 hour ago, Props Valroa said:

After another re-watch two years later, I have a lot more positive view of this movie. It's been a long time since I've seen it and especially since I watched it with some good friends of mine on Discord - I really liked it. My main issue with it was that it felt like it could have been longer, but I am nowhere near as critical of it as I once was. 

Ditto i wanted more.... i blame transformers for shortening its budget.