spoiler The Depths of the MLP Movie

[Courageous Thunder Dash 7,809]

It's amazing how as an adult you can look at animated movies and really wring out all the great lessons and characterizations in the movie itself. The MLP Movie was certainly no exception. 

Perhaps a few of the greatest examples I can pull from the movie are

• Tempest's painful past playing a role with her current role as the Storm King's sidekick
• Twilight's desperation interfering with her friends
• Not forgetting who you are and what you're made to do

 

Let's go over the first. So...in the movie when we first see Tempest, we see the familiar villain archetype: wanting surrender, wanting power and wanting to complete tasks for selfish gain. We get a hint of something due to Tempest's broken horn. Fast forward to Tempest's Song "Open Your Eyes", and this is where we learn the full story of what happened to Tempest. The pain of losing her horn caused her to become bitter and angry, because her horn was what made her so special. She loved to create beautiful sky displays...but all of that was taken away from her due to the Ursa Minor slicing off her horn. Even when Twilight saved her, she still felt remorse and sadness. She could not see herself as "complete" without her horn. Nonetheless, as the movie conveyed, "You are still you, perfect and beautiful, no matter what happens or what you look like."

The next deep point was Twilight's desperation in wanting to save Ponyville over her friendship. This scene was honestly very hard to watch. After a delightful and joyous song "One Small Thing" by the Mane 5 and Princess Sky Star, it was discovered Twilight was trying to steal the pearl. This costs the Mane 6 their new seapony transformation and a banishment from Seaquestria. Twilight and Pinkie get into an argument, which results in Twilight stating she doesn't need her friends, paraphrasing. This was the big moment where Twilight realized she had become too desperate in the need of an item to save Ponyville and Canterlot, and completely forgot about the worth of her friends. This was where Tempest wanted Twilight, alone and with no one to defend her. This is perhaps the hardest lesson to swallow in the whole movie, because it teaches that you can't rely on physical objects to help you complete a task. In the end, it's the people/ponies/friends that matter the most that will help guide you through whatever you need. 

The last deep point I bring forth is one that has been repeated in countless movies, one of the first being "The Lion King", "Remember who you are". Returning to that hard scene where Twilight was desperate to save Ponyville, she forgot who she was. She forgot that she was the Princess of Friendship, and in that one scene where she confronted Tempest in that small cell, she said "Friendship didn't fail me...I failed friendship.". Friendship is an abstract idea. It is what brings us together. And in this world today, with all of this hate and stuff that's going around, we can easily get swept away in the vortex and forget who we really are, and in that moment, friendships can disappear with a poof. But alas, this quote has another meaning. Remember the pirates that the Mane 6 met who were supposedly henchmen of the Storm King? Remember how Rainbow Dash reminded them who they were and what they were meant to do with that one song "Time To Be Awesome?" Well, the same principle applies here. You can't let anyone steal your mojo and your charisma. That all belongs to you. 

 

To conclude, looking at the MLP Movie from an adult perspective really made me think about my journey through life thus far. It made me ask a lot of questions...such as:

• Do I know who I really am?
• Are my "friendships" really true and honest?
• Am I dwelling in past events too long?
• Has the past influenced my emotions?
• Am I letting people take advantage of me and making me forget who I am?
• Am I blaming other people for my wrongdoings when I am too desperate to complete a certain task?

There are a lot more questions out there. In the end, looking at the MLP Movie from an older perspective can really help you evaluate yourself from all points and make you think about what has been successful, and what you need to work on, so you can become the best you can. 

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

While I do have a few nitpicks with The Movie, its depth certainly isn't one of them; in fact, it's actually one of The Movie's (many) pros.

[blackstarraven 142]

22 hours ago, The Artist Formerly Known As A.V. said:

While I do have a few nitpicks with The Movie, its depth certainly isn't one of them; in fact, it's actually one of The Movie's (many) pros.

This...

 

I'm pretty critical of the movie after one viewing. Like... 6 out of 10 critical....

 

But that being said. Depth was not a issue. It was actually one of the strengths of the movie. Even the person I went with that had never seen ponies (And was not a huge fan of the movie, not being able to really figure out what was up with the characters) Actually enjoyed at least Tempest for the reason of being pretty dynamic.

[Castle Bleck 19,163]

54 minutes ago, blackstarraven said:

6 out of 10

 

Personally, I see it as more like 8/10.

[blackstarraven 142]

15 minutes ago, The Artist Formerly Known As A.V. said:

 

Personally, I see it as more like 8/10.

If it wat not for the simple problem of the Main Cast being so Stunningly Useless/Helpless in the first part of the movie.. I might go higher, but that was a huge issue. Like I might go as far to say that I totally disliked the first 1/2 of the movie because of it.....

I was literally like "Did.. they forget they have saved the world literally a few times now?"
There where just too many Idiot ball moments at first.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiotBall

-Also the Worf Effect is getting pretty ridiculous with the Princess at this point.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect

 

 

Just once (I'd be fine if its a episode) I want Celestia or Luna to show up at then of a Episode and actually beat some one... The Moral can be "Ask for help sooner" or something.

-

Best example of the idiot ball problem can be summed up in two ways.

 

#1: HALF OF THEM CAN FLY!

Literally how many times where they falling in this movie... Half of the group can fly. Dash has caught and saves multiple ponies at once before. Falling should have never been such a issue. It literally required them to forget that they where competent...

And that's not even addressing Teleportation on twilights part. And I'm not even having to count the point that the Movie started production in Season 5. They where all that capable back then...

 

#2: Magic.

Seriously, Twilight more or less showed less magical ability in this movie then she has sense like... season two maybe? And I'm not talking about fighting at the first attack. I'm talking about in the rest of the movie.

When threatened with being sold, they acted frightened... When she literally should have been like "We are insulted that you where going to sell us but sorry its not going to happen."

 

#3: They forget they could actually defend themselves.

-The point above going a bit farther.

Being confronted by tempest and two of those.. yeti guard things.

Vs. The six Former Elements of harmony....

Twilight has magic, including teleportation and shields.

Dash is literally super fast....

so on and so on.

 

 

Being boarded... Dash by herself should have been able to destory Tempests ship instead of just getting boarded... let alone Laser... Horn fire from Twilight.

You get the point.

 

-

Depth was not a issue in this movie...

but 6-7 out of 10 is all I can give it right now, because of how inept the wrighting was in other places just to make the story work.

If you story requires the characters to be stupid when they would not be to make a story work... Its simply not a well delivered story...

 

Later.. It works out very well.

I feel like this is two really GOOD episodes, after two of the Worst Episodes in the show.

[Ivan The Adorable 304]

I'd say purpose rather than depth is the word I would go for. One of the reasons the top brand kids movies do so well with adults is, I think, because they examine basic human questions in relatively uncomplicated scenarios that can serve easily as personal analogies. Always been a strong suit of FiM as well. Plot pacing and framing is iffy with the writing at times, but they've always been good at producing emotional weight at the right moments.

[nightshroud96 116]

On 10/11/2017 at 5:37 PM, blackstarraven said:

 

-Also the Worf Effect is getting pretty ridiculous with the Princess at this point.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheWorfEffect

 

 

Just once (I'd be fine if its a episode) I want Celestia or Luna to show up at then of a Episode and actually beat some one... The Moral can be "Ask for help sooner" or something.

-

 

 

 

I really want to enjoy the movie but what it did to the sisters(especially Luna for me) hindered my enjoyment big time.
It hurts so freaking much.

I wished at least Luna got to save the day a few times or something, like part of her redemption or something.

[Adorable Lovestar 243]

I think the more one looks at the MLP Movie in a critical or thoughtful light, the more obvious it becomes that not much thought was put into its characterization and execution. I'm glad you were able to find value in it, and everyone can interpret fiction in their own way, but having themes doesn't mean you've done those themes justice.