Why did the movie get mixed reviews?

[CastletonSnob 3,074]

Why do you think the reception for the movie was mixed? Was it because of the stigma still attached to MLP, or was the movie just not that good?

[King of Canterlot 9,603]

....... maybe it was because everyone has they're own opinions about the movie, from people who have never seen an episode of MLP to the rabid fans, they all put in they're two cents worth

[FirePuppy 735]

I don’t know, but I can tell you it grossed less money than any other animated feature film since 2010, before the show premiered.

And worse yet, because of its below average reception, one country around the world deliberately even rejected this film!

Edited April 11, 2018 by FirePuppy

[SDP40F amtrak 2,447]

Yeah I argee with

@King of Canterlot  I think people see it the movie was great but other see it bad  from crazy fandom and they think nothing special about the movie

Edited April 11, 2018 by Moondancer is best

[The Recherche 29,968]

Most of the professional film critics seem to dislike how the film has a bunch of celebrity cameos, a lot of cliches, and Oscar-baity music. That's from what I've seen, anyways. 

Whether or not you agree with this is entirely up to you. 

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

Well, it seems most people who actually went and saw the film seemed to overall enjoy it, at worst some just found it sort of uninspiring... however it is the critics that tore it apart. And I would imagine it is the bias of it being a 90 minute toy commercial. Most people are content to sit through just a 30 second ad and call it good. Obviously it was more than that, but going by some reviews you read, several did not even go see the film, they just watched a toy ad, imagined that going on for 90 minutes, and wrote their review about their dislike of their own imagination.

And of course like any film, some watched it and just did not like it. After all, it was cute and fun and all, but pretty predictable and by the numbers.

[FirePuppy 735]

There was even no excuse for those crazy, insane kids to go see Blade Runner or The Mountain Between Us instead of My Little Pony, like there was no excuse for those past kids that sneaked in to see South Park instead of Wild Wild West back in 1999.

Don’t also forget that the theater I normally go to deliberately rejected the MLP trailer from playing there, as if they thought it was a redband, which shows them how insane they are to the audience.

Edited April 11, 2018 by FirePuppy

[GrimGrimoire 4,973]

8 minutes ago, FirePuppy said:

There was even no excuse for those crazy, insane kids to go see Blade Runner or The Mountain Between Us instead of My Little Pony,

This explains a lot.

Anyway, sure there was. They wanted to see Blade Runner or TMBU instead of a cartoon about ponies. Opinions, they are a thing.

[SDP40F amtrak 2,447]

3 minutes ago, GrimGrimoire said:

This explains a lot.

Anyway, sure there was. They wanted to see Blade Runner or TMBU instead of a cartoon about ponies. Opinions, they are a thing.

Yeah every where is opinions no matter if flim was great or bad 

[FirePuppy 735]

2 minutes ago, GrimGrimoire said:

This explains a lot.

Anyway, sure there was. They wanted to see Blade Runner or TMBU instead of a cartoon about ponies. Opinions, they are a thing.

But those movies aren’t even age appropriate for those kids! Did they sneak in like the underage South Park fans from 1999, or did their parents forbid them from seeing that MLP movie, which they shouldn’t have done?

[Luminance 2,186]

People go in to see it and some like it and some don't. The group that dislike it are more vocal and like fire, their word of mouth spread. 

[Kyoshi Frost Wolf 41,467]

I am gonna go with the option 'the movie wasn't that good'. It is a film that I like less and less upon rethinking of it. It does have some really good moments, Open Your Eyes in particular, but they aren't enough to save the film from mediocrity.

[Drunkfrank 1,125]

4 hours ago, FirePuppy said:

I don’t know, but I can tell you it grossed less money than any other animated feature film since 2010, before the show premiered.

And worse yet, because of its below average reception, one country around the world deliberately even rejected this film!

That might have something to do with airing in so few theaters and a massive lack of advertising. 
 

Because there is a massive stigma against MLP. Did you even read some of the reviews? They are awful and not at all constructive (with some exceptions obviously) To those who go "oh lol the movie just wasn't good lel" No. Objectively worse movies like Boss Baby and Despicable Me 3 have higher ratings than the MLP film.

Face the fact of "professional" critics in this day and age, if the movie had been called "Disneys My Little Pony: The Movie" It would have an 80% or higher.

If I had to place an objective critic score based on the animation, acting, music and plot, I think it should have been a 70-80%, that is very fitting for the film.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

MLP:FIM is closing in on 200 episodes, (I think season 9, episode six, makes two hundred!) a spin off series in "Equestria Girls" and a theatrical release animated film. That's good enough for me. Think about it. That's a hearty body of work. Who cares what critics said?

[Ganondorf8 11,306]

Considering how little it was marketed by both Hasbro and Lionsgate combined with the fact that it was a ninety minute toy commercial, critics were split when it came down to how they interpreted the movie. It didn't help matters that the movie chose to play it safe rather than take risks and that some choices were seen as questionable at best. Granted, Hasbro still haven't released actual figures in terms of how much was made--unless they have in which case I never saw anything--which has me suspect that they didn't think the movie was going to be all that successful. I still stand by my opinion that the movie was okay in that it had some good ideas but was ultimately dragged down by some poor ones. Would I want to watch it again? I would but it isn't what I'd call a priority.

[KatonRyu 1,033]

I'm firmly with the 'it just wasn't very good' camp. Lots of setpieces, very little substance. It had some good bits, but overall it really wasn't impressive. I think both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games were better movies, and those were spinoffs. This movie should've beaten both of those, but the entire budget seems to have gone into flashy graphics to disguise the weak plot.

[Jeric 46,851]

On 4/10/2018 at 8:48 PM, FirePuppy said:

There was even no excuse for those crazy, insane kids to go see Blade Runner or The Mountain Between Us instead of My Little Pony, like there was no excuse for those past kids that sneaked in to see South Park instead of Wild Wild West back in 1999.

Don’t also forget that the theater I normally go to deliberately rejected the MLP trailer from playing there, as if they thought it was a redband, which shows them how insane they are to the audience.

Oh come off it. I already told you that isn't how trailers are selected. You know almost nothing about the exhibition process and less about NATO. I'll keep it simple, you're wrong. 

 

Anyway, it got mixed reviews because it was film with quality that would lead to mixed reviews. It also got mixed reviews from the fandom which is more invested in the film that the average reviewer. Take that for what you will. It was good, not garbage and certainly not a masterpiece. It met my expectations and it deserved the reviews it got. 

On 4/11/2018 at 3:22 AM, Ganondorf8 said:

Considering how little it was marketed by both Hasbro and Lionsgate combined with the fact that it was a ninety minute toy commercial, critics were split when it came down to how they interpreted the movie. It didn't help matters that the movie chose to play it safe rather than take risks and that some choices were seen as questionable at best. Granted, Hasbro still haven't released actual figures in terms of how much was made--unless they have in which case I never saw anything--which has me suspect that they didn't think the movie was going to be all that successful. I still stand by my opinion that the movie was okay in that it had some good ideas but was ultimately dragged down by some poor ones. Would I want to watch it again? I would but it isn't what I'd call a priority.

Theater owners were soft specifically because of the distributor, which they have an almost antagonistic relationship with. Hasbro made a huge mistake going with Lionsgate. No amount of advertising would have overcome the poor relationship between NATO and Lionsgate. 

 

[Ganondorf8 11,306]

1 hour ago, Jeric said:

Theater owners were soft specifically because of the distributor, which they have an almost antagonistic relationship with. Hasbro made a huge mistake going with Lionsgate. No amount of advertising would have overcome the poor relationship between NATO and Lionsgate. 

I never knew that Lionsgate had such a reputation.

[kaiser5578 340]

Personally most of the songs seemed a little... Not up to rate with the usual show (I expected a movie to generate at least one standout song)

also the big bad of the movie was impossible to take seriously and only betrayed Tempest for the plots sake

they ignore so many assets the show has set up, why did they go for the hippogriff? And not the dragons? The yaks? The changelings?(maybe not the last one but you get the point)

aldo where was Discord? Starlight? The royal guard at all? I mean Shining, your wife was just turned to stone an you're not even present.

also the inconsistency of Twilight's character with the show.

(forgive me Lauren for I have sinned)

Edited April 12, 2018 by kaiser5578

[Steve Piranha 29,424]

To be honest, the movie didn't do anything other animated films have done. However, it's clear many of it's bashers didn't even bothered to watch it, so it's clear there's the stigma present 

[SDP40F amtrak 2,447]

6 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

To be honest, the movie didn't do anything other animated films have done. However, it's clear many of it's bashers didn't even bothered to watch it, so it's clear there's the stigma present 

Yeah some people just want to bash it just because it was great enough

Including some marture bronies  and anti bronies

Edited April 12, 2018 by Moondancer is best

[FirePuppy 735]

On 4/12/2018 at 3:31 PM, Jeric said:

Oh come off it. I already told you that isn't how trailers are selected. You know almost nothing about the exhibition process and less about NATO. I'll keep it simple, you're wrong.

But I do know this: Brenden Concord 14 did show a redband trailer for Sausage Party to the audience that was aiming to see Finding Dory once.

http://ew.com/article/2016/06/29/theater-plays-sausage-party-trailer-before-finding-dory-apologizes/

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/sausage-party-trailer-finding-dory-907286

They realized their mistake, apologized for it, and fully understood that the trailer was not appropriate for Dory and promised to never schedule movie trailers like those to children ever again, and so an exact year later in the aftermath, they deliberately did this to the My Little Pony trailer as well, mistaking it as a redband.

[Karnak 187]

On 4/10/2018 at 5:36 PM, FirePuppy said:

I don’t know, but I can tell you it grossed less money than any other animated feature film since 2010, before the show premiered.

And worse yet, because of its below average reception, one country around the world deliberately even rejected this film!

Which country was that?

[AveryGamerDude 4,640]

Eh I kinda understand the mixed reception. Even though I enjoyed it, I still feel like you need to be a die-hard fan in order to like it. The movie had some pretty good strengths, but the writing was kinda cheesy at times. I don't think the average non-brony would consider it a good film.

[Lunar Glow 676]

If I had watched the movie not knowing anything about My Little Pony, I honestly would have strongly disliked the film. But as this is not the case, I liked (not loved) the movie because of all the cute and funny moments the writers snuck in. Unfortunately these cute and funny moments could really only be caught by bronies who understand the references and know the characters. This movie was obviously made exclusively for fans of the My Little Pony show and past EQG movies, weather it was made intentional by the writers or not. Because of this, half of the mixed bag reviews were from people who watched the movie from a random standpoint, not knowing any background, and the other half bronies. I personally believe it wasn’t a very good film in general, but I have my love of My Little Pony to fall back on. The non-bronies don’t; I think that’s why.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Lunar Glow