Idea for a better climax and resolution

[HereComesTom 2,232]

I know there's a thread for reviews of the movie, but...as I was typing there, I got an idea in my head for a resolution to the movie that, I think, would've made more sense and been a lot more satisfying.  So I hit control-A, control-X, and started again in a new thread.

The short version is that I thought the movie was overall good, but the resolution wasn't up the same standards as the rest of the film and left me disappointed.

 

I just got done watching the movie, and here's what started as my hot take, but turned into a kind of a wish-fulfillment fanfic---the wish being that the resolution had been more satisfying.  I'll give a few thoughts on the movie before I dive into what I wish the resolution had been, and what problems I saw with the resolution:

The majority of the movie was well-done, and on par with G-4's quality and characterization. 

The gags were actually really good and well-timed:  Sunny getting her comeuppance for her preachiness at the beginning (that really drives the point home about how preachiness doesn't change minds or accomplish anything!), Hitch giving a speech about "no clue too small" right when HUGE screens show Sunny's face, and of course the running gag with the poor earth pony who got dragged off by balloons!  They did a great job with the comedy.

The songs were good, some were terrific even, but...well, maybe it would've been better for the pacing of them if they'd been less densely packed at the beginning and less sparse toward the end.  That's minor, of course.

The conflict made sense, the character development was quite good (I loved how Alphabittle and Queen Haven were happy to help the main characters toward the end after seeing what a crazy adventure they'd been on and actually getting a bit invested in helping them bring magic back), and...well, showing what power can do to a pony who's not ready for it is...downright creepy.  I mean, someday I hope to be a blogger with a lot of influence, and the thought that power can change someone from harmless to villainy is...ugh.  It's as unsettling as all-get-out.  Though maybe the real message is that fear can turn someone from harmless to villainy, now that I think about it...

On that note, I liked the message, too.  Fear is a big divider IRL, and they did an admirable job of keeping real-life politics out of the movie...as I should with this post.  So...ending this paragraph here.

There are a lot of worldbuilding questions that are left unanswered, probably intentionally:  what caused the division in the first place?  Why didn't Windigoes come back?  (We've been asking that for over a year, now!)  How did the sun, moon, seasons, and weather function without pony magic, when Equestria in G-4 relied on it to the point where they never moved without it?  What happened to Everfree Forest, since it grows out of control without some kind of powerful source of magic holding it back, like the Tree of Harmony or Starswirl??  Hopefully the series will address these at some point; since bronies are running the show, undoubtedly they know we're wondering these things, and are eager to tease the answers.  Actually, these unanswered questions are the main things that make me want to see the series, if I'm being honest:  there's no telling from the movie where the series is going to go, since the movie seemed to wrap up its own conflict completely.

 

...Which brings me to the main hangup I have with the movie (and the ultimate point of making a separate thread): 

The Resolution.  I found it deeply unsatisfying.

Out of nowhere, Sunny realizes that bringing ponies together is the real key, when they'd spent the whole movie, and the climax in particular, trying to bring the three crystals together.  The crystals failed, even though the lighthouse looked like it was specifically built to house the crystals, and had a pedestal that literally had openings to accept those crystals.  Those crystals, by all rights, should've done a thing when brought together on that pedestal, when there's an artifact built to bring them together!  And when brought together, those crystals...did nothing.  I don't know who's more disappointed:  the characters, or me!

Then Sunny, in the ruins of her own home that she's lived in all her life, instead of angsting like she should at a dark moment like that, gives a speech about how the real key is bringing ponies together---who've been arguing with each other on sight just about the entire movie!  Why did they suddenly decide to stop arguing and stop seeing each other as enemies for that speech, and not Sunny's speech at the start of the movie?  At the start of the movie, the earth ponies didn't listen to Sunny because it didn't make sense for them to do so.  But at the end (and right before Sprout unveils his Optimus Prime knockoff secret weapon), it also didn't make sense for earth ponies to listen to her...but they did anyway!?!  Pegasi and unicorns make a kind of sense, since Alphabittle and Queen Haven were invested in the crystals for a bit, themselves.  But earth ponies changing their minds?!  Either Hitch has just as much influence as Sunny thought, or else this makes no sense at all!

What also doesn't make sense is exactly how Sunny gets the epiphany that bringing ponies together was the real key.  Where'd that even come from?  Where's the foreshadowing or the explanation for how she got that idea??  If, at some point during the movie, she'd read in a friendship journal how much unity accomplished in the G-4 days, or how it's what Twilight realized at the climax of her own finale, then that might've been enough foreshadowing for her to get that epiphany.  Even better, if she'd been buried in rubble after her house collapsed, and then gotten that epiphany after a unicorn and a pegasus and an earth pony worked together to dig her out of the lighthouse's rubble, that would've worked, too---heck, if the magic began to come back for the ponies who were digging her out precisely because they were working together to dig her out, that would've caused her speech about unity being the real magic to make loads of sense, since she'd simply be figuring out something that was already happening before her (and the audience's) eyes!

I can see a lot of emotional torque from Pipp and Zipp jumping up and down to try to figure out just where Sunny is in the rubble pile, and suddenly finding they can fly.  And from Alphabittle and Izzy discovering as they're pulling rubble out piece-by-piece that they can suddenly use magic again (especially if that turns into a joke where, after Izzy comments on magic returning, Alphabittle starts the "bing bong" gag and Izzy stops him), and Hitch discovering, as he tries to push a big chunk of rubble out of the way, that he's a lot stronger physically than he was a minute ago!  Then, as this is happening, Sunny is finally dug out of the rubble, and then she says she realizes that the crystals weren't the only thing that needed to be brought together; ponies needed to work together, too, and then the crystals do their thing and bring magic back!  (And reassemble Sunny's house!)  That resolution makes sense, is emotionally satisfying, and honestly, I think a resolution like that would've been worthy of the quality of the rest of the film, and would've been the perfect cherry on top to turn this from a good movie into a great movie!

(Seriously, @Pipp Petals, if there's a director's cut coming to DVD, then Hasbro, Boulder Media, and anyone and everyone who worked on this film have my express, written permission to use all and any ideas in this post!  It'd make for an even better movie!)

...But all that stuff I posted about digging her out and making the resolution make sense?  It was just an impromptu fanfic.  In the middle of a review.  What actually happened in the movie that got released today, was that her epiphany came out of nowhere...and then she becomes an alicorn. 

Because of the crystals.  

...Wait, what?

First, everything the movie tells us is that the crystals are important MacGuffins.  The whole conflict hinges on getting those crystals together, and literally all the foreshadowing tells us that bringing the crystals together is key.  Then right at the climax, out of nowhere, we're told the real magic isn't in the crystals:  it's in bringing ponies together, which is an epiphany that comes out of nowhere, and unlike the bring-the-crystals-together thing, had zero foreshadowing.

And then, after that speech and epiphany, the speech and epiphany gets completely nullified!  ...You know, when I put it that way, I suppose it should've been satisfying to see such a badly-done epiphany get nullified, but it sure didn't feel satisfying at the time.  Anyhow, the speech and epiphany get nullified when it turns out the crystals really do have magic in them!  I mean, they have to be just as important as the rest of the foreshadowing told us they were, since they put a magic-restoring Aurora Borealis into the sky and turned Sunny into an alicorn!

Now, a lot of other people posting about the G-5 movie have a problem with how fast Sunny turned into an alicorn:  it took Twilight three seasons, but it took Sunny one movie.  Personally, I don't mind Sunny turning into an alicorn that quickly:  I've read enough of the books to know that Cadence's transformation took about the same amount of time that Sunny's did, and Cadence's good deed was saving one village, albeit saving them from a fate worse than death.  Sunny's transformation involved reviving magic itself throughout Equestria, so it was bigger in scope and took a great deal more effort than Cadence's.  The speed of Sunny's transformation is not what I mind.

What I do mind is that I'm being jerked around:  first the crystals are important, then they aren't, then they are---in the span of about two minutes, no less.  I also mind that plot points and epiphanies are being pulled out of thin air.  True as it may be that Twilight Sparkle would've been glad to see Sunny have that epiphany, and the epiphany would've made perfect sense from a G-4 perspective given everything the G-4 characters have seen and done, it doesn't make sense that Sunny would realize it, centuries later in G-5!  If it had been properly foreshadowed and set up, the epiphany could've worked...but the setup just wasn't there.

Plus we're totally ignoring that the main character just lost her home, aren't we?  I mean, magic has created castles ex nihilo and fixed castles that were pounded into rubble during G-4, so why can't magic do that for Sunny?  It'd show just how wonderful magic can really be in this setting if they had shown it fixing her lighthouse, and it would've added to the emotional torque of the conclusion, too.

 

So...for the vast majority of its duration, the G-5 movie genuinely was a good movie.  But the resolution really left a bad taste in my mouth, and since we remember the ending the most, it kind of marred the whole movie for me.  I really don't want it to; I really want to like G-5 as much as I liked G-4!

...Maybe the solution for me should be to pretend that my they-dig-her-out-and-discover-the-magic-is-back narrative is what really happened in the movie, and that her epiphany actually made sense...

 

 

What do you guys think of my proposed alternate resolution?  Am I making a mountain out of a molehill?  Or do you think that changing about five minutes of the movie the way I proposed here, to get a better resolution, would've changed it from a good movie to great movie?

[HedonismBot 218]

27 minutes ago, HereComesTom said:

What happened to Everfree Forest, since it grows out of control without some kind of powerful source of magic holding it back, like the Tree of Harmony or Starswirl??

At least that could be explained by the forest relying on magic of its own to grow.

Edited September 25, 2021 by HedonismBot

[Tom Gallagher 33,521]

I know! Exactly my problems with the ending! I want to know what happened to the Mane Six!

[Truffles 2,033]

I absolutely love the idea of a woozy Sunny seeing her friends work together to free her from under the rubble as being the catalyst for her epiphany. Yes, I also had a problem with Sunny's realization coming out of nowhere. It's like I said in my review: There a lot of telling and not showing in this movie, and the audience is just supposed to accept what the characters are telling us at face value.

[HereComesTom 2,232]

You know...something else, something with even more emotional torque that'd probably have bronies crying at the end of it, would be if Sunny, after she was dug out, appeared to be dead, with some kind of last words about it all being worth it as her eyes roll back and close.  Then she has a near-death experience where she meets her father again, meets the mane six in the afterlife, gets to hear a speech about how they're all so proud of her, then she gets told her story isn't over, but just beginning---and then she comes back to life as an alicorn thanks to the crystals.  That would be just a glorious tearjerker!

Again:  Hasbro and their licensees and whoever they give permission to have my express, written permission to use these concepts!  Go ahead and retcon it before our eyes; it'll be worth it!

[Truffles 2,033]

I like the idea of Sunny and her dad getting that kind of closure in a near-death scene, but I'm not crazy about fake death scenes in general since they are such an overused trope in children's films. I'd rather have Sunny lose consciousness under the rubble, square things away with her dad, and then get pulled back after she's released from the pile. No sorrow among the ReMane 4 and no cheap pulls on heartstrings by pretending she could be gone forever since they wouldn't think she was dead yet anyway.

The meeting her dad is a bit complicated, however, by the fact that her mom is missing, too. If she's dead she would have to appear as well - which might be jarring to suddenly introduce a new character that way.

Also I doubt Hasbro would ever let the franchise confirm the deaths of any of the G4 characters since they would like to keep them in their back pocket as a potential plot twist for the series. If the series ever does have an episode where the Mane 5 visit the Mane 6's graves, I'll consider myself flabbergasted.

[Skylight Scintillate 1,851]

Yeah I wasn't exactly thrilled by the ending either. Perhaps they could have foreshadowed the importance of uniting the three groups when the mane five where together or something.

[HereComesTom 2,232]

14 hours ago, Truffles said:

The meeting her dad is a bit complicated, however, by the fact that her mom is missing, too. If she's dead she would have to appear as well - which might be jarring to suddenly introduce a new character that way.

Ah---my second idea definitely had its flaws!  Thanks for pointing that out.

[Valeska 184]

The concept of the ponies digging Sunny out of the rubble sounds like a way better ending to me. It adds more emotion!

[Metemponychosis 1,236]

The thing with the crystals mimics Twilight and her friends with the Elements of Harmony. It was a nice touch.

I have problems with the movie, but that ending (pony Kylo Ren aside) was not it.