2017 was a crazy year for animation. On one hand, we got some of the best animated series and films ever made. And on the other hand, we also got some of the worst animated series and films ever made. As a long time fan of My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic, I was very excited to see this film. I watched it with my parents in theatres and younger me thought it was okay, like a 5\10 or 6\10. I'm still a fan of the franchise and a fan of cartoons, but ever since quarantine started, I started watching more anime. Of course, I still watch cartoons tho. Rewatching this film was a great idea. Now that I'm a different person with opinions that were different from my younger self's opinion, I was surprised. The film was better than what I remembered. Of course, it's not a masterpiece, it has many flaws.
This film is basically everything I wanted in an animated film. But sadly, some parts make me drag it down. I wouldn't say it was a massive disappoinment like Emily In Paris, but there were some parts that disappointed me.
To my points :
1. Story Good Story Traits - The film mixes everything I want in a film. A film about 6 friends going on an engaging adventure to stop an evil corrupted force and using magic to stop villains while balancing great musical sequences and hilarious jokes is a film I would kill to watch. This concept would possibly create my favorite film of all time.
Bad Story Traits - The adventure is a little bit predictable. I'm kinda mad that Tempest or whatever the name of this film's antagonist is wasn't explored a lot. Her backstory is sympathetic but I really want more besides "My horn broke so now I'm evil". The film also focused way to much on friendship. Sure, friendship was a huge theme in the series, but the film focuses on it way to much. I would love this film more if it had less "Friendship can save the universe!" things and more character development. Not to mention Tempest's redemption kinda falls flat. It kinda upsets me that the villain had another redemption thing. Even tho I love the series, a big issue had with it was that the villains always redeem themselves. Sure, villains redeeming does push the friendship is magic message more but it's very repetitive and predictable. Not to mention, the pacing goes everywhere. It goes from slow to fast to slow to fast to very slow to very fast to very slow.
2. Animation Good Animation Traits - It's been a while since I last saw a mainstream western cartoon use 2D animation. The main 2D animated films I watch nowadays are just anime. It's refreshing to see these beautiful visuals that could absolutely never work in 3D. The magic sequences and the fluid animation is so good.
Bad Animation Traits - Honestly, there's nothing for me to complain about. My only complaint is that the cat guy who's name forget has a character design that doesn't really hit the My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic aesthetic. His color pallette is bland and hits more of a pirate or cowboy film aesthetic than a fantasy adventure about different kinds of horses aesthetic.
Overall, this film was good. I don't know why it has such a low score. The visuals are easily the best part of the film. The film has a concept that can create my all time favorite film. However, a lot of things that I didn't like about the film drag the score down from a possible 10\10 to a 7\10. I kinda realized that I had the same problem with Boku No Hero Academia. Boku No Hero Academia had a bit of an identity problem. It had both boring and uninteresting characters and fun and interesting characters. But my biggest problem in Boku No Hero Academia is the pacing that goes from super slow to super fast. My Little Pony : The Movie just feels like the American animated adventure fantasy film version of Boku No Hero Academia. It had a good concept, an okay story, amazing animation, good and bad character and horrible pacing, just like Boku No Hero Academia.
This film is basically everything I wanted in an animated film. But sadly, some parts make me drag it down. I wouldn't say it was a massive disappoinment like Emily In Paris, but there were some parts that disappointed me.
To my points :
1. Story Good Story Traits - The film mixes everything I want in a film. A film about 6 friends going on an engaging adventure to stop an evil corrupted force and using magic to stop villains while balancing great musical sequences and hilarious jokes is a film I would kill to watch. This concept would possibly create my favorite film of all time.
Bad Story Traits - The adventure is a little bit predictable. I'm kinda mad that Tempest or whatever the name of this film's antagonist is wasn't explored a lot. Her backstory is sympathetic but I really want more besides "My horn broke so now I'm evil". The film also focused way to much on friendship. Sure, friendship was a huge theme in the series, but the film focuses on it way to much. I would love this film more if it had less "Friendship can save the universe!" things and more character development. Not to mention Tempest's redemption kinda falls flat. It kinda upsets me that the villain had another redemption thing. Even tho I love the series, a big issue had with it was that the villains always redeem themselves. Sure, villains redeeming does push the friendship is magic message more but it's very repetitive and predictable. Not to mention, the pacing goes everywhere. It goes from slow to fast to slow to fast to very slow to very fast to very slow.
2. Animation Good Animation Traits - It's been a while since I last saw a mainstream western cartoon use 2D animation. The main 2D animated films I watch nowadays are just anime. It's refreshing to see these beautiful visuals that could absolutely never work in 3D. The magic sequences and the fluid animation is so good.
Bad Animation Traits - Honestly, there's nothing for me to complain about. My only complaint is that the cat guy who's name forget has a character design that doesn't really hit the My Little Pony : Friendship Is Magic aesthetic. His color pallette is bland and hits more of a pirate or cowboy film aesthetic than a fantasy adventure about different kinds of horses aesthetic.
Overall, this film was good. I don't know why it has such a low score. The visuals are easily the best part of the film. The film has a concept that can create my all time favorite film. However, a lot of things that I didn't like about the film drag the score down from a possible 10\10 to a 7\10. I kinda realized that I had the same problem with Boku No Hero Academia. Boku No Hero Academia had a bit of an identity problem. It had both boring and uninteresting characters and fun and interesting characters. But my biggest problem in Boku No Hero Academia is the pacing that goes from super slow to super fast. My Little Pony : The Movie just feels like the American animated adventure fantasy film version of Boku No Hero Academia. It had a good concept, an okay story, amazing animation, good and bad character and horrible pacing, just like Boku No Hero Academia.