Well, if you ever watched an episode of this series and thought, I wonder what it would be like if they made this four times longer, gave it a much bigger budget, and half assed the story. Then this movie is for you.
I definitely wouldn't call myself a brony, but I've seen plenty of episodes and my daughter loves the show. This movie feels so much more hollow and isolated then the show. Ponyville is attacked by the Storm King (Live Schriber) with the help of his second in command Tempest (Emily Blunt). The six main characters flee and attempt to find allies that will help them defeat this foe.
We follow the six leads on this adventure, but their characters that are very distinguished and defined on the series are muted here. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity all get one brief character moment and that's it. Pinky Pie and Twilight Sparkle have a fair bit to do and Fluttershy well she gets nothing. You could cut her from the movie and have it bare no impact on the story. Actually, you can cut everyone but Pinky Pie and Twilight Sparkle and have the same story. The whole TV series is about friendship, but this movie opts to ignore most of the key friendships in the series.
Let's look at villains. In the series easily one of the best villains is Discord voiced wonderfully by John De Lancie essentially reprising Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We also got Nightmare Moon and the Changelings. All of which were far better villains than the bumbling Storm King. Discord is a very silly villain, but he still has menace. While Storm King was just silly but without the menace. How does a character like that build an army and invade with no warning? I get doing a new villain, but shouldn't this villain feel like more of a threat. As it is, he feels like a lesser threat than the six have already beaten dozens of times.
If you think this isn't a movie made for me. This is a movie made for fans. My 9 year old daughter who loves the series spent a fair bit of time after the movie complaining about how it took elements for the series and squandered them. She seems a heartbeat away from screaming betrayal. And if the movie can't satisfy non-fans or fans, then who was it possibly made for?
I definitely wouldn't call myself a brony, but I've seen plenty of episodes and my daughter loves the show. This movie feels so much more hollow and isolated then the show. Ponyville is attacked by the Storm King (Live Schriber) with the help of his second in command Tempest (Emily Blunt). The six main characters flee and attempt to find allies that will help them defeat this foe.
We follow the six leads on this adventure, but their characters that are very distinguished and defined on the series are muted here. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity all get one brief character moment and that's it. Pinky Pie and Twilight Sparkle have a fair bit to do and Fluttershy well she gets nothing. You could cut her from the movie and have it bare no impact on the story. Actually, you can cut everyone but Pinky Pie and Twilight Sparkle and have the same story. The whole TV series is about friendship, but this movie opts to ignore most of the key friendships in the series.
Let's look at villains. In the series easily one of the best villains is Discord voiced wonderfully by John De Lancie essentially reprising Q from Star Trek: The Next Generation. We also got Nightmare Moon and the Changelings. All of which were far better villains than the bumbling Storm King. Discord is a very silly villain, but he still has menace. While Storm King was just silly but without the menace. How does a character like that build an army and invade with no warning? I get doing a new villain, but shouldn't this villain feel like more of a threat. As it is, he feels like a lesser threat than the six have already beaten dozens of times.
If you think this isn't a movie made for me. This is a movie made for fans. My 9 year old daughter who loves the series spent a fair bit of time after the movie complaining about how it took elements for the series and squandered them. She seems a heartbeat away from screaming betrayal. And if the movie can't satisfy non-fans or fans, then who was it possibly made for?
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