Sarah C

Just kind of “eh”. Went in with an open mind after seeing shockingly good reviews but I think a lot of that comes from people who are just so happy to see mlp stuff they don’t really care if it’s actually good. I used to like G4 too, fell out a long time ago as the fandom grew toxic and thought a new generation might be a good way to get back in on a cleaner slate. This wasn’t it though. Characters were pretty generic. Mlp is like the one franchise where having quickly recognizable gimmicks is a GOOD thing with character designs/personalities. In this movie, they’re all around pretty bland, from their appearances (uninspired color schemes, samey shapes, even boring, generic cutie marks that don’t mean anything. Background character quality at best.) to their personalities (one-note, shallow, and without any sort of meaningful development or arc) to even their names (I mean really? The hell kind of name for a my little pony is “Izzy”? What does the name “Hitch” refer to? Why is the red and yellow one named “sprout”??? They don’t match or mean anything.) The plot was pretty basic and predictable, no real drama or intrigue there. Again, generic. The only strong suit was the animation, but even then it was mediocre at best given the current capabilities. Plus the pony faces felt much like that of any Disney princess these days, just big eyes little mouth little nose, etc etc. repeat and repeat, slap some ears on and now it’s a pony. All in all, just a generic kids movie banking on brand recognition with a plot and characters that could have been procedurally generated. It’ll entertain some toddlers and do just fine there, but if you’re looking for any substance, you won’t find it. Kids deserve better.