A few years ago, I reviewed the then-latest My Little Pony movie. I thought it was pretty good, but I also went into it with only one or two episodes’ worth of background information. Well, over the course of this introvert’s ironic hell that is lockdown, I have now watched every single episode of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, including those godawful Equestria Girls spin-offs. I would honestly rank it as one of my favourite animated shows, and where I was initially just confused at all the backlash its fandom has faced over the years, I am now even more annoyed at people drinking the Haterade just because people like something worth being invested in. So, as I take a look at this introduction to the newest incarnation of the show, understand that I’m not looking at it as a casual observer this time around.
Well, in terms of familiarity, it starts off on solid ground, as this takes place in the same continuity as FiM, just shifted forward several years. At this point in pony history, the Earth Ponies, horned Unicorns, and winged Pegasi, are now all separated from each other and live in constant fear of the other tribes. It’s a decent setup for a lot of the prejudicial themes to follow, but as the next step from where FiM ended, it’s also quite heartbreaking. The final episode was all about the Mane Six still being friends, even though their respective life paths had led them to physically drift apart, so seeing things go so very wrong along those lines is quite confronting.
But not nearly as confronting as what this film gets into, including racism, conspiracy theories, historical revisionism, mob mentality, and how the combination of all these things can give way to rule by tyrants with severe mommy issues. No, I haven’t gotten my notes mixed up with a Jordan Peele production; that’s what this kids’ film is actually taking a look at. As bizarre as it is that a film this pastel-coloured and covered in Dreamworks sheen manages to do a better job at depicting mob justice than Halloween freaking Kills… honestly, knowing how sharp the writing for the FiM series could get, this may be more timely but it sure as hell doesn’t feel out-of-place in this franchise.
This is definitely helped by our gang of main characters this time around, like Sunny Starscout (Vanessa Hudgens) who starts the main quest of reuniting the three pony factions, unicorn Izzy Moonbow (Kimiko Glenn) who is basically this generation’s Pinkie Pie, Pegasi sisters Pipp (Sofia Carson) and Zipp (Liza Koshy), and Hitch Trailblazer (James Marsden), a sheriff who’s trying to ‘keep the peace’ in his Earth Pony town. They work well as the main depiction of the conflict driving the main story, and while their individual personalities don’t stand out as well as the Mane Six, it’s early days for this incarnation, and they’ve thankfully got enough to work from in future instalments.
And that is the most important thing to consider here: This as the next phase of a franchise that hit its peak in popularity with its previous iteration. And in that vein, I’d say this is a decent, if briefly wobbly, first step into new territory. It certainly reflects just how much interpersonal relationships have changed since FiM first aired, and while it maintains the importance of friendship and unity between different peoples, its more modern take on pony society feels a bit lopsided. I mean, one of my favourite aspects of FiM is that it was a proper high-fantasy adventure series; trying to translate that kind of engagement into a post-fantasy world that has smartphones and social media… it just doesn’t hit the same.
But really, even with that in mind, I’m still way too engaged and way too brimming with respect for a family film going this hard with its themes. Between the terrific animation, the catchy-as-ever soundtrack, the queer-flag colour schemes throughout, and its resonant take on what is essentially racial prejudice, this is on a comparable quality level to what it’s building off of, and when this becomes a full series or whatever the hell they’re going to do with this… I can’t lie, I’m going to be along for the ride.
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