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Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat? Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media?

Spoilers down below. Haven't seen the movie? Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

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Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh? Well it was.........something...

Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again). And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative. I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years.

So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation. Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation. It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show. They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas. So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area. I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully. Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past. Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom.

An interesting way to segue into this next part. Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it. Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators. They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one. But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER! Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement.

See if I can sequence this a bit. Let's start with the story. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show. Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know. Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses. Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital.

Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets. I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I? From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown. You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster. Get to that part in a second.

Songs? As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one: The Villain Song. And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song". The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all. I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher.

Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow. I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with. I haven't a clue what the problem with it was.

Finally, how about the characters. We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits. I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair. Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat. Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end. Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions. Loved that guy.

Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax. Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind. This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain. Even his own funny moments couldn't save him. And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti. Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey.

On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn. Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list. Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?). Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown. Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down.

The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do. I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom.

Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across. Side-note: She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned. We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself. Getting there soon, promise.

Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long.

Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight.

Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier. Honestly want to know what became of those guys now.

Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon. The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool? TF2 Workshop! Make a mod! NOW!

Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks. That's uh....that's about it.

....you all hate me now for this: Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace. Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions. Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie: When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them. Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit. And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect. Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie. But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco. It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains. I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10.

Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."

Description
Has the show gotten one of those characters that doesn't know what a sense of humor is and fights back with combat? Or am I thinking of a lot of reformed characters from other media?

Spoilers down below. Haven't seen the movie? Well the DVD/Blu-Ray aren't far behind.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Um...so that was the movie I had almost missed out on, huh? Well it was.........something...

Ok, so I'm afraid this "review" is going to be EXTREMELY difficult to judge because the night before I actually watched Disney/Pixar's Coco first (by the way, 10/10, would DVD/Blu-Ray again). And sitting down to watch this movie second was probably a huge mistake as this movie left me with a rather sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps if I waited to see Coco later, then I wouldn't feel this...negative. I'm the kind of person that goes to the movies a ton so I'm pretty much judging this movie along with all the other movies I've gone to see in the past several years.

So let's get an obvious good thing out of the way first; the movie's return to 2-D or 2.5-D animation. Never in a long time since Princess and the Frog in 2009 have I been glad to see the return of hand-drawn styled animation. It's actually quite interesting when you learn that the movie characters were actually made 3-D FIRST before becoming 2-D characters in a 3-D world. Speaking of which, a major chunk of the pony characters don't feel like repeatedly used poses like in the TV show. They've been given a similar design to the show but more expressive and created with greater, fluid movement in a few areas. So of course Pinkie Pie would be the one to mostly get the spotlight in this area. I think people were worried about the 3-D landscaping dampening the style, but I'll let it slide as they did create the landscapes beautifully. Plus 3-D environments have worked for 2-D movies in the past. Talk to a good chunk of Disney Renaissance movies like Beauty and the Beast's Ballroom.

An interesting way to segue into this next part. Whereas the Disney Movies were mostly the movie first and merchandise later, Hasbro's the company that will make a product first then get their animators to make an episode or movie around it. Also I am aware that Hasbro has one hell of a leash on these animators. They've probably had a ton of amazing ideas for a My Little Pony movie to appeal to all audiences instead of the targeted one. But what I was given to view not fell into my low expectations...it went even LOWER! Perhaps being exposed to Coco first had ruined my enjoyment for this as there was much needed room for improvement.

See if I can sequence this a bit. Let's start with the story. Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship has created a massive party in an unusually-styled Canterlot that's looking a bit spacious than the busting city I'm usually seeing in the show. Through some comedic introductions, a song and a series of show-related cameos we are given the things that the outside audience needs to know. Things get shaken up when Tempest Shadow, an broken-horned unicorn visitor representing for the Storm King, arrives with an army to take over the entire kingdom in order to siphon the magic out of the four princesses. Now it's up to Twilight and her five friends (not six, Starlight Glimmer got shoved out of the spotlight) to find aid outside Equestria and take back their home capital.

Interestingly enough, the one hour and forty-four run time actually felt kind of long when normally I'm sitting for two to three hour-long movies...but then it quickly sped through the story in a poor pace to show off their new toys/playsets and have money left in their budgets. I'm probably not the first to say this movie was poorly paced, am I? From memory, I think the longest we've stuck with a setting outside Canterlot was probably the desert city of Klugetown. You could probably argue that perhaps it was Hippogriffia/Seaquestria but events there kinda made me WANT to make it go faster. Get to that part in a second.

Songs? As a 90's kid, you know that most of the songs are either set aside or forgotten (like the ones in this film) for the most important one: The Villain Song. And Tempest Shadow's Open Up Your Eyes (currently having its instrumental being spammed repeatedly during this typing) is indeed worthy of the title "Villain Song". The setting, the lighting, the flashback made by a different team (according to the credits), I loved it all. I'd say it reminds me of Unleash the Magic from Friendship Games but I rank this song much higher.

Honorary note for Sia's Rainbow. I'm being told by some reviews that the song felt a bit too somber for a finale but I don't know, this felt like a calm, perfect way to wrap up the movie with. I haven't a clue what the problem with it was.

Finally, how about the characters. We've got your familiar TV show cast along with a ton of celebrity voices, including Sia as Songbird Serenade at the beginning and end of the movie who is literally modeled after one of her actual outfits. I chuckled when I dug up her photo, I don't know how she manages to see through that hair. Other noteworthy celebrities that got a good chunk of screen time were Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, Liev Schriber as the Storm King, Zoe Saldana as Captain Celaeno, Michael Peña as Grubber the Hedgehog and Taye Diggs as Capper the anthropomorphic cat. Most have been given the appropriate amount of screen time while others (STORM KING, MAIN ANTAGONIST OF THE FREAKING MOVIE), were held off until the end. Oh yeah, that one Parrot Pirate with the squawking and demolitions. Loved that guy.

Sadly, the weakest of the group was the Storm King himself and not just because he was saved for the climax. Previous TV show antagonists have ranged from either self-motivated tyrants to strategic conquerors for their own kind. This knucklehead is literally announced as "evil" from Grubber and there just wasn't much from him to label him as an awesome villain. Even his own funny moments couldn't save him. And this is coming from a guy who isn't very fond of Starlight Glimmer yet she's still WAY more interesting than this cloud yeti. Oh well, maybe next time don't model your villain to be a lazy, wacky monkey.

On the other side of the spectrum, however, is Emily Blunt as Tempest Shadow, the true antagonist of the movie, picking up all the work for the Storm King to restore her cracked horn. Compared to "her boss" this character has her own goals and motivations, sort of like a bounty hunter or mercenary. Kudos there as those areas would reach up into the top three MLP:FIM villains on my list. Sadly, as the movie is indeed called "Friendship is Magic", she's (OMG) reformed much like many of the other unicorns in this show (Anyone seeing a trend here?). Regardless, when she was a villain, this was a skilled and probably self-trained fighter trying to regain her happiness through any means necessary, even serving a clown. Even gave me a chuckle when she lost her cool in Canterlot in front of Grubber before realizing and calming down.

The Mane Six and Spike are mixed in their performances and what they're given to do. I'll have to rate them all from best to worst...you're not gonna love who's on the bottom.

Pinkie Pie stuck out the most with previously mentioned animations and tons of interactions with the girls and the strangers they came across. Side-note: She is mean with a barge of cupcakes; had they been red-frosting, that fight scene might have been banned. We even get a serious moment with her and Twilight where--getting ahead of myself. Getting there soon, promise.

Rainbow Dash, despite causing some extra trouble, gives the "awesome" the movie needs including getting the Parrot Pirates off their rears to face off against their former employers...that doesn't last long.

Rarity's charm and generosity got Capper the cat to not only change Tempest's army's course but gather the other characters for a full on pledged climax fight.

Fluttershy has hardly anything except the funniest moment in the entire film regarding opening up with a Storm King soldier. Honestly want to know what became of those guys now.

Spike, you trustworthy pal and weapon. The TV show might have given you terrible episodes but who would have thought you'd become a necessary Pyro tool? TF2 Workshop! Make a mod! NOW!

Applejack...sold apple juice and roped a few people and rocks. That's uh....that's about it.

....you all hate me now for this: Twilight Sparkle ends up on the bottom heavily and deserves it all from actions, character writing and poor pace. Our beloved Princess of Friendship is still the nerdy and orderly princess aimed at saving her home kingdom enough to act grumpy, annoyed and careless in her actions. Said carelessness led to attempted robbery and created the biggest and most painful moment of the movie: When Twilight angrily lashes out at Pinkie by saying she'd be better off without friends like them. Not only was this stupidly painful, but it was the necessary tool for the whole "We're not friends anymore but then we get back together later" bit. And said apology was being shoved in a climax to be ignored for comedic effect. Now if perhaps both Twilight and Tempest were together during the end of the battle for apologies, that would not only be forgivable but an excellent moment for the movie. But no...more like the Princess of Pace-dumping.

Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhh....I know, I know, this is a movie targeted towards children, but so was Coco. It would really help if some of that Disney magic could save the MLP Movie from its Hasbro chains. I know if the team wasn't being held back, they could have gotten away with much, much more to save the film from me giving it a 4/10.

Well, this is the West Coast Psycho, and in the words of Max G, "I hope ya hated it."