Psycho's Movie Reviews #275: My Little Pony: A New Generation (2021)

My Little Pony: A New Generation is a 2021 computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Robert Cullen and José Ucha, co-directed by Mark Fattibene with Cecil Kramer and Peter Lewis as producers, and written by Gillian Berrow and Tim Sullivan from a story by Cullen, Ucha, and Sullivan. Based on Hasbro's My Little Pony franchise, the film marks the start of the fifth incarnation of the franchise, which is set in the same universe as the previous generations, a first for the franchise.

The film stars Vanessa Hudgens, Kimiko Glenn, James Marsden, Sofia Carson and Liza Koshy as the main characters. A New Generation is set many years after the events of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, in a magic-less era where the story of Twilight Sparkle and her friends has become a mere legend, and the three pony kinds – earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns – have grown apart, living separated from one another in paranoia and prejudice. The film follows Sunny Starscout, an earth pony who, after meeting the unicorn Izzy Moonbow, embarks on a quest to reunite all pony kinds and restore magic to the land.

Originally set to be released theatrically by Paramount Pictures, the film was instead released in most countries on Netflix on September 24, 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while still being theatrically released in several Asian countries. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics for its message, though its pacing and plot received some criticism, and was the most-viewed film on Netflix in October 2021.

Plot

In the earth pony town of Maretime Bay, Argyle Starshine teaches his daughter Sunny Starscout about tales of old Equestria when earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns lived together. Although most earth ponies dismiss these ideas as myths and now live in fear of the other two pony races, Sunny hopes that all three races can be friends.

Years later, after Argyle's death, Sunny continuously tries to change the minds of the other earth ponies, purposely disrupting a showcase of anti-pegasi and unicorn technology by factory owner Phyllis Cloverleaf. Hitch Trailblazer, Sunny's childhood friend and sheriff of Maretime Bay, pulls her away and prepares to send her back home when a unicorn suddenly wanders into the town. While most of the earth ponies flee, Sunny befriends the new unicorn, Izzy Moonbow, and quickly takes her to her home to hide from Hitch and his deputy Sprout, Phyllis' son. Learning from Izzy that unicorns have long since lost their magic and that the pegasi may be to blame, Sunny travels with her to the latter race's home in Zephyr Heights in order to ask for their help. The two elude Hitch and flee town, and Hitch leaves Sprout in charge while he pursues them. Sprout names himself sheriff, turns the citizens of Maretime Bay into a hostile mob, and commandeers Phyllis' factory to construct a giant war machine.

Sunny and Izzy are caught in Zephyr Heights and taken to meet Queen Haven and her two daughters, Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm. When Sunny starts asking about magic, Haven has them imprisoned in the dungeon. Zipp secretly visits them there and tells them that the pegasi have also lost their magic and cannot fly; the royal family uses wires to give the illusion of flight. She helps them escape and takes them to an abandoned transit station that Sunny realizes was used by all three pony races in the past. Sunny finds a set of stained glass windows depicting two crystals – one of which is set in Haven's crown – that may fit together and bring back the magic. The three concoct a plan to steal the crown during Pipp's performance that night. Hitch's arrival triggers a series of mishaps that reveal the royals' inability to fly; Haven is arrested, and the sisters are forced to flee the city with Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy. Hitch gradually overcomes his own prejudices and offers to help Sunny in her effort to reunite the pony races.

Izzy escorts the group to her home of Bridlewood and disguises them as unicorns before leading them to Alphabittle, a tea shop owner who holds the unicorn crystal. Sunny wins it from him in a dance competition, but loses her disguise as she celebrates. As the group flees with the two crystals, they come across Haven, who has also escaped. Sunny and Izzy try to put the two crystals together, but they have no effect. Dejected, Sunny gives back the crystals and returns to Maretime Bay with Hitch.

While packing up her childhood toys, Sunny finds a third crystal intended to join with the other two, built into a lamp Argyle had made for her. As she races to tell Hitch, they discover that Sprout has turned the entire town to his side and is piloting his war machine in preparation for an attack on the other pony races. Sunny and Hitch hurry back to her home as Izzy, Pipp, Zipp, Haven, and Alphabittle arrive. Gathering the crystals, Sunny, Izzy, and Pipp try to put them together while Hitch and Zipp hold off Sprout's machine. Phyllis orders Sprout to stop, but he swerves around her and crashes into Sunny's home, destroying it and the frame in which the crystals must be set. Phyllis, Haven, Alphabittle, and Sunny's friends put aside their differences and come together to comfort her amid the rubble. In response, the crystals begin to glow and lift Sunny into the air, transforming her into an alicorn and restoring magic across the land. Sunny and her friends celebrate as ponies of all three races cooperate to clean up Sprout's mess and a new era of peace begins.

Production

Development

In February 2019, it was reported that Hasbro was developing a computer-animated My Little Pony feature film. Reports later said that the film would mark the beginning of the franchise's fifth-generation, which was confirmed on September 17, 2020; My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic creator Lauren Faust first hinted that Hasbro was working on the fifth incarnation in 2018, when she denied any involvement on the franchise's next incarnation. On October 8, 2020, it was reported that the fifth incarnation, including the film, would centre on a new set of characters, though with the possibility of characters from the previous incarnation appearing.

On January 29, 2021, Emily Thompson, Entertainment One's VP of global brand management, revealed that the film would be set in the same world as the fourth incarnation of the franchise, while still serving as the first entry in the fifth incarnation, being set years after the events depicted in the previous incarnation. Thompson explained that her decision was made because the producers felt it would have "felt wrong" to not to further explore the lore and worldbuilding established by the fourth incarnation.

On February 12, 2021, it was reported that the founder of Boulder Media, Robert Cullen, along with José Ucha would serve as directors, with Mark Fattibene set to co-direct the film. Cecil Kramer and Peter Lewis were also announced as producers for the film. Executive producers include former Friendship is Magic co-showrunner and writer Meghan McCarthy and Allspark Animation president Stephen Davis.

Voice Cast and Recording

On June 30, 2021, Vanessa Hudgens, Kimiko Glenn, James Marsden, Sofia Carson, Liza Koshy, Jane Krakowski, Ken Jeong, Phil LaMarr, and Michael McKean were revealed to be the film's main cast. Part of the film's recording sessions had to be done remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic; Koshy felt that working during the pandemic encompassed with the film's message about "not leaning into the fear". Koshy was encouraged by Glenn to ad-lib lines during recording.

While Tara Strong, voice actress for Twilight Sparkle, said that she would not reprise her role in the fifth incarnation in April 2020 (due to reprising her role in My Little Pony: Pony Life), she ultimately reprised her role alongside fellow Friendship Is Magic cast members Andrea Libman, Ashleigh Ball, and Tabitha St. Germain for the film's prologue.

Animation

The film's animation services were provided by Hasbro-owned Irish animation studio Boulder Media. Unlike previous My Little Pony media, the film was animated entirely through computer-animation. Although, the brief introductory flashback, which features the "Mane Six" from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, was done with traditional animation in the style of the series. 48 animators worked on the film remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. According to animation supervisor Graham Grallagher, the filmmakers were inspired by several My Little Pony series for the ponies' anthropomorphic design.

Music

Songwriters Alan Schmuckler and Michael Mahler composed songs for the film. Director Robert Cullen said the filmmakers wanted the soundtracks to "have an eclectic range of genres in the songs", in order to make it "as unpredictable as they can" in hopes of defying the audiences' expectations regarding the soundtrack. On September 2, 2021, the song "Glowin' Up", performed by Sofia Carson and written by Jenna Andrews, Bryan Fryzel, and Taylor Upsahl, was released as a single. The second single, "It's Alright" by Johnny Orlando, was released on September 17, 2021. In November 2021, "Fit Right In" was also released as the third single. Heitor Pereira did the original score for the film.

The film's soundtrack was released alongside the film on September 24, 2021.

Release/Reception/Box Office

My Little Pony: A New Generation was released on September 24, 2021, by Netflix. The film was originally slated to be released theatrically on the same day by Paramount Pictures. However, eOne sold the distribution rights to Netflix in February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, while retaining them in China. In some regions, the film was released theatrically as well as on Netflix. In Russia, the film was distributed by Central Partnership and released theatrically on September 23, 2021; early premiere screenings were held in multiple locations on September 18. In Hong Kong, the film is being distributed by Intercontinental Group and was released theatrically in Cantonese and English on September 22, 2021. In South Korea, the film is being distributed by BoXoo Entertainment and was also released theatrically on September 22. In Singapore and Taiwan, the film was distributed by Encore Films and GaragePlay respectively, and was released theatrically on September 24, 2021.

As of October 20, 2021, the film has grossed $1.5 million internationally, including $1.4 million in Russia and $36,788 in South Korea across 1694 theatres. A New Generation opened in 1677 theatres in Russia and South Korea, and grossed $726,619 in the former and $16,304 in the latter on the opening weekend.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 90% based on 10 reviews with an average rating of 7.3/10. Courtney Howard from Variety gave the film a mostly positive review. She praised the film for "retaining its predecessors' lively, spirited drive centred on friendship, empowerment and magic," though was critical of some plot aspects. Beatrice Loayza of The New York Times gave an overall mixed review of the film, mainly criticizing the switch from traditional animation to "creepily-anthropomorphized, digitally-animated brethren"; she compared some plot points to Raya and the Last Dragon, which was released earlier in the year. But overall, Loayza said, "...the film's messaging about unity and the need for a new generation to band together against misinformation and rabble rousing isn't the worst thing."

Three days after its release, A New Generation became the second-most popular film on Netflix, and stayed in the top three for the rest of the week. It was the most-viewed film of October 2021 on Netflix; A New Generation was also the twenty-first most-watched film of 2021.

Box office $1.5 million

My Review

I can't help but think that the overall message/plot of this film is what Raya and The Last Dragon had but Mlp: A New Generation actually did it better!

Now, I'm not gonna sit here and beat around the bush. I really enjoyed My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It was fun, entertaining, hilarious, the characters were all great, the animation was fantastic, it got some great voice acting from everybody, a lotta adventure mixed with slice-of-life stories (hell, some of them were even wholesome and emotional), and it really broke all the stereotypical tropes you'd see in most cartoons aimed at little girls by actually making the characters interesting and well-rounded. Sure, the last 2 seasons of the show could've been better, but it still went out and did its thing really well for an entire decade straight.

So now that we're in a new era for the MLP franchise, that means Hasbro's going in with full force at bringing it to life, starting with this movie. When I first heard about this new generation being in full CGI, I couldn't help but cringe, because we all know for a fact transitioning these ponies from 2D/Flash animation to full-on CGI usually doesn't work at all. I've seen some legit nightmare fuel in SFM animations on YouTube. It's a real rarity (get it?) for these ponies to actually look good in CGI animation. But I still gave it a chance 'cause I thought: "Hey, ya know? Maybe we're in for something at least watchable here". And then, the official trailer for the movie dropped on August, and it made the movie look... decent. I still needed a bit of time to get used to the new art style, but from what I saw in the trailer, the movie didn't seem half-bad. It looked like some honest effort was put into the making of this, and I feel like I need to respect them for that.

Now that the movie is officially out on Netflix, I get a chance to see it, and what did I think? Well.... it's actually a lot better than I was expecting. Like, I can honestly say "A New Generation" is the best and most entertaining MLP movie we've had so far.

First off, the animation in the actual movie is even better than what was shown in the trailer. I mean it, this thing looks visually gorgeous! In fact, there were moments throughout the movie where i was like: "Are you sure this is from Boulder Media and not Disney?" I mean, for a movie that most likely had a relatively low budget, it's incredible how much they poured their soul into making it look as good as it does. The character designs are appealing, their movements are smooth and fluid, the colours are vivid and really pop out at you, the settings and backgrounds for each location are magnificent, it has some really good special effects, the attention to detail is awesome, the animators can get surprisingly creative with a lotta stuff and everything looks cinematic. Like, i kinda feel bad for them being forced to put the movie on Netflix because of COVID, 'cause you know damn well i would've paid money to see it on the big screen. Actually, i did some research on the production of the movie, and it turns out some of the animators they got are actual fans of G4. And that's awesome! It's great to see Hasbro and Boulder are hiring people who grew up with, and loved FiM for the past 10 years. I wish more companies did that.

Aside from the great animation, how does the movie hold up in every other aspect? Surprisingly, pretty good. For the most part. I wasn't expecting the writing to be as sharp as it was, because i was legit invested in (almost) everything happening on screen. Obviously, the movie - and this new generation as a whole - takes place a LOOOOONG time after G4 ended, so there's gonna be a lotta changes for sure, but with how it was introduced, this new Equestria definitely looks intriguing. Like, I wasn't expecting to like the idea of modern technology being a part of the pony world now, 'cause I thought it was gonna take away from the adventure/fantasy aspect that made G4 so good. But surprisingly, the modern technology makes sense and it never felt cringy or in-your-face. It just happens to be something the ponies have adapted over the years because the magic is gone, and I'm glad it doesn't dumb them down. Sure, you do get some "influencer" lines that are unnecessary (we'll get to that in a bit), but for the most part, it worked really well. I also loved how genuinely funny this movie is. Like I was expecting the kinda low-brow humour you'd usually get in animated movies nowadays, but this one legitimately has jokes that really work, and I found myself laughing a lot more than I thought I would.

And I'm surprised to say i loved all the characters in here. They were all great new additions to the franchise, and I'm genuinely interested in seeing where they go with them in the upcoming show. Sunny's our lovable main character who wants to prove to every other pony that friendship and magic still exists like it once did, since she grew up with stories of the original Mane 6 her dad used to tell her, and you really get behind her motivation of bringing unity back to land. You actually feel for her and route for her throughout the movie, and she also has just enough sass to make her interesting and compelling.

The others are really good too: Zipp is the athletic, rebellious Pegasus pony who looks like she's gonna be this gen's take on Rainbow Dash, but she actually doesn't have an over-the-top ego and actually cares about those around her, and wants to prove to the Pegasus population of Zephyr Heights that they can still fly for real. Hitch is the sheriff pony of Maretime Bay who's actually a lot more than just your typical comic relief character, 'cause he actually does stuff in this movie that are genuinely enjoyable, and his relationship with Sunny is admittedly pretty cute. But the character that really stole the show for me without a doubt is Izzy. What can i say? I freakin' loved her! Every time she was on screen, cracking jokes or being genuinely precious and wholesome, i just couldn't stop smiling. She's funny, quirky, adorable, has a great personality, equally great singing voice and she truly stands out as her own character instead of being a reskin of Pinkie Pie. In fact, they all stand out in their own way.

And then, we come to Pipp.... she's fine and all, she gets to shine in a few moments in the movie, but I felt like they could've given her more screentime to actually be fleshed out better. Same thing goes for all the other characters. They were great, but just needed more screentime.

That brings me to the aspects i didn't love about the movie, 'cause like any other flick, it's not perfect. First of all, the pacing is way too fast at times. It feels like the movie quickly jumps from location to location without giving the audience a chance to really take in what's going on. Sure, there are slower moments, but not enough to balance it out. Because of this, even the ending feels too abrupt, like Hasbro was so desperate to hit the 90-minute mark on the head that they rushed through the final act and stopped it without an proper conclusion. Also, i wasn't a fan with how this movie doesn't really explain that much in terms what actually happened between the G4 finale and G5 that made the magic disappear and all 3 pony tribes get split to live with paranoia and prejudice. I know this movie is more of an introduction to G5's Equestria and Hasbro's most likely saving all the questions for the upcoming show, but then again, I still think they should've at least answered SOME of them. You definitely get hints throughout the runtime, but really.... that's it. And last, but not least: Sprout turned out to be a weak and incompetent villain who gets let off the hook way too easily at the end. You'd think as the sheriff, Hitch would put him behind bars for his crimes, but no. That doesn't happen (or maybe it does, but we just don't get to see it for some reason).

But even with its flaws, "My Little Pony: A New Generation" is still a really good and entertaining movie, with gorgeous animation, 5 lovable main leads, an intriguing concept, great comedy, catchy songs with a solid musical score, top-notch voice acting, relevant messages about fighting racism/xenophobia and not judging people based solely on their looks, and it has me excited for what Hasbro in store next year. The future is definitely looking bright for the fifth generation of My Little Pony! 9.4/10

{I'll be real... the songs in this film I actually think are better than the previous Mlp movies; Here's my Top 7}

{#7 - 'Together' - This is the most forgettable song in the film, it's not bad though}

{#6 - 'It's Alright' - Again another generic pop song, but the pure fact that this song appears on a pony DDR gives it this ranking}

{#5 - 'Gonna Be My Day' - This hyper, upbeat song is the perfect introduction to a positive, loveable protagonist, and compliments the character perfectly}

{#4 - 'I'm Looking Out For You' - A bouncy beginning to a buddy trip adventure that compliments the pair's bond and relationship}

{#3 - 'Fit Right In' - This song is hilarious. The banta with Hitch, Izzy's bubbly/Pinkie-Pie-ish attitude. Even the comedy implemented in the song works. I love how they went through so much training to only wear coats and fake, most likely rolled up paper, unicorn horns}

{#2 - 'Glowin' Up' - Clearly Pipp has taken the place of Rarity's character due to her vein, girly, flamboyant, adored attitude. At first I thought she was gonna be an irritating character, but she turned around in the end, not so annoying... even if her character mainly revolved around her social butterfly/live streaming habits}

{#1 - 'Danger Danger' - I'm sorry... Yes it's a villain song. Now Sprout may not have been the best character in this film, but dang can that stallion sing! I mean G5 started with a bang - among it's taster songs there was a, what I think is the first one to appear throughout the entirety of the Mlp shows, ROCK SONG! It is as clear as day that the inspiration for this tune is Seven Nation Army, the video even references it}.