My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Review

Reviews, Theatrical Reviews

My Little Pony plays big in its limited theatrical release

The digital projection revolution at movie theaters have changed the release dynamic. A distributor can be a bit more creative in how they book their movie into a theater. No longer to they have to deal with the cost dynamic of striking a print and shipping it cross country for a limited screening. They merely have to find a theater that can download the digital file. My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is taking advantage of the new rules. The film is being shown around the country without the usual booking schedule. At my local theater, it’s only being shown at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday for the next few weekend. Right away this lifts the burden of trying to get an audience for a 9 p.m. screening. It also allows them to be a bit more precise in their targeting of an audience instead of having to run around the clock ads on the Hub and various kid channels to hype up an event movie. The audience at the screening was made up of kids, parents and Brony buddies. I was dragged along by my 4-year-old daughter to see the first big screen adventure involving the magical ponies.

The film deals with Twilight Sparkle having her magical crown stolen by Sunset Shimmer. She’s a former student of the Princess program who turned to the dark side. She takes refuge in an alternate dimension by escaping through a magic mirror. It’s up to Twilight Sparkle to chase her down with only her dragon Spike as back up. The other side of the mirror turns her into a human. Spike becomes a dog. She has to quickly adjust to having hands instead of hoofs. Spike also must figure out how to be a dog. She encounters the human versions of her Pony friends, but they’re not friendly with each other. Far as the crown goes, the only way she can only get it back by winning a school’s princess contest. Her competition turns out to be Sunset Shimmer. The evil pony has no intention of losing the crown. There’s quite a few musical numbers to get the audience humming along. The action gets a little intense during the final confrontation. There’s a bit of demon and angel inspired transformation that scared my daughter. She quickly got over it. Here’s her feelings about the movie:

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls was a lot better than many of the animated TV shows that attempt a feature length movie. The audience laughed quite a bit and it wasn’t merely at inside jokes. There was plenty of humor in a horse doing her best to appear human. You don’t have to be a Brony to enjoy the film. Although you do have to wake up before 1 p.m. on a weekend.

Director: Jayson Thiessen
Writer: Meghan McCarthy
Notable Cast: Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman

Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.