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canvaswolfdoll · 7 years

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CanvasWatches: My Little Pony the Movie

Well, I’m obligated to write about this film, aren’t I? I like animation, light fantasy, world building, overthinking children’s entertainment, and I am a Brony of waxing and waning interest, so, sure, better actually get out to a theater for The Movie.

Luckily for my brother and I, my advice to attend a later screening (21:45) not only granted reprieve from children young and old, but also literally anyone else. We had the theater to ourselves.[1]

So I got to riff the commercials and talk during the movie. I… don’t know if my brother appreciates me doing that, or if he’s resigned himself to it just being how I am, because I do it constantly whenever it’s just the two of us watching. He’s never asked me to stop, though, so oh well.

Anyways, I went in with as little (non-show) information as possible, skipping commercials, early released songs, and the Prequel Comics, because I wanted to make sure the movie held up by it’s own merit as much as possible.

So, first, a quick overview of Canvas in relation to ponies!

I watched the first episode because the creator of El Goonish Shive had remarked about liking it, and I heard there was a reference to Doctor Who in the show. So, I downloaded the first episode off iTunes, because it was free, then bought the second because it wasn’t free, but the pilot’s story was incomplete. I thought it was okay, and would’ve left it there, but then Vulpin kept going, and I got swept up. We caught up to the release dates with Owl’s Well that Ends Well and have clung on since.

I wrote a couple fanfics, my first and only serious efforts in the field, and lovingly gazed upon the fandom as it grew.

In general, I say the show was at it’s best with Season Two, and has otherwise been uneven since. Some amazing episodes came later, but some luster was lost with the departure of Lauren Faust. I keep watching because nothing’s made me rage quit, and it’s been relatively easy to keep going through momentum.

Scootaloo is best pony.

Now I can talk about the movie.

My initial impression was ‘Oh boy, this is a little too well animated’. An odd complaint, but the improved lipflaps, more varied movements, and 2D animation on CG backgrounds was disorienting for my Flash-adjusted eyes. However, as I starting watching out for the many cameos[2] front loaded into Canterlot, I grew accustomed, and once the plot really kicks off, I was used to it.

The plot was essentially that of a Season Opener or Closer, with a couple points of character development carefully rolled back to allow conflict and reduce continuity lockout for parents and others unfamiliar with the franchise as it currently stands.

The movie opens with Twilight planning a “Friendship Festival” taking place in Canterlot. All the ponies are excited, it’s being headlined by Songbird Serenade, a character freshly introduced as if we’ve always known her, and voice by Sia, a performer I literally never heard of until she was announced to be guest starring in this movie, but she is apparently supposed to be some kind of draw?

Actually, I don’t know any of the big-name stars for this film, which I’m okay with, since I prefer ability over recognition.

Anyways, Twilight attempts to approach the other three princesses to get them to use their personal magics to improve the festival, but the other three are all “Look, Twilight, none of us have done anything of substance on screen, and we’re not going to start now.”

So instead Twilight goes and checks on how her friends are doing on preparations and give us a song.

It’s a nice song.

Then the Storm King’s forces invade!

Who is the Storm King? What is his motivation? How does he relate to ponies?

So this invading force is lead by Tempest Shadow and…

Look, I don’t know the deal with The Storm King, okay? I haven’t read the prequel comics yet, and the movie gives no direct backstory, only implying how things kind of are? And that would’ve been fine if they kept the Storm King off mic more often. But he’s given a presence, and is equal parts amusing and threatening.

Which puts him in an awkward position, narratively speaking, because he has too much personality to be a force of nature villain and too little history to be a strong narrative villain. Besides, Tempest does a good job of being the narrative villain, so the Storm King is just kind of poorly executed.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I liked his dialogue. He had some very funny lines, but it was poorly implemented. Maybe those lines should’ve been moved to Grubber to transform him from bad comedic relief (in both senses) into Tempest’s leash, reminding her about the bargain she and the Storm King have.

Tempest, meanwhile, was the actual looming threat, and was well written and given motivations. You understand, within the context of the movie, why she’s doing what she’s doing, and fans of the show know how devastating it would be for a unicorn to lose her horn.

Now, would I perhaps prefer they move away from the ‘rejected as a young pony, so screw everyone’ narrative they keep using to oppose Friendship? Sure. Maybe have some backstory where Tempest was part of a Celestia-sent brigade to combat the Storm King, only to be abandoned by her fellow soldiers. Bam! Reason to turn on Friendship, child-appropriate darkness, and a different narrative. Plus, that puts her in the hands of the Storm King within the scope of the movie and gives an opening for Celestia to offer a bit more exposition (and thus have an actual narrative role.)

Grubber is a bad character, and outside of the above recommendation of altering his and Tempest’s dynamic, I wish they’d drop him off the side of an airship. He’s just your usual ‘Minion who likes to eat’ character, with nothing added. Which is unfortunate, because My Little Pony’s been pretty good about taking old character tropes and spinning them into something new and interesting.

The Mane Six (plus Spike) are on their usual form. Pinkie Pie, being the pink one, acts as a sort of backup protagonist, pulling the narrative weight Twilight can’t. Rarity also gets her moment, as does tomboy Rainbow Dash, as a sort of spectrum of showing how you can be valuable regardless of your personal femininity. Applejack and Fluttershy are just there for support, which works. Not every pony needs a big song and dance.

Twilight is still uncertain about herself and her role as a princess,[4] and she nearly ruins everything by trying to steal a Macguffin while using Pinkie and the others as distraction. This is, of course, to set up the third act ‘Everyone mistrusts the hero’ conflict which the formula demands.

However, speaking to the skillful twisting of tropes, we get an onscreen acknowledgement with the great line of ‘It’s about time we talk to Twilight.’ This lampshades the cliche plot point, implies everypony was merely taking a moment to cool off and collect themselves, and justifies the event.

Of course, Twilight’s been captured by Tempest, and the villain tries to use Twilight’s sudden loneliness to turn her against Friendship, but Twilight never believes she’s been abandoned. It’s strongly implied that she knows her friends were always coming back, and they all just needed a healing moment.

So that’s a strong point in the movie’s favor.

The set-up for act three is full of good lampshade hanging. Applejack identifies Capper’s elegant speech as a means to hype the ponies back up, and once the full strike force is assembled, Spike makes a pointed comment that all their new friends are there, so they should stop waiting and get planning.

When the writing’s on point, it’s really on point.

That doesn’t mean I don’t have my usual complaints. This time, it’s in regards to consistency in world building.

So, the world of My Little Pony has drifted over the years, which is broadly fine, because art needs space to breath and transform, but at the same time, there are still boundaries and rules that the audience will pick up on and which need to be obeyed.

When the current generation started, Equestria was a quasi-medieval fantasy world, with limited technology. Lights were provided by fireflies, books appeared like parchment, trains had to be pulled by teams of ponies. This has been progressively dropped, and the Equestria we see is much more modern with a thin coat of pulp fantasy. I’m fine with this change, because it was gradual and occurred as a means to open narrative options. And computers still aren’t a thing, so that’s still a nice, subtle limitation to justify the use of magic.

Another gradual change I’m less happy with is allowing sticky hooves and prehensile tails. Originally, there was a strict ban on ponies being able to just pick things up with their hooves, and use of other bodies parts at least had to look reasonable. Then pegasi started to use their wings like hands, tails gained increased dexterity, and so on. Which means we lose a significant portion of the neat background details that showed how ponies make their technology operate.

Even Pinkie, who can be granted allowance for her Looney Tunes shenanigans, has also seen a drift in her abilities to keep up with these changes.

However, one (admittedly vague) law had remained intact until this movie: the nature of the sentient fauna. There are no humans in Equestria, and presumably the rest of the world (the actual nature of Equestria, geopolitically, is a headache I can’t begin to broach. Ponies, for the longest time, were the dominate species, the builders of society. Those creatures that were sentient outside of Ponyhood were either also hoofed creatures (who enjoy a confusing second-class citizenship that is rife for pondering), or classical mythological creature: Griffins, dragons, and the like. Those are the society and culture builders, and most are still quadruped. Hands are still an alien concept[5], and all other animals are as they are in our world (with a little cartoon intelligence for gags.)

But in the Movie there’s Capper, an anthropomorphic cat that stands at human height. No mythological origins, and capable of speech in opposition to Rarity’s own Opalescence and other cats we’ve seen in the series. He’s given no explanation or origin, and our main characters just accept him as is. And he has hands.

In fact, exploring the world beyond the Badlands just raises so many questions that don’t even get a cursory nod. Most of the residents (also vague anthropomorphic animals) seem broadly unaware of ponies which… fine, maybe Equestria has a closed borders policy, but their royalty literally raise the sun and moon. Equestria controls their own weather and nature.[6] Luna’s profile was literally shoved on the moon for a thousand years! How aren’t ponies a well known thing?

Then we meet some griffins, and they turn out to be bipedal, which not only breaks the implied canon of sentient races, but established canon on a preexisting race.

Now, I liked the plot and dialogue of all these characters, but the world beyond the Badlands shakes our preconceived notions of what this world is like. Which is bad. The regular audience has occupied the fiction’s world for seven years now. Like it or not, they’ve picked up on how things are supposed to work, and the movie’s breaking the rules.

Which would be okay. Rules exist so you think before you break them, but the movie isn’t thinking. It just tosses the rules aside without giving narrative weight to the act. Neither Twilight nor other ponies are confused by seeing a cat man suddenly fast-talking them. He looks out of place - and no other cat people are shown - so even in the context of the movie he looks alien, but nothing about it is explained.

I think that’s been the true reasoning behind my gradual deflating love of the franchise. The individual stories have been good, but the worldbuilding been breaking itself, and I dislike that inconsistency.

In summary: I liked the story of the movie, Tempest is an interesting character, but the worldbuilding shown makes me wish it were non-canon.

Guess I’ll just have to wait to see how it plays out with future episodes.

Kataal kataal.

[1] What do theaters do if no one comes to a screening? Do they still play the film to keep the system running, or do they let the projector rest? [2] I, admittedly, cheered a little upon seeing Sepia Tock[3] hanging about. [3] I am clinging to this interpretation until I die, try and stop me! [4] As is everyone else, quite frankly. Why is Twilight a princess? [5] My editor would like to point out Spike has hands, and Griffons use their fore talons in a hand like manner. However, those are referred to as claws and talons, and, besides, dragons are a rarity and Griffons are still quadrupedal. [6] Which is why the Everfree Forest, which maintains itself, is such a scary oddity. It’s wild magic!

#canvaswatches #my little pony #mlp the movie #canvasreviews

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