In the words of the great John Cleese, “And now for something completely different” . It’s not another zombie film or a C-grade action film, it’s a release from Hasbro, based on the popular cartoon. I’m sure there will be no issues with this choice, as the Dissection looks at this film.
The Story
Via a magic mirror, Twilight Sparkle travels into an alternate universe in order to recover a crown that was stolen from the Crystal Empire. Upon her arrival she is horrified to learn that she has turned into a human.
The Cast
Tara Strong voices Princess Twilight Sparkle. It would be easier to name parts she wasn’t involved in, with over 300 rules in the span of a 20+ year career. Little known fact, though: Tara Strong and Steve Blum once had a brief romantic fling, which resulted in the birth of a child out of wedlock. And that child’s name was Nolan North. The more you know…
Ashleigh Ball voices Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Aside from that, she’s worked on shows like JOHNNY TEST, the relaunch of LITTLEST PET SHOP, EDGER & ELLEN, and BLACK LAGOON. One of these things is not like the others…
Tabitha St. Germain voices Rarity and Princess Luna. She’s also voiced Nazz in ED, EDD, & EDDY, as well as voice work for shows like IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES, PUCCA, KRYPTO THE SUPERDOG, DRAGONBALL Z, THE SUPER MARIO BROS SUPER SHOW, and the BEETLEJUICE animated series.
Andrea Libman voices Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy. She’s also worked on shows like REBOOT, DRAGONBALL and DRAGONBALL Z, and played X-23 in X-MEN: EVOLUTION. she also was the voice of the creepy SimPal Cindy doll from the AH-NOLD action flick THE 6TH DAY.
The Dissection
First off, this review is looking at the movie on its own merits. Those who are more interested in how it goes with the series as a whole would be better off checking out FAN’s own Raymond Gallant’s review here.
It’s always nice when one can get away from the standard releases that seem to make up the DVD market. While it’s not exactly uncharted territory, as family and kids movies have been touched upon before. It’s a bit different. This isn’t a small production company making this, it’s Hasbro, who are involved with releasing properties under big releases ala GI JOE and BATTLESHIP. Plus, this is based on a well established show on TV, so it’s not a slouch in the development department. But how does it stack up as a stand alone film? Well, not much,length wise, since it’s only about 70 minutes long, excluding credits.
Twilight (Strong), pondering the mystery of a vending machine.
The movie revolves around the theft of the crown of the main character, Princess Twilight Sparkle (I assume Princess Lovely McSprinkles and Lady Handbag Glitters were busy) with her pet Spike, going into an alternate universe to find the thief and the crown itself. Along the way, she meets friends and together they try to get the crown back. If it’s not clear, it will be by the half way point. It’s a simple plot, but it doesn’t get dull, mostly with the different paths the film uses to get there. Some of the movie’s elements are kind of reminiscent of the TRANSFORMERS film series, but it’s not as out of place as in that film.
The characters are a bit hit or miss. The lead character isn’t remarkable, but expected as she’s the audience surrogate. Still, she has her moments of writer stupidity, mostly with showing her trying to adapt to her new form, which does feel a bit forced, and in some cases as contradicting itself. Meanwhile, her friends have one specific trait in their characters and for the most part play it well enough to not make it come off. The character of Pinkie Pie, though, is a bit too quirky, in either reality, to not wonder how that character functions in daily life. Maybe it needs the show to connect the dots there. However, one character that seemed to raise more questions than answers was the villain, Sunset Shimmer. Mostly, with what the film sets her up as, it gets to the point where no one should be able to touch her. It’s a bit dumb, to be honest, and the solution the movie comes up with doesn’t feel like it should work. Again, it might be an issue of needing the series for a frame of reference, but going into it alone, it does make you stop and think for a second.
There are the the 6 characters in the film, heavily involved as the main people followed. I wonder if there's a name for that.
As for the rest of the movie, it has its good elements. The animation of the movie is very good, and the background music is pretty catchy. Even the actual sung music, while a bit similar, is interesting. There’s not a lot of it, though, as the movie is more dialog focused, especially in the first half.
The DVD itself has some features. It starts up with an ad for another Hasbro property, LITTLEST PET SHOP, before the menu screen. The DVD has three featurettes, looking at the movie itself, the animation, and the music, featuring the cast and crew. There’s also two karaoke style videos for two songs in the film. If you have a computer, you can also print a poster out from the disc. There’s a preview for…..something else called Hanazuki, and something called “Ponify Yourself”, which is an ad for hair extensions and make up to look like the characters of the film. No subtitles or language settings, though.
The Verdict
Minor issues aside, the film is pretty good. While not really for a family film, for a kid or siblings on their own, it’s a good way to keep interested for an hour and change. Also, it has some merit to get it on a DVD format as opposed to a digital release, especially since it’s not that expensive a DVD. While you will probably enjoy it more if you already are an avid fan of the series it is based on, you can still enjoy it even without it, with some minor issues in translation.