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[SigmasonicX]

Director: Jayson Thiessen (show director of Friendship is Magic)
Writers: Meghan McCarthy (former head writer of Friendship is Magic), Rita Hsiao (assistant writer for multiple Disney movies)
Produced by: Hasbro Studios, Allspark Pictures, DHX Media/Vancouver
Distributed by: Lionsgate
Rating: PG

Early screenings start: September 30, 2017
US Release date: October 6, 2017

In late 2010 and early 2011, the Internet at large gained a sudden and inexplicable obsession with a show aimed at little girls about ponies, with a force strong enough to leave lasting impacts even here. Everyone thought it would be a minor fad that would burn out in a year, but now, Hasbro considers My Little Pony one of its pillars, mentioning it in the same breath as Transformers, and it culminates here, with the first MLP theatrical film for over 30 years!

... The Equestria Girls movies were direct-to-video specials that got limited theatrical screenings, they don't count.

Synopsis

In order to stop a threat to the town of Ponyville, the "Mane Six" – Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity – must leave their home kingdom of Equestria, meeting new friends and overcoming challenges in the process.

To expand on the official synopsis: the newest princess of Equestria, Twilight Sparkle, is setting up the Festival of Friendship, when it's suddenly attacked by the evil Storm King's forces. His commander, Tempest Shadow, uses magic artifacts to turn the other princesses into stone, forcing Twilight to flee with her friends. They must travel across a desert, face sky pirates, and even go to the underwater kingdom of the seaponies to find a way to defeat the Storm King.

So, a pretty straightforward story, but it's one that's sure to be elevated by well-done 2D animation, including hand-drawn effects art from Michel Gagné (special effects for The Iron Giant, various Don Bluth films), and most of all, the fantastic cast of characters.

There are all kinds of guest stars, but we should look at the actual main characters first. Note that the show designs are used below.

And then there are these people. Vector sources linked in character names

Emily Blunt - Tempest Shadow - Tempest left Equestria long ago after failing to find a way to heal her broken horn. Now, she follows the evil Storm King, who promises to fix her once she has collected the magic of all the princesses, with the aid of his technology and magic artifacts.
Zoe Saldana - Captain Celaeno - Once a fierce and free pirate, Celaeno and her crew were humbled by the Storm King and now simply deliver supplies for him. But an encounter with Rainbow Dash could rekindle something in her.
Michael Peña - Grubber - Ostracized from his species for being too small and weak, Grubber found his niche as a right hand man of the Storm King that's too stupid to ever betray him. He's kind and gentle at heart, but he has no way out.
Liev Schreiber - The Storm King - The Storm King has already conquered most of the known world, and now his sights are set on Equestria. With the magic of the princesses, he'll be able to control the weather and truly rule everything.

Kristin Chenoweth - Princess Skystar - Skystar is the secluded princess of the seaponies, who just wants to make friends with someone, anyone. Maybe even a clam. Also, shoo-be-doo.
Uzo Aduba - Queen Novo - Novo is the queen of the seaponies, who keeps them away from the outside out of fear of the Storm King's threat. However, she has a power that may be able to turn the tides.
Taye Diggs - Capper - Capper is a charming gentleman living the the desolate city of Klugetown, but you don't succeed there by being nice. After experiencing Rarity's generosity, something starts to change.
Sia - Songbird Serenade - Songbird is a popular singer who sings at the end, like in that other recent-ish movie with talking animals.

All the songs on the soundtrack are officially on YouTube for free, and while I haven't listened to them myself, I hear they're great.
Known to be in the movie:
1. "We Got This Together" - Mane Six (Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity), Apple Family (Granny Smith, Apple Bloom, Big Mac)
2. ”I'm The Friend You Need" - Capper (Taye Diggs)
3. ”Time To Be Awesome" - Captain Celaeno (Zoe Saldana), Rainbow Dash, Celaeno's crew, non-Twilight Mane Six, Spike
4. ”One Small Thing" - Princess Skystar (Kristin Chenoweth), non-Twilight Mane Six
5. ”Open Up Your Eyes" - Tempest Shadow (Emily Blunt)
6. "Rainbow" - Songbird Serenade (Sia) - Link is to the music video, which does contain some footage from the ending.

Credit songs at best:
7. "Off to See the World" - Lukas Graham - No official free upload yet.
8. ”Thank You For Being A Friend" - Rachel Platten - Yes, this is a cover of the Golden Girls theme.
9. ”Can You Feel It" - DNCE
10. ”I'll Chase The Sky" - Jessie James Decker
11. ”No Better Feelin'" - CL
12. "I'll Be Around" - Palmer Reed
13. "Neighsayer" - Lukas Nelson

Trailers/Clips
Note that from reports, the footage used in the trailers is outdated and/or badly compressed. Keep in mind that the shading and especially the CGI are supposed to be better in the final movie. For some reason, the released clips are very low quality. Blame Lionsgate, I guess.
Teaser
Trailer 1
Trailer 2
Songbird Serenade clip
"We Got This Together" clip
"Time to Be Awesome" clip
"One Small Thing" clip

GIFs

Pegasi
Cake
Rarity messy hair flick
Menacing Tempest
Sonic Rainboom
Rarity drama
Dodging lightning
Spike

And ENDING SPOILER with Twilight looking epic

Before the actual movie is a short based on the new Hasbro property Hanazuki, which has a YouTube exclusive series that you can see for free officially in this playlist. The series is pretty decent, and I recommend checking it out if you like MLP. Perhaps more importantly, we actually have a GAFfer who works at Titmouse Animation, who worked on both the series and this short! And they'd really appreciate it if you post your reaction to it, even if it is just "what the hell is this acid trip?!"

The movie is meant to be standalone, but it's in the same world as the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic TV show. As of thread creation, it has aired 162 episodes, 156 of which are on Netflix. There probably isn't too much danger in just starting the series from the newest episode, but if you're uncomfortable with that, then good news, we at PonyGAF have an episode guide! Last year, we made an image-based guide, but that's not quite ready yet, so I prepared a text-based one, linked below.

Introduction
Season 1
Season 2
What is Equestria Girls?
Season 3
Season 4
Season 5
Season 6
Season 7
Online Shorts

Friendship is Magic Season 7 OT
Friendship is Magic Community Thread
Movie Trailer Thread
Movie Announcement Thread
IMDB
Rotten Tomatoes
We have a Discord! Quote to see:

 

[ShinySylvee]

Reviews

The Embargo has been fully lifted and reviews are still trickling in. The Rotten Tomatoes score has gone as low as 50 and as high as 71 but is still fluctuating a bit. General consensus so far is that fans and people already acquainted with the show should find a flawed but worthwhile experience, while people not familiar with the show have generally been giving it poorer reviews, although there have been some non-fans that have reviewed it positively.

This movie is good for kids ages 3 to 10, but we even heard some of the adults in the audience laughing and clapping.

It turned out to be the best day ever. We give it 5 smiles

- Kidsday review (Review column largely geared towards kids)

Rightfully taking every best element from the ‘Friendship is Magic' series, ‘My Little Pony: The Movie' is a joyfully inspired TV to film adaptation that brilliantly brings back the magic of what was missing from modern animated cinema: 2D animation.

- rendyreviews, a self-published blog.

They did my waifus great justice.

- Some 4chan anon

My Little Pony: The Movie is a lovely, genuine and pure movie

-letterboxd

Cloying, perhaps, not to mention a little long in getting there. But oh so cute.

- Washington Post

It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but for those who already love it, it'll be just right.

- Tribune news service

the picture also joins Woody Allen's Stardust Memories as one of the few exceptions to Roger Ebert's maxim that no good movie has ever featured a hot-air balloon. My Little Pony: The Movie features a hot-air balloon, and it's damn good.

- sfweekly

Shrieky, garish and incessantly perky, the movie version of the long-running TV show ”My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" is unlikely to win any new converts.

- rogerebert. com



Some impressions, largely from fans of the show/people that aren't part of a major publication:

The movie's special effects, presentation, and animation are on point. The scenes in certain portions are very well animated and everything about it is gorgeous eye candy.

- A poster on a site called mlpforums (He has gone on to gush about the film on virtually every other platform I've seen)

Finally it really feels like a classic hand drawn movie

- Redditor review

The movie is amazing go see it 3 times and be sure to buy all of the prequel comics as well. Hasbro please keep giving us cool shit and letting us go to MLP events at conventions

- What the Equestria Daily review basically says

It took quite some time to finally see the real thing on the big screen, and I don't think this movie will disappoint.

- Bufbat, a neogaf poster

 

[DrForester]

Easily the 2nd best soundtrack to an animated film based on a Hasbro property ever.

 

[Fat4all]

i cant believe

Spoiler

apple jack

fucking died

 

[UberTag]

i cant believe

Spoiler

apple jack

fucking died

At least the Matrix of Friendship has found itself a new home.

 

[Fat4all]

At least the Matrix of Friendship has found itself a new home.

DERPDIMUS PRIME

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Great job Sigma!

While I've never been completely sold on the movie, things have been looking more and more up since the first trailer. I love that this movie exists when five, six years ago the common thought about pony was "well, season 2 is almost over, but we still have season 3 to look forward to. And that might be it for the series, but let's enjoy it while it lasts..."

Post-Magical Mystery Cure MLP has been solid, and I hope the movie keeps it up.

 

[Chained Prometheus]

At least the Matrix of Friendship has found itself a new home.

"Arise, Applebloomimus Prime..."

"Sis?"

 

[BY2K]

i cant believe

Spoiler

apple jack

fucking died

So is this an actual spoiler, or... ?

 

[Chained Prometheus]

So is this an actual spoiler, or... ?

Of course not.

... I think.

 

[Fat4all]

So is this an actual spoiler, or... ?

i havent seen the movie yet

but dreams are like movies we watch in our skulls

 

[DrForester]

The show's appeal to me has been the slice of life stuff. I haven't really enjoyed any of the big adventure stories since S2. Won't be seeing this an theaters. Will check it out once it hits video.

So is this an actual spoiler, or... ?

They are not pulling a Transformers. They didn't even bother getting a Weird Al song for the movie or doing a glam-rock cover of the opening.

 

[Trigonometrize.]

So is this an actual spoiler, or... ?

99% chance no. The 1% chance explains the PG rating tho, so...

 

[Chained Prometheus]

The show's appeal to me has been the slice of life stuff. I haven't really enjoyed any of the big adventure stories since S2. Won't be seeing this an theaters. Will check it out once it hits video.

It'll probably be the same for me. I'm in the process of getting ready to move to Okinawa, Japan in the coming weeks and I've already decided that my priority for anything film-related this month is to see Blade Runner 2049 at least twice in theaters.

 

[DrForester]

It'll probably be the same for me. I'm in the process of getting ready to move to Okinawa, Japan in the coming weeks and I've already decided that my priority for anything film-related this month is to see Blade Runner 2049 at least twice in theaters.

That's what I'm seeing next weekend. The predictions for this movie aren't favorable. I hope they didn't spend too much on this movie in case it doesn't do well. Sure it will make tons with merchandising, but I doubt Hasbro wants another flop.

 

[UberTag]

They are not pulling a Transformers. They didn't even bother getting a Weird Al song for the movie or doing a glam-rock cover of the opening.

No Weird Al song and yet he voices a pony already. They didn't even need to retrofit him into a Wreck-Gar character that transforms into a toy nobody wants.

Such a missed opportunity. Tsk tsk.

That's what I'm seeing next weekend. The predictions for this movie aren't favorable. I hope they didn't spend too much on this movie in case it doesn't do well. Sure it will make tons with merchandising, but I doubt Hasbro wants another flop.

At least we can rest assured this will make more at the box office in a single weekend than Transformers: The Movie (1986) did in its entire run.

Its domestic take was $5.85 million. It debuted at #14 in the charts behind such films as Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School (in its 9th weekend), the cult classics Flight of the Navigator and Howard the Duck, Top Gun's 13th weekend at the box office, The Karate Kid Part II, Friday the 13th Part VI and a little film called Aliens.

 

[Fat4all]

The show's appeal to me has been the slice of life stuff. I haven't really enjoyed any of the big adventure stories since S2. Won't be seeing this an theaters. Will check it out once it hits video.

It'll probably be the same for me. I'm in the process of getting ready to move to Okinawa, Japan in the coming weeks and I've already decided that my priority for anything film-related this month is to see Blade Runner 2049 at least twice in theaters.

YA SMOOZE YA LOSE, SMUCKERS!

im gonna have a theater all to myself

and i'll finally have an excuse to use the flask i got shaped as an NES cartridge last christmas

 

[meltingparappa]

and i'll finally have an excuse to use the flask i got shaped as an NES cartridge last christmas

That's a really funny image to think about.

"Why is that guy two rows ahead blowing on his cart? Is he getting ready to play it as soon as he gets home?'

 

[DrForester]

No Weird Al song and yet he voices a pony already. They didn't even need to retrofit him into a Wreck-Gar character that transforms into a toy nobody wants.

Such a missed opportunity. Tsk tsk.


At least we can rest assured this will make more at the box office in a single weekend than Transformers: The Movie (1986) did in its entire run.

Its domestic take was $5.85 million. It debuted at #14 in the charts behind such films as Rodney Dangerfield's Back to School (in its 9th weekend), the cult classics Flight of the Navigator and Howard the Duck, Top Gun's 13th weekend at the box office, The Karate Kid Part II, Friday the 13th Part VI and a little film called Aliens.

Yeah, but Transformers the Movie has gone on to become a fondly remembered cult classic itself that's done well on home video.

 

[Astral]

Is this kinda like the series finale?

 

[UberTag]

Is this kinda like the series finale?

Nope. It's a toy commercial. Bring your kids... and your wallet.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Is this kinda like the series finale?

Not at all. The movie's story is it's own separate thing that just features the main characters from the show and takes place in its world. The movie is intended as a standalone story and the current season of the show is likely not even going to reference it as it's still going on. There's also already another season after this one confirmed

 

[Astral]

Not at all. The movie's story is it's own separate thing that just features the main characters from the show and takes place in its world. The movie is intended as a standalone story and the current season of the show is likely not even going to reference it as it's still going on. There's also already another season after this one confirmed

Oh I see. I know the OT's title is "7 seasons and a movie" so I thought the series would end with a movie, which would be pretty cool. I only ever saw season 1.

 

[Fat4all]

in season 8 they’re gonna reveal that everyone was Cylons all along

 

[BlackDoomShadow]

I've always found this show pretty fun for a kids' animated series. I never ventured too far into the fandom, and lost some of my interest in the series after "Magical Mystery Cure" (which I thought would have been a wonderful series finale). Since that time I've stopped watching week-to-week and instead just wait a month or two and binge a bunch of episodes in an afternoon.

With that being said, the movie has reignited my interest and I'm almost done catching up through season 7. I'm a bit disappointed the movie is a standalone/quasi-canon story instead of doing something with the real plot, but I'm still looking forward to it.

And finally

Spoiler

Rarity is and has always been best pone

 

[ShinySylvee]

Oh I see. I know the OT's title is "7 seasons and a movie" so I thought the series would end with a movie, which would be pretty cool. I only ever saw season 1.

That was the season 6 OT which was a reference to the community and was made back when the movie was first announced. Season 7's subtitle is "Is this still a fad?"

in season 8 they’re gonna reveal that everyone was Cylons all along

No man we all know that season 8 is where Starlight reveals that she's been working the long con and is still evil and ascends to the Princess of Equality. Also Sunset Shimmer will come through the portal professing her love for Twilight, causing Sigma to commit sudoku since his Twarity OTP will get demolished.

With that being said, the movie has reignited my interest and I'm almost done catching up through season 7. I'm a bit disappointed the movie is a standalone/quasi-canon story instead of doing something with the real plot, but I'm still looking forward to it.

And finally

Spoiler

Rarity is and has always been best pone

I'm pretty sure that they decided to have the movie be standalone since they want it to be an entry point for people into the series. Maybe if they get another movie it will be more closely tied into the show. That being said, there's apparently a lot of character cameos, especially in the end credits.

Also

Spoiler

your taste in pones is good

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I've always found this show pretty fun for a kids' animated series. I never ventured too far into the fandom, and lost some of my interest in the series after "Magical Mystery Cure" (which I thought would have been a wonderful series finale). Since that time I've stopped watching week-to-week and instead just wait a month or two and binge a bunch of episodes in an afternoon.

With that being said, the movie has reignited my interest and I'm almost done catching up through season 7. I'm a bit disappointed the movie is a standalone/quasi-canon story instead of doing something with the real plot, but I'm still looking forward to it.

And finally

Spoiler

Rarity is and has always been best pone

Well you are welcome here with your excellent taste in marshmallows.

 

[SigmasonicX]

There's a reason I included two Rarity GIFs in the OP.
(Secretly three, since the best part of the cake GIF is Rarity's reactions)

 

[UberTag]

There's a reason I included two Rarity GIFs in the OP.
(Secretly three, since the best part of the cake GIF is Rarity's reactions)

Rarity appreciation is PonyGAF's finest quality. I'm looking forward to being back in the Rarity avatar brigade on Monday.

 

[Fat4all]

edited smaller and in its deserved quality

 

[BlackDoomShadow]

^
Delet this

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I don't know what this is,

Spoiler

but I've been playing Danganronpa V3, so this is my response.

TRIAL 2 SPOILERS

 

[ShinySylvee]

I don't know if I should be bewildered or ashamed that this shows up as an ad for me

 

[Trigonometrize.]

Can someone explain the gif?

I want that ^

 

[SigmasonicX]

Am I missing something? I just see a 404 image not found.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Can someone explain the gif?

I want that ^

Bro I'm pretty sure everyone doesn't get like 90% of the stuff that Fat4all posts and just pretends to get it so they don't look like they're out of the loop.

I would want that too if I was an 8 year old girl or had no dignity. If the kids that go to see this movie love it as much as all the prerelease people are saying they did then Hasbro is going to make mad $$$ off merch for the movie.

Am I missing something? I just see a 404 image not found.

Mine or Fat's? Both show up fine on both desktop and mobile for me.

 

[SigmasonicX]

Mine or Fat's? Both show up fine on both desktop and mobile for me.

Fat's, though I now see his replacement image.
No need to worry, Fat4all, Rarity's just getting a new perspective to understand human fashion.

 

[Fat4all]

im always 41 steps ahead

 

[Azure Dream]

Ha ha?

 

[Gamesadict]

Subscribed.

Even since the movie was announced I honestly haven't followed as closely as I would have hoped 5 years ago...

I love that this movie exists when five, six years ago the common thought about pony was "well, season 2 is almost over, but we still have season 3 to look forward to. And that might be it for the series, but let's enjoy it while it lasts..."

...yeah exactly like this... but since it's only 5 days away I have been absolutely surrounded by it all over my social media.

Glad about the positive early impressions, looking forward to positive reviews. Kinda conflicted tho, about watching it on cinema, it's going to be 100% spanish dubbed everywhere (unless there are some non-dubbed theaters hidden somewhere) and was never a fan of the latin american spanish voices. Original voice cast ftw.

 

[Deleted member 10571]

Watching this in 3 days, already got VIP tickets (whatever that means) for the single one non-dubbed version in all of Hamburg it seems. Yay!

Also

this gif looks dooooope, wow.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Subscribed.

Even since the movie was announced I honestly haven't followed as closely as I would have hoped 5 years ago...

...yeah exactly like this... but since it's only 5 days away I have been absolutely surrounded by it all over my social media.

Glad about the positive early impressions, looking forward to positive reviews. Kinda conflicted tho, about watching it on cinema, it's going to be 100% spanish dubbed everywhere (unless there are some non-dubbed theaters hidden somewhere) and was never a fan of the latin american spanish voices. Original voice cast ftw.

Interesting that you're saying that your social media is blowing up about the movie when what we've seen so far is that the movie seems to be not getting any hype outside of the MLP fandom. Is your social media mostly pony stuff?



Also lots of pony avatars coming out of the woodwork. I think it was 3 or so months ago that there was a higher chance of finding a pony avatar in a normal off-topic thread then there was in the actual pony OTs since Sigma was the only one using one at that point. I always found it kinda weird that there were quite a few people with pony avatars that never posted in the OTs and didn't seem to follow the show anymore.

Also this gif looks dooooope, wow.

They aired a "making of" 30 minute special on Discovery Family hyping up the movie which had a TON of footage that hadn't been shown off before. All I can say is that it seems like they decided to use all of the most visually uninteresting stuff for the trailers because all of the new stuff looked absolutely fantastic. Given how barren the medium has been as of late this might just be the best-looking western 2D animated movie ever.

Also I've mentioned it in the Season 7 OT but the marketing for this movie has been pretty weak. The trailers don't do a great job at selling the movie to people that aren't already fans. The most appalling thing is how they keep fucking up the shading though. They were at their worst in the first teaser but a lot of the promotional had substantially darker shading then what apparently is supposed to be in the actual movie, including the trailers.You'd think after they had the problem in the teaser it would be ironed out but it still keeps popping up.



Anyway I'm going to head to bed. In all likelihood the embargo is going to drop when I'm asleep since it's supposed to be happening today from what I heard. If that's the case I'll edit my Reviews/Impressions second post once I wake up.

 

[Gamesadict]

Interesting that you're saying that your social media is blowing up about the movie when what we've seen so far is that the movie seems to be not getting any hype outside of the MLP fandom. Is your social media mostly pony stuff?

Not mostly, but certainly a good amount. On Facebook there are pages and groups from years ago, some people I added back then, all showing up over my feed, I think the way page reach works is involved here somehow.
There's also Twitter, where I have followed most of the people involved in the show and artists, and Tumblr.

Guess it will vary for everyone, since in my case I did have a lot of pony stuff that I never removed. Maybe blowing up was an exaggerated choice of words, but it's a way to put what I've had on my feeds.

 

[SolicitorPirate]

I...I can't believe there's a fucking Sia pony

 

[UberTag]

I...I can't believe there's a fucking Sia pony

 

[SigmasonicX]

They aired a "making of" 30 minute special on Discovery Family hyping up the movie which had a TON of footage that hadn't been shown off before. All I can say is that it seems like they decided to use all of the most visually uninteresting stuff for the trailers because all of the new stuff looked absolutely fantastic. Given how barren the medium has been as of late this might just be the best-looking western 2D animated movie ever.

Also I've mentioned it in the Season 7 OT but the marketing for this movie has been pretty weak. The trailers don't do a great job at selling the movie to people that aren't already fans. The most appalling thing is how they keep fucking up the shading though. They were at their worst in the first teaser but a lot of the promotional had substantially darker shading then what apparently is supposed to be in the actual movie, including the trailers.You'd think after they had the problem in the teaser it would be ironed out but it still keeps popping up.

Though I didn't watch the special, I did look at the images and GIFs that came out of it, and holy crap, it looks so much better than the trailers and official clips! How did Lionsgate screw up so much?!

Flying princess and water, note Canterlot friends on bridge
Pinkie
More water

There are some better GIFs, but I figured those moments would be best left unspoiled.

 

[Conkersbadfurday]

Sadly, I'm kinda stuck waiting for a Netflix/Redbox release. Not gonna have a repeat of that last Spongebob movie where I was the only lone adult in the show surrounded by kids and parents looking at me like I was up to no good.

 

[Strider_Blaze]

One review up from Rendy Reviews.

My Little Pony The Movie' is a colorfully refreshing return for 2D animation

This may say 'My Little Pony: The Movie' by its cover, but under its skin, it's a Disney movie at heart.

4/5

Also props for the guy calling out the Transformers film franchise and the Jem and the Holograms movie.

 

[ShinySylvee]

Got another one from a guy from Brazil. Keeping with the trend it's another guy who is also a fan of the show and thinks that the movie is amazing.

My Little Pony: The Movie is a lovely, genuine and pure movie, and I urge everyone to take their kids to see it.

thatstantiagoguy

Perhaps the most exciting part about this is that he said that he talked to other reviewers and they all loved it too. Again it's important to wait until non-fans start reviewing it, but we just might have a critical hit on our hands.

 

[Fancyarcher]

Shame it seems like Lionsgate is dumping this. It's only getting released in over 2000 theaters anyway.