If you need a reason to not blindly trust your Netflix algorithm if you’re an adult, this new My Little Pony movie is it. I’m not a Bronie, so My Little Pony content isn’t ever featured on my profile: I only saw it was a new release. But thanks to A New Generation, I at least understand the Bronie world a little better, because this My Little Pony movie is much more rich than it’s glitzy glam rainbow jam. Oh crap, now I’ll be inundated with My Little Pony content. D*mn you Netflix, this better not get me arrested.
This My Little Pony world is on Earth, where horses and their variations (Pegasi, Unicorns) prance, trot, and sing. They used to do so together (if you happen to be a My Little Pony Fan, this would be the Twilight Sparkle era), but something bad happened, and the Horses, Pegasi, and Unicorns all live separately. In present day Maretime Bay, a horse named Sunny Starscout (Vanessa Hudgens), inspired by her dad (Michael McKean), doesn’t fear Pegasi or Unicorns: she wants to reunite with them. Standing in her way are Hitch Trailblazer (James Marsden), the town sheriff/Sunny’s friend, and Sprout Cloverleaf (Ken Jeong), deputy sheriff and adamant hater of all non horses. Things go haywire in the town when a unicorn named Izzy Moonbow (Kimiko Glenn) shows up in Maretime Bay, scaring the citizens forcing Sunny to hide Izzy and go on the run with her.
It’s the really clever messaging that wins the day with A New Generation. The big problem Horse Sunny, Unicorn Izzy, and Pegasus Zipp Storm (Liza Koshy) have to deal with is: ignorance related misinformation. People like Sprout are terrified of any animal they don’t understand, so they use their position of power to “defend” themselves from it, with the help of the greedy anti Pegasi/Unicorn businesshorse and Sprout’s mom Phyllis (Elizabeth Perkins). That’s some potent stuff for a movie where a unicorn travels across a rainbow to visit a town and a horse rollerskates to a town exhibit! And what’s the solution? Sunny takes that leap of faith and simply learns about Izzy, Zipp, and other people not like her. And the more she learns, all those poorly taught stories from TV’s or the Pony’s version of Instagram meant to scare her fade away, a lovely lesson for every kid to learn. The payoff for the ponies is a life of magic: not far off from the real thing; speaking from personal experience, my great magical moments usually involve connecting with someone new that I don’t know much about.
On the kids side of things, I guess the My Little Pony has done their Disney homework, because they straight up pilfer their 10 point story machine for A New Generation guaranteed to win over the hearts of young kids everywhere. We’ve got a parentless (1) talking animal (2) singing and dancing (3) through a colorful vibrant town (4), going on a potentially magical (5) adventure (6) where we meet other interesting, cute creatures (7), search for the magical macguffin (8), lose hope for a little bit (9), and then fight a big battle (10). Now, Maretime Bay is no Zootopia, but they share a lot of story DNA, making this My Little Pony movie all the better for it, and at the end those songs, adventure and infectious energy will have your kids asking for their own my little ponies or looking for Glowin Up or any of the other catchy songs from the movie.
My Little Pony: A New Generation could have been a Space Jam: New Legacy type cynical cash grab for new toy sales. But this sales pitch at least is built on a layer of fun and something resembling decent storytelling. That’s more than enough for the stressed out parents taking their kids in and out of lockdown pandemic measures, who need an hour and a half to decompress.