Was Klugetown's slave and body part trafficking a result of the Storm King's rule, or something they still would have done or did regardless? Was it legal, or illicit but operating brazenly due to corrupt leadership? Was it due to Klugetown's unique status as a Wretched Hive, or is it indicative of civilization outside Equestria?
Was Twilight losing her temper at the other five a result of Pinkie calling out her misdeeds and her not willing to accept responsibility, or the buildup of stress that came from having to endure her friends not taking things as seriously as they ought to and snapping in a moment of rashness? Was Twilight projecting her own insecurities onto her friends, given that she could have intervened and used her magic many times where she instead just stood there and cringed?
Was the flashback of Tempest's friends shunning her for her broken horn really true, or simply a Self-Serving Memory? The prequel comic seems to support the latter by portraying them as more sympathetic.
Was the Storm King being Stupid Evil for backstabbing Tempest Shadow, or could he not fulfill his deal to restore her horn even if he wanted to, and thus there was no way or reason to keep up the act? Did he only pretend to accept Grubber's explanation for her "show all of them what I can really do" comment and in actuality suspect she might backstab him if he gave her what she wanted after Strife's betrayal in the prequel comic? Were his actions in the movie at odds with his comic portrayal as a Pragmatic Villain, or did he become Drunk with Power or was this his true nature that he let loose once he thought Nothing Can Stop Me Now?
Some have jokingly interpreted the Storm King as an Author Avatar for Hasbro's marketing department. He is fully aware of and embraces his villain status, apparently sells merchandise of himself abroad, is interested in making everyone work for him moving said merchandise and is conscious of his brand image and actively works to reinforce it with everything he does including his name.
Twilight befriending Tempest Shadow in the climax. Was it more pragmatic than appears? Tempest had shown herself to be quite powerful and effective in battle. As she had essentially been disowned by the Storm King, was Twilight thinking of a potential ally if the battle got worse?
Celestia rather easily leads herself open to attack and is the second princess to be petrified. Did she just panic at the shock of seeing it happen to Cadance? Or did she realize that as the strongest princess, she'd be the easiest target, and was pulling a Heroic Sacrifice in the hopes that Luna and Twilight would be able to get to safety?
Queen Novo forgiving the attempted theft of her pearl; done out of altruism or pragmatism as holding a grudge against Twilight who had become a hero to her actions which Novo opposed would have destroyed her support as Queen otherwise?
Angst? What Angst?: Even though their home has just been attacked and conquered by an invading force, their friends' lives are in danger, and they are forced to leave their home on such short notice, the Mane Six don't appear all that concerned or upset about the whole ordeal. It's lampshaded later when Twilight calls out her friends for their unnecessary cheerfulness and not taking the journey more seriously. However, the Mane Six's staying true to their friendliness despite difficulties is what ultimately saves the day come the end.
Awesome Art: The movie's Animation Bump to Toon Boom results in some gorgeous use of color, each of the Mane Six now getting their own personalized walking style, and some incredibly vivid locations. Not to mention getting to see a Sonic Rainboom on the big screen.
The first song released from the official soundtrack, "Rainbow" (as sung by Sia, the voice of Songbird Serenade), definitely qualifies. It's simply gorgeous.
The rest of the soundtrack follows suit. From the heartwarming "We Got This Together", to Capper's solo "I'm The Friend You Need", to Rainbow Dash and Captain Celaeno's confidence-boosting "Time to Be Awesome", to the upbeat and perky "One Small Thing", to Tempest Shadow's haunting Villain Song "Open Up Your Eyes", there's plenty to enjoy. The tracks provided by the various celebrity artists don't slack in the quality department, either — each of them is epic in their own way, all of them having the unifying theme of friendship within them.
Throughout the movie, Twilight Sparkle is only shown using basic levitation, illumination, and magic blasts despite her huge repertoire of spells in the show proper. When captured by Tempest Shadow's cage, she doesn't attempt anything beyond blasting it with magic when she could have easily just attempted a teleportation spell, no matter how well that would have turned out in the end.
Applejack has Super-Strength and is second only to Rainbow Dash in terms of athleticism, while Fluttershy has gone through plenty of Character Development in the show and has been known to keep up with Rainbow Dash when motivated enough. Come the final battle, Applejack's only method of offense is lassoing a bunch of minions, and Fluttershy's only contribution is comforting a minion in what's obviously supposed to be a gag.
Capper, the bipedal anthropomorphic cat, was the most controversial character upon his reveal. Some find it odd to see a full-blown Funny Animal in the series, as opposed to the usual Civilized Animals we see, complete with accusations of both pandering to the Furry Fandom and trying to ride the coattails ofZootopia (not helping is that it was stated that Capper's a Con Man, much like Nick Wilde from said film). Others find the character to be interesting and unique and point out that anthropomorphic cats have appeared in G1 in the form of the villainess Catrina as well as in the IDW comic book as the cat-like denizens of Wuvy-Dovey Land. Some even consider it to be rather hypocritical considering nobody batted an eye towards the Diamond Dogs (though that may have been because they were more hunched over and ape-like than upright walking Funny Animals).
The Storm King's portrayal compared to the prequel comics. While there are those who appreciate having a main villain who manages to be funny and genuinely threatening at the same time, others decry how the comics depicted him as a pragmatic, savvy chessmaster, only for the movie to turn him into a Stupid Evil villain who causes his own downfall due to his poor choices regarding Tempest.
Grubber can be seen as funny, or an annoying tagalong who doesn't do anything aside from making stupid jokes.
The Mane Six themselves. Are they perfectly in-character enough for you to enjoy them like you normally do, or have they been simplified too much to even sympathize with them?
Queen Novo. Either you hate her for her Bystander Syndrome attitude towards the Storm King's conquest and for nearly drowning the Mane Six over something that was solely Twilight's fault, or you like her due to her sympathetic motives (whether you figure them out through Fridge Brilliance or because you read the supplementary material) and thus forgive her for reacting the way she did.
The film's official soundtrack, released three weeks before the film, was criticized by some fans as short-sighting Daniel Ingram's music in favor of Oscar Bait-y-type music from celebrity musicians, only one of whom makes an actual appearance in the film. The fact that none of Ingram's film score appears in the soundtrack doesn't help matters.note This is actually quite common for films with a substantial number of featured music, as the musical score tends to be released separately from the main soundtrack later. Furious 7 is a common example of this practice. While some see this as Hasbro trying to broaden the movie's appeal, others have pointed fingers at the soundtrack's distributor, Sony Music, believing that the featured artists were shoe-horned into the compilation to sell as many copies as possible.
The movie itself. Some are fine with the movie as is, enjoying the animation style, the world-building outside of Equestria, the in-movie soundtrack, and the overall new cast of characters, while others aren't satisfied with the movie's Cliché Storm of a plot, the entirety of Equestria suffering The Worf Effect, and the journey to recruit the Hippogriffs being a "Shaggy Dog" Story because of Twilight's actions.
Twilight's behavior in the second half of the film. Long story short, this is easily one of the biggest base breakers for the movie's fans. First off, you have the camps that lambaste Twilight's decisions in trying to steal the Pearl of Transformation and yelling at her friends as being Out of Character. Then you have those that say Twilight's decisions were justified in that their ways of friendship weren't working outside of Equestria and she was getting desperate, not at all helped by said friends not treating the situation seriously. Then there's the third group which says that Both Sides Have a Point, where Twilight shouldn't have done what she did, but the others should have been more empathetic to Twilight's plight and noticed her growing doubts. Adding to the divide is the similarities to their fallout in "A Canterlot Wedding" ; some criticizing it/them for making the same mistakes while others like how it did a better job of justifying their actions and having to realize and atone for their mistakes.
The Mane Six's overall characterization in the movie. Were they flanderized, or is it Character Rerailment? The former camp, which consists of people who liked the show since the beginning, say that the movie deliberately sacrificed over seven seasons of Hidden Depths and Character Development for a cliched plot and didn't appreciate this being done, seeing it as mere laziness on part of the staff to write a better story at best, or a disservice to the characters they watched grow with them at worst. The latter, which conversely consists of fans of the earlier seasons who see the Mane Six's development as depriving of them of their signature quirks, see this as a welcome return for the ponies they fell in love with years ago and added to the story and the movies' entertainment value while still giving them what they saw as a satisfying story, which they argue wouldn't have been possible with the current Mane Six.
After the Storm King and his forces conquer and enslave Equestria, force the Hippogriffs out of their home land, and force a pirate crew into his service while the king himself steals the Alicorn magic for power and uses Tempest as an expendable pawn, becoming petrified by Tempest's Heroic Sacrifice and his Disney Villain Death immediately after is a satisfying conclusion for this humorous but sociopathic tyrant.
After Verko puts Capper in deep debt and almost has the Mane Six and Spike sold, being zapped by Tempest when he tried to be mockingly cute on her is both cathartic and hilarious.
Critics have been decidedly mixed on the film, while audience scores have been a lot higher. It's best put by the film's critics' consensus on Rotten Tomatoes:
"Charming and sweet, My Little Pony: The Movie will please its dedicated fanbase, even if it's unlikely to encourage non-devotees to gallop along for the ride."
Rotten Tomatoes is also a good view in general of how polarizing it is, with a 48% rotten critic score but a 76% fresh audience rating.
There is also a drastically different reception to Daniel Ingram's musical sequences in the movie between the fans and the critics, though it very likely ties into reception to the film itself. If you don't like musical movies or plays very much, you probably won't like the musical sequences much either.
Critic-Proof: It received mixed reviews from critics, but it made a decent $61 million worldwide gross on a budget of $6.5 million. Not a big success, but a decent one for Hasbro.
The idea of a major character such as Celestia being Killed Off for Real, similar to Optimus Prime in The Transformers: The Movie, a previous animated film based on a Hasbro product, seems to be a popular prediction. Someone dies, but it's not a major recurring character.
The Storm King being reformed at the end. While villains getting reformed isn't anything new to the series, most fans base this prediction off of one bit of footage from the official trailer, where the Storm King hugs Twilight and Tempest and mockingly refers to the concept of friendship. He actually doesn't reform; in fact, he's the one who dies at the end.
Most everyone agrees Tempest Shadow is the best part of the movie. Brony news site Equestria Daily had a poll which asked "which new movie character was your favorite" after the movie came out. Tempest shot into the lead with a landslide number of votes, to the point that Equestria Daily had to quickly pull the poll and replace it with a new one that read "which new movie character was your favorite, besides Tempest Shadow". After only two days, Tempest was already winning the first poll with more than 56% of the vote; second-place Capper only had 14%, and Tempest had more than four times as many votes as Capper when the first poll was cut off. Reasons for Tempest being so popular include her design, her interesting backstory, the way she's an effectively menacing villain (which is pretty rare for a Sugar Bowl world like My Little Pony), and her status as a foil to Twilight. Her song is also widely agreed to be the best one.
Even those put off by the Storm King's relatively short screen time find him to be a delightfully entertaining villain nonetheless. Even acknowledging that he's one of the most accomplished, dangerous, and powerful villains in the franchise. That, and he's also pretty funny.
The fate and resolution of the movie characters after the Dance Party Ending. Not to mention, with the Storm King being unambiguously dead, what is going to happen to all of the lands he had conquered, including a certain Klugetown should Celestia catch wind of what is going on down there...
What of other notable allies of a post Season 7 Equestria during the Storm King's invasion? Shining Armor, Ember, Thorax and the Pillars of Old Equestria are the biggest examples.
Skystar's father was never mentioned at all, even in supplementary material. What could have happened to him?
What is Tempest Shadow's cutie mark? The fandom has variously depicted it as (1) the Storm King's logo; (2) nothing, she's a blank flank;note which would explain why, in her subsequent appearances in the IDW comic and her onscreen cameo in “The Ending of the End”,she still keeps her flank covered despite having gotten rid of her Storm King armor (3) fireworks; or (4) an ice cream float, like the G3 pony Fizzy Pop, whom she was named after.
It's very common for fans to assume Skystar's father was killed in the Storm King's invasion of their homeland, hence Novo's overprotectiveness of her people.
The Storm King is not the first villain criticized for grabbing the Villain Ball (Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek). But My Little Pony: The Movie Prequel portrayed him as a savvy Pragmatic Villain, making these faults stand out worse to fans who were led to expect better. Also, prior villains compensated with coolness that, in the Storm King's case, was largely delegated to Tempest Shadow. At least until the climax, when he finally shows up and fully upstages Tempest as a villain.
Fourth Wall Myopia: Queen Novo suffers this for her initial unwillingness to help the heroes driving Twilight to attempt to steal from her in desperation and punishing Twilight's friends when the latter acted alone. Unlike audiences, Novo never says they were normally good and trustworthy, or that Twilight's friends were completely unaware and disapproving of her planned theft. As far as Novo knew, they were all intending to betray her trust in exactly the way she initially feared all along.
Germans Love David Hasselhoff: While the film underperformed in its home country of America, it made tons of money in the United Kingdomnote which also loves the series the film is based on, where it had a longer theatrical run than it did in North America and in China, where it's made more money than Peter Rabbit and Ferdinand.
He Panned It, Now He Sucks!: An IGN journalist got a lot of backlash for giving the film a 3.5 note For comparison, that's a lower score than the heavily-panned Emoji Movie that was released a few months prior, which got a 4.5, with many (even those who also disliked the movie) accusing them of focusing too much on trivial details and inaccurately representing the show that the film was based on, despite claims to have seen the series before. Given the existence of Seaquestria and its significance to the plot, jokes about "too much water" were inevitable.
Andrea Libman's performance during Pinkie and Twilight's argument after Twilight tries and fails to steal the Pearl of Transformation sheds a whole new light on the former, implying a sense of vulnerability that hasn't been seen before. The same also goes for Tara Strong after the fight when Twilight realizes what she did, with some emotional dialogue not seen in the series.
Even those disappointed with The Storm King's lack of focus admit to still enjoying Liev Schreiber's performance which shows his vocal range, and that he can do comedic roles just as well as the dramatic roles that he's usually known for.
I Knew It!: Due to the movie entering production before Season 5, many fans debated whether or not Starlight Glimmer would make an appearance in the film. The official trailer would confirm that, yes, Starlight does make an appearance, albeit only as a silent cameo.
Detractors of the Storm King and/or Tempest Shadow point to the fact they recycle a lot of traits of previous villains. The Storm King is a mash-up of Discord's humor, Sombra's dark crystal petrification schtick, and Tirek's plan to drain the magic of the princesses. For Tempest Shadow, she's yet anotherShadow Archetype for Twilight who espouses an anti-friendship worldview and has a Freudian Excuse backstory to justify why she's so jaded.
For critics of the story, a lot of plot points the film hits have already been done by the show for its season premieres and finales, especially the princesses being hit by The Worf Effect. This is a major reason that the impact of seeing the Storm King's forces invade Canterlot and petrify the Princesses can fall flat; other villains have done it, and it's already starting to become a Discredited Trope.
Fans of traditional animation, even the ones who aren't fans of the show, have expressed interest in the film due to how rare Western 2D-animated theatrical films are now.
Several people have expressed interest in the film solely based on the celebrity voice actors, with Sia fans in particular being drawn in by her music video.
Within the fandom, some people were drawn with the news that the seaponies would finally be featured (there having been calls to incorporate them since Season 1).
Pinkie and Skystar are fairly touchy-feely with each other.
At the end of the movie, the shy glances exchanged between Tempest and Twilight during Tempest's fireworks display are another source of shipping fuel.
Like You Would Really Do It: When Twilight Sparkle gets sucked into the tornado in the final act, everyone mostly saw the Disney Death coming a mile away. In turn, it really took the drama out of the scene.
"Tired Rainbow Dash", based on the sunken eyes Rainbow Dash's character model appeared to have in the teaser due to rendering issues, making her look very sleep deprived.
One on this very wiki: it seems to have become popular to make Star Wars-related guesses on the WMG page here.
"RIP Brian", in memorial of Party Favor's poor deflated balloon animal, took off just minutes after the official trailer launched. He even got a character tag on Derpibooru!
"More butt." note In the official art book, a sketch of Fluttershy is drawn over in red, with a note for "more butt" to balance out her head.
A common point of contention is how it ignores Character Development and continuity (outside some cameos) past the end of Season 4, leading to questions about why they sought help from the hippogriffs over all the other allied races they made since then and it not feeling like it fit the shows continuity. Many criticize this as an attempt for The Movie appeal to wider audiences at the expense of it appealing to existing fans. But work on The Movie started immediately after end of Season 4, thus Production Lead Time would make it impossible to incorporate said later development and continuity beyond cameos if they wanted to or not.
Once it came out Friendship Is Magic would end in 2019, some blamed the movie's weak reception and earnings. However, Hasbro stated they wanted it to continue for five years in 2014 when the movie was first announced, wanted to wrap it up in the very early pitches for Season 7 while the movie would be mid-production, and months after the movie released leaked early drafts for the next series which was too soon to have been designed in response to its reception. While otherG4movies may have been canned, the end of Friendship Is Magic, already a Long Runner by this point whose toy sales were slowing down before the movie released, was decided well before reception of The Movie could influence it.
Moe: The ponies are much cuter and more adorable than in the series, thanks to some Art Evolution and Visual Effects of Awesome. The hippogriffs/seaponies's designs actually help, thanks to the added designs of fish tails. The d'awwwww levels are quite exaggerated.
Moral Event Horizon: The Storm King crosses the line by creating a massive tornado that threatened to destroy Canterlot along with his own army, then backstabbing and attempting to murder Tempest when she asks for him to fix her horn to fulfill his end of the deal.
Most Wonderful Sound: Princess Skystar, sad that the Mane Six will have to leave soon, holds back her tears and quietly accepts her new friends will leave her. Then Pinkie Pie starts singing "One Small Thing" to cheer her up, bringing a smile to both Skystar and the audiences.
Narm Charm: The song "Time to Be Awesome" would have been awfully hard to take seriously thanks to its lyrics, but Ashleigh Ball, Zoe Saldana and the orchestrated music make it work.
A bipedal cat is nothing new to the series, as G1 had an anthropomorphic cat in the form of the villainess Catrina. Plus, the comic books had the cat people of Wuvy-Dovey Land (referred to as Wuv-Cats by fans) whose hometown Queen Chrysalis takes over as a temporary base of operations.
People who denounce Twilight for her actions or think it's Out of Character may not remember that this isn't the first time she's resorted to crime to solve a problem. "Luna Eclipsed" has her breaking and entering into Fluttershy's home just to make her teach Luna how to speak.
One-Scene Wonder: Songbird Serenade is only on screen for 10 minutes at most, but when she finally gets to sing "Rainbow" at the end, she really steals the show.
So Okay, It's Average: While most fans think the movie was really good, other people who aren't fans of the series have a mixed reaction towards this movie — it's well animated, the characters are likable enough and it's mostly just harmless, enjoyable fun if you are bored, but it's also predictable, repetitive, and too saccharine at times and you won't miss anything if you skip it. At the same time, the movie isn't awful either, so it doesn't make good riffing material. Even those that like the movie admit it's hardly going to blow anyone away.
While many agree the character animation from the teaser is impressive, to say the least, it's obvious copy/paste vibe and bizarre, oversaturated shading (resulting in "baggy eyes" that are particularly noticeable on Rainbow Dash◊) have resulted in the character models appearing slightly off even to those who have expressed high hopes for the film after watching the teaser. Art director Rebecca Dart has pointed out that much of this stems from the failure to convert the film's 16-bit images into 8-bit for the teaser, which "crushed all the [models'] shadows".
The quality of the CGI in the main trailer varied noticeably, and some of the models (most egregiously the airship, which was noted by some fans to have an "unfinished" look compared to the CGI models used in the rest of the trailer) have been unfavorably compared to the quality of a cutscene◊ from an early PlayStation game.
Between the invasion by a faceless force that descends from the skies, going to foreign lands to win over allies to take back the main character's homeland, and the main character being forced to make morally questionable decisions as the quest goes on, one could consider this movie to be a great fantasy version of Mass Effect 3.
Though this show preceded it and did its themes also, the emphasis on the value of friendship, conflict within a closely tight knit group, villain having a complex motive parallel to that of the hero, Disney-esque songs, and celebrity voice actors, it's the closest thing we'll get to a Sofia the First theatrical movie.
Squick: A pill bug crawled across Pinkie Pie's eye, and she didn't care.
Strawman Has a Point: Tempest Shadow was disdainful of friendship and Equestria's friendship-centric way. But she raised unintentionally valid criticisms.
She bemoans how so much Equestrian power is wasted on parties when it has far greater uses. But if Equestria used that power to build an army powerful enough to defend against the Storm King and other threats, annex villainous or despondent locations like Klugetown, or put it into medical science to find solutions to her and others' disabilities (the apparent lack of which drove her to villainy in desperation to get fixed), much of the movie's and the show's major conflicts might have been prevented or mitigated.
Tempest makes another good point with her Villain Song, "Open Up Your Eyes". It explains her back story of why she distrusts friendship, but rather than evil, it comes off more as a warning of being careful who you choose to trust because someone who calls themselves your friend can still stab you in the back.
The intro to "Off to See the World" has a similar melody to that of "Eye of the Tiger".
The refrain of "Time to be Awesome" ("Ah, ah, ah-ah, awesome! It's time to be so awesome!") sounds a lot like the one from the Friendship Games theme ("Na, na, na-na-na, oh, na, na, let's go"). And what's more is that both songs are sung by Rainbow Dash to motivate others.
"One Small Thing" combines elements from the Sofia the First songs "Welcome to Merroway Cove" and "Joining Together", the upbeat tempo of the former, and the message on working together from the latter.
"We Got This Together" is also like "Tri Kingdom Picnic" from Sofia the First.
The initial teaser failed to impress due to multiple factors, such as Pinkie's screeching voice, heavily saturated colors and glitter, and some rather choppily inserted character animations, most of which suffer due to compression issues. It's gotten to the point where the film's own animation crew, plus others who've received an inside look (such as Collider's John Rocha) told fans that the teaser is a poor representation of how the movie will actually look. Thankfully, the full trailer was much better received.
While more annoyed than angry, some fans are decidedly not happy about the second full trailer and other materials revealing the Princesses are once again subjected to the Worf Effect and turned to stone, seeing it as a continuation of something many dislike about the series proper.
Capper and the Mane Five never bother releasing any of the imprisoned ponies before they head off to the castle, it would have been fun to see secondary and background ponies fight off the Storm Guards alongside the pirates.
The other Princesses apart from Twilight, who are all turned to stone early on and don't get to do anything in the main story. While some may argue that keeping them around would have made for too many characters to keep track of, this can be countered by the fact that many of the show's two-parters from both before and after this film's release such as "The Crystalling" and "The Beginning of the End" managed to give them offscreen or background roles that allowed them to meaningfully contribute while keeping the focus on the main heroes.
Discord. While from a story perspective, it makes sense not to have him in the movie since he can literally save the day with a snap of his fingers. note Unless he got caught by one of the Obsidian Orbs or something. However, it's still disappointing he didn't even make a cameo and allowing us to see him in the upgraded animation. His only in-movie cameo wasn't even him, but a balloon sculpture by Pinkie (the stained-glass window depicting his second defeat is also briefly visible). Likewise, while he did directly cameo in the end-credits, the animation style used there was completely different from that of the movie itself.
The Storm King was portrayed in the prequel comics as a silly, yet ruthless and competent Evil Overlord. The movie only gives him around ten minutes of actual screentime meaning he never does much before being undone by traditional villain mistakes.
Grubber is underutilized as a character, with very few meaningful interactions with other characters and contributions to the plot. The only place he really does anything is the first act where he reports Twilight's escape to Tempest, who addresses him maybe twice and then more or less ignores him completely from that point onwards, and he's relegated to providing occasional bursts of comic relief and nothing else for the rest of the movie. Why couldn't we have seen him and the Storm Guards reacting to the Storm King's death?
Tying into the above, The Great Princess Caper also implied Grubber was the closest Tempest had to a Villainous Friendship prior to her Heel–Face Turn. This is not really referenced throughout the movie itself, despite having potential to clash against Tempest's loner approach and make her a more believably conflicted and redeemable villain.
The Equestrian Royal Guards aren't even around to defend Canterlot, only briefly appearing in the credits. Their valiant but futile attempt at fighting off the Storm Guards could've added a much more dramatic effect to the invasion scene and let Twilight Sparkle realize how much higher the stakes are. Their absence is even more conspicuous considering one of their members, Shining Armor, is Twilight's brother and the husband of Cadance.
A lot of effort went into pitching Stratus Skyranger as a collectible figure and a notable character in the prequel comics. Yet he doesn't even get a speaking role during the Mane 6's visit to Seaquestria.
There is also the fact that the movie doesn't use the Mane Five the best it could as it is, their contribution to the plot being limited due to the screentime needed for the new characters or Twilight's character arc. Fluttershy and Applejack suffer from this in particular. Applejack at least gets to the The Lancer to the team, whereas Fluttershy reverts to her timid Season 1 persona a few times and only gets one small moment in the final battle.
We never got to see a resistance movement to the subsequent invasion of the rest of Equestria after the fall of Canterlot, especially at prime spots like the Dragon Lands, the Changeling Hive and the Crystal Empire. After all, considering what happened to Ponyville, it must have been quite a blast. (The Yaks and Griffins might be counted as a separate nation and therefore wasn't invaded.) In fact, we never got to see the state of Equestria during the 72-hour war until the liberation of Canterlot which ended the war.
Seaquestria lacks an Establishing Shot or any sort of exploration of the place. The Mane Six (and Spike) travel through quite a bunch of Klugetown, with several long shots that show the impressive size and vertical element of the city. In contrast, when they get to Seaquestria, they head straight for the royal chambers, which is also the only structure seen, making it seem like that's the only building in the place and the Seaponies just live among the coral and kelp (which admittedly could tie into how sad and bored they are). The main series however would feature Seaquestria more.
Tempest Shadow's motivations for helping a warlord take over her home country seem selfishly shallow, but we get a brief line that she believes the princesses (and perhaps ponies in general) are wasting their powers when they could be using them for greater purposes. This interesting motivation/plot is not explored beyond that.
If this movie was going to have a The Magnificent Seven Samurai plot, why couldn't the Mane Six and Spike have been the Seven Samurai, instead of being the helpless townspeople who go out to recruit the Samurai?
Ugly Cute: Grubber, the Storm King's weird little hedgehog henchman, is surprisingly adorable in his own way.
Uncertain Audience: One reason for its mediocre reception. Fans of the show were less than impressed with the lack of continuity past Season 4 and it not doing anything the show hadn't done better prior, while non-fans who wouldn't mind or appreciate the lack of Continuity Lockout still had little reason to care for The Movie if they weren't already interested in the show.
Unexpected Character: Some of the cameo appearances from the trailer. While some expected Starlight Glimmer and Trixie to appear, very few expected to see Cheese Sandwich and Tree Hugger.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Queen Novo was the least popular new main character◊ despite being the Big Good. She was meant to be an benevolent queen initially refusing to fight the Storm King due to not wanting to endanger her people or risking her powerful Pearl of Transformation falling into the wrong hands but would have been persuaded to help fight if not for Twilight attempting to steal the Pearl due to being too quick to lose trust in Novo. But due to them being the first thing to come to Princess Celestia's mind when the Storm King invadednote it was written before they gained other possible allies in the series, many thought Novo was an ally under expectation or obligation to aid the heroes only to be inexplicably distrustful toward them (The Stormy Road to Canterlot would justify that but it's canonically suspect and not alluded to in The Movie). The Storm King and his army being defeated by thirteen ragtag individuals without the Pearl made Novo look excessively cowardly for running and hiding rather than standing and fighting against such seemingly easy to beat foe. Even many who defend her actions as pragmatically justifiable felt Novo's lack of positive contribution left her having done nothing to deserve their happy ending after abandoning Equestria in its hour of need.
Many fans initially thought Captain Celaeno was a griffon when she was first revealed, due to her having a similar design as the griffons in the show, and long pointed ears similar to the kind griffons are sometimes depicted with in fiction. Others pointed out that her name doesn't start with a "G" like the other griffons in Friendship Is Magic and is a reference to a harpy from Greek mythology. Then her official toy was revealed, showing that she didn't have lion parts, resembling a humanoid parrot instead of a griffon. Due to her kinetic animation and split-second appearances in the trailer, however, the confusion still persists even among a reviewer or two.
No-one seems to know or agree on what kind of animal Grubber is supposed to be. However, he is confirmed to be some kind of hedgehog by toy descriptions.
Vindicated by Cable: A number of problems plagued the film's theatrical run that caused it to not do so well at the box office, including an advertising dispute between Hasbro and Lionsgate causing barely any TV ads to be shown for the film, poor critical reception and the film not only being released during a dump month, but on the weekend Hurricane Nate hit the southern part of the United States, which also affected several other movies released that weekend. However, the DVD release sold many copies and led to more people discovering the film. Most notably, on Amazon Prime, it's the fourth best-selling film on the service as of May 2019.
The characters' smooth and expressive animations are downright stunning, with some even comparing the animation to a Disney film from The Renaissance Age of Animation.
Rainbow Dash doing the Sonic Rainboom once again. Seeing it done in the new animation is a sight to behold, even if it wasn't the best time.
The opening scene, where we get a oner starting with a starry sky, pan down to some clouds, where we follow some pegasi flying over the fields of Equestria and through the streets of Canterlot, all set to "We Got the Beat."
" (as sung by Sia, the voice of Songbird Serenade), definitely qualifies. It's simply gorgeous.
