To be fair, I am much older than the intended audience, and the opposite gender.
People like to say that somehow, G4 ponies were not really different from past generations. Seeing this movie, even using what people like to say was the best generation prior to G4, it still does not compare. The biggest difference from the first and forth generation was characterization. The diversity of characterization was not great enough to be leaving any lasting impressions, but most of the diversity appears to show up between different species. You have good grundles, evil witches, xenophobic flutter ponies who all know what the smooze is and how to defeat it... To me, this sort of characterization is reminiscent of childish fairy tales.
G4 on the other hand completely averts this style of characterization. There are snobby Canterlot unicorns, but also others like Twilight sparkle. There are tough pegasi and their militaristic/athletic culture, but there is also Fluttershy. There are earth ponies that seem mundane, but there's Pinkie who is anything but.
The plot isn't exactly satisfying either. The one solution that solved the one huge problem that mattered the most did not come from the protagonist but instead, from what seems to be deus ex machina from another outside race unrelated to the heros. I'm more of a person who wants to see the heros win, not hide behind some strangers to get the job done. Then, there are random songs which to me felt like not much more than distractions. There may be a lot of things a real movie critic can bring up which I can't myself as I feel that many things could have been executed more skillfully so it doesn't feel like a slideshow.
To be fair, much of the girly-girly bullcrap I've heard Faust talk about as to why girl's animation sucked weren't things I easily found. Most of that saccharine art and writing style was stuff I see much more in G3. This isn't a bad movie, but it doesn't really leave a lasting impression on me. Again, the big thing keeping this movie to being something comparable to the season 2 finale in G4 is characterization. Not something I would recommend to even fellow fans of G4.
Not something I would recommend to a friend
To be fair, I am much older than the intended audience, and the opposite gender.
People like to say that somehow, G4 ponies were not really different from past generations. Seeing this movie, even using what people like to say was the best generation prior to G4, it still does not compare. The biggest difference from the first and forth generation was characterization. The diversity of characterization was not great enough to be leaving any lasting impressions, but most of the diversity appears to show up between different species. You have good grundles, evil witches, xenophobic flutter ponies who all know what the smooze is and how to defeat it... To me, this sort of characterization is reminiscent of childish fairy tales.
G4 on the other hand completely averts this style of characterization. There are snobby Canterlot unicorns, but also others like Twilight sparkle. There are tough pegasi and their militaristic/athletic culture, but there is also Fluttershy. There are earth ponies that seem mundane, but there's Pinkie who is anything but.
The plot isn't exactly satisfying either. The one solution that solved the one huge problem that mattered the most did not come from the protagonist but instead, from what seems to be deus ex machina from another outside race unrelated to the heros. I'm more of a person who wants to see the heros win, not hide behind some strangers to get the job done. Then, there are random songs which to me felt like not much more than distractions. There may be a lot of things a real movie critic can bring up which I can't myself as I feel that many things could have been executed more skillfully so it doesn't feel like a slideshow.
To be fair, much of the girly-girly bullcrap I've heard Faust talk about as to why girl's animation sucked weren't things I easily found. Most of that saccharine art and writing style was stuff I see much more in G3. This isn't a bad movie, but it doesn't really leave a lasting impression on me. Again, the big thing keeping this movie to being something comparable to the season 2 finale in G4 is characterization. Not something I would recommend to even fellow fans of G4.