Got to disagree with this review. It feels like you missed so much of what actually happened or just completely misinterpreted it.
It's not too much of a change having CG ponies because we had that in the previous MLP film and this one also looks really, really good. The animation is smooth and many scenes are just beautiful in their own right.
Sprout's villain song is awesome and probably the best song in the whole film. Sprout's song is also good for showing how things can go bad without someone being evil. While it's true I can't recall all the songs even after watching it twice, both the ones you mentioned did remain in my head. While they were going on, the songs were also pretty cool, if some were perhaps a bit too "pop" for my taste.
The low stakes is not really a bad thing. Not everything is about saving the world. Although, they kind of are trying to do that. When we're talking about what they are trying to accomplish I'm surprised you don't note the similarities with another film you reviewed, Raya and the Last Dragon, as the plots are very similar (no pun intended). Both have a main character whose dad is dead/petrified after the first act and whose mother is never even mentioned. Both involved a previously harmonious world which is now divided and a dream to unite everyone again. Both involve a time jump between the set up and the actual adventure. Both involve travelling from group to group to unite magical stones. Both climax with the stones not actually working and requiring the different parties to give up their animosity and trust each other before the magic works.
I'm also surprised you don't bother mentioning that the whole is just a lot of fun. It is paced well, keeps escalating situations, doesn't take itself too seriously and is packed with jokes. And the good thing is, whether you think it is aimed young or not, those jokes cater to all ages and it never feels too juvenile. There are jokes about paperwork, mortgages, fireman calendars and political allusions that are clearly not aimed at little kids.
I don't know why you think it's not clear whether this is in the same world or not. It's clearly stated that Twilight and the others were real characters and Sunny's dad was doing research on the past. We also can see that in the abandoned architecture at Zephyr Heights. There has been discussion on the failure of the Mane 6; we don't know how long all that was, it could be hundreds or thousands of years and things change in that time scale. The Roman Empire united a lot of places and then collapsed. I think the bigger questions are not just why it failed but how the knowledge of the past was lost, what happened to all the other kingdoms (dragons, changelings, etc.) and how the world continued to function without magic.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~
Got to disagree with this review. It feels like you missed so much of what actually happened or just completely misinterpreted it.
It's not too much of a change having CG ponies because we had that in the previous MLP film and this one also looks really, really good. The animation is smooth and many scenes are just beautiful in their own right.
Sprout's villain song is awesome and probably the best song in the whole film. Sprout's song is also good for showing how things can go bad without someone being evil. While it's true I can't recall all the songs even after watching it twice, both the ones you mentioned did remain in my head. While they were going on, the songs were also pretty cool, if some were perhaps a bit too "pop" for my taste.
The low stakes is not really a bad thing. Not everything is about saving the world. Although, they kind of are trying to do that. When we're talking about what they are trying to accomplish I'm surprised you don't note the similarities with another film you reviewed, Raya and the Last Dragon, as the plots are very similar (no pun intended). Both have a main character whose dad is dead/petrified after the first act and whose mother is never even mentioned. Both involved a previously harmonious world which is now divided and a dream to unite everyone again. Both involve a time jump between the set up and the actual adventure. Both involve travelling from group to group to unite magical stones. Both climax with the stones not actually working and requiring the different parties to give up their animosity and trust each other before the magic works.
I'm also surprised you don't bother mentioning that the whole is just a lot of fun. It is paced well, keeps escalating situations, doesn't take itself too seriously and is packed with jokes. And the good thing is, whether you think it is aimed young or not, those jokes cater to all ages and it never feels too juvenile. There are jokes about paperwork, mortgages, fireman calendars and political allusions that are clearly not aimed at little kids.
I don't know why you think it's not clear whether this is in the same world or not. It's clearly stated that Twilight and the others were real characters and Sunny's dad was doing research on the past. We also can see that in the abandoned architecture at Zephyr Heights. There has been discussion on the failure of the Mane 6; we don't know how long all that was, it could be hundreds or thousands of years and things change in that time scale. The Roman Empire united a lot of places and then collapsed. I think the bigger questions are not just why it failed but how the knowledge of the past was lost, what happened to all the other kingdoms (dragons, changelings, etc.) and how the world continued to function without magic.
"If all mankind minus one, were of one opinion, and only one person were of the contrary opinion, mankind would be no more justified in silencing that one person, than he, if he had the power, would be justified in silencing mankind."
~John Stuart Mill~