Some Constructive Criticism For Kids Movies Today

Once upon a time, I forgot how old my little brother was and booked us tickets to see My Little Pony: The Movie. It was only when we'd sat down in the cinema, completely empty but for two families with small female children, that Beau revealed to me that he may be too old to enjoy this movie and it dawned on me that I had made a grave mistake and that I would have to sit through this film that both of us were too old to tolerate, purely for the purpose of reviewing it.

This realisation got me thinking. If young children are so easy to please then the only reason for films to be made purely for them is laziness. This thought had never struck me before and I was filled with righteous anger! Studios shouldn't be able to get away with making a bad film by using the excuse that it is for children, just make a good film that is suitable for young kids. It wouldn't even be that hard for this very movie to become that and so here are my ideas on how to improve My Little Pony: The Movie.

First of all, this movie is filled with wasted characters. Now I understand that the cartoon has an avid adult following and so perhaps there is some development I'm missing somewhere along the line by only having seen the film, however, the writers should take this into account if they want to make an actual good film and not just a fan pleaser. In the film there is a group of ponies referred to as the Mane 6, which consists of Twilight Sparkle, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy. All but Pinky Pie are completely wasted.

Pinky Pie is the Pony equivalent to Gru's Minions from Despicable Me. She is the silly character that draws in the cute factor money but in execution is the most annoying thing out to screen. In small doses I'm sure Pinky Pie could serve as juvenile comic relief to amuse the kids this film is intended for and then the more mature audience could ignore her. This could give more weight to her and Twilight Sparkle's falling out as well, since the film won't have made us hate her but rather would have shown us how adorable she could be and left it at that, making us actually feel something when she gets upset because it's ok for a kids film to be sad. Cutting Pinky Pie's role down significantly would have also opened space for largely ignored members of the Mane 6 to have their own arcs and character moments, resulting in a better movie experience for all ages.

From Uzo Aduba's Queen Novo to the Storm King, portrayed by ex-Sabertooth Liev Schreiber, this movie has many talented performers in its guest cast and yet they could not save it from being mightily unappealing to anyone who has set foot in a secondary school. Particular stars that should be removed from the film in order to increase its quality are Kristin Chenoweth and, sadly, the great Michael Pena. The reason I would call for these performers' departures is as follows: they actively ruin what could be redeeming elements in the film. Chenoweth's Princess Skystar is just a carbon copy of Pinky Pie with different packaging and so is completely obsolete. Pena's character serves as comic relief in the scenes that feature the villain but when the whole rest of the film is comic relief the kids can cope with a bit of uninterrupted villainy.

Speaking of the villain, Emily Blunt's Tempest Shadow feels as though she's in a different movie to everyone else. She fully commits to her role as the misunderstood villain with a Loki style tragic past, she genuinely acts the part in a film where everyone else is doing the classic phoning it in, kids show voice. The fact that most of her scenes get stolen by a silly joke is criminal and the film should know better than

to think kids can't cope with a bit of villain-centric time. The best scene in the whole film is when Tempest gets to sing her song and she's uninterrupted for a good couple of minutes, in short it seems that Blunt is really trying in this film whereas the rest of the cast is simply going through the motions.

This is the problem with movies made specifically for kids: it's just an excuse for a film with very little effort put behind it. It is possible to make a movie that kids will enjoy without making it a lazy copy of every kids film that's come before and without removing any sense of stakes or performance. This goose does not have teeth but could've if anyone but Emily Blunt put some actual effort into the film.