My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

(In French, In Theatres, October 2017) When my daughter picks the movie she wants to see, I’m usually fair game. In My Little Pony’s case, familiarity is key given how heavily the film plays with the established personalities of the five main ponies as they confront a kingdom-threatening peril. As I could name all five (and their dominant personality trait), I was in a reasonably good shape to appreciate the film. It works well enough at what it tries to be: an uplifting, reasonably entertaining film for kids (not so much a film for the entire family) featuring a decent moral message and enough adventures in new places to justify the ticket price. Here we get to go underwater and meet seahorses, which acts both as a thematically interesting addition and an effective merchandizing opportunity. It’s easy to become overly cynical about films that promote toys, but My Little Pony is, fortunately enough, better than expected in terms of life lessons for the pre-teen set. Friendship is cool, redemption is possible and all is darkest when alone given that strength is found in teamwork. Not a bad set of talking points for the drive home. Don’t be surprised to find all of it very cute.