I didn't watch this feature-length film until I was an adult, although I have been one of the BIGGEST fans of the TV series that followed the film, since the age of 5 (I'm now in my mid-30s). Hence, I have no nostalgia associated with the movie specifically, the way so many other reviewers seem to, and this allows me to be a little more objective in my own appraisal. Let me start by saying that this was a terrific introduction to the Flutter Ponies - one of the most alluring elements of the entire G1 MLP franchise, and the way they roll back and eradicate the Smooze at the end of the story by the power of their fluttering wings is ABSOLUTELY *EPIC* - a truly and uniquely spectacular sequence in cartoon film history. I would much rather watch this than the generic action sequences in modern, so-called 'real' films like "The Batman". The Flutter Ponies are immeasurably cooler than anything in the DC or Marvel mega-franchises today.
I don't find Baby Lickety-Split NEARLY as annoying as a lot of people seem to, although you WOULD be advised to turn down the volume on your DVD towards the end of her first song "I'll Go It Alone". It's the much more petulant equivalent of the old standard "By Myself" (popularized by the likes of Judy Garland), and although the so-called grand finale where both Baby LS and Spike sing 'in harmony' (ahem) will test even the most ardent G1 MLP fan to put it kindly - I still find the song a lot more original and authentic and yes, even entertaining (bar the ending), than her second song "What Good Could Wishing Do?" which is a much more generically schmaltzy song (the kind you would find in any late 20th century musical). The idea of the supposed Wishing Well singing back to her, in a play on Snow White's wishing well song from the 1937 Disney film, is clever, but I found this to be the MOST GRATING melody for the most part because it sounds like the composer was trying to outdo both Stephen Schwartz and Kander & Ebb at their generic worst!!
The rest of the score is mostly REALLY REALLY ENJOYABLE, MEMORABLE and JUST DARN GOOD, so I completely disagree with everyone who has dissed all the songs. And no, "Nothing Can Stop the Schmooze" is FAR from the musical highlight - it's an attempt to add some levity and comedy to the Witches' vile plot to bury everyone and everything in Dream Valley forever, not unlike the way Shakespeare's Richard III juxtaposed outright villainy with almost ridiculously comedic lines - but the TRUE WORTH of the score lies elsewhere!!!
The Witches' first song "An Evil Witch Like Me" is MUCH MUCH MORE CLEVER AND DELICIOUS than the title would have you believe, both lyrically and sonically, as Hydia contextualizes everything within the framework of her proudly "despicable" family tree. There's such a rich mythology woven into just that one song, making the viewer LONG to see some of Hydia's ancestors like the deceptively beautiful Lucretia and Bad-Ass Grandma Alexis featured in their own stories. The cackling within the song is also superbly and musically/rhythmically timed, enhancing the number in a way that's both hilarious and true to the character. I've watched just this song on its own countless times on YouTube.
"I'll Do the Dirty Work" is also more on the generic, late 20th century American musical theatre side of the spectrum, at least as far as the MELODY goes, but it's a genuinely effective CHARACTER PIECE that certainly transcends the contemporary Broadway genre. If anything, it plays out like a subversion of the standard musical theatre trope, where you would normally have 2 LIKEABLE characters sing this kind of tune, but in this case it's a DASTARDLY DUET.
I really don't understand the people who have dismissed and disparaged THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER RAINBOW - true, it may not be the single most original song ever conceived of, but I think it's a truly worthy and legitimately epic ANTHEM for this movie, which Tammy Amerson belts out terrifically and with great conviction and sincerity. It's a song that we should all TAKE TO HEART - not just the ponies in the story - because it's so easy to lose hope and succumb to despair and negative thinking, especially today (all these decades AFTER the film was made and released). Seriously. It's a bona fide NOTE TO SELF moment for any viewer, regardless of whether they're a child, or an adult. I think the song can give 'Tomorrow' from Annie a run for its money......although this one is much more symbolic and metaphorical. On the one hand, Megan is referring to the magical rainbow featured in the story, but it also applies just as powerfully to the optimism and positive thinking we all need in REAL LIFE, on a day to day basis!
I think Mr. Moochik's song HOME is another indisputable winner! Yes, it's ultimately plugging the "Paradise Estate" playset to children, but the way the lyricist and composer GET to that is really really ingenious in my opinion, taking both the fictional characters and the real viewers on a tour around the world.......far more effective than Disney's magic carpet ride from Aladdin, to be perfectly frank!!! The song absolutely and brilliantly drives home the point about having/living in a home that fits your own temperament and personality - no matter what the rest of the world may say (literally in this case) - and the fact that Megan is so empathetic and sympathetic as to be COMPLETELY IN SYNC with the Ponies' preferences and needs is such a moving and heartwarming touch. I know that a lot of critics, and viewers to this day, criticize the fact that the movie was supposed to sell toys, but the American media is all about selling things to people no matter WHAT they're watching - and at least in this case, it's as if the children in the audience are being told that EVEN IF they can't visit Egypt, Italy, and all the places the Moochick whisks Megan and the Ponies to over the course of the song......they JUST MIGHT be able to own a 'little piece of paradise' in the form of the Paradise Estate playset.
At the end of the day, I do believe that this movie is a little piece of paradise in and of itself. The fact that the Grundles get to have their own home/semblance of a kingdom again in the form of the compromised Castle in Dream Valley is like ICING ON THE CAKE as the story reaches its conclusion. That was very generous of the Ponies, and 1000% appreciated by the Grundles, who are really neat characters in their own right themselves. Danny DeVito is one of the best actors of all time - I have seen him do a live play here in Los Angeles - and he proves the maxim that there are no small parts; only small actors.
On the subject of actors, I will say that I am personally not CRAZY about Cloris Leachman as Hydia, or Madeline Kahn as Draggle. I think Tress McNellie and Jennifer Darling were VASTLY SUPERIOR in the TV series as those characters, when we see Hydia and her daughters return to get their revenge on the Flutter Ponies. I don't know whether Cloris Leachman did her own singing as Hydia here - but the singing was preferable to her spoken lines on the whole. There were a lot of times where it seemed like Cloris was trying to underplay the dialogue, or make it sound more 'realistic', but this didn't match what the animators were doing on a few glaring occasions. I guess she wasn't exactly familiar with the animation medium, although she DOES really really 'sell' Hydia's defeat, as the old witch bellows and yells hopelessly against the magical might of the Flutter Ponies.
Megan, Molly and Danny REALLY shine here as three-dimensional characters - George Arthur Bloom did a brilliant job writing them as a REAL FAMILY - and for that matter, I think ALL THE PONIES here are portrayed as three-dimensional, relatable characters. I couldn't disagree more with those who have said that the Ponies were just cardboard cutouts and that it wasn't until the 2010 MLP 'Friendship is Magic' reboot that the equine characters started to have personalities. WHAT UTTER BALDERDASH!! It's those G4 versions that are one-dimensional and obnoxious and annoying in my serious opinion. I tried watching that "updated" series, but grew tired after a few episodes. There are WAY MORE characters in the G1 MLP franchise, including this feature film, and I thought George Arthur Bloom did a really really admirable job balancing the rather vast array of players, and fleshing them out in the process.
P. S - This was never meant to be a Disney Classic type of film, but considering the fact that it was the feature film adaptation of a toy line for children, I think they REALLY CREATED *SOMETHING FOR THE AGES* here with A *LOT OF GENUINE HEART AND SOUL*.
The morals and messages here are plentiful if you are not a hardened cynic, and so is the humour. And no, the humour is not all slapstick. The morals are not heavy-handed either. When Megan tells the Grundles that they are really beautiful, you know that she sees them for the endearing beings they are. The Grundles also disabuse anyone of the erroneous notion that this is a cloyingly, sickeningly cute movie - I think the opposite is true.
Yes, it's a flawed movie, but SO ARE THE BEST DISNEY ANIMATED FILMS in my opinion. Please don't buy into the myth that Disney = Perfection. This is an UNEXPECTEDLY RARE GEM, which isn't just a cash-grab, and even today - over 35 years later, when all the toys and playsets are no longer as readily purchasable as they were in the 1980s - I think the film still holds up, overall, in a rather sublime way.
I don't find Baby Lickety-Split NEARLY as annoying as a lot of people seem to, although you WOULD be advised to turn down the volume on your DVD towards the end of her first song "I'll Go It Alone". It's the much more petulant equivalent of the old standard "By Myself" (popularized by the likes of Judy Garland), and although the so-called grand finale where both Baby LS and Spike sing 'in harmony' (ahem) will test even the most ardent G1 MLP fan to put it kindly - I still find the song a lot more original and authentic and yes, even entertaining (bar the ending), than her second song "What Good Could Wishing Do?" which is a much more generically schmaltzy song (the kind you would find in any late 20th century musical). The idea of the supposed Wishing Well singing back to her, in a play on Snow White's wishing well song from the 1937 Disney film, is clever, but I found this to be the MOST GRATING melody for the most part because it sounds like the composer was trying to outdo both Stephen Schwartz and Kander & Ebb at their generic worst!!
The rest of the score is mostly REALLY REALLY ENJOYABLE, MEMORABLE and JUST DARN GOOD, so I completely disagree with everyone who has dissed all the songs. And no, "Nothing Can Stop the Schmooze" is FAR from the musical highlight - it's an attempt to add some levity and comedy to the Witches' vile plot to bury everyone and everything in Dream Valley forever, not unlike the way Shakespeare's Richard III juxtaposed outright villainy with almost ridiculously comedic lines - but the TRUE WORTH of the score lies elsewhere!!!
The Witches' first song "An Evil Witch Like Me" is MUCH MUCH MORE CLEVER AND DELICIOUS than the title would have you believe, both lyrically and sonically, as Hydia contextualizes everything within the framework of her proudly "despicable" family tree. There's such a rich mythology woven into just that one song, making the viewer LONG to see some of Hydia's ancestors like the deceptively beautiful Lucretia and Bad-Ass Grandma Alexis featured in their own stories. The cackling within the song is also superbly and musically/rhythmically timed, enhancing the number in a way that's both hilarious and true to the character. I've watched just this song on its own countless times on YouTube.
"I'll Do the Dirty Work" is also more on the generic, late 20th century American musical theatre side of the spectrum, at least as far as the MELODY goes, but it's a genuinely effective CHARACTER PIECE that certainly transcends the contemporary Broadway genre. If anything, it plays out like a subversion of the standard musical theatre trope, where you would normally have 2 LIKEABLE characters sing this kind of tune, but in this case it's a DASTARDLY DUET.
I really don't understand the people who have dismissed and disparaged THERE'S ALWAYS ANOTHER RAINBOW - true, it may not be the single most original song ever conceived of, but I think it's a truly worthy and legitimately epic ANTHEM for this movie, which Tammy Amerson belts out terrifically and with great conviction and sincerity. It's a song that we should all TAKE TO HEART - not just the ponies in the story - because it's so easy to lose hope and succumb to despair and negative thinking, especially today (all these decades AFTER the film was made and released). Seriously. It's a bona fide NOTE TO SELF moment for any viewer, regardless of whether they're a child, or an adult. I think the song can give 'Tomorrow' from Annie a run for its money......although this one is much more symbolic and metaphorical. On the one hand, Megan is referring to the magical rainbow featured in the story, but it also applies just as powerfully to the optimism and positive thinking we all need in REAL LIFE, on a day to day basis!
I think Mr. Moochik's song HOME is another indisputable winner! Yes, it's ultimately plugging the "Paradise Estate" playset to children, but the way the lyricist and composer GET to that is really really ingenious in my opinion, taking both the fictional characters and the real viewers on a tour around the world.......far more effective than Disney's magic carpet ride from Aladdin, to be perfectly frank!!! The song absolutely and brilliantly drives home the point about having/living in a home that fits your own temperament and personality - no matter what the rest of the world may say (literally in this case) - and the fact that Megan is so empathetic and sympathetic as to be COMPLETELY IN SYNC with the Ponies' preferences and needs is such a moving and heartwarming touch. I know that a lot of critics, and viewers to this day, criticize the fact that the movie was supposed to sell toys, but the American media is all about selling things to people no matter WHAT they're watching - and at least in this case, it's as if the children in the audience are being told that EVEN IF they can't visit Egypt, Italy, and all the places the Moochick whisks Megan and the Ponies to over the course of the song......they JUST MIGHT be able to own a 'little piece of paradise' in the form of the Paradise Estate playset.
At the end of the day, I do believe that this movie is a little piece of paradise in and of itself. The fact that the Grundles get to have their own home/semblance of a kingdom again in the form of the compromised Castle in Dream Valley is like ICING ON THE CAKE as the story reaches its conclusion. That was very generous of the Ponies, and 1000% appreciated by the Grundles, who are really neat characters in their own right themselves. Danny DeVito is one of the best actors of all time - I have seen him do a live play here in Los Angeles - and he proves the maxim that there are no small parts; only small actors.
On the subject of actors, I will say that I am personally not CRAZY about Cloris Leachman as Hydia, or Madeline Kahn as Draggle. I think Tress McNellie and Jennifer Darling were VASTLY SUPERIOR in the TV series as those characters, when we see Hydia and her daughters return to get their revenge on the Flutter Ponies. I don't know whether Cloris Leachman did her own singing as Hydia here - but the singing was preferable to her spoken lines on the whole. There were a lot of times where it seemed like Cloris was trying to underplay the dialogue, or make it sound more 'realistic', but this didn't match what the animators were doing on a few glaring occasions. I guess she wasn't exactly familiar with the animation medium, although she DOES really really 'sell' Hydia's defeat, as the old witch bellows and yells hopelessly against the magical might of the Flutter Ponies.
Megan, Molly and Danny REALLY shine here as three-dimensional characters - George Arthur Bloom did a brilliant job writing them as a REAL FAMILY - and for that matter, I think ALL THE PONIES here are portrayed as three-dimensional, relatable characters. I couldn't disagree more with those who have said that the Ponies were just cardboard cutouts and that it wasn't until the 2010 MLP 'Friendship is Magic' reboot that the equine characters started to have personalities. WHAT UTTER BALDERDASH!! It's those G4 versions that are one-dimensional and obnoxious and annoying in my serious opinion. I tried watching that "updated" series, but grew tired after a few episodes. There are WAY MORE characters in the G1 MLP franchise, including this feature film, and I thought George Arthur Bloom did a really really admirable job balancing the rather vast array of players, and fleshing them out in the process.
P. S - This was never meant to be a Disney Classic type of film, but considering the fact that it was the feature film adaptation of a toy line for children, I think they REALLY CREATED *SOMETHING FOR THE AGES* here with A *LOT OF GENUINE HEART AND SOUL*.
The morals and messages here are plentiful if you are not a hardened cynic, and so is the humour. And no, the humour is not all slapstick. The morals are not heavy-handed either. When Megan tells the Grundles that they are really beautiful, you know that she sees them for the endearing beings they are. The Grundles also disabuse anyone of the erroneous notion that this is a cloyingly, sickeningly cute movie - I think the opposite is true.
Yes, it's a flawed movie, but SO ARE THE BEST DISNEY ANIMATED FILMS in my opinion. Please don't buy into the myth that Disney = Perfection. This is an UNEXPECTEDLY RARE GEM, which isn't just a cash-grab, and even today - over 35 years later, when all the toys and playsets are no longer as readily purchasable as they were in the 1980s - I think the film still holds up, overall, in a rather sublime way.