My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (film)

This article is about a 2013 film. For the franchise as a whole, see My Little Pony: Equestria Girls.
For its sequels and its three upcoming 2017 specials in the franchise, see My Little Pony: Equestria Girls § Animated films and specials.
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jayson Thiessen
Produced by
  • Devon Cody
  • Sarah Wall
Written by Meghan McCarthy
Based on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
developed for television by Lauren Faust, and the My Little Pony toyline originally created by Bonnie Zacherle
Starring
Music by William Anderson
Edited by Mark Kuehnel
Production
companies
Distributed by Screenvision
Release dates
Running time
 70 minutes[1]
Country
  • Canada
  • United States
Language English
Box office $483,752 (Chile, Columbia, Peru, and United Kingdom)[2]

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a 2013 animated fantasy musical film produced by DHX Media's 2D animation studio in Vancouver, Canada for Hasbro Studios in the United States. The film is a part of Hasbro's toy line and media franchise of the same name that launched in the same year, which is itself an anthropomorphized spin-off of the 2010 relaunch of the main My Little Pony franchise, and also commemorates the thirtieth anniversary of the launch of the original My Little Pony toy line. Written by Meghan McCarthy and directed by Jayson Thiessen, the film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, 2013, followed by limited release in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2013, with a home media release on August 6, 2013.

The film re-envisions the main characters of parent franchise, normally ponies, as teenage human characters in a high school setting. Set between the third and fourth seasons of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, the film's plot involves the pony Twilight Sparkle pursuing her stolen crown into an alternate world where she transforms into a human, teenage girl. While learning how to behave as a human, Twilight encounters human counterparts of her pony friends, who help her in her search for her crown.

Other films in the franchise include a sequel, Rainbow Rocks, which was released on September 27, 2014, at various theaters across the United States and Canada, a third film, Friendship Games, which premiered on American and Canadian television a year later on September 26, 2015, and a fourth installment, Legend of Everfree,[3] which was released on Netflix on October 1, 2016.[4]

Plot

Twilight Sparkle visits the Crystal Empire with her friends from Ponyville for her first royal summit following her coronation as a princess of Equestria. That night, Sunset Shimmer, a rogue student of Princess Celestia, emerges from a mirror portal and steals Twilight's crown, which is embedded with one of the magical Elements of Harmony that protect Equestria. After a chase through the castle, Sunset drops the crown through the portal and follows after it. The other princesses explain that the portal leads to an alternate world; as the other Elements of Harmony are unusable without the crown, Twilight is tasked with retrieving it from the other world before the portal closes for thirty moons. Despite Celestia's insistence that Twilight must travel alone, Twilight's dragon assistant Spike anxiously runs after her into the portal.

Twilight and Spike emerge in the other world in the form of a human teenager and dog, respectively. Twilight, struggling to adjust to her new body, investigates the nearby Canterlot High School and finds that the world is home to other humans, several resembling ponies in Equestria. Masquerading as a transfer student, Twilight defends the counterpart of her friend Fluttershy from being bullied by Sunset, who has long integrated herself within the school in human form. Twilight learns that Fluttershy has delivered the dropped crown to Principal Celestia, mistaking it for a prop meant for the elected "princess" of the upcoming school dance, the Fall Formal. Determining that no one would believe her claims of being a pony from another world, Twilight receives Celestia's permission to run for Fall Formal Princess against Sunset, the reigning princess, to recover the crown.

While continuing to explore school life, Twilight discovers that the counterparts of Fluttershy and her other Ponyville friends – Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash – have all separated out of animosity towards each other. Sunset, learning of Twilight's campaign against her, sends her cohorts Snips and Snails to record a humiliating video of Twilight behaving like a pony, which is posted online and viewed by the entire school. The counterparts of Twilight's friends come to her aid, only to argue among themselves, revealing the cause of their rift to be a series of treacherous text messages and emails they supposedly sent each other. Through Twilight's postulation, the five girls realize that Sunset sent these messages to deceive them. Reconciling, the five help Twilight perform a public dance routine for her campaign, which improves Twilight's image.

In another attempt to undermine Twilight, Sunset wrecks the formal decorations in the school gymnasium and uses edited photographs to frame her for the act. Although Sunset's ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry proves Twilight's innocence, the formal is forced to be postponed the night after the portal to Equestria closes. Twilight and Spike reveal their true identities to the other five, convincing them to help urgently repair the damage. Under Twilight's direction, they rally the other students and successfully get the formal back on schedule, earning Twilight even more of the school's support.

On the night of the formal, Twilight wins the election and the crown, but Sunset steals it back in a scuffle after kidnapping Spike and threatening to destroy the portal to Equestria. Upon donning the crown, Sunset transforms into a demonic creature and hypnotizes the other students, revealing her intent to conquer Equestria with the school as her army. When Sunset attacks Twilight and her friends, their friendship activates the crown's magic, shielding them and giving them pony-like ears, wings and tails. The six girls use their magic to revert Sunset and their schoolmates to normal. Sunset tearfully apologizes for her actions, humbled by the power of the girls' friendship. After celebrating at the formal and placing Sunset under her friends' care, Twilight and Spike return to Equestria with the crown as the portal closes, reuniting with their pony friends.

Cast

The film features uncredited performances by Peter New as the counterpart of Big McIntosh, Applejack's brother; Michelle Creber, Madeleine Peters, and Claire Corlett as the counterparts of the Cutie Mark Crusaders (Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle); Kathleen Barr as Trixie; and Tabitha St. Germain as a counterpart of Mrs. Cake. Nicole Oliver also has a minor credited role as a counterpart of Cheerilee, a schoolteacher. In addition, the film contains cameo appearances by characters popularized by the new adult fandom of My Little Pony in minor and non-speaking roles, such as DJ Pon-3 and what is known among fans as "Derpy Hooves".[5][6][7]

Production

To maintain continuity, Hasbro used the same writing staff as Friendship Is Magic television series, including the then-current story editor Meghan McCarthy, who considered the story to be "an extension of our mythology".[8] McCarthy stated that with the Equestria Girls setting, "we might explore different aspects of relationships that in the pony world don't quite work the same as they do when you set it in a high school setting", thus making the work more appealing to older girls that are in high or junior high school.[9]

In writing the film's script, Meghan McCarthy went back to the self-titled two-part pilot episodes of Friendship Is Magic, where Twilight is sent to Ponyville for the first time and forced to meet new friends. She wanted to do the same with the film, in this case putting Twilight into a new world where she would again be forced to make new friends to succeed in her quest.[10]

Music

Daniel Ingram stated in a Facebook post that he wrote six songs for the film in a more modern pop/girl group style that would fit the high school/urban setting.[11] He also mentioned some of the crew members with whom he worked, including Trevor Hoffman for vocal arrangements and David Corman and Sam Ryan for production, and that he collaborated with McCarthy on the lyrics.

Composer William Anderson, who provided the score for the film, said that most of the background music remains consistent with the television show, though "with elements of thrash rock once in a while".[9]

Release

Marketing

On May 12, 2013, a teaser trailer was first released on the New York Times website,[17] followed by a full theatrical trailer on Entertainment Weekly website on June 7, 2013.[18]

Theatrical

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, 2013 as part of its Family Day.[19] The event included appearances by several of the show's creative staff and voice actors.[20] It was then presented under limited screen distribution, with total of around 200 screens, through Screenvision and Cineplex theaters across the United States and Canada respectively, starting on June 16, 2013. Due to a larger-than-expected number of theater-goers in the initial weeks, Screenvision added additional showings to take advantage of the interest.[21] The screenings in the United States beared no classification from the MPAA (which is not a mandatory), while the Canadian screenings had classifications from provincial film boards (usually G).

The film was re-released in select theaters across the United States on June 18 and 19, 2016 by distributor company Kidtoon Films.[22]

In the United Kingdom, it was released in Showcase Cinemas on August 10, 2013.[23] It was released at Village Cinemas in Australia on August 24, 2013.[24] It was released in New Zealand through Event Cinemas for two weeks starting August 31, 2013.

Home media

The film was released on Region 1 DVD and Blu-ray by Shout! Factory on August 6, 2013.[25] The Blu-ray release includes a behind-the-scenes documentary on the film's production, karaoke songs, a "ponify yourself" game, and a printable film poster.[10] Shout! Factory has signed with Hasbro to distribute the film internationally after its theatrical run.[26]

The Region 4 DVD was released by Madman Entertainment on September 4, 2013.[27] The Region 2 DVD and Blu-ray was originally advertised to be released by UK distributor Clear Vision in April 2014, but the distributor had since entered administration. However, the same UK distributor did manage to release a Region 2 DVD for France and Italy between March and April 2014. The UK version DVD and Blu-ray was eventually released on July 28, 2014.

Alongside Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games, this film was released in a box set on October 13, 2015 in Region 1.[28]

Television

The film made its United States television premiere on the Hub Network (a joint venture between Discovery Communications and Hasbro; now known as Discovery Family) on September 1, 2013.[29] On September 22, 2013, the film premiered on YTV in Canada. In the United Kingdom, the film premiered on Pop on November 23, 2013.

Merchandise and other media

The film is a part of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls toy line and media franchise launched by Hasbro, which was briefly mentioned in the media earlier in February and March 2013,[30][31] and formally announced in May 2013 with this film and other media strategy.[8] It was to be part of the 30th anniversary of the My Little Pony brand.[8] Hasbro planned to produce related merchandise including toys, apparel, publishing and accessories.[8] The human-based toys were developed to appeal to girls in their teens as a means to extend the My Little Pony brand.[32] In addition, LB Kids published a novelization of the film, and Gameloft included a themed mini-game in its My Little Pony mobile game. IDW published a backstory of the characters in the alternative universe (including Sunset Shimmer) in a stand-alone issue.[33][34]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released on September 23, 2014, via the iTunes Music Store.[35] "This Strange World" is absent in the album. On October 2, 2014, the soundtrack placed #15,[36] where the "My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks" soundtrack was two weeks ago on September 18.

No. TitleWriter(s)Performer(s) Length
1. "Opening Titles (Remix)"  Daniel Ingram and Lauren FaustRebecca Shoichet 1:29
2. "Equestria Girls (Cafeteria Song)"  Daniel Ingram and Meghan McCarthyThe Main Six and Ensemble 2:53
3. "Time to Come Together"  Daniel Ingram and Meghan McCarthyThe Main Six and Ensemble 2:08
4. "This Is Our Big Night (Full Version)"  Daniel Ingram and Meghan McCarthyThe Main Six 2:03
5. "A Friend for Life"  Daniel IngramJerrica Santos 2:26
Total length:
 11.33

Reception

Media sales

Upon release to home video, Shout Factory reported that more than 100,000 units have been ordered at retail, the largest release that the company has seen in its ten-year history. As a result of the success, Hasbro has signed Shout to continue distribution of other out-of-print My Little Pony titles from earlier generations such as The Princess Promenade, as well as newer animated Transformers shows.[37]

Television viewership

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls premiered on the Hub Network on September 1, 2013. The film was viewed by 553,000 viewers.[38] It earned year-to-year delivery time gains among Kids 2-11 (+206%), Girls 2-11 (+505%), Kids 6-11 (+591%), Girls 6-11 (+1056%), Adults 18-49 (+463%), Women 18-49 (+460%), Adults 25-54 (+500%), Women 25-54 (+558%), Persons 2+ (+289%), and Households (+279%).[39] In the United Kingdom, 93,000 viewers watched the television broadcast on Pop, the most for the week of November 18–24.[40]

Critical response

There have been criticism over the anthropomorphism approach of the franchise overall (including the film). The New York Daily News reported that, while some feared allowing their children to be influenced by the looks of humanized characters, others considered it reasonable with other current media with considerable body exposure.[41] Slate's Amanda Marcotte considered that the characters' change to human form was to popularize the film with the adult fanbase of Friendship Is Magic.[42] However, many of these adult fans expressed disappointment over the humanized characters, worrying that the approach "goes against everything that Pony was trying to prove".[43] Craig McCracken, speaking for his wife Lauren Faust, Friendship Is Magic's creative showrunner for the first two seasons before stepping down, expressed concern that such approach would have gone against the way Faust wanted to take the television series.[44]

The film itself received mixed reviews from critics. Daniel Alvarez of the website Unleash the Fanboy gave the film 4 stars out of 5, stating that Equestria Girls was a "highly entertaining movie", though some elements, such as the brief romantic plot and Sunset's ultimate fate, were weaker than other parts of the film.[6] Luke Thompson of Topless Robot was more critical of the film, as while not a viewer of Friendship Is Magic, he believed "whatever clever concepts the show may have [...] the movie does not do very much with", and considered the animation sub-standard for a TV-to-movie adaptation.[45] Iowa State Daily described the movie as one that was "probably just made to sell dolls and figurines", though still delivered a "great message for kids".[46] Gwen Ihnat of The A.V. Club rated the film a "B-" and considered that the film "is only a few songs and one amazing demon battle scene better than most of [Friendship Is Magic's] two-part episodes", while otherwise treading on clichéd ideas from both the Friendship Is Magic and from other teen high school works.[47] Sherilyn Connelly of SF Weekly, though having enjoyed the movie, felt it was too similar to the television series's pilot episodes in how the characters needed to be re-introduced for the film audience, and that the "real disconnect" was the apparent reduction of age, from young adult in Friendship Is Magic to teenagers within the film.[5] Connelly did, however, vote for the film as Best Animated Feature in the 2013 Village Voice Film Critics' Poll.[48] Toon Zone's Ed Liu considered that the movie "relies a bit too much on the familiar and the conventional", lacking Friendship Is Magic's injection of "idiosyncratic character" into otherwise predictable plots, but otherwise praised the voice actors, music, and some of the movie's animation.[49]

References

  1. ↑ "MY LITTLE PONY - EQUESTRIA GIRLS (U)". British Board of Film Classification. 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  2. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls". boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2015-01-26.
  3. ↑ The Ferret (February 12, 2016). "New Equestria Girls - Legends of the Everfree Coming Fall 2016". Equestria Daily. Retrieved March 10, 2015.
  4. ↑ Heldman, Breanne (2016-07-22). "'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls – Legends of Everfree': Trailer". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  5. 1 2 Connelly, Sherilyn (2013-08-06). "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is the Pony Movie We've Got, If Not the One We Want". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2013-08-06.
  6. 1 2 Alvarez, Daniel (2013-06-16). "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Review". Unleash the Fanboy. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  7. ↑ Truitt, Brian (2013-08-05). "'My Little Pony' goes high school with 'Equestria Girls'". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-08-05.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Schmidt, Gregory (2013-05-12). "A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  9. 1 2 Bryan, Steven (2013-06-26). "'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls' Takes the Ponies to a Brand-New Universe". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  10. 1 2 Busis, Hilary (2013-07-30). "'Equestria Girls': Go behind the scenes of 'My Little Pony' spin-off in exclusive clip". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-07-30.
  11. ↑ Ingram, Daniel (2013-06-17). "I just spent a great weekend in L.A. for the...". (Self-published). Facebook. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  12. ↑ "The singer is Jerrica Santos. – Daniel Ingram". 2013-11-13. Retrieved 2014-01-19.
  13. ↑ Kaylee Johnston (2014-08-16), "[Singer Behind "My Little Pony Friends" Confirmation]", (Self-published), Twitter, retrieved 2014-08-21
  14. ↑ Daniel Ingram (2014-09-04). "[Singers Behind "My Little Pony Friends" Confirmation]". (Self-published). Facebook. Retrieved 2014-09-04.
  15. ↑ Daniel Ingram (2014-08-12), "[Original "Equestria Girls" End Credits Song Confirmation]", (Self-published), Twitter, retrieved 2014-08-12
  16. ↑ MLP: Equestria Girls - "My Little Pony Friends" Music Video. YouTube. 2014-08-14. Retrieved 2014-08-14.
  17. ↑ Schmidt, Gregory (2013-05-12). "A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-05-12.
  18. ↑ Busis, Hillary (2013-06-07). "Hold your horses, 'My Little Pony' fans: We've got a new 'Equestria Girls' trailer -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2013-06-07.
  19. ↑ King, Susan (2013-05-21). "New 'My Little Pony' film to premiere at L.A. Film Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  20. ↑ Ferguson, Dana (2013-06-16). "L.A. Film Festival: 'My Little Pony' reels in families". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  21. ↑ "Exhibitors Adding Showings Of "My Little Pony Equestria Girls" Due To Consumer Demand" (Press release). Screenvision. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
  22. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls". Kidtoon Films. 2016-06-13. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  23. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Now Showing - Showcase Cimemas". Showcase Cinemas. Retrieved 2013-07-12.
  24. ↑ "Equestria Girls Heading to Australia". Equestria Daily. 2013-06-19. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  25. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. 2013-07-08. Retrieved 2013-07-08.
  26. ↑ Loveday, Samantha (2013-05-28). "US: Shout Factory and Hasbro Studios team for new My Little Pony film". Licensing.biz. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  27. ↑ "My Little Pony - Equestria Girls". 2013-04-09. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  28. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (Three Movie Gift Set)". Amazon.com. 2015-07-23. Retrieved 2015-07-23.
  29. ↑ Nordyke, Kimberly (2013-07-15). "Hub Network Sets 'My Little Pony Equestria Girls' Premiere (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-07-15.
  30. ↑ Christie, Brendan (February–March 2013). "Hasbro Hits its Stride" (PDF). Kidscreen. pp. 33–34. Retrieved 2013-03-09.
  31. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/02/business/hasbro-expands-transformers-brand-into-new-media.html
  32. ↑ Chalker, Anne Marie (2013-12-17). "Toy Makers Look to Extend the Run of Classic Girls' Characters". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2014-02-16.
  33. ↑ Johnson, Rich (2013-07-11). "Samurai Jack Joins Doctor Who, Khan And My Little Pony As Locke & Key Comes To An End In IDW's October Solicitations For 2013". Bleeding Cool News. Retrieved 2013-07-11.
  34. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks". ComicBookResources.com. 2014-04-02. Retrieved 2014-07-14.
  35. ↑ "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)". iTunes. 2014-09-23. Retrieved 2014-09-24.
  36. ↑ Ingram, Daniel (2014-10-02), "["Equestria Girls" soundtrack post]", (Self-published), Facebook, retrieved 2014-10-02.
  37. ↑ Barnes, Mike (2013-08-13). "Shout! Factory, Hasbro in Deal for More 'My Little Pony' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2013-08-13.
  38. ↑ Calpain (2015-09-29). "Ratings For The 'Friendship Games' Are In". Equestria Daily. Retrieved 2015-09-29.
  39. ↑ Massey, Joanna Dodd. "HUB NETWORK ORIGINAL MOVIE "MY LITTLE PONY EQUESTRIA GIRLS" LIFTS THE NETWORK TO TRIPLE-DIGIT GROWTH YEAR-TO-YEAR". Discovery Press. Retrieved 2013-09-05.
  40. ↑ "Top 10 Programmes". 2013-11-25. Retrieved 2014-04-06.
  41. ↑ Pesce, Nicole Lyn (2013-06-12). "Gen X moms fear new 'My Little Pony' feature film horses are too hot to trot". New York Daily News. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  42. ↑ Marcotte, Amanda (2013-06-13). "Triumph of the Bronies: Hasbro Turning My Little Ponies Into Sexy Human Characters. Neigh.". Slate. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  43. ↑ Romano, Aja (2013-05-15). "Why "My Little Pony" fandom is freaking out over "Equestria Girls"". Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  44. ↑ Ostroff, Joshua (2013-10-22). "People Are Kids, Too". The Grid. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
  45. ↑ Thompson, Luke Y. (2013-06-17). "LAFF Review: My Little Pony Equestria Girls". Topless Robot. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  46. ↑ Hamden, Nick (26 June 2013). "Movie Review: 'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  47. ↑ Ihnat, Gwen (2013-07-16). "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2013-07-16.
  48. ↑ Connelly, Sherilyn (2013-12-18). "The 2013 Voice Film Critics' Poll: Votes by Sherilyn Connelly". Village Voice. Retrieved 2013-12-18.
  49. ↑ Liu, Ed (2013-08-14). "Review: "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls" Blu-ray – Slow Canter, Not a Galloping Success". Toon Zone. Retrieved 2013-08-14.

Further reading

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/21/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.