My daughter really enjoys My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. This is, however, not the original way the property was presented on screen. There was a movie and television series in the 80s, then a revival about 10 years ago, which is where My Little Pony Classic Movie Collection comes in. Here we get 4 made for video films that helped to revive the franchise and get it set up for the full-blown revival that is currently underway.
if you’re familiar with the current series being braodcast and not much else, you may be surprised at what is going on here. These ponies are good, each with their own distinct personalities, but it wasn’t until this latest television series that things god really good. That’s not to say these are bad offerings. On the contrary. My Little Pony has always been one of the better entertainment offerings for girls (let’s face it, this isn’t targeted to boys). While this stuff is good, it just helps to underscore just how much better the current series is.
There’s four films on here, but some of these seem to be little more than episodes of the television series while others feel like double length episodes. At 3 hours total, these four individual items simply can’t be considered films (which, if I remember correctly is over 60 minutes in length).
Interestingly some of the characters from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic are here, as expected, but what I was surprised with was how they appeared to be almost prototypes for how they would appear just a few years later in the new series. These came out less than 10 years ago and the difference in the franchise is evident. While there is of course a strong fantasy element to the franchise (these are talking horses, unicorns, and such) these offerings are much more steeped in a fantasy element. There’s less grounding here and the results are fine, but it’s definitely got less of the broad appeal the current series has.
What isn’t different about My Little Pony, regardless of which iteration of the franchise you are watching, the emphasis is on friendship. Little life lessons about cooperation, understanding and what not are peppered throughout the whole of the franchise and they are present here as well. In general My Little Pony as a whole is a positive thing, and that gets overlooked a lot of times, which is unfortunate.
As for these “films” I would have liked to have a more complete offering of the 2nd generation My Little Pony videos, but this is a start.