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===Featured songs===
===Featured songs===
Daniel Ingram stated in a Facebook post that he wrote six songs for the movie in a more modern pop/girl band style that would fit the high school/urban setting.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/dannyimusic/posts/538489812865262|title=I just spent a great weekend in L.A. for the... - Daniel Ingram|date=2013-06-17|accessdate=2013-06-17}}</ref> He also stated some of the crew who worked with him: Trevor Hoffman for vocal arrangements, David Corman and Sam Ryan for production, and collaborating with McCarthy on the lyrics.
The music for the film was adjusted to fit the theme; composer Will Anderson said that most of the background music remains consistent with the televisions though "with elements of thrash rock once in a while", while songwriter Daniel Ingram believed that the normal songs from the show would be out of place here, and used "a lot of drums, guitars, contemporary beats, [and] very rich pop vocal texture[s]" for the songs in the film.<Ref name="yahoo"/>


# This Strange World - Twilight Sparkle
# This Strange World - Twilight Sparkle

Revision as of 20:27, 27 June 2013

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls
Theatrical poster
Directed byJayson Thiessen
Written byMeghan McCarthy
Produced bySarah Wall
Devon Cody
Chris Bartleman (executive)
Stephen Davis (executive)
Kirsten Newlands (executive)
Starring
Edited byMark Kuehnel
Music byWilliam Anderson
Daniel Ingram
Production
company
Distributed by
Release date
  • June 16, 2013 (2013-06-16)
Running time
72 minutes
Countries
  • Canada
  • United States
LanguageEnglish

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is a 2013 theatrical animated musical adventure film written by Meghan McCarthy, directed by Jayson Thiessen, and produced by Hasbro Studios. The film premiered across limited screens in the United States and Canada on June 16, 2013, with plans for worldwide home media release later in 2013, followed by broadcast on the Hasbro-owned Hub Network.

The film is based on the animated series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, but re-envisions the main characters, normally ponies, as human characters in a high school setting. The film's plot, taking place after the show's third season, involves Twilight Sparkle being sent to the human world to recover her magical crown after it is stolen by a bitter Sunset Shimmer. While learning how to behave as a human, she comes to befriend the human counterparts of her pony friends, and with their help, stop Sunset and recover the crown. The film's release is tied in with the expansion of the My Little Pony toy line to include teenage human versions of the main characters.

Plot

Following the events of "Magical Mystery Cure", Twilight Sparkle is still fretting about her recent coronation to a Princess as she and her Ponyville friends travel to the Crystal Empire for a royal summit with Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadance. There, Sunset Shimmer, a former and bitter student of Princess Celestia, appears through a magic mirror and steals Twilight's crown, one of the Elements of Harmony. In the tussle, the crown falls through the mirror and Sunset follows it through. Princess Celestia informs Twilight and her friends that the mirror leads to a different world, and that Twilight alone must cross over to retrieve it before the portal closes again for thirty moons, or else the Elements of Harmony will no longer protect Equestria. Twilight enters the mirror, with Spike, her dragon assistant, jumping in after her.

On the other side, Twilight and Spike themselves transformed into a teenage human girl and dog, respectively, outside of a large school building in an alternate world inhabited by humans. Twilight struggles to adjust to her new body and surroundings, but recognizes several human students resembling her Ponyville friends and sharing their same names: Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash. She quickly befriends them, helping to bridge the animosity that Sunset Shimmer had created between them in the years prior to Twilight's arrival. Meanwhile, Twilight discovers that Fluttershy had found the crown and turned it over to the school principal, a human Celestia, much to the annoyance of Sunset, who wants to use the crown for its magical properties.

Twilight decides she must win the crown by competing with Sunset to run for Princess of the Fall Formal, who has won it nearly uncontested for the last three years due to her coercion of the student body. Aided by two other students, human versions of Snips and Snails, Sunset tries sabotaging Twilight's chances by releasing humiliating videos of Twilight behaving like a pony, and later framing her for wrecking the formal decorations in the school gymnasium. However, Twilight's new friends, including Sunset's ex-boyfriend Flash Sentry, help to counter these ploys and improve Twilight's popularity among the students, while also correcting the damage between the various social groups within the school that Sunset had caused.

At the formal, Twilight is named the Fall Formal Princess and given the crown, but Sunset steals it. Upon donning the crown, Sunset transforms into a demonic creature and uses her newfound powers to brainwash much of the student body into becoming her army with which to invade Equestria. However, Twilight is able to evoke the Elements' magical powers through her friendship with the others, temporarily giving the six pony-like attributes and reverting Sunset and the rest of the students to normal. Sunset becomes repentant, and Twilight asks her friends to become Sunset's new friends. After the formal, Twilight and Spike say their goodbyes and return to Equestria with the crown, transforming back to their original forms on arrival. Twilight is relieved to be back with her old friends in her original body, and feels more capable of her royal duties.[1][2]

Cast

See also: List of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic characters

The movie also contains characters in minor and non-speaking roles popularized by the show's adult fandom, including Derpy Hooves, and Vinyl Scratch (aka DJ Pon-3).[2]

Production

Prior to the film's announcement, Hasbro had used the term "Equestria Girls" as part of a parody song for advertising the show on the Hub Network during 2011, based on Katy Perry's "California Gurls".[3] Though fans had registered the website "equestriagirls.com", it was later shut down and taken over by Hasbro.[4]

Initial speculation on the film was found through trademark registrations for the name "Equestria Girls" by Hasbro in late 2012.[5] The film was revealed in the Kidscreen magazine released at the 2013 American International Toy Fair in February 2013. [6] Hasbro's senior vice president of international distribution and development, Finn Arnesen, called My Little Pony a "top-priority" brand for the company; the film was described as "a new companion series" that would "[send] the pony heroes on a mission to a new world where they take on human form".[6] The film was formally announced in The New York Times in May 2013.[7] To maintain continuity with the show, Hasbro used the same writing staff as the show, including the current story editor Meghan McCarthy, who considered the story to be "an extension of our mythology".[7] The film will be part of the 30th anniversary of the My Little Pony brand.[7] 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 the work more appealing to older girls that are in high or junior high school.[8]

Along with the movie, Hasbro plans to produce related merchandise including toys, apparel, publishing and accessories. Hasbro's chief marketing officer, John A. Frascotti, called the film and associated merchandise a "major strategic initiative" for the company.[7] In addition, Hasbro will continue its licensing deals with book publisher Little, Brown and Company and comic book publisher IDW Publishing to produce works based on the film.[9]

Featured songs

Daniel Ingram stated in a Facebook post that he wrote six songs for the movie in a more modern pop/girl band style that would fit the high school/urban setting.[10] He also stated some of the crew who worked with him: Trevor Hoffman for vocal arrangements, David Corman and Sam Ryan for production, and collaborating with McCarthy on the lyrics.

  1. This Strange World - Twilight Sparkle
  2. Equestria Girls - The Main 6
  3. Time to Come Together - The Main 6
  4. This is Our Big Night - The Main 6
  5. This is Our Big Night (Reprise) - The Main 6
  6. Credits Song: A Friend for Life - Rebecca Shoichet (Twilight Sparkle)

Release

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival on June 15, 2013 as part of its Family Day.[11] The event included appearances by several of the show's creative staff and voice actors.[12] It was then presented under limited screen distribution with around 200 screens across the United States and Canada, starting on June 16, 2013.

The film will be released to home media sometime later in 2013, and will then be broadcast on Hub Network, Hasbro's cable channel.[7] Shout Factory has signed with Hasbro to distribute the film internationally after its theatrical run.[13]

Reception

Prior the film's release, several mothers spoke to the New York Daily News stating concerns about the film's characters, describing the humanized characters as "too sexy", "anorexic", "going back to the original Barbie" or "looking like Bratz dolls", and several feared allowing their children to be influenced by the looks.[14] However, some considered it reasonable with other current media such as The Little Mermaid, with one parent stating she felt that it isn't "any worse than Ariel in a bikini top for two hours".[14] Slate's Amanda Marcotte considered that the characters' change to human form was to popularize the movie with the adult fanbase of the show, who she claims "have expressed a strong interest in seeing the Ponies in sexy, humanized forms".[15] However, many of these adult fans expressed disappointment in the announcement of the movie and the characters, considering the film to be trying to pander to this older audience, and that the approach "goes against everything that Pony was trying to prove".[16] Lauren Faust, the former executive producer for the Friendship Is Magic show and characters, indirectly compared the movie to the watered-down transformation of the American Girl doll line though the years from its original ideals towards a commercial property.[16]

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.[2] Luke Thompson of Topless Robot was more critical of the film, as while not a viewer of the television show, 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.[17] Iowa State Daily described the movie as one that was "probably just made to sell dolls and figurines," though still implicated a "great message for kids".[18]

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b c Alvarez, Daniel (2013-06-16). "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls Review". Unleash the Fanboy. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  3. ^ Watercutter, Angela (2011-06-09). "My Little Pony Corrals Unlikely Fanboys Known as 'Bronies'". Wired. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  4. ^ "Friendship is Witchcraft & Equestria Girls Taken Down". Equestria Daily. 2013-01-16. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  5. ^ "USPTO TSDR Case Viewer". Tsdr.uspto.gov. 2012-12-18. Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  6. ^ a b Christie, Brendan (February/March 2013). "Hasbro Hits its Stride" (PDF). Kidscreen. pp. 33–34. Retrieved 2013-03-09. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e Schmidt, Gregory (2013-05-12). "A New Direction for a Hasbro Stalwart". New York Times. Retrieved 2013-05-13.
  8. ^ Bryan, Steven (2013-06-26). "'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls' Takes the Ponies to a Brand-New Universe". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  9. ^ "Hasbro Builds on MY LITTLE PONY Brand Growth Catering to Fans Worldwide" (Press release). Hasbro. 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  10. ^ "I just spent a great weekend in L.A. for the... - Daniel Ingram". 2013-06-17. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  11. ^ King, Susan (2013-05-21). "New 'My Little Pony' film to premiere at L.A. Film Festival". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-05-21.
  12. ^ Ferguson, Dana (2013-06-16). "L.A. Film Festival: 'My Little Pony' reels in families". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  13. ^ Loveday, Samantha (2013-05-28). "US: Shout Factory and Hasbro Studios team for new My Little Pony film". Licensing.biz. Retrieved 2013-05-28.
  14. ^ a b 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.
  15. ^ Marcotte, Amanda (2013-06-13). "Triumph of the Bronies: Hasbro Turning My Little Ponies Into Sexy Human Characters. Neigh.". Slate. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  16. ^ a b Romano, Aja (2013-05-15). "Why "My Little Pony" fandom is freaking out over "Equestria Girls"". Daily Dot. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  17. ^ Thompson, Luke Y. (2013-06-17). "LAFF Review: My Little Pony Equestria Girls". Topless Robot. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
  18. ^ Hamden, Nick (26 June 2013). "Movie Review: 'My Little Pony: Equestria Girls'". Iowa State Daily. Retrieved 27 June 2013.

Further reading

External links

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