- Released: 24 September 2021
- Directed by: Robert Cullen, José Luis Ucha, Mark Fattibene
- Running time: 1 h 30 min
- Rating 3.5/5
Synopsis
In a world where all pony races live separately from one another in fear and magic is long-gone, an Earth Pony named Sunny believes that she can re-unite all kinds of ponies once more and thus bring back magic. She sets out on a quest to do so with new and old friends: a cheerful Unicorn, an Earth Pony cop with an affinity for animals, and two Pegasi princesses.
It's here. It's finally here. After years of waiting after Friendship is Magic ended, the introductory movie to the next generation has arrived. I tried not to hype myself up too much for this one, since it has a lot to live up to (early Friendship is Magic is really good). So now that it's here, let's take a look!
So something interesting with Generation 5 in comparison to previous generations is that it actually takes in place in the same universe as G4, rather than in a completely new incarnation. So we are still technically in G4 continuity, just many, many years down the line. We're still in Equestria, but it feels like an almost new setting, to be honest. There are certainly elements of G4 that are brought up, most notably of course the Mane 6, but everything is implied to be hundreds if not thousands of years into the past.
Despite the cheerful ending of the last G4 season, with all pony races and even non-pony beings living peacefully in Equestria, A New Generation starts off with all three pony kinds living separately in fear of one another. What caused this? Here's the kicker: we don't know. And I'm honestly happy about that. After later seasons of Friendship is Magic became so obsessed with lore and pandering to the bronies, I am really glad that we just got a fresh start that doesn't need to over-explain stuff. With how much time has passed between season 9 of Friendship is Magic and this movie, it might've just happened naturally overtime.
And even if it didn't, I really don't need a reason shoved into this already pretty short movie. If they dive into it in the upcoming G5 series, that's okay with me, but I don't need everything overexplained. Stuff like why the magic is gone and why the ponies only have one cutie mark is also not explained. And I don't need it to be. While it does take place in the same universe as G4, it is also somewhat of a reboot, so if things end up being different from Friendship is Magic, I'm totally okay with that.
The characters I also found myself liking quite a lot. Not all of them, but most of our main cast I ended up really liking. Sunny is a great and likable protagonist, how she keeps clinging to her (and by extension her late father's) dreams to unite everyone and make friends among other species. Izzy is a lot of fun, too, and she and Sunny really do get the most moments to shine out of our main cast. Hitch is good too. I kind of feared our first male pony protagonist in an My Little Pony series to perhaps be a cocky punching bag, but he's handled really respectfully and despite his duty to stick to the law, he does end up being convinced by Sunny and her friends to do the right thing in spite of that. Also, he has an affinity for animals.
I also quite liked the two Pegasus princesses, Zipp and Pipp. However, my main complaint regarding them is that they didn't get enough time to shine and clearly establish their personalities. I could tell you quite a few characteristics about Sunny, Izzy and Hitch based on their portrayals in the movie, but I couldn't do this about Zipp and Pipp without being only very surface level. You do get certain impressions of them, like Zipp being a bit of a tomboy and Pipp being a social media-addicted popstar, but they don't really get as much time to establish themselves as the other three.
Other side characters such as Queen Haven, Alphabittle and Phyllis I also found myself surprisingly liking. I really expected them to be central antagonists if not downright villains, but they actually end up being only minor antagonists at most and quickly change their minds about what is the right thing to do. Phyllis takes a little longer than the others, but she does come around pretty soon once Sprout starts going on a power trip.
Speaking of him, yes, let's talk about Horse Cop No. 2: Sprout. One the one hand, I can't stand this guy. He completely abuses the power he has over others and is literally getting ready to cause a race war between the three pony types. But on the other hand, he does have some fun interactions with others (he says "Mommy" like twenty times in the entire film), his song kicks ass, and I really do appreciate him not being the same type of villain we've seen so many times in Friendship is Magic. Said show relied on the "Big Bad"-type of evil a lot. Big, bombastic villains with very little to them. Just think of Nightmare Moon, Tirek, Sombra and Chrysalis for example. I'm not saying they weren't good villains, but they felt a bit same-y after a while.
Sprout is obviously the closest thing to a central villain we get in this movie, but he is really just a pony on a power trip. He's not some evil creature with little to no backstory that is irredeemable and laughs evilly all the time. He's just a horse using his power irresponsibly. And, while his "redemption" (I kind of hesitate to call it that. It was really more of him ceasing his actions rather than coming around) was horribly rushed and I certainly hope they address this more in the show, he doesn't just do anything to get to his goal. He stops when he sees he's taken it too far. So, yeah, I do not think he was a good villain and he could certainly be obnoxious, but he had elements to him that I did like. I can totally see why people either really like or really dislike this guy, but for me he's a mixed bag. I think how I'll ultimately feel about him will be decided by the upcoming series and how they handle him there.
Now I do have a few flaws with the movie. Like I said, previously, I didn't care for the villain that much and we didn't get enough of an impression of the Pegasus sisters. However, I have two more things I'd like to address. First of all: the pacing. It's rushed. And I don't just mean, one part of the movie being rushed. I mean pretty much the entire thing. I know I've complained about certain movies being too long in previous reviews, but I honestly wouldn't have minded another 30 minutes of this movie. It would've allowed us to not only fix the rushing problem, but also would've given us time to get to know Zipp and Pipp more, and maybe make Sprout a better villain.
Then my second problem which is directly caused by the first: our main friend group doesn't really feel like they come together all that well. This doesn't count for all of them. Hitch and Sunny were already friends based on their interactions and Sunny and Izzy get enough good interactions and time together for me to really buy their friendship (also, the fact that Izzy got Sunny's note years ago was so cute). But, again, for the Pegasus sisters and Hitch's bond with Izzy, it feels like they more so end up becoming friends because the plot demands it and not because they genuinely interact well with one another. They do have some decent interactions, don't get me wrong, but just not enough for me to feel like these five ponies got together and actually naturally became friends. It just felt a bit forced. Again, this doesn't go for all of them. The bond between Sunny and Izzy is my favorite out of this entire movie (I can also definitely see people shipping them), but some of the others just didn't connect all that well without it feeling forced.
So, yeah, despite me personally really liking this movie (probably enough to give it like 4 stars), I do have a few major gripes with it that hold it back from being worth that amount. I definitely like it better than the G4 My Little Pony: The Movie from 2017, though. That one also was a pretty good movie, but it just had too much working against it for me to call it actually unapologetically "good".
It didn't do a very good job introducing new viewers to the property, the characters mostly felt rather basic, the main villain was a real disappointment and the animation was decent but just didn't look that good when blended with the 3D models such as the airships. A New Generation certainly also has its flaws, but it has quite a few things working for it as well.
I also think that just the smaller cast of characters did this movie a favor. A New Generation already has problems properly giving an impression of the Mane 5, so imagine in the G4 film where we not only had the Mane 6, but also Spike, the three Princesses, the Storm King, Tempest Shadow, Grubber and all the friends the main cast makes along the way. Yeah, it was just a bit overkill on the amount of characters.
I genuinely like A New Generation a lot and do recommend it, though! If you've seen G4 I recommend it (just don't expect a huge amount of lore-dumping), but even if you're new to the franchise, I recommend it as well! It's a good new start of a new generation (pun intended).
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