My Little Pony: The Movie is a 2017 animated musical high fantasy film, directed by Jayson Thiessen and based on the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic by Lauren Faust. The film features the show's regular voice cast of Ashleigh Ball, Andrea Libman, Tabitha St. Germain, Tara Strong and Cathy Weseluck, along with Uzo Aduba, Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Taye Diggs, Michael Peña, Zoe Saldaña, Liev Schreiber and Sia. The film follows the flying unicorn Twilight Sparkle, her five pony friends—collectively known as the "Mane Six"—and her dragon friend and assistant Spike on a quest to save their home of Equestria from an evil conqueror, the Storm King.
My Little Pony: The Movie was produced by Hasbro's Allspark Pictures and animated at DHX Media's Vancouver division, using traditional animation created using Toon Boom Harmony. The film premiered in New York City on September 24, 2017, and was released in the United States on October 6, by Lionsgate. It received mixed reviews from critics, but was a box-office success, grossing $61.3 million worldwide against a production budget of $6.5 million and becoming Lionsgate's highest-grossing animated feature to date.
Plot
The ponies of Equestria prepare for their first Friendship Festival, overseen by Princess Twilight Sparkle in Canterlot. The festivities are interrupted by an army of monsters commanded by the Unicorn Tempest Shadow, who is ordered by her superior, the Storm King, to capture Equestria's princesses and Twilight and empower his mystical staff with their magic in exchange for restoring her broken horn. Tempest uses magical orbs to petrify Twilight's fellow princesses and mentors Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance but Twilight escapes with her six friends: Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike.
Following incomplete instructions from Celestia, Twilight and her friends set out to find the "queen of the hippo" beyond Equestria. They arrive at the desert city of Klugetown, where they accept an offer by a con artist feline named Capper to escort them to the "hippos", unaware that he intends to sell them to local mob boss Verko as to settle a debt he owes to him. As Capper begins to develop a genuine friendship with them, Twilight discovers a map that reveals the "hippos" to be hippogriffs. Just as they're about to leave, Verko arrives to buy them, exposing Capper's treachery. When Tempest arrives in pursuit of Twilight, the group evades her aboard a delivery airship run by birdlike pirates led by Captain Celaeno, whom Rainbow Dash persuades to take them to the hippogriffs' kingdom on Mount Aris. However, she accidentally gives their location away to Tempest with a Sonic Rainboom, forcing the group to reach Mount Aris in a makeshift hot-air balloon.
While exploring the hippogriffs' deserted kingdom, Twilight's group is led by the seapony Princess Skystar to her home of Seaquestria in an underwater cavern. Skystar reveals her kind to be the hippogriffs, transformed by a magic pearl used by her mother, Queen Novo, to hide from the Storm King and his forces, which she denies giving to the group to use against the Storm King. Twilight, fed up with her friends' carefree antics throughout the journey, attempts to steal it while letting her friends unknowingly distract the seaponies. Her plan backfires when she triggers an alarm right after Pinkie persuades Novo to give them the pearl, resulting in Novo angrily banishing the entire group back to the surface.
Back at the surface, Twilight and her friends get into an argument over her actions, ending with Twilight losing her temper and furiously disowning them as her friends while flaring her horn at Pinkie. Deeply hurt and offended, the group, barring Spike, leave Twilight, unknowingly allowing her to be finally captured by Tempest, who gains her sympathy as she reveals the loss of her own horn as a foal due to an Ursa Minor attack caused her own friends to leave her because of her unstable magic.
Upon learning of her kidnapping from Spike, Twilight's friends immediately spring into action and return to Canterlot to rescue her with the help of a reformed Capper, Celaeno and the pirates, and Skystar, who have followed them after being inspired by their friendship. Using his newly empowered staff, the Storm King conjures a storm against the group and betrays Tempest, whom Twilight saves. Twilight and her friends quickly reconcile and manage to recover the staff, ending the storm. The Storm King hurls a magical orb to petrify the group, but Tempest jumps in his way, petrifying them both. The Storm King falls to the ground and smashes to pieces, while the group uses the staff to revive Tempest, who returns the stolen magic to the princesses, restoring them and repairing the now-damaged city. The Friendship Festival resumes with the ponies celebrating alongside everyone whom Twilight and her friends encountered and befriended on their adventure. Encouraged by Twilight, Tempest joins in by producing a fireworks display with her broken horn, and happily accepts the group's friendship.
Voice cast
Tara Strong as Twilight Sparkle, an intelligent but over-obsessive Alicorn who is responsible for spreading friendship and harmony across the kingdom. She is the leader of the "Mane Six" ponies. Rebecca Shoichet performs Twilight Sparkle's singing voice. Ashleigh Ball as Rainbow Dash and Applejack, two members of the "Mane Six"; Rainbow Dash is a sassy and loyal pegasus with a kind heart and a wild sense of humour, and Applejack is an honest apple farmer pony. Andrea Libman as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, two members of the "Mane Six"; Pinkie Pie is a party-obsessed pony filled with joy and laughter, and Fluttershy is a shy but kind pegasus who cares for animals. Shannon Chan-Kent performs Pinkie Pie's singing voice. Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, a fussy but generous fashion designer unicorn and a member of the "Mane 6". Kazumi Evans performs Rarity's singing voice. Cathy Weseluck as Spike, a baby dragon and Twilight Sparkle's assistant. Emily Blunt as commander Tempest Shadow / Fizzlepop Berrytwist, an embittered unicorn who serves as the Storm King's second-in-command in order to repair her broken horn. On the development of the character, screenwriter Meghan McCarthy said, "We just arrived at this idea of a character who had come from Equestria, and had not had the positive experience that Twilight [Sparkle] and her friends had. It felt like a good counterpart to our heroes was to have a villain who didn't just not get friendship, but had a reason that she didn't understand it." McCarthy also called Blunt's performance "a big influence" on how the character was animated in the film. Kristin Chenoweth as Princess Skystar, an excitable hippogriff and magically transformed seapony princess. Chenoweth said of her character, "Let's just say she's been locked up for a while and is longing for friends." She joked that she dabbled in method acting for the role, making sure her hair was "on point for every recording session". Liev Schreiber as the Storm King, the despotic, satyr-like leader of the storm creatures who conquers lands in search of powerful magic to control the weather. On his acceptance of the role, Schreiber said that he wanted something child-friendly for his kids to watch, noting his repertoire of violent, adult-oriented films. Comparing his character to Basil Rathbone, Schreiber said the Storm King "is prone to temper tantrums, and he's a little crazy. He has a wide range of behaviors." He considers the character to be "one of the more intense roles [he's] played". Michael Peña as Grubber, a wisecracking and gluttonous hedgehog, Tempest Shadow's cohort and the servant of the Storm King. McCarthy said that Grubber "needed to be goofy" to counterpoint the "very straight-laced, hardcore" Tempest. Peña ad-libbed much of the character's dialogue, with McCarthy saying, "You get Michael Peña in a recording booth, and you just are like, 'Please just go and say funny things.' He will be there for hours, just giving you all kinds of really great material that was not something that we had originally scripted!" Sia as Songbird Serenade, a pegasus and famous pop star in Equestria. The character's design is modeled after Sia's likeness. Taye Diggs as Capper, an anthropomorphic alley cat who is a cunning yet good-hearted con artist. Diggs, who was excited to appear in an animated film, says, "I'm very movement-oriented, so just looking at the way Capper is positioned, the expressions on his face, all enhances my performance. It's really cool." Uzo Aduba as Queen Novo, Princess Skystar's overprotective mother, and the firm but fair and benevolent ruler of the hippogriffs-turned-seaponies. The character is described by Chenoweth as "loving but also a little too strict and stern". Detailing her role, Aduba says, "She [wants] to protect her group to the best of her ability, and [wants] to create a life of peace and stability. She doesn't take any nonsense, and will do everything in her power to protect her family." Zoe Saldaña as Captain Celaeno, an anthropomorphic parrot and jaded pirate captain who is relegated to the Storm King's delivery service. Saldana says Celaeno "cares for her crew", adding, "She's a responsible, thoughtful, and empathetic leader. That's a terrific, very poignant message to give to children about leadership—that it's okay for you to want to be a leader as long as you know that the responsibilities that come along with it."
Nicole Oliver, St. Germain and Britt McKillip reprise their respective roles from Friendship Is Magic as Twilight's mentors and fellow alicorn princesses Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Cadance. St. Germain also voices Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother, and Muffins, a cross-eyed gray pegasus. Also returning from Friendship is Magic are Michelle Creber and Peter New are Apple Bloom and Big McIntosh, Applejack's younger sister and older brother respectively, Michael Dobson as Bulk Biceps, a muscular pegasus, and Samuel Vincent as Party Favor, a balloonist unicorn.
Adam Bengis voices Code Red, one of the Canterlot ponies. Brian Dobson voices Verko, a mole-rat crime boss in Klugetown to whom Capper is in debt. Max Martini, Mark Oliver and Nicole Oliver respectively perform as three of Captain Celaeno's parrot-like crew: Boyle, first mate Mullet and Lix Spittle. Michael Dobson, Andrew McNee, Tegan Moss, Sabrina Pitre, Rhona Rees and Vincent all feature as assorted citizens of Canterlot. Richard Ian Cox, Michael Dobson, McNee, New and Nicole Oliver also perform as denizens of Klugetown. Additional voices are provided by Alistair Abell, Caitlyn Bairstow, Julia Benson, Christine Chatelain, Brian Dobson, Paul Dobson, Rondel Reynoldson, Jason Simpson, Sarah Troyer and Siobhan Williams.
Production Development At San Diego Comic-Con in 2012, Friendship Is Magic head writer Meghan McCarthy commented on the possibility of a feature film based on the series, saying that it was not in her control whether or not the film would be made. The film was announced on October 20, 2014, with Joe Ballarini attached as screenwriter and McCarthy as co-executive producer. Hasbro Studios president Stephen Davis said of the film that "I think it gives us an opportunity to tell a bigger story, that maybe we [can't] tell on television" and that "[it's] also an opportunity to broaden the franchise". The film was one of the first produced through Hasbro Studios' self-financing film label Allspark Pictures, which also produced the 2015 live-action adaptation of Jem and the Holograms. During PonyCon AU on February 22, 2015 alongside fellow writer Gillian M. Berrow, McCarthy said that the movie would be unrelated to the Equestria Girls spin-off franchise, and that the crew was "going all out on it, to make sure it doesn't just feel like an extended episode".