How would you fix the 80s My Little Pony Movie?

[lalalei2001]

I like it just the way it is!

[Taffeta]

Annie summed up some of my issues with the ponies with this comment:
* I would add a bit more personality to the ponies and make them stand out more.
The only ponies who seemed to show their personality was Baby Licketysplit acting presumptuous and Shady as the unlucky negative one. Fizzy did a couple of bubbly happy jumps and whindwhistler showed direction over the sunflower field and saved Megan but other then that I didn't think any other pony got their chance to really shine. I remember Magic star being in the group the entire movie but she didn´t add anything to the search party for the entire movie than just being there (and the fact she GAVE AWAY the dream castle to the Grundles at the end of the movie! What would Majesty say!?!

As I said before, Shady and Magic Star bother me to the point they offend me, genuinely. I know that's a strong and probably over the top statement, but still.

Shady was a precious and much loved childhood pony of mine. She was eccentric, quirky and often seeing hallucinogenic worlds and images through her magic sunglasses. Imagine if that (which was in part based on the US SS Shady backcard story, so no excuses!) had been in the movie. Admittedly Shady lacking confidence is I think also mentioned in that backcard story, but not in the Shady I remember as a kid. She was always out looking for adventure through those glasses of hers. I wanted that Shady.

And Magic Star is just a generic earth pony with generic attitude to everything. She might be kind? Giving the castle away seems kind. But she doesn't have any kind of presence. And I grew up with MS being the most magical pony in the whole of ponyland. Where was that in a battle with the witches? Nowhere to be seen.

If those character ideas were entirely absent from the US lore I'd be ok with it, but they're not. True, both the Shady and the MS I grew up with had been amended by the UK lore but they're both based on concepts from the US backcards. You'd think they'd get a look in, but literally the only detail included is Shady in the negative.

What hurts more is that Shady and MS were sold here as movie star ponies Thank goodness for the comic.

But I also have some unsettled feelings about some of the other characters, both in other eps and in the movie. Just those two really bother me.

I also hated the witches though. Those kinds of characters are so irritating. And I want Baby Lickety to be cute but she really...isn't after so many scenes including her.

[LadyMoondancer]

I would honestly rewrite the whole thing, lol.  It's just so boring. 

The first thing it needs is a scary villain, preferably one they were selling a toy of.  Like at least "Care Bears The Movie evil book" level of scary.

Second, BETTER ANIMATION. Make it shorter if necessary for the budget, but please . . . less lumpy ponies . . . give them whites in their eyes . . . please . . .

Third, obviously Hasbro gave the writers notes like "We're not selling the castle anymore, shill Paradise Estate instead." Okay, I don't like that, but that's a toy-movie for you.  So that being the case . . . destroy the castle, permanently.  Make it epic, like in the middle of the movie, so the viewer is like "omg what now, there's no hope."  DO NOT bring it back in the end and have Magic Star do a snooty mane-shake and say, "The Grundles can have our former home, we have ~Paradise Estate~ now."

(I did watch it as a kid, in the theater, so I have the right to be a hater, lol.)

Of course what would have been funniest (in retrospect) would be if they went the Transformers route and brutally killed Firefly and all the other "not for sale anymore" ponies on-screen, somehow oblivious to the fact that it would traumatize children.  I'm not saying they should've done that, it's suuuch a bad idea to take out beloved characters in that manner, but like . . . if they had . . . I'll bet the movie would eventually have become a weird cult classic.    (Also it seems a bit more respectful than pretending like Firefly etc never existed.)

Maybe I'll give the movie a rewatch and return with more thoughts!

[Minty_Magic]

My biggest gripe with the movie has always been the shaky animation and art style. I may have been able to excuse the kind of boring plot and goofy villains if the movie was pleasant to look at, but it just wasn’t! I actually can’t believe it ever got a theatrical release, it just looks so cheaply done.

Also, getting better voice actors for like, half the cast would have been beneficial. I could not STAND Baby Lickety split or any of the witches. Every time they opened their mouths it was like nails on a chalkboard for me.

[FernMariposa919]

It's probably been a good 15-20 years since I've seen the movie, although I've watched parts of it on YouTube here and there. While it does have nostalgic elements for me, I would have to say it's pretty bad. I always thought Baby Lickety Split was super annoying (that voice!) and there seemed to be a lot of screen time devoted to the witches (who I also found annoying, of course watching this as an adult probably didn't help!) while I just wanted to watch my (little!) ponies!

I might be the lone few that liked the movie. Saying that the movie had NOTHING on Rescue at Midnight Castle. Now that TV short should have been the movie. That would have been way more fun drawn out and even more epic.

Oh, yes, I agree. Even with all its flaws, Rescue at Midnight Castle is where it's at. That one could have definitely benefited from being an 1.5 hour long movie. For one thing, maybe we could get some more backstory on Megan. She just sort of goes with Firefly, like two seconds after she meets her. I mean, if a talking pegasus came to me, I might go with it too, but it would have been nice to have these characters fleshed out. There's a lot of things they could have done with a longer version of RaMC. And even though I loved my Paradise Estate playset as a child, I will always love the Dream Castle more than the Paradise Estate.

[KarentheUnicorn]

I liked it back in the day, I remember going to theaters and watching it and enjoying it. So if I had some magic machine where I could change anything…I don’t know. Transporting myself back, I remeber thinking there was no way I’m giving the grundles my castle.

So, yea, only thing is change, no castle for you Danny D grundle king.

[Paleopony]

I’d change the whole Paradise Estate thing for one. I thought it made no sense that the ponies were sad that their precious castle was gone, then out of the blue a pink house comes down from the sky and the ponies are like,”OMG! This is the greatest thing ever to happen to us!” Paradise Estate doesn’t have enough room for hundreds of ponies, it doesn’t have barely any protection from enemies, and I can’t help but wonder what Queen Majesty would think of such a betrayal. I’d also change the animation. The art style is okay but the quality itself is reminiscent of Saturday morning cartoons. The animation errors I would fix. I would make the movie focus on the characters’ personalities more, kind of like Friendship Is Magic.

[Leave a Whisper]

Maybe it was because paradise estate came with modern heating and ac? (As opposed to the drafty old castle.)

[Toilandtrouble123]

Maybe I'm the odd one but aside from fixing some animation goofs I would leave the movie as is. I'm sure a lot of that is my nostalgia talking but that movie was one of the staples of my childhood.

I totally agree with this tbh.  Absolutely adored that movie!

[Heelys]

I wouldn't fix the movie-- I'd fix the End of Flutter Valley. And I'd do it by not flanderizing Draggle into a character with that generic "simpleton voice" a la Patrick Star. That just always bothered me. Like, her family can still not appreciate her, that checks out, but it just seemed so over the top.

The witches will probably always be my favorite g1 antagonists. The concept is just so cool. Three witches who live in a VOLCANO that they use as a GIANT CAULDRON. That's a killer playset that never happened.

[mysgalaxy]

The problem I have with this movie is the same i have with the TV series: there's always so many things happening at once and not much pony screen time
I WANT TO WATCH PONIES!!!!

[LadyMoondancer]

Having watched part of it again, I would definitely change the start of the movie and cut out the overture with animals gamboling around.  It's boring and it doesn't add anything.  I'd jump right in with the ponies doing spring cleaning while the overture plays. They could even work in some silent characterization, like maybe Fizzy finishes washing the floor inside Dream Castle and dumps the dirty water out the window.  Cut to a shot of Gusty outside as the water gets dumped on her head.  Gusty glares upward but bubbly Fizzy doesn't even notice.

I'd also cut out the Moochick's song about Paradise Estate because the ponies sound so ungrateful in it.  The ponies' home is utterly destroyed;  he offers them all these alternatives and they're like "NO.  It's not PERFECT."  Beggars can't be choosers, ponies!  Man, no wonder this society produced a pony like Baby Lickety-Split.

I'd also strengthen Baby Lickety-Split's character arc.  I think what they were trying for is "Baby Lickety starts out selfish, then learns to care about others."  But all her actions directly benefit her.  Like recruiting Rosedust to save Dream Valley. That's not selfless, she lives there! I guess you could argue that saving Morning Glory from the well is selfless?  But it wasn't like Baby Lickety had to put in a big effort or give anything up to do it.  It's what literally anyone would do unless they're a monster.

An easy change would be for Baby Lickety to have some trinket that she thinks is a magic charm, which she finds after the disastrous dance concert. She keeps telling Spike how she's going to use it at the NEXT dance to show everyone up.  Just to drive in how self-centered she is, we get a fantasy segment / song where she pictures herself dancing gracefully while all the other baby ponies stumble around and fall on their faces.  But at a later point in the movie she gives up the magic charm, which shows her character growth. 

If the charm really IS magic, it could be something like . . . a past attack from the witches has resulted in a blight slowly creeping over Flutter Valley; Lickety gives the charm to the flutter ponies, who use it to stop the blight.  Or there could be a travel segment through the ruined Grundle Kingdom and she uses the charm to unsmooze it.  (The charm is a one-use item and it crumbles to dust afterwards.)  And because of this selfless act the flutter ponies / grundles decide to help the Dream Valley ponies.

If the charm isn't magic, but is more like Dumbo's feather, then there could be an action segment where the charm bumps lose from Baby Lickety's neck (it's like a pendant on a necklace) and she has enough time to rescue the charm or one of her friends, but not both.  Obviously she picks her friend and the charm sinks into smooze. 

And then at the end of the movie when the smooze is gone Spike comes running up with it in his hand like "Look, Lickety! I found your magic charm!" and Megan is like "Magic charm? That's not magic, it's a trinket from a gumball machine. I thought the baby ponies would like it so I put it in the toy box." And then everyone has a good chuckle.

[SpacePinto]

I wouldn't fix the movie-- I'd fix the End of Flutter Valley. And I'd do it by not flanderizing Draggle into a character with that generic "simpleton voice" a la Patrick Star. That just always bothered me. Like, her family can still not appreciate her, that checks out, but it just seemed so over the top.

This is probably what bothered me the most about this storyarc. In the movie, both Reeka and Draggle were dumb and incompetent (although Draggle a little more) while Hydia was more competent but also mean, she pushed her daughters around but it didn't really faze them that much. Then in the series, they made Reeka more competent while making Draggle even dumber, so now it was both Hydia and Reeka bullying Draggle for being dumb and incompetent, it made me feel bad for her.