Okay, this will be tough..
BEFORE READING:
Please note that up until now, I have been reviewing the first three G3 specials. Please try not to be too harsh or subjective as this is my first movie review.
So, let's jump into A Very Minty Christmas... (Yes, I know it's April and all, but oh well...)
G3 Reviews part 4: A Very Minty Christmas
2005 was a big year for MLP. It was able to successfully sell over 100 different ponies and playsets (along with a DVD known as none other than Friends Are Never Far Away). So, Hasbro decided to take the ponies to DVD with A Very Minty Christmas, first released as a direct-to-video DVD and VHS in December 2005, making this the first piece of G3 media that was not sold with a pony or set of ponies. It was also the first full-length (if you count 44 minutes as 'full-length') piece of MLP media to be released in almost 20 years and featured Dancing in the Clouds as a bonus episode, oddly enough only a year after its initial release. However, with mostly all of the year's gimmicks, ponies, and playsets promoted in Friends Are Never Far Away, what to focus on? Why, none other than Minty, the clumsy green stooge who flies balloons badly and loves to collect socks (as established in this movie) and hasn't been seen on a television screen since A Charming Birthday waaaaayyy back. Also, this is December, so why not make it seasonal? Did this movie combine Minty humor with a seasonal message successfully and possibly do better than Friends Are Never Far Away (which means this movie's aiming for a Must See rating if it wants to be better than that special)? We'll soon find out. So, in my first movie review, let us celebrate Christmas in April with A Very Minty Christmas!
The movie starts out with Ponyville in winter, where the ponies are having some seasonal fun with the original song (squee of delight) 'That's What I Love About Christmas'. While a decent song at most, it seems to drag on for a little too long and Minty's version at the end overshadows it (It also contains some reanimated clips from A Charming Birthday if you look closely). It also looks like the animation has fully switched to digital (despite a few errors in the beginning in the background, but never mind that). They are also celebrating with the Pegasus ponies from Butterfly Island (so that means we'll see Thistle Whistle again. By the way, in the beginning, where Star Catcher, Thistle Whistle, and a mystery white Pegasus hug, who is the white-with-orange-and-yellow-hair Pegasus?)
Anyway, after the song is done, we then cut to the Cotton Candy Café, where Sweetberry (exception to my rule, but still minor part) and Triple Treat are deciding what the Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane (a ME- no, BIG candy cane placed on the top of the truly MEGA tree in Ponyville to help Santa find his way to Ponyville) should look and taste like (Santa gets to eat the Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane as part of the deal. I'm abbreviating the ME- no, BIG candy cane the HCCCC for time and convience reasons, rather like the PSBB in A Charming Birthday). However, Cotton Candy is a little too busy to help as she is digging through a box and basically states that getting up Christmas decorations is difficult work. However, it's duty, and duty calls, so, oh well. She then tries to untangle the Christmas lights, but they actually get MORE tangled (around her) and Sweetberry and Triple Treat help her, but she ends up spinning around the café in a rather amusing scene, and when she finally stops, she realizes that Sweetberry and Triple Treat are making the HCCCC (Didn't she already know that?
). Unfortunately, Sweetberry and Triple Treat both have different opinions on WHAT to make the HCCCC look like. Cotton Candy suggests pink and mint (which makes sense, because pink really ISN'T a flavor, but she means the COLOUR of the candy cane). Sweetberry and Triple Treat are doubtful of this, but Cotton Candy tells them that Pinkie Pie is the Christmas host this year (Self-explanatory in name) and says that adding mint will get you PINKIE_MINT (
). Sweetberry and Triple Treat then finally make the choice.
Meanwhile, in Ponyville somewhere, Sunny Daze, Sparkleworks, and Skywishes (no no she's... oh, she's got no speaking lines. Thank goodness) are making a snowman. They finish it and head over to the MEGA Christmas tree to hear Pinkie Pie make her speech. Then, enter Minty, the star of the show, wearing socks. The nose falls off the snowman, Minty puts it back on, then tries to 'improve' the snowman... by making its head fall off (Oh Minty Minty Minty...
). Minty places the mangled head back on the snowman (snow corpse now it's lost its head?) and puts one of her socks around its neck for a scarf. Minty then wishes merry Christmas to the snowman and heads off.
We then cut to a crowd of ponies around the MEGA Christmas tree, as Pinkie Pie is about to make her speech. Pinkie Pie steps in front of the crowd and thanks last year's Christmas host, none other than our 'dahling' Rainbow Dash. The crowd then cheers for Rainbow Dash (you can see her in the crowd cheering for herself!) and Pinkie presents her with a necklace and says that last year for Christmas, she filled Ponyville with colours and rainbows (Well, who'd know?
). Rainbow Dash is honored and 'dahling' as usual. Pinkie Pie then goes up to a pony who (I THINK) might be Desert Rose, who unravels a scroll. Pinkie Pie then makes her speech explaining the HCCCC (which we've already done so let's not go into detail about this) and Thistle Whistle also seems to have some sort of nephophobia (fear of clouds) but Cloud Climber (who I think was a Dazzle Bright pony released this year) reassures her that Santa will be doing the flying, so Thistle Whistle doesn't have to challenge her nephophobia. Pinkie Pie then presents the HCCCC for the year, held up by Thistle Whistle and Cloud Climber (No way they could've gotten it THAT quickly after talking on the ground a few seconds ago). Rainbow Dash, Sunny Daze, and the other ponies seem to approve of the MEGA candy cane and Sunny Daze even puts on SUNGLASSES (
). Minty, meanwhile, tries to see the HCCCC over the crowd, but causes some confusion in the process. Sunny Daze then compliments Minty's sock, and we get some exposition on Minty's HUGE sock collection. Sunny Daze is confused why Minty is only wearing one sock, so Minty explains she gave one up for the snow corpse (???) which is explained as 'a very special reason'.
Pinkie Pie, continuing her speech, says that one of the ponies' new friends, none other than Star Catcher, will be putting the HCCCC on the top of the MEGA tree. Star Catcher makes her grand entrance, Pinkie Pie gives her the candy cane, Star Catcher utters her famous 'Consider it done' line and she, Cloud Climber and Thistle Whistle place the HCCCC on the top of the tree. Once the candy cane is done, everyone marvels at its beauty (it even GLOWS). Minty says that Santa will see the HCCCC for sure (unless she knows what's gonna happen in a few minutes). Pinkie Pie then explains that there's a lot of decorating and preparations to be done, a strange blue pony says a line, and they depart to make preparations, leaving Minty alone to gaze at the tree. Minty then decides the HCCCC needs some 'improving' and tries to call in the Pegasus ponies to do it, but no one answers her and so decides to do things the old-fashioned earth pony way (Balloon flying.) And, we all know from what happened at the end of A Charming Birthday when Minty takes Kimono to her birthday party how Minty flies balloons...
Minty boards the balloon (she wonders if she can ask Santa for balloon lessons for Christmas
) and attempts to 'improve' the candy cane. After a few failed attempts to reach it, the HCCCC falls to the side. Minty grabs it, pulls it back into perfect position, smells it and thinks it smells delicious (and she utters that hilarious 'I wish I was Santa line' but to understand it you must have read the explanation of the HCCCC above). The HCCCC, however, tilts back into imperfect position, Minty grabs it and places it back into perfect position.
Meanwhile, the excited ponies are gathering around the castle. Sparkleworks and Pinkie Pie light the Christmas lights around the castle, making it look pretty breathtaking.
The previous scene smoothly melts into the next scene, where Minty decides to 'improve' the candy cane a little more. She gives it one last little tap and the HCCCC falls off the tree and smashes. Minty flies down to the wreck of the HCCCC and realizes it's even MORE broken than it looked from above. Minty realizes she's goofed and wonders what to do.
Minty later walks through the streets of Ponyville, feeling pretty blue (which is saying something considering she's green). Sparkleworks and Sunny Daze (who are decorating lampposts) are excited about Christmas and Minty supposedly says she is too, but doesn't get the time to tell the two about what she did. Sparkleworks asks Minty to see if Pinkie Pie will hear what she has to say, and Minty agrees.
Meanwhile, in the castle, Cloud Climber and Thistle Whistle are putting up a pink (I'm sure most people saw that coming) banner under Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash's supervision (And Rainbow Dash says you can never have too much of something you love. Right you are, dahling...
). Rainbow Dash thinks the banner is marvelous, then runs off to hang up rainbows (like Sunny Daze making a charm bracelet out of sunbeams...
). Minty then comes in, slips on the floor, collides with Pinkie Pie, and brings the banner crashing down. Minty apologizes, but Pinkie Pie says it's okay and says Minty can help put up the banner (Cloud Climber and Thistle Whistle unfortunately think otherwise
). As Pinkie Pie and the two Pegasus ponies help put up the banner again, Minty tries to tell Pinkie Pie about the HCCCC disaster, but brings the banner down again in the process. Pinkie Pie doesn't seem to realize that Minty's destroyed the sacred tradition known as Christmas and says that everything will be fine and that you can't stop Christmas from coming (unless you're Minty, of course).
Later that night, Minty is back in her house, now seriously regretting breaking the HCCCC, while sorting through socks (her house could possibly be made of them) and looking in the mirror. She's very miserable indeed about ruining Christmas, and even her one remaining sock is knotted up. She puts it on her head as a Santa hat and wonders how she can UNruin Christmas (Er, make a new candy cane?). Suddenly, after thinking about Santa not coming, Minty brightens up and decides to be Santa (She'll take your milk and cookies, just so long as they're green
). She decides to give her friends socks for Christmas (a kid's worst nightmare in the human world), each sock practically has a pony's name written all over it, and besides, who doesn't love socks?).
Soon, every pony in Ponyville is going to sleep and I suspect the Pegasus ponies have either gone back to Butterfly Island or bedded down in the castle for the night. However, Minty is still awake, thinking about socks. She covers the fact that every pony has a sock made for them (Rainbow socks for Rainbow Dash, sparkly socks for Sparkleworks, pink socks for Pinkie Pie, and so on). We then immediately jump into my favorite song of the movie, Nothing Says Christmas Like a Pair of Socks. It's basically an ode to socks that's downright hilarious, adorable, and with some interesting visuals and anyway, I find it easier to enjoy songs that a character is singing, rather than some random person singing in the background.
Later, we see Minty sneaking into Rainbow Dash's house and hanging a rainbow sock on her mantelpiece. She does the same at Sparklework's house, and then Sunny Daze's extremely bright house, although she has a close call with Sunny Daze nearly noticing her (She puts one of Pinkie's socks on her mantelpiece, by the way). We then see the interior of what I believe is Desert Rose's house, before finally reaching Pinkie's place. Minty puts a green sock on Pinkie Pie's mantelpiece (Animation error?
), but is found by Pinkie Pie. Minty reveals she was trying to be Santa, but after Pinkie Pie asks why, Minty says she broke it (Then comes one of my favorite lines from Pinkie's mouth EVER, "You broke Santa?" The way she says it is just hilarious). Minty then FINALLY reveals what she did to the HCCCC, and Pinkie Pie is pretty mad (the only time a G3 got mad so far). Pinkie Pie then brightens up after Minty says it was an accident (did she think Minty was a minion of the Grinch Who Stole Christmas or something?) and wonders if they could glue it back together. Minty says that it's beyond repair, and then the conflict really begins. Pinkie Pie says that without the HCCCC, Santa won't make it to Ponyville, and Christmas would come crashing down around their
feet hooves (Even if Minty wasn't one of his minions, the Grinch sure would be pleased). Minty soon realizes that only Santa can be Santa, and she painfully says she gave away her socks to try and save Christmas (How come she was so willing to give them away earlier? I'll excuse that, since she probably wasn't thinking straight there). Pinkie Pier tries to think of something to make Minty feel better, and comes up with the bright idea to go to the North Pole and basically set things right with Santa (Big mistake, Pinkie, big mistake). Minty then rushes out of Pinkie Pie's house quickly, leaving her sock-hat behind.
Minty sneaks over to where the hot-air balloons are kept (she's gonna fly badly, isn't she?), and what I said about the peasi going back to Butterfly Island earlier is proved wrong as Thistle Whistle finds her (this will be EPIC!!! For certain reasons...). After trying to lie, Minty explains what she's doing to Thistle Whistle and boards the balloon. Thistle Whistle is skeptical, and almost gets roped into going with Minty, but manages to get out of it. Minty flies off into the sky with the balloon (impending disaster), and Thistle Whistle, despite her fear of clouds (nephophobia again) decides it might be best to follow her. Just before making up her mind, Pinkie Pie runs over and gets into a balloon to rescue Minty. She asks if Thistle Whistle could pursue Minty, and she does, but comes face-to-face with clouds, her greatest enemy.
Minty flies over Ponyville in the balloon, trying to control it. However, she knocks into the MEGA tree (TIMBER!!!) and it comes crashing down (even worse than the candy cane incident). She gets blown out of Ponyville after this accident by the wind.
The other ponies come to see what has happened with the tree (Even in a disaster, Rainbow Dash is still 'dahling'). Even a few of the Pegasus ponies drop in to see what has happened (Coconut Grove and Star Catcher, namely).
Meanwhile, Thistle Whistle is pursuing Minty in the air, but she's cold and worried and can't seem to find her.
Meanwhile (AGAIN), the ponies are still worried about the tree and where the HCCC is (the candy cane afterlife?). Pinkie Pie finally steps in and tells everyone about what Minty did. Apple Spice also says her only line ever (she had no dialogue last time she appeared in Friends Are Never Far Away). The earth and Pegasus ponies both decide to join together to save Minty and Thistle Whistle.
Meanwhile, Minty is flying over somewhere, with clouds all around her. The clouds finally clear and we see she's reached the North Pole...after less than five minutes (time transition between this scene and the last scene?). However, she flies right over it back into the unknown. Thistle Whistle, on the other hand, sees Minty, but comes to a cloudbank and has to conquer her hephophobia to save her friend. She conquers her fear and finally catches up with Minty, and tries to save her by grabbing onto the balloon ties, and tries to get Minty to go back, but fails to do so.
Meanwhile, the earth and Pegasus ponies have assembled a squadron of balloons (The pegasi obviously just fly beside the squadron). They set off to find Minty and Thistle Whistle.
Back above who knows where, Thistle Whistle tries to get Minty home, but a strong wind gets her tangled up in the balloon ties. They are also lost (Maybe Minty should have brought a map or something, but oh well...). The balloon flies by a MEGA cliff, the balloon wrecks on a branch JUST above the MEGA cliff, and so we leave Minty and Thistle Whistle stuck in wrecked balloon, preparing to fall to their doom.
Soon enough, the squadron spot Minty and Thistle Whistle and come in to save them. As the balloon breaks, Minty and Thistle Whistle come closer to falling down the MEGA ravine. The branch then breaks, Minty nearly plummets to her doom, but she is saved by Pinkie Pie. Thistle Whistle is untied by the Pegasus ponies, JUST as the balloon falls down the MASSIVE ravine into a lake. The squadron then realize they need a place to land until the weather get better. Pinkie Pie asks Star Catcher to lead the way, and her 'Consider it done' line is heard again (You can guess what happens).
The squadron, Thistle Whistle, Coconut Grove (it was Cloud Climber seconds ago!) and Star Catcher land just outside Santa's village (thingy) and walk into it. They admire it (and also see the North Pole itself). They come to Santa's workshop and find a note on the door. Minty reads it and realizes Santa's gone. She then feels bad about ruining Christmas for everyone. Sparkleworks, Rainbow Dash, Sunny Daze, and Sweetberry comfort her. Star Catcher then tells Minty that she came all this way to bring back Christmas and that they have been led to the most magical place of all. Star Catcher then very vaguely tells her something about 'in your heart', they hug, and a strange purple light emits from them and all the socks Minty gave her friends back home. The other ponies also start to hug, and that same strange purple light emits from them as well. The purple light is so bright that every building in Ponyville is very brightly glowing purple. The purple light fades, the clouds clear up, aaand... Minty's suddenly gets Pinkie Pie's voice as the only notable glitch of the episode takes place. This causes Star Catcher to say the magic words 'Consider it done' and you can guess what happens next AGAIN.
Then, as the squadron fly back to Ponyville, Star Catcher sings her only solo about 'The Magic of Christmas'. It is beautiful to hear and it's a nice recap to the whole movie as the ponies head home (although Ponyville isn't the pegasi's home). The visuals are also appealing to the eye, and Minty even gets a short piece to herself.
The squadron do eventually land in Ponyville and find that Santa has restored both the MEGA tree and the HCCCC, which Minty wrecked (even though we can forgive her for being Minty
). Sweetberry points out that the socks on the ME-no, I've used that enough already-HUGE tree are Minty's, and Minty realizes that they are and wonders how they got on the tree. Rainbow Dash and Sunny Daze thank her. Sparkleworks find presents in the socks and Minty then ALSO begins to wonder how presents got in them. At first, no one knows who did it, then it hits them all at the exact same time: "SANTA!" (Eureka!). Minty wonders how Santa was able to get to Ponyville without the glow of the HCCCC, and Star Catcher gives out the movie's moral: Sometimes, it's not the glow of a special candy cane, but the glow of everyone love and concern for each other that truly lights the way, and that's really the true meaning of Christmas (Wow, for a promotional movie, that's a pretty mature moral. Also, THAT'S what the purple light was). Everyone agrees, but then Minty finds another note from Santa on the tree saying that he's gonna use Minty's sock idea in the future (...So THAT's where the stocking idea came from. Good for you, Minty
). Pinkie Pie then puts a Santa hat on Minty and they both wish each other a merry Christmas. Everyone else does the same.
We then get a joyful reprise of 'That's What I Love About Christmas' showcasing Christmas in Ponyville (on the big day) and, as sung by Minty. It's actually a lot better than the first version, and it seems more specifically written for this movie, referencing Christmas celebrations in Ponyville rather than in the human world.
Later that day, the ponies have having some more seasonal fun, and Minty's trying to 'improve' something on the tree, but the others catch her out just in time (Oh Minty Minty Minty...
).
So there, that's done. My first movie review. Anyways, A Very Minty Christmas did indeed succeed in its goal of being better than Friends are Never Far Away. It really is the perfect G3 movie and overall the best G3 cartoon. The original songs were great, the message was very well-handled, even movie critics praised this film. Minty also makes her glorious return, now even better than before. It has a very emotional, seasonal, in-depth feel that none of the other G3 cartoons, not even A Charming Birthday, had, and also brings you to tears of joy by the end. So overall, this movie really does get a MUST SEE rating, fair and true. However, the future isn't looking so bright for the G3 movies as expected...
Join us next time as we tackle The Princess Promenade. Oh boy, will this be a toughie...
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