Story
In My Little Pony: The Movie, Princess Twilight Sparkle (voiced by Tara Strong) is organising a Friendship Festival with the help of her friends Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Spike the Dragon. Ponies from all over Equestria are coming. Everything is going smoothly until Storm King (Liev Schreiber) and Commander Tempest (Emily Blunt) suddenly take over the festival. They capture the city and turn three of the pony princesses to stone. Princess Twilight and her friends escape, but they must travel across the Badlands to find the Queen of the Hippogriffs (Uzo Aduba) to save their home and their friends.Themes
Separation from friends; getting lost; natural disasters (storms); crime
Violence
My Little Pony: The Movie has some violence. For example:
- The villains attack the ponies and cast magic spells on the princesses, turning them to stone. Many of the ponies are shown locked up in cages.
- Commander Tempest electrocutes many ponies with her broken horn.
- There is a big fight at the end between the ponies (and their friends) and the Storm King. This fight includes swords, lightning, explosions and fire.
Content that may disturb children
Under 5
In addition to the violent scenes mentioned above, My Little Pony: The Movie has some scenes that could scare or disturb children under five years. For example:
- The scenes with the Storm King, Commander Tempest and their minions might be quite scary for younger children. They fly around in spooky black clouds and shoot electrical sparks.
- When the ponies are in the desert, Pinkie Pie picks up a skull and a bug crawls out.
- The ponies often look as if they’re in danger – for example, they fall off cliffs or almost drown. They’re always fine in the end, but these scenes might still be frightening for young children.
- The ponies walk through a scary town in the Badlands, and some of the animals talk about trying to kidnap the ponies.
- The ponies get captured by some scary-looking pirates, but the pirates turn out to be friendly.
- The Hippogriff town looks empty and deserted. The ponies get worried that something bad has happened there.
From 5-8
Children in this age group might also be scared by the scenes mentioned above.
From 8-13
Nothing of concern
Over 13
Nothing of concern
Sexual references
Spike the Dragon has a crush on Rarity and blushes when she talks to him.
Alcohol, drugs and other substances
None
Nudity and sexual activity
None
Product placement
The movie is part of the My Little Pony franchise.
Coarse language
Nothing of concern
Ideas to discuss with your children
My Little Pony: The Movie is an exciting animated adventure for young children. The movie includes lots of catchy songs about the importance of being a good friend and being yourself.
Parental guidance is recommended for children under seven years, because of some scary scenes and characters. These scenes and characters might be particularly scary for children under five years. At 104 minutes, the movie is also rather long for this age group.
The main messages from this movie are about the importance of friendship and teamwork. The movie also emphasises being yourself and accepting who you are.
Values in this movie that you could reinforce with your children include kindness and bravery.
This movie could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the consequences of using violence to solve problems.