Text Review Roundup: A New Generation (part 2)

Off we go with part 2 of TRR! This time I'm looking at text-based reviews from within the fandom. It's worth noting that reviewers can change their minds – an example is Mike Cartoon Pony, who I know has warmed to the film somewhat since he first saw it – but for the most part I'm going on their main review, not separate posts they may have added afterwards. If the main review itself has been updated, as for example Mike's has, that will be taken somewhat into account.

Apologies to several reviewers for my savage cutting of their reviews. ANG prompted a fair number of long reviews – for example, Jarvy Jared's, Mike Cartoon Pony's and TheDragonWarlock's each weigh in at around 7,000 words when all's said and done – and it's just not possible to do more than give the tiniest flavour in a TRR-sized bite. Please bear that in mind as you read.

Interestingly, the fandom reviewers seem less strongly agreed on ANG's high quality than the general reviewers did. There are a couple of outright negative reviews in this bunch, whereas you'd have to search quite hard to find more than moderate criticism in the non-fandom assessments. Since this post goes on a bit, I'll shove it behind a page break.

Cloud's Journal – very positive ("The 3D animation in this movie is gorgeous [... though the songs, though good, are] not on par with Daniel Ingram's work [...]
captures the spirit of FiM’s humor beautifully [...] character development in this movie works [...] Just like the show before it though, it’s an accidental masterpiece.")

Dianabel – fairly positive (rated 7/10; "The movie was better than I expected, in fact, I really enjoyed it! However, I don't think it's as great as many MLP fans make it seem [...] the main characters are very lovable [but] I think that the crystals thing could have been handled better [and] Sprout was a really weak villain")

DrakeyC – positive ("it did work. This was a very enjoyable, fun movie. The new characters are great, they're not copy and pastes of the G4 casts, they're their own ponies and they're likeable.")

Dramamaster829 – fairly positive (rated 8/10; "While the plot does raise 'more' questions rather than offering answers, the switch from traditional animation to digital comes off as 'creepy' (Not 'all' the time at least), and its themes are easily comparable to 'previous' films in the past, it's a heartfelt movie that still teaches the morals of unity and the warnings of letting fear and accusation be the driving element of life.")

Flayrah – mixed ("The quest to restore magic is pretty low stakes [...] I found most of the songs so forgettable [...] Sprout's villain song is a direct, unapologetic parody of Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" [what? —Ed.] animation is pretty good [...] It's just not trying that hard to push beyond its target audience")

Jarvy Jared – broadly positive ("the characters are the film's strongest point [...] I cannot say that the film is as good as G4. But I would also argue that such a comparison is inappropriate, given that it's not even the same medium. [...] It's fun, is what I'm saying.")

Louder Yay – positive (rated 4/5; "considerably more enjoyable than I'd feared, and even a little more so than I'd hoped [...] the characters are generally likeable [...] villains are maybe a little bit on the weak side [...] As for the actual plot... well, it's serviceable [...] animation is actually lovely [...] despite its flaws I had a great time.")

Mike Cartoon Pony – fairly positive ("A New Generation is an exquisite-looking film [...] Not as clunky as it could have been, but clunky nonetheless [...] I would say I like the idea of liking this film [...] In the end, it gets easier to ignore the parts that don't work and focus on those which do. [...] I think I'm hovering around 'Decent' now, and even if the film could be, and should be, much better and more consistent… I think I like it.")

Night-Quill – fairly negative ("The movie was just meh. [...] the world feels so generic [...] Izzy just felt like a [S3/4-era] Pinkie Pie clone [...] Other than just being a name in a popular franchise: What did it accomplish? As a sequel? As a stand-alone? All in all; unremarkable.")

Present Perfect – positive ("Movie good. Nice horse. Very friendship. [...] This is the kind of movie or show or what have you where the flaws just don't affect the watching experience. [...] Leaning too hard on G4 would cheapen its essence [so I'm glad they didn't] I, for one, welcome our squishy-cheeked overlords.")

RailfanBronyMedia – negative ("perhaps the most cookie cutter introduction to a new generation that they could have put out! [...] no tension in the story [Hitch] actually felt like a character. Everyone else is either generic or forgettable. [The G4 link] reeks of lack of creativity [and the songs are] in one ear, and out the other. [...] If this is the future of My Little Pony, it looks to be a very bleak one.")

SpitFlame – negative (rated 3-4/10; "characters all had horrendously slow reaction times to almost everything [...] felt like the characters were playing in Minecraft creative mode [and the characters were] underwhelming. [...] The songs were whatever. [...] what I most disliked about this movie was that it didn't have a soul. [...] Not as bad as season 9 of G4, but much worse than the 2017 movie.")

Strebiskunk – positive ("I actually liked it quite a lot! [...] Thankfully, all the new main characters are great. [...] thank goodness, Hitch is not an idiot. [...]
aside from a weak villain, and some ridiculous moments [...] this movie was really enjoyable")

SuperPinkBrony12 – broadly positive (graded A-; "It's pretty good [...] the first act kind of gets too political at times [...] the songs all seemed to blend into the genre of modern pop [but despite the lack of explanation for its setup the film is] fine on its own and offers a good launching point for G5")

TheClownPrinceOfCrime – positive (rated 9/10; "I was not disappointed at all. [...] well-written and well-fleshed out [...] I actually love Sunny as a character [...]
However, I still wonder how exactly did all the ponies lose their magic in the first place? [...] animation style looks so much like Pixar's style")

TheDragonWarlock – positive (graded B+; "characters are all well written [though] Sprout really didn’t have much going for himself [..] songs are also a little underwhelming [but] Visually, the movie is absolutely beautiful [...] While there are some issues with the plot, a lack of explaining certain things, and a weak villain, My Little Pony: A New Generation is still an overall rather solid film that's fun and entertaining.")