My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): The Thread: The Discussion

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Re: My Little Pony: The Movie (2017): The Thread: The Discus

Postby Headless Horse (?) » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:39 pm

I shall have to do the same this weekend. Possibly as a doubleheader with Blade Runner.

Man I want to see that loop-de-loop at the beginning again, small screen just doesn't do it :awesomedash:
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Postby Aramek (?) » Fri Oct 13, 2017 4:46 pm

The sound their wings make at the end of their dive.

The fwoompch.

Good shit.
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Postby Octavia (?) » Fri Oct 13, 2017 7:18 pm

Movie was even better the second time, and not just because the sound system was worlds better in this theater. I noticed a lot more subtle things I missed the first time.

The opening scene alone was awesome. You really got a sense of what flying like a pegasus was like, which is something that the 2D show can't do, but the 3D world of the movie can. I didn't notice Angel dressed as one of Fluttershy's birds the first time through, which was a cute visual gag. Also I love how Pinkie is always super happy and excited when everyone else is terrified. I noticed a couple of these the first time, but she does it a LOT. I noticed how Tempest said "everyone" and "everybody" throughout the film, but didn't notice until the second time through that at the very end when she's at the party, she says "everypony".

In the show, Starlight Glimmer is my favorite villain and I think that's why I like Tempest so much. Big all-powerful villains like Discord or Tirek are boring. Give me a regular, yet ambitious, pony who was traumatized by a childhood event and developed a jaded world view. It's more believable and makes for a more complex character than "this villain has super powers!" Tempest was the real villain in the movie. The Storm King's purpose was just to give Tempest a way to redeem herself. The redemption theme is perhaps one of the most powerful and prolific themes of the show, that no matter how much you screw up, it is never too late to do the right thing.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Fri Oct 13, 2017 8:23 pm

What I can't get over is the way the wing feathers vibrate against the intensity of the wind during the flying scenes. Someone did their homework.

That kind of detail you just don't get in a movie of this budget. It's one of those "They didn't have to do this, but here we are" things that, well, that the show has always done. Just so, so great that they kept that same level of above-and-beyond in the movie too.



Thinking about the final climactic scene and the resolution of it—the race to grab the staff, Twilight flinging off into the storm, and then coming back down with it to everyone's relief. Yes, I would probably have liked it if the scene didn't boil down to such a simplistic, straightforward physical contest; nor did I think it was ever even presented as plausible that Twilight would have died. She'd just get tossed around in the wind a bunch, Pinkie. And yet ...

There's something I touched on earlier about how visual the Sia song is in its lyrics, and I think there's a thread running through the movie as a whole where the artists really, really wanted to make the thing as visually impressive as they could. Not for the sake of pure spectacle, but for the sake of symbolism and allusions.

I hope we get some Freeze Frame Theater up in here, because there are some gorgeous shots, many of which have some layers to them. Like the opening loop-de-loop and flyover scene seems almost like a direct nod to the famous Circle of Life shot, and the moment when the sails unfurl on the pirate airship is so over-the-top gaudy and flashy as to be worth a laugh in and of itself just due to how crazy such a thing would be in real life (yet perfectly in character for a bunch of parrots).

And then at the very end there's Twilight coming slowly down out of the sky, backlit through a tunnel of clouds at the eye of the storm, grasping the staff and wings flapping slowly, evoking angelic/resurrection imagery. Sure, the actual dramatic facts of the scene are not exactly top-shelf action movie fare; there's no crazy twist or reveal. But I think the filmmakers wanted the resolution to be beautiful rather than clever or surprising.

Animators throughout the century have tried to make things really really pretty, but have run up short against tight budgets. If you look at the model sheets for things like Scooby-Doo and the Flintstones and the Super Friends, it's really excellent art, really ambitious in what they were trying to pull off aesthetically; but of course the shows themselves were total garbage visually. The MLP movie is doing the same thing the show did, which is to somehow come up with a technical formula that allows what they produce to be beautiful in all senses of the world, everything that delights the eye about animation, without needing a vast Disney-scale budget. Where limited-animation shows and movies in the past have fallen short of their promise, MLP has made good on all the work in that huge book full of Rebecca Dart paintings and gorgeous conceptual layout pieces, just as the show made good on Lauren's pitch bible full of all those evocative sketches of ponies up all night studying and kicking clouds out of the sky.

I need to see it again just to see it, now that I know what to keep my eyes peeled for.
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Postby Bremen (?) » Fri Oct 13, 2017 9:01 pm

I finally got around to seeing this; I really liked it. I thought about posting more in depth impressions but really I don't have a lot to be said that wasn't already.

But, on the topic of animation, I do have to say it was incredible. Mostly in the biggest things (it made Equestria feel real and large instead of flat) and the smallest (the expressions were so incredibly vivid). If the costs/time requirements aren't too high, and we ever end up getting a G5/4.5, I really hope they use the movie animation as a model.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 12:27 am

Offhand (still speaking of Sia's song) I wonder how much of an effect the "Try Everything" song from Zootopia had on the way "Rainbow" is used in this movie. I guess maybe that's the new archetype for how a song-leading-to-credits scene should be done in this sort of film.




Fake edit:

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:starity:
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Postby Octavia (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 1:47 am

Actual chat between my partner (who is not a pony fan) and myself:

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Postby Mr. Big (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 2:42 am

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I should be focusing on freelance, and instead I do this :-I
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Postby Octavia (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 3:45 am

Mr. Big wrote:Image
I should be focusing on freelance, and instead I do this :-I


Obviously he meant "has" :glare:

But still this is awesome :awesomedash:
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Postby Bremen (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 5:38 am

That Ursa Minor deprived Equestria of an amazingly talented fruit flavored soda brewer, and for that it must pay.
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Postby Octavia (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 9:55 pm

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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Sun Oct 15, 2017 10:19 pm

One more thing about the climactic race to the staff: I did appreciate the fact that it was conceived as a way for the Mane 6 to win with all of them contributing together, and not by blasting a magic rainbow or anything. It was a purely physical victory, in a break from almost all their previous boss battles in the show, and all of them were a necessary part of the pony-chain to make it happen.

I think that must have been the key element behind them doing that the way they did.
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:09 am

Bremen wrote:That Ursa Minor deprived Equestria of an amazingly talented fruit flavored soda brewer, and for that it must pay.

If you think about it, all it did was cause a traumatic accident. Tempest Shadow's own anger and hatred are what turned her into a villain, not her impeded spellcasting ability.
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Postby Kadjule (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 12:11 am

Headless Horse wrote:One more thing about the climactic race to the staff: I did appreciate the fact that it was conceived as a way for the Mane 6 to win with all of them contributing together, and not by blasting a magic rainbow or anything. It was a purely physical victory, in a break from almost all their previous boss battles in the show, and all of them were a necessary part of the pony-chain to make it happen.

I think that must have been the key element behind them doing that the way they did.


It also had the added benefit of letting Spike get in on the friendship action which I was quite pleased with.
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Postby Bremen (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 6:34 pm

Fizzbuzz wrote:If you think about it, all it did was cause a traumatic accident. Tempest Shadow's own anger and hatred are what turned her into a villain, not her impeded spellcasting ability.


The impression I got was that her missing horn means her magic always comes out uncontrolled and destructive; there was a bit in the cutscene where she tries to play quidditch Unicorn magic ball with some other foals and ends up frying the ball, and all the other foals look nervous and leave. I took it as the implication that her handicap scared off other ponies and that's why she ended up an emotionally hurt loner, not that she was innately more angry and unpleasant than any other unicorns.
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 7:40 pm

That's what I figured too, that she chose to turn against the world because of how she was treated early on after her accident. I figure that responsibility for how you act is on you (barring cases of insanity or similar circumstances, but that's beyond MLP's scope), even if you've been wronged by others.
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Postby Bremen (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:08 pm

Ah. Well, that's probably a discussion beyond the bounds of simple movie reactions, anyways.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Mon Oct 16, 2017 9:41 pm

All this Tempest talk had me thinking. Tempest would have been a great opportunity to do a non-Unicorn villain for once. Other than zapping the hedgehog a few times for laughs, it's not like she ever uses magic. Backstory could have been that she's jealous of magic and wants it for herself. Hell, could even write in that she's the one who made the stone rocks, give them more of a backstory, rather than just having them be an incredibly lazy plot contrivance. Would have worked to make Tempest an actual threat in the film rather than someone who just got lucky a few times.
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Postby Bumble-B (?) » Tue Oct 17, 2017 4:08 am

I saw the film last week on Friday with a fellow intern and I thought it was okay. Like it has some really great stuff but it also had some pretty disappointing things too. So it kinda balanced itself out :v:

I loved the animation. I find it a shame movie reviewers either didn’t comment on it OR thought it was crappy 3D CGI animation compared to Pixar and others. What the WHAT?!? Gawrsh, i guess the endless stream of 3D animated films has really left an impact on the common movie going audience and critics... But regardless, some stunning 2D animation, the 3D elements didn’t seem out of place and the two blended well, and I’m happy to see 2D animators put in a lot of their skill and effort into this.

Also I loved most of the songs. Be Awesome was my fave. The only song that didn’t strike a chord with me was the Sia song and that’s because I’m a non conformist.

Oh, the Queen of the Hippo/Hippogryph mixup was pretty clever. I mean I predicted it early on because it’s more grounded in Equestrian lore.


On the downsides, gawsh what a simple simple simple story. I know some might say that I’m expecting too much from a ‘girl’s show’ but I feel like a handful of MLP eps have even more depth than this film. I’m not asking for an ‘Up’-like story with harsh deep themes but this felt very shallow I’m afraid. Rushed too. The big bad was pretty awesome and I swear he probably had like 10 minutes of screen time. Tempest’s story was pretty compelling but sadly it Came way too late and quickly.

I have other issues but they’re mostly minor. Like the rapid fire jokes and comedic moments mostly didn’t hit the mark for me, some of the Mane 6 felt less helpful than the others (RD, PP, and Rarity had more impact), and a tad bit too much references to the show which might also alienate non fans/show viewers.

But overall I liked it decently. The animation alone is a reason to go see it. And while I Harper on the story, it was still harmless and it gave us some awesome animation and song sequences and new colorful characters. Definitely getting it on physical media when it comes out.

I definitely wanna see a sequel. But please oh please can it have more story and depth next time? :allears:
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Postby Soft Snow (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 5:17 am

The movie made $20 million so far. Production costs hasn't come out yet but they are estimating it had to be around $8 million. So the movie was profitable at least. They could easily franchise a sequel and still have some money left over. And there is still some time left for them to make even more money.
:allears:

Compare that to the Lego Ninjajo movie that came out the same time. Their budget was $70 million and it made $97 million. They made some profit but not enough to make another movie off the profits. They wouldn't be able to sustain themselves on the movie profits alone.

It might not seem pony made as such by comparison but they did make over 100% budget back. As long as they cost under $10 million to make and rake in over $20 millions, the movie is a self sufficient product. Given how kid's films work, I'd say it would be very likely we will see a lot more of them in the future.
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Postby Highbrow Dash (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 5:38 am

Here's hoping :yay:
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Postby Kadjule (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 7:53 am

I'm hoping the eventual home video sales help guarantee a sequel while somehow mandating that it be released theatrically. Projected horses are some of the most enjoyable horses after all.

Also, I'm really into how Sia sings "clouds." K'louds.
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Postby Kronos (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:11 pm

Soft Snow wrote:The movie made $20 million so far. Production costs hasn't come out yet but they are estimating it had to be around $8 million. So the movie was profitable at least. They could easily franchise a sequel and still have some money left over. And there is still some time left for them to make even more money.
:allears:

Compare that to the Lego Ninjajo movie that came out the same time. Their budget was $70 million and it made $97 million. They made some profit but not enough to make another movie off the profits. They wouldn't be able to sustain themselves on the movie profits alone.

It might not seem pony made as such by comparison but they did make over 100% budget back. As long as they cost under $10 million to make and rake in over $20 millions, the movie is a self sufficient product. Given how kid's films work, I'd say it would be very likely we will see a lot more of them in the future.
:gotcha:


As a rule of thumb, generally its should be assumed that films spend at least the same amount on advertising as they actually do on the budget.

So, if ponies was 8 million, we're still in the green but the profit margin is still pretty small. However, like you said, there's still time for it to make more cash and the more important thing will be toy sales which I bet will do gangbusters.
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Postby Fizzbuzz (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:26 pm

My gut says that Hasbro spent fairly little on advertising, considering how sparse the ads for this were. But maybe that's all $8 million gets you nowadays?
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Postby Bremen (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:39 pm

Also, like the show, the movie was probably intended at least as much as advertisement for the toys and other product sales (I bet the DVD will sell amazingly to parents who want something for their kids to watch) as for actual box office proceeds. Running a healthy profit on ticket sales alone probably has Hasbro quite happy.
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Postby Kronos (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 6:59 pm

Fizzbuzz wrote:My gut says that Hasbro spent fairly little on advertising, considering how sparse the ads for this were. But maybe that's all $8 million gets you nowadays?


Yeah, as I was typing that I was wondering "now, how exactly do I justify that much?" seeing as how the ONLY tv advert I saw was during the AMT finals. Though I don't watch kid channels anymore so maybe advertising was stronger there?

Additionally, during the marketing lead up, there was HasCon which was a MASSIVE promotional stint for PonyFilm so maybe the budget went into that?

Bremen wrote:Also, like the show, the movie was probably intended at least as much as advertisement for the toys and other product sales (I bet the DVD will sell amazingly to parents who want something for their kids to watch) as for actual box office proceeds. Running a healthy profit on ticket sales alone probably has Hasbro quite happy.


I bet the Blu-Ray is going to look fucking amazing if you've got the right kind of TV.
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Postby The Doctor (?) » Wed Oct 18, 2017 10:04 pm

Fizzbuzz wrote:My gut says that Hasbro spent fairly little on advertising, considering how sparse the ads for this were. But maybe that's all $8 million gets you nowadays?


Two weeks of ad buys and a spot on America's Got Talent. I saw a few commercials during The Today Show. I can't imagine the marketing for this movie was much at all. The movie looks like it will make money, and home video sales will probably be good.

In the end I imagine Hasbro will ask "was it worth it?" The MLP brand was already pretty strong, and they'll look to see if the merch sales increase enough to justify the movie, or if they would have done just as well with a direct-to-video release. Did the soundtrack sell well enough to justify getting Sia? Was it worth getting the guest stars on board?
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Postby Dexanth (?) » Thu Oct 19, 2017 4:10 am

Soft Snow wrote:The movie made $20 million so far. Production costs hasn't come out yet but they are estimating it had to be around $8 million. So the movie was profitable at least. They could easily franchise a sequel and still have some money left over. And there is still some time left for them to make even more money.
:allears:

Compare that to the Lego Ninjajo movie that came out the same time. Their budget was $70 million and it made $97 million. They made some profit but not enough to make another movie off the profits. They wouldn't be able to sustain themselves on the movie profits alone.

It might not seem pony made as such by comparison but they did make over 100% budget back. As long as they cost under $10 million to make and rake in over $20 millions, the movie is a self sufficient product. Given how kid's films work, I'd say it would be very likely we will see a lot more of them in the future.
:gotcha:


Production costs look to be much greater than 8 million, or someone produced a very convincing forgery.

That said the movie is still likely to be profitable, but that number looks to be a lowball on how much the movie actually ran to make.
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Postby SlateSlabrock (?) » Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:03 am

There's been lots of spitballing on production costs, all of it completely unsourced. There's a rumor it cost $60 million to make with no source other than a 4chan thread. Maybe we'll get a clearer answer from their next investor meeting.
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Postby Dexanth (?) » Thu Oct 19, 2017 5:26 am

SlateSlabrock wrote:There's been lots of spitballing on production costs, all of it completely unsourced. There's a rumor it cost $60 million to make with no source other than a 4chan thread. Maybe we'll get a clearer answer from their next investor meeting.


This was not a case of spitballing - this was a case of 'This looks to be a leaked internal document, or a very convincing forgery'.
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Postby Headless Horse (?) » Thu Oct 19, 2017 9:36 am

So I figured out who Storm King's parents are

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Postby Kronos (?) » Thu Oct 19, 2017 3:46 pm

Headless Horse wrote:So I figured out who Storm King's parents are

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Image


Headless now does crack shipping.

NOTHING IS SACRED ANYMORE :fluttershock:
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Postby Highbrow Dash (?) » Fri Oct 20, 2017 5:45 am

For some reason I thought that one line in the "We're off to see the world" song was "I love this happy moment" not "I love this very moment" :v:

I love that happy song :-P
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