Well-worn pony tale

My Little Pony: A New Generation, streaming on Netflix, is the new movie set long after the beloved Friendship Is Magic series. Some terrible unexplained event has robbed the land of Equestria of both its friendship and its magic, and all the pony tribes have turned on each other. The unicorns, the Pegasi, and the earth ponies—that’s ponies without horns or wings—fear and distrust each other.

Sunny, an earth pony, dreams of uniting everyone in friendship, and she teams up with a unicorn named Izzy and a Pegasus named Zipp to restore magic to Equestria.

Originally slated for a theatrical release, Paramount sold the film to Netflix due to the pandemic. The computer-animated movie boasts high production values and has some relatively well-known actors voicing the ponies, but the movie doesn’t break any new ground. It sticks to the well-worn path Disney blazed 30 years ago: A headstrong independent female lead, amusing sidekicks, transformational ending, and five original songs.

If there’s a villain, other than the general feeling of distrust, it’s a wealthy self-absorbed pony with a reddish-orange body and a blond mane comb-over who uses the crowd’s fear to promote his own leadership. I doubt kids will pick up on this jab at former President Donald Trump.

There’s nothing wrong with promoting friendship and fun, but the movie’s message is too simplistic. It seems to teach that all distrust is unfounded and that everyone could get along if we just decided to get along. But in reality, evil and sin are out there, and pretending they don’t exist doesn’t help anypony—I mean—anyone.