My Little Pony: The Movie (2017)

Originally I wasn't going to watch this movie until it became available on Netflix. 

However, due to circumstances I decided  to go ahead and watch the film through other means. The reason for this is that this guy I'm subscribing to on YouTube recently put up a blind commentary-video of this very film, as a Christmas special and I didn't watch his video until after I had seen the movie on my own. At the same time, I didn't want to put off watching it for the time it would take until Netflix added it to their library, so here we are.

If you have visited this blog before, you are most likely aware of my opinion regarding My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. If not, then suffice to say that its a show that I have a deep fondness for. 

I went into it with a great degree of skepticism, but it managed to win me over and ultimately, I consider it to be one of the best animated shows to come out this decade. Considering my enjoyment of the show and its characters, you'd think that my expectations for the first movie in this series to take place entirely in Equestria proper, would be pretty high up in the air, but they actually weren't. 

I did not go into the movie excepting it to be bad, but I wasn't expecting it to be a masterpiece either. 

Let me make one thing clear from the start: I do not consider My Little Pony: The Movie to be a great animated feature. As far as animated family-films go, its trounced completely by the best titles that Disney and Pixar have in their libraries (not to mention Ghibli). It is, however, a good deal more enjoyable than the weaker efforts from these titans. I can in all honestly say that I would put My Little Pony: The Movie (henceforth to be referred to as simply The Movie) on the same level as, say, Big Hero 6 and I would definitely take it over the likes of Cars or Dinosaurs any day. 

That said, let's take a look at the film itself.

The Movie begins in Canterlot where our main protagonist Twilight Sparkle, Princess of Friendship is busy preparing for a festival of her own invention. However, the celebrations are quickly cut short by the arrival of an invading army headed by Tempest Shadow; a rogue unicorn, working for the evil Storm King, who has promised to heal her broken horn, if she delivers up the magic of the four princesses to him. Twilight, being the only princess who is not incapacitated by Tempest's weapons, escapes with her friends. Their goal is to find the queen of the Hippos, who hopefully will find a way to help them rescue their conquered homeland. Unfortunately, Tempest and her goons are hot on their trail.

If I was to point to this movie's greatest assets, I'd definitely point to the sound and the visuals. Friendship Is Magic has always been a very good looking show and so, its no small wonder that the movie, armed with a bigger budget and all that, was going to be a feast for the eyes. My only real complaint regarding the visuals is the way that Twilight and the other ponies look. Of course, they have always been cute and I don't mind cute, but here I thought their designs on occasion, strayed too far into the realm of the saccharine for my taste. 

The soundtrack and voice-acting for the show are likewise for high quality, but then I wasn't expecting anything less. The regular voice-actors all do a great job with their characters and are joined by the likes of Taye Diggs, Emily Blunt and Liev Schreiber, (voicing Capper, Tempest Shadow and The Storm King, respectively) who bring their parts to life convincingly. Likewise, the songs are really good and I doubt that I surprise anyone if I say that I consider the villain-song, Open Up Your Eyes, to be he movie's stand-out number.

Character-wise, most of the new characters introduced in this movie are fine. Capper, although he doesn't bring anything new to the role, is a good example of the loveable rogue archetype. Same thing goes for the likes of Captain Celano, Queen Nova and Princess Sky-Star. All of them characters that I wouldn't mind seeing in the show proper.

However, the real star of the movie, even more so than Twilight and pals, is definitely Tempest Shadow, whose ruthlessness and drive makes for a great antagonist. She's not my favorite MLP villain, but she's definitely in my top 5. Her villain-song, which explains her backstory and world-view, helps a lot in this regard. Speaking of Tempest, I will also say that I didn't find Grubber, her second in command, as annoying as I had feared he would be (relatively speaking, he's still one of the weaker parts of the movie).

By comparison, the Storm King is unfortunately, something of a disappointment: I liked his design and, as mentioned, Schreiber did a good job voicing him, but I didn't find him to be nearly as compelling, or competent a villain as Tempest. Its possible to have a villain who is both comedic and genuinely menacing at the same time, but in this case, I would have preferred if the writers had toned down the more comedic elements, as it was, I found myself wondering how this guy became the feared head of a world conquering army. He works as an off-screen presence though.

I suppose I should write something about Sia's character, Songbird Serande, but I can't really think of anything to say about her. She's a celebrity cameo and that's all there is to her. I must admit that I had never heard of Sia before this movie, so I can't say that her being in this movie was a big draw for me.

Ultimately my biggest gripe with The Movie comes down to the fact that while its well-made and fun, its also pretty generic and predictable, especially if you are familiar with the show itself. 

Of course Cadence and the Original Princesses are going to turn out to be completely useless against the new villains. Of course Twilight and her friends are going to have falling out somewhere down the line and of course, one of the villains (no prize for guessing who) will see the error of their ways and be redeemed by the magic of friendship. Don't misunderstand me, I get that this is a movie meant for kids, but it would have been nice to see the writers subvert expectations and take some risks. Perhaps the sequel will be more ambitious, one can at least hope.

To sum it up, if you are already a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, than you're most likely going to enjoy the movie. I did, despite some of my criticisms. If you are not, than I highly doubt that this movie is going to make you into a convert.

Happy Holidays everypo...everybody.

My Least Favorite Disney Villains

If there is one company that knows the art of making good villains, its Disney. Whether their villains appear in movies, shows or comics and whether they are completely original creations or adapted from another source, one can usually count on the House of Mouse to bring worthwhile additions to the legions of fictional evil-doers.
Usually being the keyword here, because the fact is that not every Disney-villain can be a Xanatos or a Frollo and that's fine; but some does not even reach to the level of "good", being really lackluster in the role of villain.
Below are a few of my least favorite Disney-villains and I should stress this is just my personal opinion. Oh, and the list is in no particular order. I thought about ranking them, but ultimately decided against it.
Anyway, on with the list:

Assistant Mayor Dawn Bellwether (Zootopia)

Out of all the surprise-villains in Disney-movies, Bellwether is by far the weakest. Mostly because this was the fourth time in a row that Disney used the same shtick and by then it was no longer fresh or interesting. I really like Zootopia and consider it one of Disney's finest movies, but it has nothing to do with its villain who is one of the weakest aspects of another-wise great movie.

Various Paul Murry villains (Mickey Mouse comics)

I must admit that I've never been a fan of Paul Murry's work. I'm aware that there are people who like his comics, but none that I've read have really impressed me. Especially not the ones he did in collaboration with Carl Fallberg; bog-standard mystery/adventure-stories in which a personality-free Mickey goes up against some of the blandest, most generic crooks ever seen in a Disney-comic. Considering that Mickey actually has a rogues'-gallery that any superhero would be proud of, the lack of even decent new villains (save perhaps Emil Eagle) during the Murry-era is pretty depressing.

Edgar (The Aristocats)

Edgar is usually regarded as the worst villain in the Disney Animated Canon and for good reason. First of all, he manages to be bumbling and non-threatening even for a comedic villain;
compare Edgar to Prince John from Disney's Robin Hood. Sure, PJ may have been a crybaby with mommy-issues, but he was also genuinely nasty; bleeding his subjects dry and wanting to kill the hero. Edgar lacks even the tiniest hint of any menacing qualities, which is why The Aristocats as a movie is severely lacking in terms of meaningful conflict. There's also the fact that his reason for getting rid of Duchess and the kittens really makes no sense: It seems reasonable to assume that he would be the cats' primary care-taker, which means that, as long as he took good care of the cats he should be able to spend at least some of the money on himself. What are the cats going to do about it? They're cats.

Leaving that aside, if you're going to get rid of the cats why not wait until after your employer is dead? Then again this is the same guy who believed that cats actually have nine lives, so we're not exactly talking criminal mastermind here.
I will however say one thing for Edgar: He has some pretty amusing facial expressions.

Sarousch (The Hunchback of Notre Dame 2)

The original The Hunchback of Notre Dame gave us one of the all-time great Disney villains in Judge Claude Frollo; as dark and complex a villain that you will ever find in a Disney film. A man who seemed to embody so many real-life evils such as bigotry, abuse, religious hypocrisy, all while having an amazing villain-song to boot. What does the sequel give us? A narcissistic circus-owner who wants to steal a bell. Yeah.
I know that few, if any of the sequel villains can measure up to the original and there was no way that any new villain could completely fill Frollo's shoes, but this guy was just awful regardless. Edgar may be the worst villain in the Animated Canon, but Sarousch is a strong contender for worst Disney-villain period.

Favorite Movie Villains

Alfred Hitchcock once said that the more successful the villain is, the more successful is the movie (or something like that) and while a movie doesn't necessarily require a villain in order to be a great, its true that the presence of a great villain can take an already good movie to new heights. With that in mind, here are some of my favorite cinematic bad guys (and girls) presented in no particular order. I hope you enjoy this list and that it will make you curious to check out the movies these evil-doers hail from, unless you haven't already.
Oh, yes, there will be some spoilers here. Although to be fair, some of these movies are so old that the spoilers are pretty much public knowledge and the movies presented here are good enough that knowing some plot-points really shouldn't take away from the enjoyment of the movie in question.


Frank (Once Upon A Time in the West)

My favorite Sergio Leone villain and my favorite villain in a Spaghetti-Western. It was a true stroke of genius on Leone's part to cast Henry Fonda, an actor mostly know for playing morally upright heroes, as the arch-villain of this movie. I can only imagine the surprise of the audience at the time when they witnessed Frank and his henchmen murdering an entire family in cold blood (including shooting a kid in the back) only for the camera to reveal that the man behind this mayhem is none other than Juror #8 himself. Has there ever been a better example of casting against type?

Lady Kaede (Ran)

I've written about her before. Akira Kurosawa's Ran may have been based on King Lear, but Kaede, the wife of Taro, eldest son of Lord Hidetora, leader of clan Ichimonji, doesn't really have a counterpart among Lear's rogues-gallery. After Hidetora relinquishes power to his three sons, Kaede wastes no time convincing Taro to claim sole leadership of the clan plunging the region into civil war. So, she's a Lady MacBeth character, then? Not really, because unlike the Thane of Cawdor's wife, Kaede is motivated not by power (or what she believes is best for her husband), but by a thirst for vengeance: Her family having been killed during Hidetora's conquests, Kaede seeks the complete annihilation of clan Ichimonji. The fact that this would also mean the deaths of hundreds of innocent lives is not something that bothers her very much. Manipulative, cold-hearted and bloodthirsty, Lady Kaede is one of cinema's great villains.

Harry Lime (The Third Man)

Sometimes, a villain can dominate the plot of a movie without appearing that much in it. Case in point; Harry Lime in The Third Man. Lime doesn't get many scenes, but every scene he's in is memorable, from his entrance to his dialogue with former childhood friend Holly Martins aboard the Ferris-wheel, they all count among some of the finest moments in cinema. Personality-wise, Lime is a trickster-character. He's so affable and fascinating that its quite easy to forget that underneath the charm, Lime is utter scum; A racketeer who cares for no-one but himself and the profits he can make. The radio-drama, The Lives of Harry Lime, softened the character somewhat, making him into more of an anti-hero, but its as the villain of The Third Man that Lime will always be remembered.

Phyllis Dietrichson (Double Indemnity)

Well, what can one say? Pretty much the archetypical film-noir femme fatale.

Dr. Mabuse (Dr. Mabuse the Gambler and The Testament of Dr. Mabuse)

I admit that I have a soft spot for the criminal mastermind type of villain and in that category, you can't do much better than Dr. Mabuse. Mabuse wants world-domination (it comes with the job), but unlike most villains of his type, watching him you can't help but feel a bit worried that he might actually achieve it.  In the second movie, Mabuse has spent ten years in a mental hospital following his breakdown at the end of the first, but that doesn't stop the good doctor from sowing more chaos. Yeah, this guy is pretty much my favorite cinematic super-villain.

Hans Beckert (M)

Right below Mabuse, we have another villain from a Fritz Lang movie; Hans Beckert, the first, but certainly not last villain-protagonist to appear on this list. Hans is not the most formidable villain, in fact, he's pretty pathetic. However, he makes up for this being a genuinely interesting character, one that evokes both disgust and pity at the same time. One of the best examples of a tragic monster in film.

Lope de Aguirre (Aguirre: The Wrath of God)

Klaus Kinski was an actor who was pretty much born to play villains and I had a hard time choosing between his role as the eponymous character in Aguirre and that of Tigrero/Loco in The Great Silence. As you can see, the former won out in the end. Aguirre is a terrifying character,whose thirst for gold and power causes him to slip further and further into insanity. At the end of the movie, he keeps ranting about the dynasty he's going to form (by marrying his own daughter nonethless). Unfortunately for Aguirre, the only ones who can still hear him are the monkeys.

Louis Cypher (Angel Heart)

The Devil as played by Robert De Niro. Never has the simple act of eating a boiled egg come across as more sinister.

Antonio Salieri (Amadeus)

By all accounts, the real-life Salieri was not that bad a guy, he thought several young singers and compositors (one of his more famous pupils was Ludwig van Beethoven) and all but his wealthiest students received their education for free. The Salieri seen in Amadeus on the other hand, is a petty and murderous schemer, motivated chiefly by envy. However, what makes Salieri such a great villain is his complexity; while he despises Mozart, he clearly recognizes the latter's brilliance and acknowledges his genius. Which of course only furthers Salieri's resentment and underlying self-loathing, knowing that he's doomed to forever live in the shadow of his younger, more talented rival. Odd as it may seem, there were times in watching the movie when I felt for the guy.

Colonel Hans Landa (Inglorious Basterds)

Quentin Tarantino's filmography contains its fair share of memorable villains. My personal favorite is Hans Landa, the Nazi-villain of Inglorious Basterds. Easily the best character in the movie, Landa is quirky and affable, while also being ruthlessly effective at carrying out his task of hunting down escaped Jews. What's interesting about Landa is that he doesn't care about the Third Reich or Hitler, having no problem in selling them out when opportunity presents itself. This begs the question: What's more horrible? To fully believe in a system or ideology that commits numerous atrocities, including genocide, or to use said system to sate your own greed and opportunism?

Harry Powell (The Night of the Hunter)

Or "Preacher Harry Powell" as he insists upon calling himself (wonder if that's where the makers of Pirates of the Caribbean got the idea of Jack referring to himself as "Captain Jack Sparrow" from?). The handsome (Robert Mitchum, natch) but incredibly sinister Powell hunts his two step-children (after disposing of their mother) in the hopes of getting the money that the kids' biological father, Harry's cellmate, hid inside his daughter's doll. The Night of the Hunter is a movie that at times has a strange, dreamlike quality to it. However, this self-proclaimed preacher doesn't waste time turning the dream into a nightmare.

Michael Corleone (The Godfather Trilogy)

What's there to say about Michael Corleone? When we first meet him, he's the white sheep of the Corleone family; a war-hero who wants nothing to do with the family business. Unfortunately for Michael, events conspires against him and he's eventually forced to become the next Don, gradually transforming into a ruthless villain. Has there ever been a better portrayal of a man's fall from grace in cinema?

Ryonosuke Tsukue (Sword of Doom)

Out of the evil leads on this list, Ryonosuke is arguably the most evil (though Aguirre comes close). A master-swordsman, Ryonosuke travels the Japanese countryside, using his talents with the blade to indulge in various villainous deeds, mostly for his own amusement. Cruel, violent and ultimately self-destructive, this is one man for whom the term Bushido, simply doesn't exist.

So, there you have it: These were some of my favorite movie-villains. I hope that I succeeded in making you interested in checking out some of the movies these horrible, yet fascinating men and women appear in. Below are a list of honorable mentions; villains that I like, but I didn't write about in detail, because I felt the list was long enough already:

Roy Batty (Blade Runner) - Only not on the list because I'm not sure if he's a villain, as opposed to being "merely" an antagonist.
Daniel Plainview (There Will Be Blood)
Anton Chigurh (No Country For Old Men)
Capitan Vidal (Pan's Labyrinth)
Archibald Cunningham (Rob Roy)
Noah Cross (Chinatown)
Pretty much everyone except Alais (The Lion in Winter)
Claudandus (Felidae)
Dudley Smith (L.A. Confidential) - Better in the books, but still a good villain.
Col. Kurtz (Apocalypse Now)
Oh, and the following Disney-villains: Maleficent (Sleeping Beauty), Prof. Ratigan (The Great Mouse Detective) and Judge Claude Frollo (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)
And many more.