My Little Pony: The Movie  is unashamedly made for the fans. It sticks to its formula of the ponies are about to have a big event but some “baddie” wants to ruin it (in this case it’s Tempest Shadow who wants to take over Canterlot), so it is up to Twilight Sparkle and her gang of ponies to use the magic of friendship to save the day.

These days you can’t go to an animated film without there being jokes written especially for the adults accompanying the little ones to that film. My Little Pony:The Movie doesn’t go there. It stays loyal to it’s fan base and has made a film with only them in mind.

Based on that, this review isn’t going to be written from my perspective. Instead, it’s going to be written from the perspective of my six year old (or as she likes to remind everyone, six and a half year old).

She had been looking forward to this film since she saw the trailer, over the summer, on one of the kids’ stations she was watching. The countdown to October 20 has truly been on since then.

For me, it was thrilling to see her get so excited about going to the cinema. To see that going to the cinema is still consider a major event.

On the day of the screening, she picked out her outfit, packed her bag and talked about the film all the way to the cinema.

The minute the lights went down in the cinema, I could see her jump in her seat, gasp with the excitement of what was about to happen, and she may have also let out a tiny squeal.

A short was screened before the feature. She loved the colour, brightness and fun of the short but was also happy when it was over because it meant that it was time for the big event.

The big event didn’t disappoint. It gave her (and all fans) everything she wanted. The most popular ponies were in it, there were new ponies and even brand new creatures. There was colour bursting from the screen, adventure and lots of songs.

I spent most of the film watching the smile on my six (and a half) year old’s face.

I loved the way she excitedly grabbed my hand so we could “chair dance” to the musical scenes. I also loved the way she grabbed my hand when she wanted some reassurance during the, in her words, not so nice scenes (not that there are many of these – but you need a couple of mean pony moments so the “good ponies” can save the day).

When I wasn’t watching my six (and a half) year old, I was trying to guess the slew of famous voices coming off the screen. Sia’s was the most obvious – not necessarily because of her voice, but because her pony, Songbird Serenade, has the same hairstyle as her! Joining Sia are Emily Blunt, Uzo Aduba, Zoe Saldana and Kristin Chenoweth.

When the movie was over, I asked my six (and a half) year old, what she thought. The conversation went like this

“What did you think of the movie?”
“It was great”
“Why?”
“There’s friendship. The ponies help each other. Twilight Sparkle has magic and saves the ponies from the evil girl. There’s funny parts. Oh and there’s singing and dancing and there are mermaids (seaponies)!”
“Would you watch a film about the seaponies?”
“Yes” (there’s another franchise that could rake in money)
“Would you watch this film again.”
“Yes.”

That “Yes” right there overrides what any movie critic writes about this film. That “Yes” is what’s most important because it’s the little ones like my six (and a half) year old that this film was made for.

What we older ones can be happy about, is the fact that movies like this will hopefully start a life long love affair with movies and going to watch them in a cinema.

My Little Pony: The Movie is in cinemas now (and all of the merchandise is in toy stores now)