Starring: Uzo Aduba, Ashleigh Ball, Emily Blunt, Kristin Chenoweth, Taye Diggs, Andrea Libman, Zoe Saldana, Liev Schreiber, Sia, Tabitha St. Germain, Tara Strong and Cathy Weseluck

Directed by Jayson Thiessen

On the eve of the first Friendship Festival Princess Twilight Sparkle has been put in charge of, Equestria is attacked by the forces of the Storm King. Led by Commander Tempest, they take over, freezing three of the four princesses. Only Twilight and her friends escape, with a cryptic message to find the Queen of the Hippos…

Those of you engaging in performative eye rolls can click away now. 

The My Little Pony movie is exactly what it needs to be: a two hour embodiment of all the inherent positivity, good nature and sly wit of the show. The plot is the plot of Fellowship of the Ring (‘Go here, do a thing, save the day’) only this time the Fellowship isn’t broken, has way better hair and engages in the odd musical number.

In fact there’s one every 20 minutes or so and they’re great, especially around the middle of the second act where they also become an instrument of character development. The movie cleverly deals with one of the series inherent problems by making it a feature. Twilight herself is so fundamentally nice and sensible that she’s often a little dull. Here, under pressure and way outside her comfort zone she makes mistakes, says things she shouldn’t and causes trouble. It’s smartly done, giving the film an emotional spine while keeping true to the series’ themes.

The series’ central cast are ridiculously strong in these roles with Tara Strong as Twilight getting to do much of the heavy lifting. Andrea Libman’s Pinkie Pie also gets some great maniacal moments of fourth wall cracking. Ashleigh Ball’s Rainbow Dash and Applejack aren’t well served, and neither is Libman’s Fluttershy but they all get little moments that make sure saving the day remains a team sport. And Rarity, voiced by Tabitha St. Germain remains fabulous as ever.

The guest cast are top notch too. Zoe Saldana is great as Pirate Captain Celaeno but Kristin Chenoweth, Uzo Aduba and Emily Blunt steal the show. Chenoweth and Aduba play a mother and daughter who are vital to the quest and do so with complete charm and total enthusiasm. Aduba in particular brings massive amounts to the role and I hope her character sticks around.

But this is Blunt’s movie, and honestly it needs to be. Tempest is the Kylo Ren of MLP, a unicorn whose horn shattered at an early age and who has been consumed by both rage at being abandoned and determination to get it back. Blunt snarls her way through the role, the best song in the movie and many of its best scenes. Tempest has an arc, an actual character arc, that’s both unusually nuanced and very subtly handled. She’s how the movie talks about disability and it does so with more range, subtlety and honesty than pretty much anything else you’ll see this year.

Not all the voice cast fare so well. Liev Schreiber hams it up as a largely contextless villain and Michael Pena isn’t given much to do as henchman Grubber. But then, Pena is never given enough to do as far as I’m concerned. Dude’s amazing.

Taye Diggs on the other hand is amazing as Capper. An urbane, amoral cat about town he’s one part artful dodger, one part Han Solo and lifts the movie every time he’s on screen. Like Tempest, I really hope we see him again.

Verdict: MLP is fun from the start. Good natured, fizzing with invention and jokes for every age group and nods to fans (Derpy, Doctor Hooves and DJ PON-3 are all present) it’s a great big screen debut for this profoundly eccentric, and deeply likable series. If your kids are fans, go see it. If you’re a fan, go see it too. And hey, even if you hate it? It’s got better female characters than Blade Runner 2049. 8/10

Alasdair Stuart