My Little Pony: The Movie (1986 film)

Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions
Industry	Animation, Film production
Products	Animated films, Television series
Parent	Hasbro (implied, since based on Hasbro franchise)

My Little Pony: The Movie is a 1986 American animated musical fantasy film inspired by the Hasbro toy franchise My Little Pony. It premiered in theaters on June 6, 1986, through De Laurentiis Entertainment Group, featuring the vocal talents of Danny DeVito, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Rhea Perlman, and Tony Randall.

The movie was produced by Sunbow Productions alongside Marvel Productions, with animation work completed by Japan's Toei Animation and South Korea's AKOM. Made on a budget of $5.5 million, it earned close to $6 million globally. Despite its distinguished voice cast and international collaboration, the film was met with predominantly negative critical reception. Later in 1986, it was succeeded by a television series anthology, with a ten-part story arc titled The End of Flutter Valley acting as its sequel. A separate 2017 motion picture sharing the same title, based on the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic TV show, was released afterward.

Plot

As Dream Castle’s ponies prepare to celebrate a spring festival, Hydia, an evil witch residing at the Volcano of Gloom, schemes to spoil the event. Her incompetent daughters, Reeka and Draggle, fall short of her demands but are dispatched to undermine the festivities. During a dance performance, Baby Lickety Split interrupts and flees alongside Spike, eventually becoming trapped in a remote valley. Reeka and Draggle attempt to flood the festival but are swept away by the Sea Ponies.

The ponies embark on a mission to find Lickety Split and Spike while Hydia conjures the Smooze, a menacing purple slime that spreads misery and destruction. Her daughters collect various ingredients for it but neglect to obtain the flume component. The Smooze ensnares Spike and Lickety Split within a mountain and inundates Dream Castle, prompting an evacuation. Two Pegasus ponies retrieve Megan from the human world; she employs the Rainbow of Light to temporarily halt the Smooze’s advance.

Angered by her daughters’ failure to secure the flume ingredient, Hydia punishes them, leading them to retrieve it from a monstrous plant. Once added, the Smooze reactivates. Megan consults the Moochick, who offers shelter and a map directing them to the Flutter Ponies, believed capable of stopping the Smooze. Megan leads a group toward Flutter Valley while Spike and Lickety Split encounter Grundles—creatures displaced by previous Smooze devastation.

Facing threats such as sentient trees and Hydia’s enormous spider Ahgg, Megan’s group perseveres. Spike’s party rescues Morning Glory, a Flutter Pony who agrees to guide them to Flutter Valley. Initially reluctant to intervene, the Flutter Ponies change their stance after Lickety Split returns safely, convincing their queen Rosedust to assist.

With the Smooze endangering all inhabitants, the Flutter Ponies unleash their magical wind called Utter Flutter to destroy it, reclaiming the Rainbow of Light and imprisoning the witches within the volcano. The Grundles are granted Dream Castle’s ruins as their new home, while all affected ponies are purified by Utter Flutter. Megan and her siblings return home accompanied by the ponies.

Voice cast

Danny DeVito as Grundle King
Rhea Perlman as Reeka
Madeline Kahn as Draggle
Cloris Leachman as Hydia
Tony Randall as Moochick
Charlie Adler as Spike and Woodland Creature
Russi Taylor as Morning Glory, Rosedust, Bushwoolie #5 and Skunk
Tammy Amerson as Megan
Jon Bauman as The Smooze
Sheryl Bernstein as Buttons, Bushwoolie #6 and Woodland Creature
Susan Blu as Bushwoolie, Grundle and Lofty
Nancy Cartwright as Gusty and Bushwoolie #4
Cathy Cavadini as North Star
Peter Cullen as Ahgg and Grundle
Laura Dean as Sundance and Bushwoolie #2
Ellen Gerstell as Magic Star
Keri Houlihan as Molly
Katie Leigh as Fizzy and Baby Sundance
Scott Menville as Danny
Laurel Page as Sweet Stuff
Sarah Partridge as Wind Whistler
Alice Playten as Baby Lickety Split and Bushwoolie #1
Jill Wayne as Shady and Baby Lofty
Frank Welker as Bushwoolie #3 and Grundle
Michael Bell as Grundle

Production

My Little Pony: The Movie was one of the initial projects undertaken by Nelson Shin's AKOM studio. Facing a tight deadline, Shin's team managed to produce 300,000 animation cels within a span of ten weeks. Additionally, Japan's Toei Animation played a role in the film's production process.

Box office

When it premiered on June 6, 1986, the movie was shown in just 421 theaters and earned less than US$6 million domestically. Its wide release brought in only US$674,724, making it one of the lowest-grossing openings for a major feature at that time. Hasbro experienced a combined loss of US$10 million from this film and their subsequent DEG project, The Transformers: The Movie. Due to these disappointing results, producers opted to release G.I. Joe: The Movie directly to video and abandoned plans for a Jem feature film. Nevertheless, The Transformers: The Movie eventually achieved cult status through strong home media sales.

Critical reception

In line with many 1980s films designed to promote toy lines, My Little Pony: The Movie was met with predominantly unfavorable critiques. The New York Times' reviewer Nina Darnton remarked on its commercial focus, stating: "Unlike the great Disney classics, there is nothing in this film that will move young audiences, and there are very few bones of wit thrown to the poor parents." Film historian Leonard Maltin characterized it as "...A promising idea undermined by subpar animation; too 'cute' for viewers older than seven." According to Halliwell's Film Guide, it is an "overextended cartoon created primarily to advertise a trendy line of children's dolls." On Metacritic, the movie holds a score of 23 out of 100 from four critics, reflecting "Generally Unfavorable" opinions.

Home media

In the United States, the movie was released on VHS and Beta formats by Vestron Video in late October 1986, followed by a Laserdisc version in mid-1988.

The UK saw its DVD debut in 2003 through Prism Leisure. The first DVD release in the US arrived in late 2006 via Rhino Entertainment, which included only musical excerpts as bonus content. A reissue was made available on January 27, 2015 by Shout! Factory.

On October 16, 2018, a home media package combining this film with the 2017 adaptation was launched to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the My Little Pony franchise. This set featured the same supplementary materials found in earlier DVD and Blu-ray editions.

Legacy

An episode titled "Make New Friends but Keep Discord" from season five of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic incorporates a version of the Smooze, a creature originally introduced in the movie. In this storyline, Discord summons the Smooze to interfere with Fluttershy's new friendship. Notably, this representation depicts the Smooze as green rather than purple as shown in the original film.

External links