My Little Pony: The Movie
Encyclopedia
My Little Pony: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the Hasbro
toy line, My Little Pony
. It was released on June 20, 1986 by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
. The film features the voices of Danny DeVito
, Madeline Kahn
, Cloris Leachman
, Rhea Perlman, and Tony Randall
.
Produced by Marvel Productions
and Sunbow Productions
, with animation production by Japan's Toei Animation
and Korea's AKOM
, My Little Pony: The Movie was succeeded by a television series which ran in late 1986. A 10-part episode from that series, The End of Flutter Valley, served as a sequel
to the film.
The little ponies send out a search party for Lickity Split and Spike, while Hydia decides to make the Smooze, an unstoppable purple ooze that will eat and destroy everything in its path. It will also make anyone who is splashed by it grumpy and woeful. Her daughters go and collect the ingredients for the Smooze, leaving out the flume, an ingredient that they are afraid of. Hydia releases the Smooze which rages towards The My Little Pony Dreamcastle. All the ponies are forced to evacuate as the Dreamcastle and surrounding land is submerged by Smooze. The search party continues its attempt to locate Lickity Split before the Smooze engulfs them. Later, two pegasus ponies travel to the human world to fetch Megan, the keeper of the Rainbow locket, bringing Megan's younger siblings along as well. Megan releases the Rainbow into the Smooze, it is swallowed up and lost but this does halt the Smooze. Enraged, Hydia discovers the Smooze was lacking flume and sends her daughters to get the missing ingredient from an octopus-like plant monster that lives on a rocky outcrop near the volcano. The monster punishes the sisters, until Reeka bites a tentacle, thereby injuring the plant, and they escape with some flume. Hydia adds it to the Smooze which is reactivated.
Megan accompanies two ponies on a visit to the Moochick, who gives the trio a new home (Paradise Estate) and a map to find the flutter ponies who might stop the Smooze. A group led by Megan sets out to find Flutter Valley and Megan gets lost in a field of giant sunflowers, almost becoming a victim of the Smooze. They press on, through Shadow Forest. They find that the high narrow final pass into Flutter Valley is blocked by a giant spider and its web, and Megan is once more nearly in danger. When out of the canyon, the group finds Flutter Valley and meet with the queen who refuses to get involved at first, until baby Lickety Split arrives, safe and sound, along with a flutter pony who was rescued from a well. There is much argument about non-involvement in other ponies' problems from the flutter ponies. Even though the flutter pony who was rescued from the well pleads with their queen to help their "cousins", Rosedust still hesitates, until after baby Lickety Split appears to sway her enough to aid in the defeat of the Smooze.
The other ponies and forest animals are about to be eaten by the Smooze as the witches watch from their hot-air balloon. The flutter ponies come to the rescue and destroy the Smooze with their magic, uncover the rainbow and drop the witches into the sticky goo. With all problems resolved, the ponies take the children back home.
's AKOM
studio. Amid an emergency rush, Shin and his crew spent ten weeks on the film's 300,000 cel
s. Japan's Toei Animation
also worked on the production.
(DEG), The Transformers: The Movie
. It also forced the producers of these films to make G.I. Joe: The Movie
a direct-to-video
release instead of theatrical. However, the Transformers movie was later reassessed and has become something of a cult classic.
The film was released on VHS and Beta
by Vestron Video
in late October 1986. It premiered on DVD in late 2006, thanks to Rhino Entertainment
; musical moments from the film were used as its only extras.
Nina Darnton, aware of its marketing purposes, added in her review: "Unlike the great Disney classics [...], there is [...] nothing that will move [young audiences] - and there are very few bones of wit thrown to the poor parents who will have to sit through the film with children of this age group." According to the staff of Halliwell's Film Guide, My Little Pony came off as an "immensely distended cartoon meant to plug a fashionable line of children's dolls."
Hasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
toy line, My Little Pony
My Little Pony
My Little Pony is a brand of toy ponies marketed primarily to girls produced by the toy manufacturer Hasbro. These ponies can be identified by their colorful bodies and manes and a unique symbol on one or both sides of their flanks...
. It was released on June 20, 1986 by De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group was a production company/distribution unit founded by producer Dino De Laurentiis.The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives , and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as...
. The film features the voices of Danny DeVito
Danny DeVito
Daniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
, Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn
Madeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
, Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman
Cloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
, Rhea Perlman, and Tony Randall
Tony Randall
Tony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
.
Produced by Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions
Marvel Productions Ltd. , last called New World Animation, was a television and film studio subsidiary of Marvel Entertainment Group , based in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, then New World Entertainment and News Corporation/Fox...
and Sunbow Productions
Sunbow Productions
Sunbow Entertainment was an animation studio, founded in 1980 and owned up until 1998 by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York. The first animation efforts by Griffin-Bacal were producing the animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I...
, with animation production by Japan's Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
and Korea's AKOM
AKOM
AKOM Productions is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas animation for 200 episodes of The Simpsons, to which that number is consistently rising...
, My Little Pony: The Movie was succeeded by a television series which ran in late 1986. A 10-part episode from that series, The End of Flutter Valley, served as a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the film.
Plot
At their home, Dreamcastle, the ponies are cantering through flowery meadows and grassy green fields with their animal friends. Elsewhere, baby Lickity Split is practicing a new dance step, as Spike accompanies her rehearsal on the piano. Meanwhile, at the Volcano of Doom, a wicked witch named Hydia and her two daughters want to spoil the ponies' fun. During the baby ponies' dance performance, Lickity Split attempts to add her own dance and ruins the whole performance. She is told off by everyone and runs away, followed by Spike, only to end up falling down a waterfall and trapped in a valley. The two witch sisters try to ruin the pony's festival, but thanks to the Seaponies, end up getting washed away in an overflowing waterfall.The little ponies send out a search party for Lickity Split and Spike, while Hydia decides to make the Smooze, an unstoppable purple ooze that will eat and destroy everything in its path. It will also make anyone who is splashed by it grumpy and woeful. Her daughters go and collect the ingredients for the Smooze, leaving out the flume, an ingredient that they are afraid of. Hydia releases the Smooze which rages towards The My Little Pony Dreamcastle. All the ponies are forced to evacuate as the Dreamcastle and surrounding land is submerged by Smooze. The search party continues its attempt to locate Lickity Split before the Smooze engulfs them. Later, two pegasus ponies travel to the human world to fetch Megan, the keeper of the Rainbow locket, bringing Megan's younger siblings along as well. Megan releases the Rainbow into the Smooze, it is swallowed up and lost but this does halt the Smooze. Enraged, Hydia discovers the Smooze was lacking flume and sends her daughters to get the missing ingredient from an octopus-like plant monster that lives on a rocky outcrop near the volcano. The monster punishes the sisters, until Reeka bites a tentacle, thereby injuring the plant, and they escape with some flume. Hydia adds it to the Smooze which is reactivated.
Megan accompanies two ponies on a visit to the Moochick, who gives the trio a new home (Paradise Estate) and a map to find the flutter ponies who might stop the Smooze. A group led by Megan sets out to find Flutter Valley and Megan gets lost in a field of giant sunflowers, almost becoming a victim of the Smooze. They press on, through Shadow Forest. They find that the high narrow final pass into Flutter Valley is blocked by a giant spider and its web, and Megan is once more nearly in danger. When out of the canyon, the group finds Flutter Valley and meet with the queen who refuses to get involved at first, until baby Lickety Split arrives, safe and sound, along with a flutter pony who was rescued from a well. There is much argument about non-involvement in other ponies' problems from the flutter ponies. Even though the flutter pony who was rescued from the well pleads with their queen to help their "cousins", Rosedust still hesitates, until after baby Lickety Split appears to sway her enough to aid in the defeat of the Smooze.
The other ponies and forest animals are about to be eaten by the Smooze as the witches watch from their hot-air balloon. The flutter ponies come to the rescue and destroy the Smooze with their magic, uncover the rainbow and drop the witches into the sticky goo. With all problems resolved, the ponies take the children back home.
Voice cast
- Danny DeVitoDanny DeVitoDaniel Michael DeVito, Jr. , better known as Danny DeVito, is an American actor, comedian, director and producer. He first gained prominence for his portrayal of Louie De Palma on the ABC and NBC television series Taxi , for which he won a Golden Globe and an Emmy.DeVito and his wife, Rhea Perlman,...
as Grundle King - Rhea Perlman as Reeka
- Madeline KahnMadeline KahnMadeline Kahn was an American actress. Kahn was known primarily for her comedic roles in films such as Paper Moon, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, What's Up, Doc?, and Clue.-Early life:...
as Draggle - Cloris LeachmanCloris LeachmanCloris Leachman is an American actress of stage, film and television. She has won eight Primetime Emmy Awards—more than any other performer—and one Daytime Emmy Award...
as Hydia - Tony RandallTony RandallTony Randall was a U.S. actor, comic, producer and director.-Early years:Randall was born Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Julia and Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer...
as Moochick - Charlie Adler as Spike,Bushwoolie #6 and Woodland Creature
- Russi TaylorRussi TaylorRussi Taylor is an American voice actress. She is the current voice actress of Disney's Minnie Mouse character. She has held this role since 1986, longer than any other voice actress...
as Morning Glory, Rosedust, Skunk, Bushwoolie # 2 and Buttons - Tammy Amerson as Megan
- Michael Bell as Grundle
- Sheryl Bernstein as Bird, Woodland Creature, and Bushwoolie #1
- Susan BluSusan BluSusan Maria Blu , sometimes credited as Sue Blu, is an American voice actress, voice director, and casting director in American and Canadian cinema and television...
as Lofty, Grundle, and Bushwoolie - Nancy CartwrightNancy CartwrightNancy Campbell Cartwright is an American film and television actress, comedian and voice artist. She is best known for her long-running role as Bart Simpson on the animated television series The Simpsons...
as Gusty, Bushwoolie #4 - Cathy CavadiniCathy CavadiniCatherine Janet "Cathy" Cavadini is an American voice actress and singer. Most famous as the voice of Blossom on Cartoon Network's animated television series The Powerpuff Girls and Tanya Mousekewitz in An American Tail: Fievel Goes West and Fievel's American Tails. She is also the successor voice...
as North Star - Peter CullenPeter CullenPeter Claver Cullen is a Canadian voice actor, known as the voice of Eeyore in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, Optimus Prime and Ironhide in the original Transformers series, and the narrator in both of the original American Voltron series...
as Grundle, and Ahgg - Sandy DuncanSandy DuncanSandra Kay "Sandy" Duncan is an American singer, dancer and actress of stage and television, recognized through a blonde, pixie cut hairstyle and perky demeanor...
as Firefly - Alice PlaytenAlice PlaytenAlice Playten was an American actress and singer.-Life and career:Born Alice Plotkin in New York City, Playten began her career in the Broadway musical Gypsy...
as Baby Lickety-Split - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
as Bushwoolie #3, and Grundle - Jon BaumanJon BaumanJon "Bowzer" Bauman is an American musician, best known as a member of the band Sha Na Na, and game show host. Bauman's popular Sha Na Na character, "Bowzer" Jon "Bowzer" Bauman (born September 14, 1947 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American musician, best known as a member of the band Sha Na Na,...
as The Smooze - Sherry LynnSherry LynnSherry Lynn is a veteran American voice actress, known for young girl roles in animation and video games. She is represented by Arlene Thornton & Associates...
as Bushwoolie #5 and Bird
Musical numbers
- "My Little Pony Opening Chorus"
- "We're Witches" - Hydia
- "I'll Go It Alone" - Baby Lickety-Split, Spike
- "I'll Do the Dirty Work" - Witch sisters
- "Nothing Can Stop The Smooze" - Witches, Smooze
- "There's Always Another Rainbow" - Megan
- "Home" - The Moochick
- "What Good Could Wishing Do?" - Baby Lickety-Split, Morning Glory
- "My Little Pony Ending Chorus"
Production
My Little Pony: The Movie was one of the first projects for Nelson ShinNelson Shin
Nelson Shin is an animation director who is the founder and president of Akom Production Co., Ltd., in Seoul, South Korea. He founded Akom in 1985....
's AKOM
AKOM
AKOM Productions is a South Korean animation studio in Songpa-gu, Seoul that has provided much work since its conception in 1985 by Nelson Shin. Its biggest claim to fame is the overseas animation for 200 episodes of The Simpsons, to which that number is consistently rising...
studio. Amid an emergency rush, Shin and his crew spent ten weeks on the film's 300,000 cel
Cel
A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Actual celluloid was used during the first half of the 20th century, but since it was flammable and dimensionally unstable it was largely replaced by cellulose acetate...
s. Japan's Toei Animation
Toei Animation
Toei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
also worked on the production.
Release
Opening in only 421 venues on June 6, 1986, My Little Pony: The Movie only managed to make nearly US$6 million in ticket sales at the North American box office. With a US$674,724 gross on its wide debut, it remains one of the weakest on record among major features. Hasbro lost US$10 million on the combined poor performance of this, and their next collaboration with De Laurentiis Entertainment GroupDe Laurentiis Entertainment Group
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group was a production company/distribution unit founded by producer Dino De Laurentiis.The company is notable for producing Manhunter, Blue Velvet, the horror films Near Dark and Evil Dead II, King Kong Lives , and Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, as well as...
(DEG), The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie
The Transformers: The Movie is a 1986 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was released in North America on August 8, 1986 and in the UK on December 5, 1986....
. It also forced the producers of these films to make G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie
G.I. Joe: The Movie is a 1987 animated film spun off from the animated series G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, based on the original Hasbro toyline. It was produced by Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions and was animated in Japan by Toei Animation.Created at the height of the G.I. Joe craze in...
a direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...
release instead of theatrical. However, the Transformers movie was later reassessed and has become something of a cult classic.
The film was released on VHS and Beta
Betamax
Betamax was a consumer-level analog videocassette magnetic tape recording format developed by Sony, released on May 10, 1975. The cassettes contain -wide videotape in a design similar to the earlier, professional wide, U-matic format...
by Vestron Video
Vestron Video
Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut that was active from 1982 to 1992. It is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market....
in late October 1986. It premiered on DVD in late 2006, thanks to Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company. It is owned by Warner Music Group.-History:Rhino was originally a novelty song and reissue company during the 1970s and 1980s, releasing compilation albums of pop, rock & roll, and rhythm & blues successes...
; musical moments from the film were used as its only extras.
Reception
As with various other films of the 1980s designed to promote toy lines, My Little Pony: The Movie was not well-received among critics. The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Nina Darnton, aware of its marketing purposes, added in her review: "Unlike the great Disney classics [...], there is [...] nothing that will move [young audiences] - and there are very few bones of wit thrown to the poor parents who will have to sit through the film with children of this age group." According to the staff of Halliwell's Film Guide, My Little Pony came off as an "immensely distended cartoon meant to plug a fashionable line of children's dolls."