What if My Little Pony: A New Generation were a 1980s movie?

My Little Pony is a 1985 fantasy-stop motion-musical-family film produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and distributed by the same company, is based on the Hasbro's My Little Pony toy line, created by Bonnie Zacherle in 1981. The film was directed by Danny DeVito and produced by Jim Danforth, an experienced stop motion animator, from a screenplay written by Jean Chalopin. the film features a voice cast featuring Sandy Duncan, Alice Playten, Kurt Russell, Bettina Bush, Liz Torres voicing the five leads, also featuring stars Jane Fonda, Mickey Rooney, Clint Eastwood, Christopher Reeve, as well as the newcomers Matthew Broderick and Pam Ferris, Sondra Locke and Olivia Newton-John in supporting roles. the film's soundtrack was produced by James Horner, famous for his musical work on Avatar.

The plot follows Sunny Starscout, who meets the unicorn Izzy Moonbow, who due to the manipulation of Phyllis Cloverleaf, is treated as a threat, and after being trapped in Zephyr Heights, land ruled by Queen Haven and where the pegasus inhabit, after meeting Haven's eldest daughter and heir to the throne, Zipp Storm, and after meet the popular socialite and also princess Pipp Petals, Zipp's younger sister, Hitch Trailblazer, Sunny's longtime friend and sheriff of Maretime Bay, go in search of them, stepping down as sheriff temporarily, which makes Phyllis take advantage of the situation and convince her son Sprout Cloverleaf, a pony angry with Hitch because he is well-loved and successful unlike him, to assume the post of sheriff, but he takes advantage of the opportunity to convince the population to become his minions, using as a basis the recent occurrence of Izzy's arrival in the city. Sunny has been inspired since she was a foal to fight for the union of the three races, which however is considered something crazy by the others, this does not affect her tireless objective, and after joining Hitch, Izzy, Zipp and Pipp, they return to Maretime Bay to stop Sprout and the insane dictatorship he imposed by preying on fear.

My Little Pony was released in the US on June 24, 1985 to a commendable general reception, becoming the 2nd highest-grossing film of 1985, bringing in a $203 million box office, as well as boosting the toy line it was inspired by. The film received nominations for several awards, in which it notably won 2 Academy Awards and 3 Golden Globes. In 1992, a sequel was released, titled My Little Pony: Tell Your Tale, to the same acclaim.

Plot
At the lighthouse in the seaside town of Maretime Bay, Sunny Starscout, Hitch Trailblazer and Sprout Cloverleaf play with toys representing ponies, unicorns and pegasi made by Sunny's father, Argyle Starshine. In the midst of this, Sprout says that the teacher said in class that unicorns are menaces, and that they fry the brains of other ponies, which Sunny disbelieves, and Hitch, although she thinks it is exaggerated, thinks the same thing. A short time later, Phyllis Cloverleaf, Sprout's mother, arrives and tells Argyle that he should be ashamed of himself for influencing other people's children and his own daughter to believe in something as absurd as a union between ponies, pegasus and unicorns, and then Instead, he orders Sprout to follow her back home, while muttering and repeatedly calling Argyle a "lunatic" and "loser". Phyllis, after putting her son to sleep, returns to her company, Canterlogic Inc., and it is revealed that she exerts total influence in the city, since her brand manufactures a product that aims to merge fashion and keep ponies protected from other races.

Years pass, Sunny wakes up and gets ready, and after looking at a photo of her father, revealing that Argyle is already deceased, she takes her skates and goes around Maretime Bay, she then finds Hitch and Sprout heading towards Canterlogic's headquarters along with other ponies, when Hitch reveals that she was forbidden to pass, but Sunny is not shaken and enters through an entrance that is in the basement of the factory and that an employee forgets open, meanwhile on the catwalk, Phyllis presents several models using the company's new products, and when it's time to reveal a new anti-unicorn and anti-pegasian technology, Sunny interrupts Phyllis' presentation. After kicking Sunny out of Canterlogic, Hitch tells her that he is jeopardizing their friendship with Sunny's childish behavior, and that although she tries, the fact remains that this is an impossible dream, and nothing will change fate, and that the three races will remain distant.

After Hitch's quote, they notice that all the ponies around are in panic and when they look closely at what it is, they notice the presence of a unicorn, with everyone running away, including the sheriff, who goes to his office to prepare to imprison her. The unicorn introduces herself as Izzy Moonbow, Sunny then takes Izzy to the lighthouse, where she will be safe, shortly afterwards, Hitch and Sprout arrive, with a loudspeaker, the sheriff asks Sunny and Izzy to leave and not try to react, and mind saying that the lighthouse is surrounded. Izzy then leaves, to the horror of the two officers, and after undressing them, Sunny and Izzy reach a consensus that the best thing to do is disappear from Maretime Bay, so both go without a destination.

But halfway through, Izzy reveals that unicorns don't have magic, and that pegasi don't know how to fly, after learning this, the two end up arriving in a foggy ravine, where they are slightly scared by a fast being, which later reveals itself to be a pegasus. , when asking the name of the pegasus, two other pegasus, who are guards, approach and arrest Sunny and Izzy. While in Maretime Bay, Hitch shows concern for Sunny's disappearance, fearing that she has been kidnapped by Izzy, thus leading him to the conclusion that the best thing to do is to go in search of her, and after Hitch says goodbye, Sprout reveals himself very upset by the fact that Hitch has everything he wants, and is popular and a heartthrob that charms all the girls, and while he complains, Phyllis arrives, and when noticing the absence of Hitch, and Sprout says that this went in search of Sunny, decides to incite his son to take the position of sheriff for himself, which he ends up finding great, finally celebrating that he will be able to have prestige in the same way as his friend. After that, Sprout then notices a crowd around the delgacia and as he leaves, he is surprised by several ponies pressing for action in relation to Izzy's coming to town, which makes Sprout use opportunism to gradually gain more popularity, taking advantage of from the fear of the inhabitants of Maretime Bay.

Hitch finally finds Sunny and Izzy after seeing it on a large screen in Zephyr Heights, where it is noted that a news program is being displayed where the two are being taken to court, during the trip, Sunny asks several questions to one of the guards, who he even answers some questions, but is repressed by his colleague, saying that she may be trying to gather information. At the royal court, Sunny recognizes the pegasus she found in the ravine, with one of the guards revealing her name, Princess Zipp Storm, and also her sister, Pipp Petals, who at first mocks Sunny's appearance, until finally, Queen Haven arrives to judge the two intruders, revealing that the names of the two officers who arrested Sunny and Izzy are Zoom Zephyrwing and Thunder Flap.

Sunny and Izzy are sentenced to prison, and there they convince Zipp to allow them to have access to a festive room where Pipp will perform, there, she ends up accessing the control room after meeting Hitch and running away, and without having control. of the situation and scaring the person in charge of the room, who ends up doing everything wrong, and revealing that the royal family does not have the power to fly, causing Haven to be arrested and Zipp and Pipp have to accompany Sunny, Izzy and Hitch to where the unicorn live.

Back in Martime Bay, it is discovered that Sprout has become a dictator, and is building a machine of destruction that he names "Sprouticus Maximus", Phyllis demonstrates that she is not very sure that her son is being a good sheriff, he also proves to be a negligent boss, demonstrating not to care about accidents at work.

The five heroes finally arrive in Bridlewood, where Izzy lives in La Villa Izzy, as soon as they arrive, they notice that the unicorns are completely downcast, without any kind of emotion, when they arrive at Izzy's house, she provides everyone with fake horns, and after that they leave for the Crystal Tea Room, where Sunny challenges the clerk, Alphabittle Blossomforth, to a dance battle, in exchange for the third crystal, to be joined to the two others she already obtained and the one acquired in Zephyr Heights, but shortly after receiving the award, it is noted that his horn was fake, and after that the five flee the place, with Alphabittle and the others chasing them, but when they arrive at the exit of Bridlewood, they are surprised by Haven, Zoom and Thunder, who are looking for the other crystal, surrounded on all sides, Sunny can only try to unite the crystals right there.

After the attempt to unite the crystals fails, Sunny disbelieves that she can unite the three races, and sadly returns with her friends to Maretime Bay, getting there they notice that the city is strange, and several fireworks are released at Canterlogic headquarters, Sunny and Hitch decide to go see what's going on, and asks Izzy, Zipp and Pipp to go to the lighthouse. Arriving they notice that Sprout, dressed in military clothes, is making a speech, and several people use one of the technologies that his mother created in his head, while he speaks, he sees Sunny and Hitch, and makes fun of their presence, but what Sprout I didn't expect that Izzy refuses to go to the lighthouse, and appears in front of the entire audience, which sends everyone into a panic, and Sprout is completely furious that his "weekly personality cult" has been destroyed, meanwhile, Queen Haven, Zoom, Thunder and Alphabittle arrive in Maretime Bay, and go in search of Sunny.

After running out of the city center towards the lighthouse, Sunny enters her house, and goes to the top floor of it to mourn, but there she notices something she had never seen before, on the table where she always used to play, she presses the center of the table, and discovers that there was a perfect fit to the crystals. At the same time, Sprout decides to use Sprouticus Maximus, and leaves for the lighthouse, Phyllis notices her son's insanity, and decides to take action and head out to warn Sunny, getting there she finds Hitch, Izzy, Zipp and Pipp, those who harass her, and question what she wants with a lunatic who defends the union of the races that Phyllis fears so much, Phyllis then decides to recant in front of Sunny's friends, and warns them that Sprout is approaching with their deadly machine, at the same time Haven and Alphabittle discover where Sunny is and arrive at the lighthouse, bringing the other crystals with them.

Sprout is finally seen at the lighthouse driving the Sprouticus Maximus, and then Izzy takes the other two crystals and goes to meet Sunny, who is happy to see the three crystals reunited, but notices the strange movement, and when leaving, notices the little machine deadly causing a big mess, Sprout then demonstrates that he does not know how to control the machine, and makes several silly things, Haven then says that they are not here to fight, Sprout then says that he will not give them space in Maretime, at that moment Sunny then decides to go, when he sees Sunny returns to his room and goes to gather the crystals on the table, but when they are gathered, Sprout throws his machine against the lighthouse, with the intention of destroying it, Sunny then loses sight of the crystals.

Sprout then activates a goo shooter, some of which are thrown against the lighthouse windows, Pipp, while scared, steps on one of the crystals and hands it to Sunny, with the two reunited, only one needs to be found, meanwhile, Zipp and Hitch are in the back of the machine, and when Sprout accelerates him to try to knock the light again, Hitch loses his balance and almost falls, if not caught by Zipp. Izzy finds the other crystal, but with the second hit she leaves the crystal and is on the verge of falling out of the lighthouse, Izzy is quick and takes the crystal, but the terrace, already weakened by the two blows, gives in and Izzy hangs, while the goo continues to be thrown by Sprouticus Maximus.

Zipp looks for a way to disable the shooter, and they find a joint that keeps the shooter attached to the vehicle, she and Hitch then manage to remove the joint, and the shooter flies out and almost hits Sunny, who is helping Izzy, meanwhile, the machine runs over Alphabittle, who is saved by Haven. Phyllis then acts, and decides to beg her son to stop it and turn off the Sproticus Maximus, Izzy manages to hold the crystal and puts it back to safety by Sunny, Sprout then patience and goes with full speed towards the lighthouse, Phyllis sets in front, which causes Sprout to swerve the vehicle, which becomes unbalanced, Hitch and Zipp are thrown far away, but are not hurt, while Sprout Maximus crashes full force into the lighthouse, and the peak of the lighthouse falls to the ground, with Sunny and Izzy falling together with the crystals.

Upon waking up, Sunny notices that the portrait that presents her as a child together with Argyle is broken, everyone present there then analyzes the destruction, meanwhile, Sprout opens the door of the Sprouticus Maximus weakening, and right there he falls off with half of his body still inside the vehicle. Sunny laments and cries when she sees the portrait, but everyone consoles her, in a moment of union, which makes the crystals awaken and surround her, transforming her into an alicorn, and causing the magic to finally be awakened. After that moment, Phyllis notices that Sprout is unconscious and cries out for help, at that moment she tells everyone that she was the one who incited Sprout to become sheriff in Hitch's absence, and as a result of doing everything she did, Haven then decides yell at her, and say that she was irresponsible for inciting her son to do something dishonest, letting everything he was doing pass, including the Sproticus Maximus, and finally that she was responsible for now that he is unconscious, and asks if she wonders what will become of her life and the guilt she will carry if it ends with Sprout's death, which increases her sadness and remorse, Sunny then comforts him, and Hitch says, although Sprout doesn't deserve it, he will do anything to make her his life be preserved.

Time passes, and finally Sprout is visited by the authorities in the hospital, including Hitch, who notify him that he will be punished for what he did with 17 moons of community service, Hitch also tells that this punishment would be more severe as ordered by the mayor (17 moons in jail), but that he intervened and convinced the ruler to change his sentence, they also say that Phyllis decided to withdraw from the city and will spend an undetermined time at the family's country house, giving the message that she asked Sprout that it was better for he not to go and not to worry about her, because she thinks it's better for him that he learns to live without her and that his dependence on her can result in many more problems and more accidents, Sprout then demonstrates disgust with everything that is happening to him, but does not say anything. Haven and Alphabittle tell some foals about the beauty of unity, while the lighthouse is rebuilt, the unicorns are no longer downcast, the pegasus can fly again, much of what Sprout has rendered useless is reopened, Zipp is appointed as the new Deputy (a position formerly belonging to Sprout), so Sunny, Izzy, Hitch, Zipp and Pipp end up opening the renovated lighthouse, where they will live there together.

Development
The film began to be developed in 1982, at the request of Hasbro itself, which adopted the strategy of producing films as a way to promote its toys, this moment is parallel to a partnership with Warner Bros., the idea of ​​producing an MLP film came as a way to put the toy line in the spotlight in its early years, to produce the film, stop-motion animator Jim Danforth was hired, and for the direction, Danny DeVito was called, in 1983, James Horner was appointed as responsible for the soundtrack of the film, while Hal Ashby was hired for editing, Jean Chalopin was who Warner Bros. chose to script the film. after Chalopin delivered the script, which pleased the executives of both Hasbro and Warner Bros., it was time for production to start with full force and agility, with the finalization of the project being foreseen for the end of 1985 or beginning of 1986, however, little later, due to the speed with which the film was developing, this prediction was changed, and now the estimated completion was between mid and late 1985. In 1984, as the production was finally reaching its completion, the time was approaching to point out the voice cast, but Hasbro refused to do so before the film was 100% finished. Development of My Little Pony was 100% complete by January 1985, after which a "quick" casting and voice selection process was done.

Later, in 2005, the year the film celebrated its 20th anniversary, Danforth revealed that he spent practically 19 hours a day producing the film, which made the film progress in its production so slightly, he claimed that he paused production to sleep, lunch and dinner.

Writing
Jean Chalopin was chosen by Warner Bros and Hasbro to write the script for the film, he initially did not have many interesting ideas and almost thought about resigning from the project, but one day while walking through the city, he sat on a bench in front of a jewelry store, and then it was seeing one of the rings with a crystal, that came the idea of the plot being moved by the three crystals, the idea of Sprout becoming a dictator came while he was in a library and a student, apparently doing history work, was reading a book, and on the page where he was reading there was a photo of Benito Mussolini, while Hitch, it is known that Chalopin created him with a certain inspiration in old west sheriffs and also in Elvis Presley.

He then wrote two scripts, one highlighting Hitch as the main protagonist and the other highlighting Sunny, a character he idealized mainly inspired by what would become the voice of the character, Sandy Duncan, as the great protagonist of the story, won the script that highlighted Sunny, and this one has been improved, adding the other characters present in the film. Queen Haven was directly inspired by Queen Victoria, as well as, in some minor ways, by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, it is rumored that Pipp Petals was directly inspired by Princess Margaret, younger sister of Elizabeth II, while Zipp Storm, according to the same rumors, is inspired by Elizabeth II herself as a young woman.

Casting
The voice cast of the film began to be chosen, The first to be chosen would be the voice actress of Sunny Starscout, with the choice being split between Bettina Bush and Sandy Duncan, on whom the character was inspired, Sandy had previously worked with Hasbro, when she dubbed in "Escape from Catrina", which made Hasbro prefer Duncan, on the other hand Bettina also already did the dubbing of Hasbro productions, and was called to dub another protagonist, Zipp Storm. A large amount of money was disbursed for stars Clint Eastwood, Mickey Rooney, Cristopher Reeve and Jane Fonda to accept their roles, it is known that initially Sprout could have been voiced by Matthew Broderick, but the direction changed its mind and decided to call Matthew to voice Thunder, and Mickey Rooney voiced the antagonist.

To voice Pipp, Alice Playten was initially quoted, but she was more pleased when she auditioned to voice Izzy Moonbow, as her child-like voice fit with the adventurous and playful personality of the unicorn, and so, Liz Torres ended up being quoted to voice Princess Petals. For the dub of Zoom, Pam Ferris was chosen after the withdrawal of Eva Gabor, while Thunder, Matthew Broderick was chosen unanimously after being rejected as Sprout losing the place to Rooney, to voice Onyx, initially it was quoted as the choice of Russi Taylor, famous for having dubbed Minnie Mouse, they decided to call another very famous figure, Olivia Newton-John, famous for the romantic pair with John Travolta in Grease. The last characters to have his voice actor chosen was Hitch, who was initially quoted to be voiced by John Travolta, but in order not to spend more money, which would be saved for the marketing of the film, which was chosen to voice the sheriff of Maretime Bay was Kurt Russell, and Queen Haven, which was from the beginning quoted to be voiced by Sondra Locke, with the same accepting the role.

Many actors who had previously worked together were brought together, as was the case with Duncan, Rooney and Russell, who had worked together on Disney's The Fox and the Hound, voicing the protagonist trio Tod (Rooney), Cooper (Russell) and Vixey (Duncan), others who also got together were Sondra Locke and Clint Eastwood, as in addition to being partners, they had worked on some films together throughout the 1970s.

Animation
My Little Pony was one of the first standout stop motion animations, this is also marked by a certain individuality between the model of each character, with some being more cartoonish and others having a more realistic design.

Music
To compose the soundtrack for the film, conductor James Horner was quoted, who came to prominence due to the work done in this film, he would later gain fame for having recorded the soundtrack for Titanic and Avatar, being perhaps the most starred name among the team of production of this movie.

Release
The film had its premiere on May 30, 1985, at the Million Dollar Theater in Los Angeles, and was released throughout the rest of the United States on June 24, 1985.

Marketing
The film had a great marketing campaign from December 1984, with banners, billboards, licensed products and, obviously, toys, Hasbro also closed a partnership with Subway and Danone, as well as even with its own rival Lego, as a way to undermine Mattel's sales that year, which was successful and ended with Hasbro taking over the position of the most profitable toy company in the world. The My Little Pony toy line was also the best-selling toy line in 1985, which made the line an emerging phenomenon.

Home media
My Little Pony was released to VHS on November 29, 1985, targeting the lucrative Christmas season, the film in its first week on store shelves earned $89 million. In 1989, the film was also released for LaserDisc, on March 4, 1995, the combined profit of sales of the film in VHS and LD format was approximately $350 million, in October 1, 1998, the film was released for the first time on DVD, along with two sequels, Tell Your Tale and Make Your Mark, which further boosted the film's home media sales. The movie was released to Blu-ray on September 25, 2008.

My Little Pony reached streaming in September 2019, when it was put on the Amazon Prime and Netflix catalog, in 2020, the film was also added to the Disney+ catalog, after negotiations that lasted a year.

Box office
The film ended its first weekend at the top of the weekly box office, grossing $49.6 million, the film needed just two weeks to reach the $100 million goal, and after that, the box office grew at a slower pace, the film was taken from the U.S. theaters in October 1985 with a total of $172.9 million at the domestical box office, the film had a foreign box office of $30.1 million dollars, in some countries having been a box-office bomb, but coupled with domestic grossing, it made the film had a total box office of $203 million, making it the second highest-grossing film of 1985.

Public and critical response
The film was positively reviewed at the time, with a clamor for the film's soundtrack and editing, the film also ranked in 2012 as the greatest cinematic work inspired by a toy. The film received several nominations for various cinematographic awards around the world, having won more than half of these nominations.

The film was named "Best Film of 1985" by the New York Times, based on a popular poll taken from December 2-18, 1985, with a sample of 7,500 respondents.

The Presidential Applause
President Ronald Reagan watched the film on September 17, 1985, at the White House Theater, when asked what he thought of the film, he evaluated the film as "Incredibly well made, it doesn't even seem like it exists just to promote a toy", later, in 1988, Reagan said that as a man from the cinema, he considers My Little Pony the best film he saw in his presidency, at least with a more youthful theme, and he said that this was the only film that made him interest in watching animation, a genre he didn't have much preference for.

Accolades
To be constructed