My Little Pony: The Movie Delights and is All-Star

My_Little_Pony_The_Movie_Poster_2.jpgBy Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

The toy company Hasbro will most likely have a hit with their theatrical relaunch of the My Little Pony franchise. The simply named film My Little Pony the Movie debuts October 6th and it will have enough humour to appeal to young fans and old. Newcomers might be at a loss to understand what the hubbub is about; all anyone needs to know is that these talking animals are an embodiment of the best virtues of knighthood. But this club is not exclusive. The ponies do their best to teach to the world (and each other) how to be a better person. In this film, we meet Capper, a cat who can easily challenge Puss in Boots (DreamWorks) for the title of which animated feline to love and a team of parrot pirates who embody the true romance of sailing the seven seas. Well, in their case, it’s the skies over Equestria.

The story sees Princess Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) and her friends prepare for a festival. Moments before any fun can take place, a very familiar if not generically evil Storm King (Liev Schreiber) — I was reminded of how alike he is to The Emporer in LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures — and his assistant Tempest Shadow (Emily Blunt) raid the kingdom. Sparkle’s sisters are captured and she barely escapes. and attempt to capture her too. This unicorn gone bad and the wolf-like conquerer teamed up because Shadow believed the king can restore her broken horn. Between all the various types of horses believed to roam this world, I think more unicorns types exist because they are inherently more magical than ponies and pegasi. This stems from their mythical origins. While the toy company may have never considered making this connection since the introduction of this product line in 1981, some newer and older fans may well wonder.

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Getting a Sneak Peak to the Ben 10 Reboot (coming April 2017)

Ben 10By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

While most of Europe aired the new Ben 10 rebooted series since fall of last year, fans from North America are still anxiously waiting. Teletoon Canada offered a sneak peek Monday night for what’s to come in Spring. This new series is better off packaged as two episodes for the time-slot it is given instead of 10 minutes (giving a lot more time for commercials), before jumping to another show.

Given that the intended audience is for kids with limited attention span, the 10-minute format is satisfactory. But I’m craving longer tales, and am hoping by binge-watching a bunch of episodes back to back will reveal a greater story arc.

Tonight’s broadcast sees Ben Tennyson (Tara Strong reprises the role) learning responsibility. His access to the internet gets taken away until he cleans the Rust Bucket, a camping van that he, his cousin Gwen (Montserrat Hernandez) and grandfather Max (David Kaye) rides in throughout their many adventures. When the alien Fly Guy attempts to steal it because it reeks of garbage, this boy has a lot to do before his family returns! Amusingly enough, they are off to visit a bat guano cave.

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So just where is the new Teen Titans “Going?”

The original Teen Titans was fun, and had connected with those who followed the comic books. In Go, not so much.

Banner2Teen Titans GO! marks the return to TV of a team of young superheroes from the early 2000’s series of a similar name. Based on characters from DC Comics, this incarnation feels more a version of Big Brother with only the Sugar Plum Fairy watching over them. Raven (voiced by Tara Strong), Robin (Scott Menville), Starfire (Hynden Walch), Cyborg (Khary Payton), and Beast Boy (Greg Cipes) are roommates in Titans Tower. Even superheroes have their down time, and that’s when these cameras are rolling, observing their interactions during the mundane events of everyday life because nothing can turn a normal afternoon into chaos faster than five teens with superpowers and an affinity for hijinks.

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