This is your top-of-the-line Phantom of Stories here with another chapter and review.
And today...well, I'm gonna give you guys my take on "My Little Pony: Pony Life".
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In regards to what it's about, I hardly think that I need to explain much other than that it's a spin-off of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" with a different animation style and tone, only the comedic side of it is much more wild than its predecessor.
In the past, I gave negative reviews on the trailers for this show, but that was before I actually saw it for myself. Watching Pony Life and making a TV show review of it became something that I found myself wanting to do and unable to avoid doing, so...I decided to do just that. And believe me, I've watched plenty of episodes to be absolutely certain about what I think of the show as a whole.
So, what do I think of Pony Life?
Honestly, this was pretty much one of the worst television programs I've ever watched. Coming from a guy who watched it, there are tons of reasons for why I openly hate it.
For instance, the animation was hardly what I would call adequate. Everything about it looked like it was done by preschoolers instead of professional animators. In contrast to FiM, the settings looked flat, unfinished, and cheaply done for a modern animated television program, like the animators either weren't putting in enough dedication into their work or were too lazy to do their jobs. The character animation wasn't very appealing either. As a matter of fact, the expressions that the characters gave off were awfully over-the-top, and their designs for this series appeared to be the result of animators doing everything mainly for the money instead of not just that.
The overall storytelling and direction for this series wasn't very pleasurable either. Despite giving the stories morals to live by the series hardly had much in the ways of emotion, heart, and meaning; the morals that were incorporated were forgettable, and I'm saying this because I can't at all recall what those morals were to begin with. Likewise, the jokes that the series had were childish, cringy, and irritating, and the execution of them felt uninspired and flat compared to that of Friendship is Magic.
Finally, the voice acting, characters, and character development were extremely lacking.
Despite the majority of FiM's cast reprising their roles (with the exceptions of Cathy Weseluck and John de Lancie, whose characters of Spike and Discord are instead voiced by Tabitha St. Germain and Peter New), their performances were overly exaggerated and annoying. The biggest description that came to my mind when hearing the voices was that the performers made their characters sound like drunks coming home from a party, and not the kind Pinkie would throw either. Having seen at least one episode featuring a new character and cast member, I can't remember off the bat who the person and his character was.
The characters themselves also lacked the heart that made them so special in Friendship is Magic, not just due to the show team changing their personalities too much but because they went awfully overboard with putting the characters's negative aspects at the forefront. A prime example being Rarity fainting a lot more than most would likely tolerate. Every step of the way, I've taken note of the show team's attempts to help the characters develop and grow. In the long run, though, the characters were pretty much hopelessly one-dimensional. And even when they learn something, it would feel like they haven't learned anything at all.
In the end, "My Little Pony: Pony Life" is nothing but an absolute hunk of junk that was obviously made by Allspark to make some quick cash. Even today, I find the very existence of it questionable and can't help but wonder why Allspark made it in the first place, because it's not only an insult to the fanbase generated by "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" but its targeted audience too.
So (unsurprisingly), I rate "My Little Pony: Pony Life" zero out of five stars.
