My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas (2005)

I'm a sucker for sweetness, but I'm also a slave to substance, so children's videos like these are a dangerous minefield of disappointment. Luckily for me, My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas has at a good portion of the fun and the heart you expect from a Christmas special. While it may not be the most memorable or emotional, it at least tries to be on that level.Christmas time is just around the corner and the ponies are all excited for Santa to visit. While trying to make sure everything is perfect, Minty (Tabitha St. Germain) accidentally breaks the Here Comes Christmas Candy Cane, without which Santa will be unable to find Ponyville. Now she has to set things right so her friends can have a merry Christmas.At first I wasn't sure what to think of Minty. When she's introduced, she's won't shut up, and it was starting to get on my nerves. But as the story went on I grew to find her charming and even adorable. She's scatterbrained and a little clumsy, but she's not stupid and she knows when to take things seriously. For example, when she realizes she needs to do something to make up for her mistake, the first idea she has is to give away her most valuable possessions as presents to her friends. I admire that kind of generosity and selflessness in a protagonist, not to mention a role model for kids.This movie stands out compared to most other G3 videos by actually having a complete story with conflict and even a little bit of peril. I genuinely wanted to see Minty save Christmas, and there's a couple curve balls thrown in to make you question if she'll be able to do so. It's disappointing that such basic concepts of storytelling are so hard to come by in these straight-to-video releases. Just having those puts this above some of Disney's worst sequels.If you have a child, especially one who is into the G4 (the current) My Little Pony series, this would be a great special to bring out next Christmas. I don't know if kids find the drastic difference in art style and characters confusing, but they'll probably find it enjoyable regardless. It's simple, innocent fun that keeps you engaged and entertained.

This movie was very cute and good quality. The animation was fantastic. The storyline was pretty darn good and the voices were spot on. I am eager to see rereleases of this, as well as more G3 stuff, like Dancing in the Clouds and way more of the toys. Hasbro should really recycle all of the old G3 things they have crowding their storage rooms. Anyway, I love Minty and think she has a good personality. She is like me (likes to hoard and is clumsy). G3 lovers (such as myself) would most likely enjoy this and collect Minty merchandise. I think this movie is wonderful for all ages. Though it wasn't a real a Christmas Classic, everyone would love the bright colors and huggable characters.

My Little Pony I am not a huge fan of, but I do actually kind of like it as it was part of my childhood. A Very Minty Christmas is decent and very cute, but not as good or as interesting(it was cute and had morals, but there was also conflict) as the older My Little Pony episodes. It does have a tendency to be too on the sickly sweet side, with some cheesy, cloying dialogue and some slightly rough character designs and Minty is one of those characters you may warm to once you get to know her, I personally did find her annoying to start with. I will also be honest that while I liked the movie I found Princess Promenade for example to be far superior. However, I did like the vibrant colours and ethereal backgrounds, the score is whimsical and the title song is catchy. The story is cute and well-meaning, the characters are engaging once you get used to Minty and the voice work while not amazing is good, the people involved are talented individuals and do well. All in all, cute and decent enough but not My Little Pony at its best. 7/10 Bethany Cox

This film... wow. How can I begin to describe it? This, Victor Dal Chele's first commercial film, is one of the best films I've seen this year. It's not quite as good, I think, as his later work on Princess Promenade, but given that it's his first movie, it's pretty good. Heck, it's better than some more experienced directors' seventh or eighth films. I thought Raiders of the Lost Ark was a pretty good movie until I saw this. I mean, the only reason that it's not as good as Princess Promenade is because Very Minty Christmas is more raw, and rougher around the edges. Dal Chele made this film in 90 days with a budget of around $600,000, and while he does his best with what he has, it's obvious to anyone who's seen Princess Promenade that he could have done more if he had more. To make a comparison, even the best, most professional-looking, most polished high school production of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods is still a high school production of Into the Woods. Still, the budget of a film means nothing if a dedicated auteur like Dal Chele is holding the reins.Now before I go any further, I want to address the the rumor that My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade is essentially a remake of Very Minty Christmas. Mr. Dal Chele has said in interviews that it is not. Not quite. To quote a recent interview with The Resource (Of Living Legends) published by Birnbaum and Schusster (BS) Publications, he said "It's not a remake, exactly. It's just that there were some scenes that I thought I could have done so much better with a bigger budget, so when I got the opportunity, I did so." And it's obvious if you watch Princess Promenade that it's supposed to be a sequel. Major Thorndike refers at one point to "the Christmas Incident" implying that it's something that has already happened. Dr. Dandelion later reveals that it's been five years since Flutterby's death, even though he apparently is killed at the beginning of Princess Promenade. And that may be why so many call Princess Promenade a remake, because the first fifteen minutes basically show an abridged version of the events of Very Minty Christmas. And also, while Flutterby is very much the main protagonist of Very Minty Christmas, Huggles, who is a fairly minor character in VMC, becomes the main protagonist of Princess Promenade. The reason for this, of course, is that Huggles was played by Emily Deschanel, who at the time when they were VMC was not very well-known, other than as the sister of Zooey Deschanel, but when Princess Promenade was being made, she had become known as the star of the hit series Bones, so the role of Huggles was beefed up to give Ms. Deschanel more screen time. And thankfully, her portrayal of the character in the sequel, and the fact that the sequel was written to showcase her talents only makes the movie that much better. This, obviously, is why the recap of VMC at the beginning of Princess Promenade was narrated by Huggles, who rarely spoke or got directly involved in the action during VMC.*SPOILERS* Although, despite this, and even though it's been widely reported that Inky was originally going to be the main protagonist of Princess Promenade, the end of this movie suggests that Dal Chele always intended Princess Promenade to be Huggles's story, given that SHE is the one who is chosen by the Mysterious Pony In A Business Suit after the final battle.And one more reason that Princess Promenade is erroneously called a remake of this film, in my opinion, is that both films deal with many of the same subjects. Life, death, the nature of good and evil, and whether progress for the sake of progress is a good thing.To conclude this review, let me say that while My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade stands very well on its own, and does not require your having seen Very Minty Christmas for you to enjoy it, having seen Very Minty Christmas will greatly deepen your understanding of Princess Promenade. And if nothing else you should watch My Little Pony: Very Minty Christmas because it is fine film-making.