The beloved characters of Ponyland had already proven themselves with a successful line of toys and a popular cartoon series. It was therefore a no-brainer to bring Ponyland and all of its inhabitants alive on the big screen, in their first and only feature film, My Little Pony: The Movie.

The lovable and multicolored equines that include Gusty, Whistler and Fizzy are living such a wonderful life at Dream Castle that they have caught the evil eye of Hydia, a wicked witch. Disgusted with their good fortune, she sends off her daughters, Draggle and Reeka, to ruin their annual Spring Festival. Her offspring aren’t quite cut out for a life of mischief, however, and fail miserably. Meanwhile, a somewhat spoiled baby pony named Lickety-Split has run away from Ponyland after an embarrassing performance at the festival.

While the witch is concocting a batch of smooze, a substance she intends to use to flood Ponyland, Shady, Gusty and Magic Star set out to find Lickety-Split, who has become trapped in a cave with the Grundles, after being forced to flee the approaching flood of smooze. Luckily, the Grundle King has a good heart and helps Lickety-Split escape. Armed with advice from Moochick and the help of the small Bushwoolies, Lickety-Split regroups with her pony pals and they fight to save their beloved Ponyland from the trio of witches and a whole lotta smooze.

Released in 1986 by DEG, My Little Pony: The Movie featured a whole plethora of voice talent that included Danny DeVito, his wife Rhea Perlman, Tony Randall and Cloris Leachman. Unfortunately, all this talent wasn’t quite enough to gallop My Little Pony: The Movie into the realm of blockbuster status by any means. But although the film might have been a failure by all reasonable standards, try telling that to a herd of little tykes who were enthralled by the performances of their beloved pony pals on the big screen. In their eyes, My Little Pony: The Movie was certainly deserving of Best Picture.   

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