Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film

Spring has come and the ponies of Ponyville are getting excited because it is time to go to Wisteria's garden party to discuss plans for the Spring Promenade. Spring Promenade is one of the biggest parades of the whole year and it requires a lot of gardening to produce all the flowers needed to decorate the floats for the parade. With help from the flying “Breezies,” Tiddlywink, Tra La La and Zipzee, the gardening begins in earnest. Seeds are planted, watered and cared for and soon, flowers begin to bloom all around Ponyville. One day while tending the garden, Wisteria discovers a weed. When she can't pull it out, she asks Pinky-Pie to help her. The two ponies dig and dig until the hole becomes so large that they fall down into it. Zipzee follows along to help them and the three friends find themselves in a dark underground passageway where they follow a bad smell to the site of a beautiful, rare, blooming flower. Living in the dirt under the beautiful flower, they find Spike the dragon and realize that the bad smell is coming from Spike who informs them that he has been sleeping there for over a thousand years. He goes on to tell him that according to the legend, he would be awakened when someone touched the rare flowerand then that someone would become a princess.

It was Wisteria who touched the flower and thus she is proclaimed to be a princess. When the ponies and Spike return from the underground to Ponyville, everyone is thrilled to learn that Wisteria has become a princess and they rename the parade “Princess Promenade” in her honor. Spike begins his task of guiding and protecting the new princess.

Under Spike's guidance, Wisteria learns that she can't help with the preparations for the parade, she can't dig in the garden and she can't even leave the castle. In the meantime, the ponies are struggling to get things ready for the promenade but they miss Wisteria's knowledge and help. Wisteria's unhappiness with all the restrictions causes her to say, “I want to be me again.” Spike cannot believe his ears. He says that everyone want to be a princess or a prince. He asks how she could possibly quit. Wisteria tells him she has figured out the way to stay a princess and “still be me.”

On the day of the Promenade, Wisteria stops the parade to make some important announcements. She shares the important lessons that she has learned from her time as a princess and she announces that she is making everyone in Ponyville a princess. Everyone celebrates the beautiful Princess Promenade.

About the Kids
This film will appeal to both boys and girls up to the age of 5 and will continue to appeal to older girls up to the age of nine. Those children who have collected and played with the My Little Pony characters will be pleased to see so many of the Pony personalities present in the film.

Film content and features
“Princess Promenade” is a simple story with an accessible story arc for children. The central theme of the story is about wish fulfillment. Many young girls fantasize about becoming a princess (and many boys fantasize about becoming a prince). In “Princess Promenade,” Wisteria does become a princess but she learns that being a princess is not quite the wonderful thing she thought it would be. Wisteria learns that she can't do all the things she used to do or things that she wants to do because a princess has to follow so many rules and be set apart from others. She learns that all her special friends have now become her “subjects” and that she can't be with them the way she used to. Eventually, Wisteria discovers that she would rather just be herself than a princess. In order to resolve the conflict, Wisteria redefines the role as given to her and uses her position as princess to proclaim that all the ponies of Ponyville are to be princesses so that they are all equal again.

The film is moved along by several songs and features the classic pinks, purples, greens and other soft but lush colors that are part of the My Little Pony mystique.

Some parents may conclude that the amount of primping, e.g. hair-dos, manicures, pedicures, and dressing-up, is overdone and sends a message to girls that these behaviors matter too much. Nevertheless, the message about being true to yourself is the most important message and it comes through loud and clear.

Things to talk about
The central theme of the story, i.e. having a wish come true, lends itself to discussion with children after seeing the film.

• Ask children if they've ever wished they could become a princess (or a prince).
• What do they think it would mean to become a princess (or prince)? What would be so great about it?
• What might not be so great about being a princess (or a prince)?
• How did things change for Wisteria after she became a princess?
• How did Wisteria fix it so that she could be herself and be a princess, too?
• Do you think Wisteria's solution, e.g. make everyone a princess, was a smart solution? Why?
• Ask children if there is anything else they have been wishing for. What might life be like if that wish came true?