Dr. Donna's Review

About the Film
Once every year, the ponies of Ponyville celebrate at the “Princess Rainbow Ceremony.” Each ceremony features a very special princess who's job it is to make the first rainbow of the season. This year, the special princess is Rarity. Rarity comes from the village of Unicornia where all of the ponies are unicorns. As the story opens, the ponies are excitedly awaiting the arrival of the Crystal Carriage and Rarity is learning use the magic scepter to perform the special princess twirl. Rarity knows that as princess, she must perform the special twirl to make the first rainbow of the season appear. However, Rarity, being a very young unicorn, gets distracted by a funny inchworm and does not pay attention to Cheerly's instruction. When Cheerly leaves the room, Rarity picks up the princess scepter, twirls it and it causes her to disappear. Then, magically she lands in Breezy Blossom where she meets Breezies for the first time in her life.

While Rarity is off playing with the breezies and having a good time, the unicorns realize that she is missing and become worried about her. The ponies are especially worried that if Rarity doesn't come back in time for the ceremony, there won't be a rainbow this year.

Rarity's adventures with the Breezies of Breezy Blossom are played out in parallel with the adventures of the unicorns who are trying to find her. Through it all, Rarity is just having a good time, as summed up in her song “I Just Want to Have Fun,” and doesn't acknowledge that she is not meeting her responsibilities. Whenever something goes wrong, Rarity simply says, “It wasn't my fault.”

Eventually, Rarity becomes homesick but no one knows where Unicornia is located. With help from Spike, the smart dragon, Rarity and the Breezies, set off to find Rarity's castle. When they stop to rest at night, they don't realize that just across the river from their camp is the camp of the unicorns that are searching for Rarity. During the night, Rarity sees the third shooting star and remembers that she must perform the special twirl before the fourth shooting star in order to create the rainbow. She awakens the others and urges them to move on quickly to the castle for the ceremony under the dome because everything is beginning to lose color. If Rarity doesn't get there before the fourth shooting star, all the color will be drained from Ponyville and Unicornia.

They set out and soon meet the unicorns that were camping across the river. Rarity acknowledges that she has been at fault. “I'm not so little anymore,” she says. She tells them she knows what she has to do. Even when Cheerly becomes discouraged and afraid that they have missed their chance to create the first rainbow, Rarity urges everyone to try again. Rarity's recognition of her shortcomings enables her to perform the magic needed. Soon color comes back to rainbows everywhere and all of the ponies from Ponyville and Unicornia come together for the Princess Rainbow Ceremony.

About the Kids
This film primary appeal is to younger children, especially girls, up the age of 5. Some younger boys may enjoy it also. The film may 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 many familiar Pony personalities including, for example, Minty, Rainbow Dash, Pinky, Spike and the three Breezies, Tra-La-La, Tiddly Wink and Zippy. They will also enjoy meeting the characters from Unicornia. Young children will identify with Rarity and her struggle to balance the desire to “have fun” with the need to meet responsibilities.

Film Content and Features
“Runaway Rainbow” is a simple story with an accessible story arc for children. The central theme of the story is about taking responsibility for one's actions. Young Rarity is happy to have been selected as the special princess but because she would rather play than pay attention to her duties, she creates a great deal of worry for the ponies and the unicorns. And, when she causes things to go wrong, she doesn't acknowledge her mistakes.

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.

Things to Talk About
The two central themes of the story, balancing the desire to play with the need to accept responsibility and acknowledging one's mistakes, lend themselves to discussion with children after seeing the film. These two themes are played out in a manner that demonstrates the logical consequences of one's actions. When Rarity tries the roller skates without accepting help, she causes chaos. When she goes off to chase a butterfly and falls into the water, she causes the others to come to her rescue and nearly drown. When she gets lost and delays the rainbow ceremony, she nearly causes the loss of all the colors from Ponyville. Through the consequences of her behavior, Rarity comes to accept her role and her responsibilities. Helping children draw out these themes and talk about them will help them understand and internalize the lessons.

• Ask the children to remember a time when Rarity said, “It's not my fault.” Why did she say that? Did her actions cause something to happen that was her fault?

• Ask children if they have ever felt like playing instead of doing a job that needed to be done. Have them describe the situation and how they felt. Did anything happen because of their behavior? What happened?

• Ask children why the color began to fade from everything in Ponyville. Help them to understand how Rarity's behavior led to this result.

• Ask children to tell how we know that Rarity has grown up through the adventure she had in the story. Help them to understand that she not only recognized that she had an important job to do but that she helped the others when they got discouraged.