Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony (2012)

You won't be disappointed!

It is not deep, but it is fun to watch. It does have a bit more of an edge to it than other similar films.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

"Isn't it amazing how a group of adult men can completely take over a show meant for little girls; making it virtually impossible to search or do anything related to the show without being exposed to over-sexualized, misogynistic, sexist crap, and they get a documentary that praises them for stepping outside of their perceived gender roles? Meanwhile 45% of the gaming community is comprised of women and I get dick pics and rape threats if I try and go on xbox live."Three stars instead of one because it's rather impressive that the documentarian could create something so smarmily self-congratulatory, yet riddled with homophobia and much less flattering to "bronies" than he'd like to think.

I am not a Brony. I have never seen an episode of My Little Pony. Before seeing this documentary I was aware of the Brony phenomenon, but was relatively removed from it. I watched 'Bronies' to try and learn a bit more about the people behind the fandom, and was hoping to find an unbiased account of Brony culture, warts and all. I think overall this documentary was successful in a few ways, but was mostly overshadowed by it's failures.It's a very self congratulatory piece of film; plenty of discussion of the community aspect, the creativity and fun of it all, the feeling of 'fitting in,' but it's all at a very cursory glance. People say they like the morals and apply them to their lives? How about a few examples? You think the writing and animation are well done? Why not go a bit more in depth? There was very little that needed to be said by this documentary, yet we're consistently fed what feels like a party line. If you're looking for an objective documentary, this is not it. There is superficial lip-service paid to the female fans of the series, but it comes in the form of a short musical number and one documentary subject who is never on screen without her male counterpart. For a fanbase which has taken up a decidedly masculine moniker, I'd expect some discussion of how it effects women who want to be involved. Additionally, there is no discussion of the darker sides of Brony culture, like the fan- produced My Little Pony pornography known as 'Clop.' The documentary goes so far out of its way to avoid this subject, that it actually even includes a reference to 'clop' in a musical number, but immediately changes the subject.It feels at times like the documentary was never intended to explain Bronies to outsiders at all, but rather to be a celebratory exploration of the growth of Brony culture, to be viewed and enjoyed by Bronies themselves. This would be easily explained by the creative crew, and the Kickstarter funding. There's nothing wrong with this, but why phrase it as though it were intended for outsiders? Why even add the animated sequences with the professor teaching us about MLP history?It's not all bad, honestly. The creator of this documentary clearly knows how to pace a film. Scenes go as long as they need to, dialogue is generally moving the film along, and overall it's quite well shot. Some of the characters are quite compelling, and the creative side of Brony culture is very well represented. I think if there was one major takeaway from this film, it's that people who like MLP are producing a lot of content for the fan community, and that creativity is a major tenet of Brony culture. The film is very successful in conveying that there is a strong community, and a lot of creative content being produced. It's major failure though, and what causes the whole thing to fall flat is that it doesn't successfully convey why the Bronies become attached to MLP to begin with.

The Brony Documentary was well worth my purchase. As a 26 year old brony myself, I enjoyed seeing interviews from Tara Strong and John De-Lancie, as well as the convention coverage. The video is 90 minutes but seemed to go by faster than I wanted.It has some good song choices included, especially in the closing credits.Although I enjoyed it very much, it is not without its flaws. For starters, some of the people interviewed were probably not the best. The documentary put to much emphasis, on being an outcast, and didn't really focus on the fact that most bronies are just normal people.Being a brony doesn't make you an outcast, or hated by you're community. Well, obviously that is the case for some. But for many, it's about just getting together and having a good time.The Political/social aspect that was included really was uneasy to watch. John De-Lancie and others have always tried to justify guys liking MLP by making some sort of political, or social statement about the country... That just isn't really the case. It's just a good show with amazing fans who do amazing things.I wish the documentary would have focused on the "everyman." more so than they did. Though, I could see how that would have come across as boring to a viewer.Another issue I had, is that it should have spent way more time talking about the creative side of the fandom. The music, art, and everything in between is the best I've ever seen out of any fandom. But it was only lightly touched on in the film.If you are a brony, then I would highly recommend this. It is a good film, however, if you are not a brony, then I doubt this film will change your opinion much.. You know what might though.. Watch the show.. Sit down alone.. Spend 9 hours total on 1 or 2 weeks, and watch the entire first season from start to finish.There are more memes than I can count from that season alone. Surf youtube and google for image macros, music videos, and animation parodies...Like I said, I'm 26. I first watched the show after learning about it through thatguywiththeglasses and Death Battle.I rolled my eyes and said to myself I can't believe I'm watching this... And you know what. After the embarrassment went away, all that was left was the amazing feeling of seeing an incredible show.Check out this film.. It probably won't change your opinion if you are not a brony, but at least it does confirm one internet saying..."Haters gonna hate, Bronies gonna party"

So, I watched it, the whole thing, and let me say it was really bad. I have nothing but respect for John de Lancie, Lauren Faust and Tara Strong but this did just not work out. There was not one good part of this. Keep in mind I will probably spoiler some stuff about the documentary (But I'm pretty sure you all know how this is going to go) so if you really don't want to know about that stuff: Watch it (Or don't, it might be better that way) then come back and read. Also I'm going to be doing a lot of comparisons between this and Indie Game: The Movie, just because they were both documentaries about a niche culture that were overfunded on kickstarter, so if you haven't seen Indie Game: The Movie (Watch it, it's very good) you may not get some of the references.Anyway, the main point of why this documentary is so bad is its subject matter. It's trying to justify something that shouldn't have to be justified in the first place, it's people watching a show with the target demographic being little girls, but it's also written so that parents can watch the show too and not feel left out by asinine humour. Unfortunately, a lot of "bronies" seem to think that watching a show out of the target demo is risqué, edgy, and pushing barriers. You don't see me acting like a special snowflake for watching Girls or Adventure Time or Gravity Falls, I'm not the target demo for any of those shows. This stuff doesn't need an hour and a half to explain, nor does it need $300 000 to do it. They didn't even touch the terrible parts of the "fandom", all they did was pat bronies on the back and ignore anything bad that ever happened.The film also seems to just be all over the place, you have upwards of five people you're supposed to be following and it just cuts between them saying things about their adventures. Half the time you have no idea whats going on they take an interview with a person and then cut to the next person who is in another continent yet you still think you're at the convention shown in the previous scene because all these conventions look exactly the same. It's a very scatterbrained experience, Lauren Faust talks about something, cut to a brony talking about something completely different, cut to animation that's all in rhyme, cut to someone speaking German with no subtitles because the name is there and then the name fades out and you get a split second to read what they just said. Half the time I don't know what's going on so I just zone out. With Indie Game: The Movie you get two story lines to follow, the production of Super Meat Boy, and the production of Fez, interspersed with Jonathan Blow talking about game design and such. Every time there's a cut you know who's talking, you know what storyline you're now following, and you know what's going on. Another thing is that Indie Game: The Movie really made you care for the people involved, you got to know them and you felt their hardships as they happened to them. When Super Meat Boy isn't showing up on the store you feel disappointed and annoyed with Microsoft just like the developers do, when it finally gets put up and the game is a hit you feel happy and you feel the same way the developers do. In the Brony doc you don't really feel anything for the people, there's just this disconnect. It's like when the kid (I forget his name) is all scared about telling his parents you don't really care because there's nothing to be ashamed of, it's just a goddamn television program (Also I didn't like how everyone almost treated telling people that they were a brony like coming out as being gay, they're not even close to being the same thing so shut up about it). There was no emotional weight attached to any of it. Take away the actual subject matter then you'd think $300 000 could at least make a film that is technically well done, but no, not even close. In the non-animated segments it looked like something local news would do (The animated segments looked like the show so I won't really complain because the animation in the show is brilliant). To make another Indie Game: The Movie comparison, when you look at some of the camera work in that movie it's magnificent, even if you look at the trailer you can see how great the cinematography is, the shots were well placed and they were very unique (Especially the one of the lineup of PAX I still can't get over how great it is). With this it all just looks kinda bland, you've seen every shot in countless other documentaries and so much of the movie is just talking heads staring at the camera saying whatever. But the worst offence comes in the green screen work, it looks very unpolished and in one scene there was actually green outlines around the people talking and it was really distracting. To sum it up, this movie was really bad, I don't think there was one redeeming quality of it (It wasn't even so bad it was funny). If you really want a documentary about a niche culture just watch Indie Game: The Movie. If you want a documentary to pat you on the back because you're a special little snowflake for watching a show outside of the target demographic, then this is the movie for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.