Admirable film.

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Depending on your age and background, you may well be aware of what 'Bronies' are. These are, usually, adult male fans of the recent animated My Little Pony series--a series intended for very young little girls. The folks who made the shows were surprised by this phenomenon. It seems that adult men are now its most rabid fans and have begun organizing giant conventions for My Little Pony which are every bit as big as you might find for Star Trek or Anime. The purpose of Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony appears to be both to explain this fandom and to also normalize it as much as possible. Nice and very likable teenage and adult men are interviewed about their obsessions with these incredibly happy and sweet cartoon characters. And, the film features charming narration by John de Lancie (who does the voice for one of the characters on the show and is also adored by Star Trek fans for playing 'Q') and it also has many interviews including the show's creator as well as another one of the voice actors, Tara Strong. They all seem to agree that it's a benign obsession and the notion of these guy emulating the positive messages of the show isn't a bad thing at all--and the film does a great job in normalizing this fandom. However, it also seems to occasionally miss the proverbial elephant in the room. This is because two big problems really aren't addressed in the otherwise entertaining film. First, the women and children who like the show are almost completely ignored. Now I know that the film is about adult fans but the film says a Brony can be a man or a woman--yet not all that many women are interviewed and the focus clearly is on the guys. No young girls are interviewed. That is all very odd-- especially in light of the second problem. There is a far darker side of many of the Bronies. The Brony movement began on 4chan--a website often linked to some of the stranger, more militant folks lurking on the internet. In light of this, it isn't surprising that SOME of the Bronies have a much more sexualized view of My Little Pony and there are quite a few reports of inappropriate behaviors by some of the Bronies at conventions or on websites. Sexual harassment, an unnatural infatuation with children, anatomically correct pony pillows or fan art and emotional bullying are sometimes serious problems. Now I am not saying all or even most Bronies behave this way, but it IS a problem--one often addressed on the internet yet oddly missing from the documentary. Sites such as Ponies for Parents and Brony Stupidity (among others) point out many examples of inappropriate conduct that clearly indicate that not all Bronies are as nice and benign as the ones you see in the film. Try a Google search using the terms 'My Little Pony porn' and you'll come up with tons and tons of examples of amazingly twisted fan art and porn videos. Yet, inexplicably, the film never mentions any of this. When a film ignores such obvious controversies, it becomes, in a way, more like propaganda than a documentary--the big reason why I felt a little uncomfortable watching this otherwise well made movie. Watch if it you want--just be aware that there is far more to the fandom than you see in this film.

I almost decided to not buy this documentary after hearing relatively mixed reviews about it. I decided to give it a shot to at least support the people behind it such as John de Lancie and Lauren Faust. After watching it, I'm so glad I decided to give it a chance."Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony" (rolls right off the tongue) is a documentary following the stories behind several bronies, their discovery of the show, and the impact it has had on their lives, for the better or worse. It also includes much footage from various pony cons from around the world, namely Bronycon. As the movie goes on, we see how these cons bring people from all over the world, with different backgrounds, together with a common interest. As a Brony myself, I was curious to see how my story of discovering the show and having this hobby would relate to others. While I did see a bit of myself in these young men, it was actually far more interesting to see what was different in our stories. Some of the events they describe, without spoiling anything, genuinely made me feel sorry for them, and at other times, proud of them. As the documentary continues, we see their lives intertwine at the Cons, and it really made me feel great to know that these previous outcasts now have people to share their interests with.The interviews with John de Lancie, Lauren Faust, Tara Strong, and a few other people in the Brony community are very intriguing, since it's not all that common to hear opinions on a fanbase from the people the fanbase hails. It made my day to hear support from such well known people, especially since taking such a positive outlook on Bronies is often seen as risky in the media. Also included is an animated song about the types of bronies sung by none other than de Lancie himself, however here he appears as his ponysona (the pony version of yourself.) The animation is top notch and is actually on par with the show itself. The only problem with it is that it is chopped up and spread out throughout the movie, when I feel it should have just been one whole piece like I originally saw it on Youtube. By the time the credits were rolling, I was feeling prouder than ever to be a Brony. The movie clearly establishes that the stereotypical fat neckbeard basement dweller is not your typical Brony, in fact quite the opposite. Not only that, but seeing the charity work Bronies do, as well as just supporting each other and trying to create a "kinder, gentler" world, as Lauren Faust put it, really warmed my heart. I haven't felt much shame for being a Brony for a long time, but now there is none whatsoever. It even inspired me to find someway to get more involved in the community.The only fault with the movie is that it is extremely one sided. Not that there is anything wrong with the Brony community in itself, but it doesn't mention that many online Bronies have become trolls and are a huge part of the reason that people have negative connotations with MLP.Overall, this documentary stands as a tribute to the Bronies, and a great informative video to everyone else interested in learning about this cultural phenomena. If you're a Brony who feels alone or ashamed, watch this and you will no longer feel so down in the dumps. Definitely worth the price of admission.

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.