3/5 stars Like the Marvel Cinematic Universe ’s so-called “Phases”, My Little Pony has come in stages. My Little Pony: A New Generation , the latest adventure based on the Hasbro toy range, spearheads a fifth incarnation of animated television shows and movies based around the Hasbro toy range. The chances are youngsters won’t really care, as long as it gives them sparkles, songs, magic and mares – the very staples of this frothy filly franchise. Directed by Robert Cullen and José Ucha, My Little Pony: A New Generation introduces Sunny Starscout (voiced by Vanessa Hudgens), an Earth pony from Maretime Bay who believes that her breed should extend the hoof of friendship to unicorns and pegasi. Others don’t feel the same. “The important thing is you stand up for what you believe in,” says her father, Argyle ( Spinal Tap ’s Michael McKean), in Life Lesson#1 that the film doles out. Fortunately, A New Generation never gets too preachy and there are some neat sight gags for adults to enjoy. A cinema hoarding, for example, is advertising Judgement Neigh , with an Arnold Schwarzenegger- Terminator figure complete with unicorn horn. It’s a clever way of showing the fear that has spread among Sunny’s community, who are under the belief that unicorns can read your minds and fry your brains. Like the conspiracy theories you get on Twitter. When Sunny meets Izzy Moonbow (Kimiko Glenn), a bold, blue-coloured unicorn, it sends her on an adventure to the slick-looking pegasi metropolis of Zephyr Heights, where she encounters snooty royalty, more sight gags (a theatre advertising Filly Elliot ) and the chance to bring magic back to this Day-Glo universe where the pegasi royals must pretend they can fly to fool their subjects. To engineer this, crystals must be sought, and there’s even an unexpected fascist-like villain to defeat near the end. The musical interludes are lively pop tunes that don’t really stick but are fun while they last. Sofia Carson performs Glowin’ Up and voices Pipp, a pegasi princess and songstress who is forever posting to her followers (or “Pipp-squeakers”) on social media. James Marsden (Cyclops from the X-Men series) also pops up as Hitch Trailblazer, the sheriff of Maretime Bay who gets his belief-system turned inside out by Sunny’s approach to life and magic. It might be pushing it to say A New Generation is magical too – it’s certainly not Pixar-level brilliant. But neither is it a “phoney pony full of baloney”, to borrow one of the film’s better lines. It’s comfortably in the middle. Want more articles like this? Follow SCMP Film on Facebook