Well, today was the big day. Got back from seeing it not long ago. I'll try to avoid spoilers here, but I will say that if you're still a fan of the show, and especially if you're going to stick it out and watch season 4, I think you'd be remiss to not see the movie. It picks up pretty close to where S3 leaves off, actually. I'd look at it more as a 3.5-episode mini-series that fills the gap between S3 and S4.
Just a few things to mention as a mini-review with as little detail on the actual story as possible...
- Music was excellent. Especially the opening credits.
- Spike as a dog is beyond adorable.
- Derpy.
The music was good, but there were a few more musical numbers than suit my taste. That said, I was kinda expecting that going in. And my one comment on the story itself: it's pony. It's not going to be something super complex or groundbreaking. Fairly typical parallel universe type stuff, and the direction of the plot is generally pretty obvious. But again, I expected all of that going in, so I wouldn't really call it a disappointment.
Now, the answers to my biggest questions going in: how many people are going to be there, and what will the demographic be?
I was actually a bit surprised, but the theater was pretty packed. I'd estimate around 90% capacity. Considering that it was showing at 10:15am on a Sunday, that's pretty darn good in my opinion. As for the demographic, we'll just say that the few of us that were meeting there went in to find seats just a few minutes before the starting time, and there was a mild masculine musk that hit us while walking in. Rough estimate from seeing the people going in, and looking around briefly in the dark for a seat, I'd say there were fewer than 10 people there under the age of 12.
Oh, and one other comment on the experience as a whole... it was being played straight off a Blu-Ray disc and was in your standard 16:9 widescreen. I assume this means it'll be available on Blu-Ray when it's released in stores. Also, they played zero ads before or after the movie.