Thelma the Unicorn

Thelma the Unicorn (2024) is the first animated movie to be directed by Jared Hess and it's his best movies to date since Napoleon Dynamite (2004).

Positives for Thelma the Unicorn (2024): The plot of the movie is very basic and it does work for the most part. The voice performances from Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Jemaine Clement, Edi Patterson, Fred Armisen, Zach Galifianakis, Jon Heder and Shondrella Avery are pretty good. The animation looks good through the movie. There is a good message that kids can learn from the movie. And finally, the comedy is pretty decent.

Negatives for Thelma the Unicorn (2024): This is another Jared Hess movie where it is just too weird. None of the characters are particularly likable other than Will Forte, Job Heder and the blind old lady. Thelma is a little too selfish with the idea of fame and while I get why she did it, the way with how the movie does it is just too much. I also have to say that Jemaine Clement is not an actor who is for me, his acting is too weird. The story is very predictable and you know what is going to happen. And finally, this movie is basically made for kids and not adults which isn't a bad thing, but I've watched movies and show that can appeal to both kids and adults very well.

Overall, Thelma the Unicorn (2024) is a fun little animated movie for kids and that is just fine.

If you've never read the book, the movie might come across as new and heartwarming. I read this book almost every night, and what's just a fun story about a pony pretending to be a unicorn and being famous, the movie takes that and is fully bloated of a new plot of her desperately wanting to be in a band and be a singer that's known well, which takes away from the aspect that she just wanted to be a unicorn in the book for the feel of being a unicorn. So my kids didn't like it, and I hate how every kids movie has to be a musical of some sort, it just feels overdone, and the movie comes across as a weird merge of 70s Hollywood with modern technology, which just makes the film odd to me. Thelma tries way too hard to be trendy and aim at kids. And the voice actress does a tremendous job, I guess it just feels off from what the book shows you, it just doesn't feel like Thelma.

As a huge fan of Aaron Blabey's original books it keeps the core messaging of "be yourself" but changes how Thelma is revealed which is no where near as touching or meaningful as the original story.

The extra characters are funny and the secondary story of the rival singer feel like filler vs actually being a pivotal plot point which again takes away from the power of the core message the books conveyed perfectly.

On the whole is modern and bright and my kids loved it so it gets a pass for the underlying "just be yourself" but I would have preferred it more aligned to the books.

Alas Aaron Blabey signed off so it is what it is.

Thelma the pony, Otis the donkey, and Reggie the llama are lowly farm animals who dream of becoming rock stars as The Rusty Buckets. They try to get into SparklePalooza, but are dismissed by the judges before they even start playing. A carrot and accidental glittering gives Thelma a new look and newfound popularity.

This is a simple Netflix animated movie for the kiddies. Adults will probably get bored with this derivative story. I do like the start although it is a bit short. The movie never surprises once it gets on the tracks. I would have liked staying on the farm and make this about the farm hierarchy. This is fine... for the kids.

It's a cute little family B movie that is lighter on divisive politics than I expected a movie about a pink unicorns to be. Refreshingly opposite of what Disney would've chose to do with it.

The plot is predictable but has a good message, especially if you dislike what the music industry has become in the last twenty years. It moves along at a fairly quick pace and won't make you crazy like some other children's entertainment.

No that isn't Tim Curry, but one would sure hope he is getting image and likeness royalties for the Vic Diamond character. It's really well done, but there is no doubt who that was modelled after.