Telma, la unicornio

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.

That was cute. Love the animation style and the quality which reminds me of many other Netflix's Animation Original Movies. A great number of characters and I love the world building aspect of this movie.

For me, Otis was the most likeable due to his few beautiful dialogues with Thelma. But Thelma was undeniably the main character of this movie and can relate to many people as she was feeling insecure despite being so talented.

The storyline and progression itself were cute and very family oriented. The mood setup was bright and very welcoming to watch. Few references to the LGBTQ+ community, which were cute and appreciated.

Great original songs and kudos to the voice casts for their compelling performances. Recommended.

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.

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.

It's hard to turn a 5 minute picture book into 90 minutes of film, but Thelma the Unicorn will (probably) keep little kids entertained.

Of course there's an overarching message of being who you are etc, filled in with interesting moments about the culture of celebrity, the cult of fame, and how your favourite stars are carefully curated with marketing. As an adult and well out of the target demographic, this was the most interesting part of the film. My kid, aged 9, is a bit too old for it too but having grown up with the book, she wanted to see it. And she loved it!

Recommended for the under 10s.