In Thelma the Unicorn, Thelma is a pony who lives on a farm with her friends. When she’s not shifting heaps of manure around, Thelma sings lead vocals in her band, The Rusty Buckets, alongside her fellow band mates Otis and Reggie.
For the past ten years, Thelma has dreamed about super stardom. She has a strong desire to make it in showbiz and believes her big break could come from winning the Sparklepalooza talent contest.
But when things don’t work out at the contest, Thelma is left severely disappointed. This is until a new opportunity presents itself, when she accidentally gets covered in pink paint and glitter.
The paint-glitter combo transforms Thelma’s appearance, making her look like a unicorn. This in turn attracts a lot of attention from the public, and sets her career on a new course.
But will Thelma achieve the success she craves or is fame a hollow pursuit? And more importantly, will anyone watching really care?
Directed by Jared Hess and Lynn Wang, with Hess on board as co-writer, Thelma the Unicorn is an animated movie about a pony with big dreams. The film features the vocal talents of Brittany Howard, Will Forte, Jon Heder, and Jermaine Clement, is new to stream on Netflix from today, and is likely to appeal to young audiences, but will test the patience of anyone over the age of ten.
For youngsters the movie has quirky characters, plenty of music, and a glittery unicorn. There’s enough slapstick comedy and song and dance routines to get hips swinging and toes tapping, while the story about a pony attempting to make it as a singer should be sufficient for those who just require a plot that takes them from A to B.
As for everyone else, Thelma the Unicorn won’t cut the mustard. The film’s simple story runs out of steam within 20-minutes, the musical numbers are uninspired, and the animation is very limited.
All of the things which work for the under tens won’t work for anyone 11+. The whole thing feels a bit cheap, plays like a direct-to-DVD title from the 2010s, and if you’re a parent who is forced to watch the movie, I imagine you’ll be scrolling through social media to distract yourself at any opportunity.
The best thing about Thelma the Unicorn is voice actress Brittany Howard, who does a grand job of bringing Thelma to life. Howard does her best with what she’s given and makes Thelma a fully rounded character.
She deserves a better movie to match her talents, but there’s no disputing her skills. Even when the film begins to struggle, which happens pretty sharpish, Howard continues to deliver.
Outside of this, Thelma the Unicorn has very few highlights. The movie does include the brief use of ‘90s pop song, ‘Bodyshakin’, by British boyband 911, but as this is likely only to appeal to Brits who are 35+, I’d say this ‘highlight’ is pretty niche.
Beyond this? Erm… yeah, there’s not much else I’m afraid.
While Thelma the Unicorn isn’t terrible, and it’s better than some of the other rubbish served up on Netflix in the name of children’s entertainment (Marmaduke, Woody Woodpecker Goes to Camp, etc), it is limited in it’s scope and scale. This isn’t the same high quality you would get from Disney, it is very much something you would expect to find on Netflix.
A turd wrapped in glitter? No, but at times you can smell the faint aroma of a No. 2, and it is pretty clear Thelma the Unicorn is a one-trick pony.
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