Yeah, for me as well MLP was all about the toys growing up. Wind Whistler wasn't any more significant to me than Bouncy . . . They were both So-Softs on the Year 4 brochure and that was all I knew about them.
80s technology definitely limited the G1 show and movie, BUT . . . the thing is they are not even good animation by 80s standards. It's really evident if you compare all the 80s Sunbow cartoons (MLP, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and Jem) that MLP was the lowest priority. (Still better than Filmation's He-Man animation though, lol.) In the "Bright Lights" episode the human-sized mice helping the ponies have different designs for every segment of the show! That's not caused by 80s limitations, it's caused by lack of care. I mean, I'm not mad about it. It is what it is and I still enjoy watching MLP & Friends. I just roll my eyes when people act like MLP & Friends was the pinnacle of animation.
On the G4 movie, I was disappointed by the "funny" Storm King but I loved Tempest Shadow. Yeah, she's a very archetypical character. I don't care. She was great and she had the best song. I was really glad Twilight Sparkle didn't magically repair her horn at the end because that would have been a sort of "of course we welcome you as a friend--as long as you're NORMAL." The problem was never Tempest's horn, it was her feelings of abandonment and the bitterness that grew from it.
I thought parrot-pirates were an amazing idea. A clever twist on the usual trope of pirates owning parrot. (Which would NEVER ACTUALLY HAPPEN, because parrots are sensitive, finicky birds and would never survive on a pirate ship. The only reason people associate them with pirates is because of a fictional book, Treasure Island.) Also loved the design of the pirate captain. I didn't feel like they were out of place in a MLP world, I mean G1 had Catrina the cat-woman, and G4 has already had bipedal dog people and minotaurs. It's a fantasy world, the only thing out of place would be regular humans, lol. (Please god don't let them ever introduce regular humans.)
I thought the pacing was a little wonky but overall fine; the movie moved at a brisk pace. I did regret that they didn't expand certain parts, though, like more time with the sea ponies. I am certain a lot was cut out, because there's a hippogriff toy who doesn't even appear in the movie as a named character. They also threw around the idea of showing where the Storm King had gotten his staff, and the plan was that he tricked or stole it from an aging Scorpan. I wish they'd animated that, that would have been amazing.