WesternAnimation A Complete Waste.
If there was a dictionary in the world with a definition for the phrase "shameless, brainless, pointless, idiotic, self-destructive cash-in," you'd find a screenshot from Equestria Girls right there beside it.
There was no reason for this to be a movie. The whole thing runs only about seventy minutes, all in all, and to be honest, that's about forty or fifty more than it ever actually needed. It's loaded to bursting with pointless plot threads that go nowhere just for the sake of padding. Petty, transparent squabbles arise and get solved in the course of just a couple minutes, but they just keep coming, more and more and more and more, one after the other, none of them ever meaning anything, none of them ever bringing consequences or weight or emotional response. Twilight gets in trouble? Not to worry — less than one scene later, shallow non-character Flash Sentry bursts onto the scene proving her innocence, and the entire affair is dropped and forgotten as quickly as it came, leaving no impression, making no difference, never having any purpose at all to begin with. These meaningless little diversions make up the vast, vast bulk of the run time, and if they sound grating or obnoxious, then rest assured, they're even worse in person.
Take the virtually non-existent story, add a hopelessly generic villain, a contrived conflict, a handful of trashy, forgettable pseudo-pop musical numbers, a few ounces of remarkably forced fanservice, an ugly color palette, uncreative character designs, and you get a movie that talks down to its audience, and that's one thing MLP:Fi M never did before. It was never this openly, outwardly, unabashedly disrespectful and creatively bankrupt. It's a silly, brain-dead movie about a school dance, a popularity contest, and a lot of insults to its viewers' intelligence.
Whenever I see a kids' movie like this, the question I always ask to myself is whether I'd show it to my girlfriend's baby sister, a five-year-old girl who I love more than almost anything else in the world. Would I show her MLP? Absolutely. Would I show her Equestria Girls? Never. She's too smart for it. Most five-year-olds, I think, would be too smart for it.
WesternAnimation Still better than games ponies plays.
While both the episode and the movie are heavily cliche, I must say I prefer this movie.
First of all, the animation is top notch, I laughed at the jokes, and the final battle was cool enough for me.
... But, man, the plot is heavily cliche, the main antagonist is bland as hell and the idea was just not a good one. And yeah, I hate the Games Ponies plays episode, is cliche, is idiotic, the "OMG Funny character with the funny accent" was annoying, and the implication on someone flirting with Shining armor was, weird for me, I didn't want to see that!.
Would recommend? Of course not, watch it knowing is bad, but that its.
WesternAnimation An unfortunate throwback to My Little Pony's Roots
As you may or may not know, MLP started off as a series that was essentially a twenty minute commercial for toys first and foremost, and a story second. Equestria Girls is very much the same - a seventy minute long commercial for Hasbro's new toyline with a loose plot stuffed in.
While many may ignore the fourth generation's obvious commercial aspect simply because it happens to be fairly well written (And consistent! Even though MLP does not have a horizontal narrative, characters retain knowledge of things they learned and the town seems to change), this movie is obviously not written well enough that many people can tell that this is an obvious cash-in for a spinoff. The first sign should be the concept - that it is a movie about My Little Pony, but the ponies are quickly stuffed offscreen in favour of their human counterparts.
The plot itself is a mess of contrivances, unexplained aspects, out of character moments, informed attributes, as well as the fact that a major aspect of the plot revolves around the main six characters being complete idiots. Conflicts are introduced and then resolved in the very same scene. Characters call attention to an important aspect of the plot's background detail, but it's never mentioned again.
Even when you take the aspect of the setting (something that has been done to death), the plot just makes an intelligent viewer think that maybe there was all sorts of executive meddling having gone on. Did they ask the writers to write a plot, and gave them no chance to edit it? Did they take the final draft, and give it a sloppy editing job before moving onto animating and filming it? Did they start animating it before they gave the writers a chance to finish the writing, forcing them to improvise?
Fans of MLP might like the amount of fandom drops like Trixie's cameo. However, others might not and instead view it as a way to mask a drop in writing quality, or simply trying to cater to the periphery demographic the wrong way. Fans of the show like it because of its good writing - something this movie does not offer.
WesternAnimation It's kinda horrible.
Aw Equestria Girls. I dreaded your coming for so long, and for good reason. Like everyone else during the hiatus, I was truly desperate for new content. So I eventually caved in to watch this....thing. And well, I can pretty much pinpoint the exact minute this movie went to the crapper.
Okay, that's enough exaggeration. Now back to the real: It was riddled with inconsistencies, for the story to work everyone involved has to be a complete idiot that never even considered another option, Sunset Simmer was not an intimidating villain in the slightest, it made no sense how an entire world of characters of all ages translates into ONE High School, the songs were not as great as people made them out to be, the character design was retarded I mean really, everyone, and I mean EVERYONE wears skirts and boots/kneesocks. The romance, OH GOD, the romance was the most forced, unnecessary addition I've seen in years. Flash Sentry only exists to give Twilight, who up to this point has never shown any interest in other guys, someone to drool over and he's the dullest character ever. His only trait is being a nice guy that can play guitar. Because as we all know, no matter what kind of girl you are nice guys with guitars are just perfect.
The fact that the film ended with the same Rainbow Deus ex Machina that's plagued the other villain episodes is just sad because this is a fucking movie, SS's sudden apology is so forced and unconvincing that I would not be shocked if she's lying, and I'm disgusted that Twilight's willing to give up everyone she knows and loves in Equestria for these shallow imitations she just met.
The animation was so-so as usual and the voice acting was regular. I seriously don't understand how anyone could like this dreck.
You know what's really funny though? This entire time, Twilight never went to a single class and her duplicate is implied to not go to that school. So Principle Celestia just gave school property to some weirdo who just walked in off the street.
All that being said, I give it a 5/10. Simply because while I have a soft spot for ponies, I refuse to forgive this movie's stupidity.
WesternAnimation Good enough not to be a guilty pleasure
Let me just say: This film is far from perfect but it is NOT your typical high school drama.
Equestria Girls is one of those movies where you have to see it for yourself. The fandom absolutely blasted this film when it was still in the concept stage and I think a lot of them are starting to withdraw their original opinions after watching this. I went in without an opinion at all, aside from questioning particular design choices and curious how they were going to pull this off. Thankfully I wasn't disappointed. This movie is a feel good movie: it makes you care about a lot of characters and you're excited to see how Twilight develops more as she's trying to cope with becoming human. Her reaction to becoming human and learning the elements present in our world had me laughing quite a lot. The mane 5 counterparts are as lovable as their pony versions, each one giving you the impression you can definitely see it's them and not someone pretending to be the original five. Unfortunately, their relationships with each other presents the film's biggest plot hole. The way they were broken up and the way they get back together is such an obvious sign of lazy writing, it will distract you for a long time. But by the time they get back together and engage in one of the most addictive songs of the entire series, you'll slowly forget.
Sunset Shimmer is a very fun villain. She starts off as your stereotypical high school alpha bitch but slowly reveals her plans and shines as having a much bigger goal outside just wanting to win the high school prom. This is another gem of the film that really makes her stand out from the typical high school bitch. While her means of engaging her goal are... questionable, it's huge in scope and she definitely deserves respect for that.
Flash Sentry, I really have no opinion on. He's likeable enough and has some character flaws (he's rather shy and timid at times) and yet he also sees Twilight for who she is and not how pretty she looks. The only downside is he's just not developed enough, which I think is why a lot of fans don't like him.
Lastly, the design choices of a lot of the character I found I really warmed up to. At the time of writing this, I seriously do love them and I find the boots to be absolutely fabulous.
I recommend people give this film a shot. If you don't like it, at least you watched it.
WesternAnimation Walk, Don't Run
This film has several major problems, perhaps the most glaring of which is that Flash Sentry is an entirely superfluous character. His sole contribution to the plot could have been done by anyone, and the conflict it resolved was only there to give him something to do. He exists only for the sake of the shoehorned Token Romance, and his screen time would have been much better spent developing the villain or the alt!Six's past. Clearly establishing that Rarity was the last girl to run against Sunset, which was why the latter went to the trouble of sabotaging the alt!Six's friendships, for example, and preferably doing so in a manner not so easily undone.
Quick conflict resolutions are another of the film's main weaknesses. It's hard to become invested in any of Twilight's problems when they're each resolved almost as soon as they come up with very little effort. In fact, it's shocking that some of these conflicts had to be resolved at all. Sunset's master plan to break up the alt!Six should have been resolved before Twilight ever arrived by the girls bothering to ask each other obvious questions like, "why did you do that?" Sunset ends up looking incompetent, which begs the question of why everyone is so afraid of her. Her single competent scheme prior to the climax is posting an embarrassing video of Twilight online, and that's overcome with an impromptu pep rally. This world's humans may be based on ponies, but they have the instincts of sheep.
Lastly, some of the character designs are distractingly bad. Principles Celestia and Luna are just plain lazy, and who thought putting alt!Applejack in a miniskirt was character appropriate? Twilight herself would have benefited from a different color shirt and some slight alterations to her hair, but now we're descending into nitpicks. On the whole, the humanizations are well done, and trying to identify those in the background is one of the funner aspects of the film. The animation and voice acting are as good as expected of the main series, and the humor, while not gut-busting, works more often than it doesn't. Twilight trying to interact with the human world and Pinkie's fourth wall painting are especially good.
Beyond that, the main reason to watch this movie are the plentiful fandom nods. If you're a fan of the main series, this film is worth a rental. Otherwise, give it a pass.
WesternAnimation It's actually kind of good
- contains spoilers*
This film is actually pretty good. There are a lot of flaws but overall, it is enjoyable. The premise is incredibly strange, and when I first heard of it I expected it to be terrible. But the trailers seemed to have a few bright points so I decided to give the movie a shot, if mostly for curiosity's sake.
The stronger points of the film were the "fish out of water" scenes where Twilight struggles to adjust having a human body and using human tools in a human world. Another thing I really liked was the plot. With the initial announcement for the film, I feared that it would just involve "Twilight goes to the human world to learn and does high school things". But instead, the events of the film are driven by a high-stakes plot. The humor is pretty good, with the aforementioned "fish out of water" moments and some very funny visuals. The animation was bouncy, colorful, and fun.
The music is okay. I liked the lyrics but the beat and instruments were all too pop, as opposed to the more varied kinds in the show. I think the songs would've been better with different music and singing styles.
Now to the bad points... Flash Sentry is a big one. He doesn't harm the movie too much but his inclusion is completely pointless. He's a flat character and doesn't really do anything for the plot of the film. He only exists to be Twilight's love interest, but it even fails in that regard because he has far too little time for a believable romance to develop. (but hey, it's better than the romantic subplot taking up the entire movie) Another problem with the film is that it reuses too many elements from episodes of the show. Snips and Snails being lackeys to the villain, (like with Trixie) and the villain quickly reforming at the end, (like Discord). I felt like the whole "Mane 6 are no longer friends" thing was really weak; did they really not try to clear up the situation before deciding they can't be friends? I also feel like the movie would've been better if the entire Mane Cast was along for the ride. Their interactions with each other are the heart of the show.
Overall, fans of the show should give it a watch. It doesn't hold up to the same quality as some of the better episodes of the show but it's still enjoyable. If nothing else, watch it out of curiosity. It's a flawed movie but it's still a lot of fun.
WesternAnimation Not a Masterpiece, but not a Train Wreck either
If I could describe this movie in one word, it would be... decent. It's not "why the heck did I watch this?" awful, but at the same time it doesn't exactly have you jumping out of your seat either. The details and subtleties of the primary cast's characterization is every bit as sharp as it is on the show proper, and the majority of the humor is spot on (seriously, any time Twilight forgets that she's not a pony any more, the result tends to be comedic gold), but the overarching plot is rather cliche and feels flat. The more emphasis a scene has on the plot (Twilight winning the Fall Formal to reclaim her crown) the less interesting it is.
The Good:
- The humor: Twilight's attempts to adjust to the human world are really funny, and Spike's sarcastic comments are great. The movie also retains a lot of the slapstick humor of the show (as seen with Pinkie sweeping the floor with her head).
- The character interactions between the main cast are generally handled well, and it's really interesting to see how Twilight approaches re-befriending them now that she knows so much about friendship. It really displays her character development.
- There are a few great interpretations of other minor characters; like the CMC trying to be a viral hit on Youtube.
The Bad:
- The overall plot about the fall formal is simplistic and cliche.
- Flash Sentry is the most unnecessary character in anything FIM related. He has one plot relevant moment, and that could easily have been given to someone else. He exists solely for Ship Tease and he's incredibly flat.
- Sunset Shimmer had an interesting concept that didn't get used well. For the bulk of the movie she seems incredibly petty and we only find out her real motive at the very end. Her Alpha Bitch characterization makes her "repentance" (not gonna spoiler; you knew it was coming) at the end seem more like a kid who starts crying when they get caught in the cookie jar.
- Celestia and Luna don't really do much and barely resemble their pony counterparts.
- The art style; body image issues aside, the mane cast have disproportionally large heads. It just looks off at some points.
In short, the movie is entertaining, but it's very obviously a straight-to-DVD quality effort. The plot is unfortunately thin, but it's worth watching for the jokes.
WesternAnimation Human ponies in high school...and it works?
I was as skeptical as anyone, but oh my god was it good. I mostly hated the idea of ponies in high school. I thought the human thing was a funny idea for a one off film.
Not much to really say, actually. The story, while simple, is not any more cliche than the show's story. It works thanks to how the characters work off each other, and the humor. Twilight dealing with being a human was hilarious and i also loved the human cameos. It has all the charm of the show, and it NEVER feels like a cash grab. It fits into the story of the show fine, and it even has a few sweet moments.
I even liked the villain. Sure, she was cliche, but she was so much fun. It's obvious the voice actress had a ball playing her, and that's why i liked her. But i will admit, what happens with her was kind of rushed...but also sort of sweet at the same time. And let's be honest...she have more personality than Chrysalis. There, i said it. The thing at the end shows some sort of depth while Chrysalis was just "Take over the world" and that's it. I do love Chrysalis as she was fun and better than Sunset...but i'm just saying.
I admit, Flash was lame. He was pointless and should have been cut out. However, i didn't hate him and he's barely in it, so i was okay. It also bugs me that the human ponies still have color, as it makes them feel less human.
But whatever. I also loved Twilight's devloment, as it continues the story of the show and shows her accepting her princess role that fans hated so much. This made the movie feel connected to show, and that's why i liked. Also, the songs were great too.
Overall, it's not perfect but it is decently enjoyable. It fits more as an extensions to the show, than a movie so you need to watch the show to really get it. Either way, I give a B+, the plus being for the humor an minor elements. Bronies, don't fear. This movie is good.
WesternAnimation And its.... alright I guess
Cheesy, weak plot, but everyone is in character (despite his appearance, Spike has NOT been screwed over, hes plenty useful and gets some good lines) the humour is as good as ever, the attention to detail is very impressive (you won't believe the amount of ponies from the show this has!).
The plot is a exactly as cliche as you'd expect, and the climax is extemely anti climatic (Twilight wins in about 5 seconds but eh), but its an enjoyable film otherwise.
Not a masterpiece but NOT The. Worest. Possible. Thing that fans feared.
Edit: A word of warning though, if your a Rainbow Dash fan you will be annoyed. She says and does very little, and has a very small, nearly non existent role in the plot.
WesternAnimation Not Complete Crap
So there's been a lot of apprehension (Or as Pinkie put it, "nervicitment") over this adaptation. Namely there were fears that it'll crap all over what we know and love about Friendship Is Magic. Now that I've seen the movie... My feelings on it are a bit mixed.
On one hand, there were plenty of nice jokes about Twilight having to adjust to an environment and body that is totally alien to her. Having to deal with the things most of us take for granted, such as information technology or merely walking and fine manipulation. There's also plenty of appearances of favorite characters as humans and in a high school setting.
On the other hand, there were points that I personally didn't like. Such as the romantic subplot between Twilight and one of the new characters, Flash Sentry. One of the biggest draws of Friendship Is Magic was that it was a show aimed at girls that didn't touch romance in any serious sense. One of the biggest fears is that this is a sign that things are going to backslide and it'll turn to the very thing the show was made to go against. Hopefully though, this romantic subplot will not be present at all in Season 4 of Friendship Is Magic. Some other subplots that seemed hackneyed were plots like where Twilight was going to sleep, or even Sunset Shimmer's ultimate fate, but that's to be expected when you're given an hour and 13 minutes.
Overall, this movie wasn't totally bad, they managed to turn a sow's ear of an idea into a silk purse with this movie... Now if only Hasbro's toy department can get it together and produce better looking dolls...
EDIT: One event that still sticks in my mind is the fact that they've brought up the issue of cyber-bullying. This wouldn't have been possible in Friendship Is Magic, given the setting, but there's something very poignant about a character like Twilight getting hit with a problem that's unfortunately all too real. Especially since Twilight is my favorite character. It reminded me a lot of the whole "Derpygate" affair, which is quite an intriguing piece of Reality Subtext.
WesternAnimation Pretty Good Overall
It's basically a two part MLP episode and it's the same quality writing and humor you'd see in the show. If you are a fan of the show you should be able to enjoy the film it's a lot of fun. There a ton of shout outs to the fans sprinkled throughout and I think people will be happy to know Twilight's romance doesn't really take off much and the guy Flash Sentry is already confirmed to not be part of season 4. There a few bits of romance between them, but it's very limited and brief. A pony named Sunset Shimmer steals Twilight's princess crown/element of harmony and retreats into an alternate world where Twilight has to pursue her. Ultimately she finds that the crown has become the prize for whoever becomes the princess of the fall formal and must find a way to win. I was afraid the message this movie sent would be all wrong making Twilight getting her crown back all about some popularity contest, but it's actually about accepting people for who they are and avoiding shutting yourself from most of the world in a small clique. Even touches on some issues like cyber bullying. Since it's about the length of two episodes some plot points do feel a bit rushed at times though. This is the same staff who has been working on the show so you can trust them to deliver an enjoyable film. It's full of laughs, it feels just like the show and overall it's a really enjoyable experience. Try not to be close minded due to the human thing it's really not a bad movie. I definitely recommend it to any MLP fan. Also make sure you stay for the end of the credits for a nice surprise.
WesternAnimation Saw it.
Not that bad actually. has a season 1 and 2 feel, though suffer 3 flaw in pacing abit. the plot was good yet sunset shimmer ultimate was subpar but otherwise pretty good. i especially credits where we get some... muffins (Hint hint)
WesternAnimation Looks Good
I know the movie hasn't come out yet buy after watching it's trailer I can honesty say i can't wait! It looks so... AWESOME! Plus I'm so excited the butterflies in my stomach have butterflies. I also know that many people aren't exsactly fond of it but they can go plug a hole for all I care because their negative opinions don't matter, what does matter is that I like it and when it does come out I'll be able to point out all the good things about it, all I have to do is wait.
WesternAnimation OMG! Ponies Ruined FOREVER!!!!11!onehundredeleven
Actually, this is a review to say I can't review anything yet. This was written a month before the movie comes out, and other than a few promo images and a minute-long trailer, at this point, I know next to nothing.
Yes, the design is a bit off-putting to me and to plenty others as well. Sure, it does seem like yet another high school-based movie to go with the approximately 17.3 billion high school-based shows and movies that came before it.
Then again, one of my favorite cartoons was based in high school. Clearly, I don't expect Equestria Girls to be anything like Daria, but if nothing else, that means that something less hackneyed can be made of the setting.
Further, a lot of the people behind Friendship Is Magic worked on Equestria Girls. If they made a group of rainbow-colored ponies that would have been anathema three years ago not only watchable, but entertaining and engaging, I think I can trust them to make a high school theme work.
If nothing else, they've earned more than enough cachet with me to see the damn movie first before saying it's ruined the franchise.
WesternAnimation Not Great, But Worth a Watch
Equestria Girls... from the moment I heard of it until I saw it, I hoped that it would never exist. After seeing it, I can honestly say I could go either way. Why? Here's the basic rundown:
Pro:
The Animation is top notch
Spike's Character (Considering I can't stand Spike in Friendship is Magic, this is huge)
Helping Twilight Win the Crown
The scene with Trixie getting her peanut butter crackers
Sunset Shimmer prior to the end
Twilight's clumsiness
Con:
Two words: Flash Sentry
The ending
Too much Fan-pandering
All songs except HTWtC
Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna
Snips and Snails
To clarify some points, fan-pandering vs. fan-service is a big distinction for me. Fan-service, which is fine gives a nod or two to the audience. Fan-pandering makes the movie all about the nods. And EQG has way too many moments where they tried to pander to the fans. Some of them were good, like the Trixie mention, but they could have easily left others out. Sunset Shimmer WOULD have been up there with Discord as one of the greatest villains had the ending where she did a 180 heel-face turn was so full of crap. She had a solid background, a reason for being there, and was a strong villain, then at the last second they trashed the best new character of the movie. And as far as Chad (Flash Sentry) goes, I don't hate him for the relationship with Twilight. I hate him for having no personality and no purpose. Yes, he showed the pictures to Luna, but literally ANY of the other 5 could have done it, and the scene would have not been worse. But, for the most part, the first hour of the movie was decent, if not good. Too bad the ending ruined things.
Final Rating: 7.3325/10 Would watch again, but don't expect me to buy the Blu-Ray or DVD.