Equestria Girls Friendship Games Review: Holy Mother of God, Jesus Christ on a Bike · 10:27am Sep 27th, 2015
Just watched the movie, and my immediate reaction is, as the title states, "holy mother of god".
Without any further ado, let's dive into this amazing piece of pony (or human) art...
Thoughts on each part of the movie:
The beginning of the movie was... extremely well done. Far better than the previous two films. You really had a sense of movie grade production there, and I loved how there was a prologue before the pre-credits. The pre-credits themselves had great visuals, and the best theme song of all the three movies.
But what really amazed me was the bit after the pre-credits. That short montage of Twilight making her magic device was something brilliantly done and really amazed me.
We now get to see what it's like at Crystal Prep, and... it's just as expected. A bit snoody, rather posh and selfish... no surprises there. I enjoy seeing the rather timid side of this Twilight, or 'sci-twi' as people call her. The ultimatum that Principal Linch set for Twilight was... cliche and easy to predict the outcome, but, in the movie's defense, it had to be there.
The CHS rally song was similar in intentions to The Cafeteria Song, but in two different areas; One, it was a good song, and two, it didn't just summarize what should have been a massive effort and a large part of the movie into three minutes. Great addition to the movie, and I love seeing Rainbow Dash actually doing something that isn't self-centered for once. Turns out, that girl that was with RD in that song isn't a spy. Huh, I was really convinced.
The movie then moves on to focous on Sunset's struggles, and this is where the movie really starts to get good. In the previous two movies, save for one or two moments, Sunset's struggle with regret and acceptance was something that was rather sappy, and a little obtrusive. But this movie hit the nail right on the head with this potential-filled plot point, and absoloutly created a masterpiece. Pony Twilight isn't there to help Sunset, and she faces the challenge of going about controlling the magic all on her own. This sets up a great plot point for later in the movie.
Side note: Cadence's look kinda creeps me out.
The Crystal Prep students then take buses to CHS, and the students meet each other. The scene where everyone greets Twilight was rather humorous, and a really enjoyable scene. This is where we start to see the magic-sapping ability of Twilight's device. And, as usual, this'll become very important later.
The welcoming party, partyfied by Pinkie. The party cannon scene was great, and for once we get to see some proper interaction between the schools. Of course, it ends rather abruptly, but it was good while it lasted.
But then the games start, and things really begin to pick up. The music, the montages, everything... it was great. Of course, Twilight won, but the battle was epic.
The Fluttershy scene... wow. It was touching. I loved it. So cute. The connection between the two seemed so natural, because it was. It was amazing, it was like the first EG movie all over again, but done so, so much better. But then... but then something happened. Magic was sapped, portals were opened, and before I had any idea what had happened, spike could talk.
I was lying on the floor, my chair on it's side, my hands on my head, and my mouth wide open in amazement. What I had just witnessed before me was possibly the coolest thing I've seen in ages. Portal 3 confirmed.
Event #2: The relays. Ok, let's do this! I enjoyed seeing the new costumes everyone was wearing (as well as seeing the Rarity-beatbox again), and the beginning of the relay was certainly a sight to behold. And then Twilight couldn't hit the target. And this is where the movie shined like gold. Applejack shows Twilight how to aim, and she manages to score a bullseye. Another amazing scene, on par, if not better than the one with Fluttershy.
But then... magic. Lots of magic. Soooo much magic. It was spectacular. Such a sight to behold, I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing. The movie really took a turn for A-grade thriller at this point.
And then this happened.
This is what Sunset's struggles leaded up to. We see her lash out at Twilight, and the scene is practically heart-wrenching. Only seconds after Sunset's outrage, the remorse kicked in, and it only made things all the more touching. Sunset has come a long, long way. A long, long, long way.
But here we are. The big finale. The song builds up, everyone convincing Twilight to use the magic she had used. The tension builds up... and up... and-- HOLY JESUS! The massive ball of magic expands, enveloping Twilight in what is probably the most epic scene in all of MLP.
What comes out... is spectacular. Evil Twilight?!!? I get a feeling of deja vu, don't you? Sunset had been in her position before, the roles between Twilight and Sunset have reversed. Sunset calls upon the magic of friendship; the most powerful magic of them all... and we see...
Alicorn, Rainbow Power, Human Sunset Shimmer. Wow. The majesty cannot be summarized in words... so here's the video!
Portals to Equestria.... dark magic... it's all so spectacular.
EPIC ALICORN MLG BATTLE BETWEEN SUNSET AND TWILIGHT! WOAHHHHHHHHH
And then the most touching moment of the movie.
Twilight!
Spike!
...
Take my hand Twilight, let me show you there's another way, just like someone once did for me.
I actually cried. Beautiful. The level of amazing that this script has, is good fanfiction level. Such an amazing scene. We see the teacher becoming the student, the student becoming the teacher. It's beautiful. It's amazingly edited. And so much better than anything we've seen before.
I must say, the pony world has been given a run for it's money.
The end of the movie. The final scene. Judgement day for Principal Linch. Basically, to me, it looked like everyone there, Crystal Prep students included, right after Celestia, Luna, and Cadence pwned her, they all had the "GOTCHA BITCH" look on their faces.
So, Twilight moves to Canterlot High, Sunset figures out how the magic works, realizes what she was doing wrong, and all is happy in the human world... until the ending scene.
I'll get to that later.
Thoughts on the music:
The theme song was by far, the best of all the three EG movies, however as for the rest of the songs.... meh. The CHS Rally song was pretty good, but all the others felt like they left a lot to be desired. With that in mind, however, this EG movie did not focus on music, so I don't really mind. Songs of course wern't as good as Rainbow Rocks, but despite them being not the best, they wen't bad, they were just mediocre. (I guess my expectations were raised unrealistically high after Rainbow Rocks.)
Actually, this song was pretty decent.
But it still... could have been way better. The songs wern't bad, they just could have been better.
Thoughts on the ending scene:
...Wow. W-wow. Holy... prepare for some strong language here... HOLY FUCKING SHIT, JESUS CHRIST ON A BIKE THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING THING EVER OH MY GOD I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO THINK!!! Phew! With that out of the way, let's have a look at it, shall we?
Ever since the end credit scene of Rainbow Rocks, I have been hoping and practically fantasizing over seeing the two Twilights meet each other. Throughout the movie, I was really hoping to see it, but wasn't really expecting it. But then the end credit scene came, and oh my god. It was AWESOME.
BUT WAIT!
Did I just hear 'time travel loops'?!
Guys. You do know what this means... right? Time Loops are now canon.
My therory for this, is that it fits in with all this 'time travel' stuff we've been talking about in the S5 season finale. I really love this continuity boost, and I cannot wait to see just how awesome the S5 finale is.
TL;DR / Summary of the movie:
As per usual, here are the criteria which I rate all the episodes of MLP:
Premise: 6/10
When I read the premise, I expected the movie to basically have Canterlot High show Crystal Prep the 'magic of friendship', and then all the Crystal Preppers' will just suddenly change their ways. So, considering the premise at face value, it wasn't all that spectacular. Just seemed like a regular set of games.
Execution of Premise: 10/10
Couldn't have been done better. It was amazing. Spectacular. So, so good. In fact, the movie turned out to be nothing like I expected, it was far, far better. This, alongside 426 are the most epic, and well done examples of the show. Again, like I mentioned before, this has made most of S5 seem like a little frilly girls show.
Comedy: 7/10
This movie wasn't going for comedy. However, for the few moments that it was, they did make me laugh. For that reason, it gets a good rating, but not the best.
Music: 6/10
Again, the songs left a fair amount to be desired. They could have been better, but they were still pretty good. The theme song, however, was superb; the best I have seen of all three EG movies.
Visuals: 9/10
If only MLG Sunset and Evil Twilight had a Tirek-level battle at the end there. If that had happened, it would have been 10/10. This movie was filled with brilliant effects, transitions, and had a really nice ambiance.
Lesson Learned: 7.5/10
There wasn't a lesson learned, persay, it was rather more of the lesson that Sunset learns. However, the story of the student becoming the teacher is always a beautiful one to witness, and it was certainly done very, very, very well in this movie.
Overall: 9.3/10
If only the songs were better, then this'd get a solid 10. Aside from that, this was an epic, beautiful, touching, and amazing movie, truly worth admiration. Better than the previous EG movies, and arguably better than any MLP episode to date. The feeling of 'going full circle' and the way that Sunset and the Humane 5 had to teach Twilight the magic of friendship was wonderful. Like I mentioned before, it was just like the introductions in the first EG movie, only done so, so much better. In the first EG movie, they're boring, predicable... here, they're touching, amazing, and make you really feel like Twilight really belongs.
Side notes:
I find Cadence's design, specifically the small eyes, a tad creepy. It might just be me, though.
I've found that I really, really like Indigo Zap, the Shadowbolt equivalent of Rainbow Dash. I ship them, you know.
I love how Flash keeps getting rejected by Twilight, and I loved it even more when Derpy walks up behind him and comforts him.
I was surprised to find that the 'exclusive clips' they released prior to the movie's air weren't in the movie. It was my understanding that in Rainbow Rocks, all the pre-release clips were from the movie, and the post-release clips weren't. I hope we get some post-release clips for this movie too, they'll be quite enjoyable.
THAT'S RIDICULOUS!
...Nope, that's pretty much what happened.
Best quote.
So, I hope you all enjoyed this movie as much as I did, and here's to hoping for another sequel!
[CONNECTION TERMINATED]
Do you think there would be a 4th EQG movie in 2016? If so, then what do you think it would be about?
3423968 Good question.
In Rainbow Rocks, a sequel was practically confirmed right from its release. The end credit scene was very decisive in that sense.
It seems like the 'end credit' scene from this movie was a little different, rather. It seemed to be teasing the S5 finale. However, it could also be a hint towards a sequel where both Twilights are together. It's certainly an interesting concept.
Do not underestimate the power of money. If EG3 makes enough of it, then you can be darn well sure that EG4 will be pushed forward by Hasbro.
My personal bet is yes there will be a sequel. Even if it's not in 2016, I'm pretty sure one will come out.
3425129 Then someday I'll finally live one dream I wanted, which is the 2 world's becoming one. Where ponies and humans coexist.
3425206 This movie came closer to that idea than anything we've seen before.
I still have my skepticisms about that actually happening... but it could very well become a reality.
3425367 Unlike that discussion we had. Also, how do you think it would happen? What would Princess Celestia think? Who would be the antagonist? Also, what about the 2017 film from Lionsgate?
3425375 The 2017 film is the main thing that causes my skepticisms.
It, (to me at least) looks like the end of MLP G4. And from all the stuff I've seen, there's not going to be any EG stuff in that.
The biggest problem with the idea you have, is that it's going to completely change the way the show works, forever. It's something that'll only happen at the very end... if ever. The MLP movie... it is Faust's vision, for the ponies to 'explore all of Equestria... and beyond'...
3425461 When I achieve my goal as a filmmaker, I'll iron things out with them.
I just came across this blog regarding the movie, and while I disagree on the soundtrack's quality (the only song I found mediocre was "Right There In Front Of Me", which I still found to be the best ending credits song so far. The rest of the songs, though, were all amazing (especially "Unleash the Magic", which is easily the creepiest song from all 3 movies), I'm actually glad to find someone else who shares my opinion that it's the best of the EQG movies.
Though I disagree on it being better than any episode of the show. There are quite a few episodes that I'd say are better, that's both at the time of the movie's release (Pinkie Pride, The Cutie Map, and Tanks for the Memories, just to name a few) and the time I'm making this comment (Crusaders of the Lost Mark, The Cutie Re-mark, and The Crystalling).
3425461 There are two ways to look at it:
It's either going to end the series, or will be used as a seugeway into at least one more season.
I'm hoping for the latter, since, at Hasbro's 2014 investor conference, they had said that they anticipate the show lasting at least another 5 years from that point. So, if that is still true, then the show should still have at least two more years after the movie before it ends.
3902012 Honestly I think that a lot of what I wrote in this blog post was actually the after-hype of just watching the movie talking. Personally I'm not too hot on 'Unleash the Magic' as it's not really my style of music (I prefer harmony to dissonance), but that certainly doesn't mean it's a bad song.
I do agree now that it wasn't better than any episode of the show. There are many good and great episodes, a considerable sum of which are better than Friendship Games.
3902021
With the benefit of future knowledge, I now think it's very likely that there will be a further season (or more) after the 2017 movie. Is that a good thing? I don't know. I'm going to wait and see how it turns out, and then I'll make judgements on it.
All I want is for the show to end in a bang. In a beautiful, conclusive, fulfilling way-- a way deserving of a show that spawned a community as spectacular as this. I don't want G4 to be dragged out forever, and it's for that reason that shy away from the idea of having 8 or 9 seasons.
I know that I am slowly growing out of this fandom, whether I want to or not. And I just hope that I'm still around to witness the conclusion of such a brilliant and colorful world, when such a time comes.
3902149 The weird thing is that I'm not too into the style of slow menacing song that "Unleash the Magic" is either (I'm more a fan of fast paced and energetic songs), yet the way it was handled in this movie allowed it to overcome that.
And now I'm actually on the opposite side, where, while I agree that the show has a ton of good episodes, several great ones, and even some that I'd describe as "as close to perfect as possible", there have also been ones that are more lackluster, and Friendship Games is better than those.
And in regards to the show as a whole:
Given how good seasons 4 and 5 were, and given how good this season has been so far, I feel that it's safe to say that the remaining seasons will likely just get better and better.
As for how it'll end, I honestly don't know if I'd prefer a big bombastic finale, or a low-key finale that's very heartfelt. So I have this feeling that the finale will be both.