Equestria Girls: Friendship Games Review. *Re-vised* · 4:43am Sep 30th, 2015
Edit: Added in something after my score.
I originally wrote this on Equestria Daily about an hour after I had watched it, but I wanted to post it here along with any future episode reviews I make just so that I can store them for safe-keeping.
Wow....just....wow....I finished watching Friendship Games about an hour ago, and I was just amazed at everything that took place. I always thought of the first one as being Twilight's story in the human world, and the second being both hers and Sunset Shimmer's. This one is most definitely Sunset Shimmer's story as well as coming full circle with everything she has been through since she originally left Equestria. The elephant in the room is still there in terms of her going back to Equestria, but I'll get into that in a bit.
Sunset Shimmer has really come a long way since being reformed, for she is living up to the expectations that both Celestia and Twilight have of her even though she left the former due to being corrupted. I do love her new outfit as it shows she has moved on from her past on the material side of things, but on the emotional side, she still feels guilty over bringing magic to the human world. Her character remains conflicted over what she has done in her life, yet even though it almost breaks her down, she manages to persevere through the magic of friendship which she finally figured out although she had to go through a lot of hurdles to get there. I still wish she could have gone to Equestria though to try and find Twilight as that would have pleased so many, but it remains the elephant in the room which needs to be addressed sooner or later. I'd say Sunset has essentially become the equivalent of Twilight for the human world, and her interactions with the human Twilight reflect upon this. She still has moments where she regresses back to the villain role, but only because of sheer frustration.
Then we have the human version of Twilight who is essentially Equestria Twilight back at the beginning of the series, and Sunset Shimmer without the negative attachment until the final conflict which I'll cover later. Even when she is being ignored and bullied by her fellow students, she remains as adorkable as ever for her love of knowledge and wanting to understand new things keeps her dear to her true self. I do wish though that she could have stood up for herself a lot more, for everyone at Crystal Prep aside from Cadance kept on pressuring her to do this, and do that without asking how she felt about it. No wonder her only friend was Spike as he never once used her for anything, and this still holds true after he starts to talk. I actually thought this Twilight was from Equestria, and was under some kind of memory wipe, but boy was I glad my theory turned out wrong. Again, human Twilight ends up taking on Sunset Shimmer's former persona....quite literally which I'll get into when I cover that part.
Abacus Cinch was quite an interesting villain, and I knew she would be the main antagonist because of the title sequence, and that her office was dark and foreboding. She only cares about winning, and doesn't appreciate any kind of emotional baggage as she views it as weak in her mind. She uses manipulation, deceit, promises of great things, and more to keep Crystal Prep on top, but she is oblivious to what she has done to her students on an emotional level. The fact that she manipulates human Twilight by hanging her dreams above her head on a noose shows how horrible she can be when it comes to showing her school dominates. Unlike the other villains in Equestria Girls, she isn't from Equestria, and wasn't defeated in that sense of the word. She still remains her cold, calculating self, and I doubt anyone would want to go to her school especially knowing what she is like.
The final battle....I wasn't expecting that to happen....not in a million years, and it was so awesome that I just stared at what was happening until it was all over. The battle was basically the original one from the first movie, but with the roles reversed, and the reasons completely different because Twilight was forced to release the magic. Like I said, she became the old Sunset Shimmer by becoming a demonic monster, but unlike Sunset, Twilight had no kind of restraint, and was determined to destroy the human world because she had that power. Sunset transforming into what appears to be an alicorn or angelic version of herself was epic beyond words, and it reinforces how she has come full circle. Huge props to DHX for the special effects especially here as this was one of the best moments I've ever seen in the series.
I'm expecting lots of fanart of Twilight and Sunset in their respective forms near the end, and perhaps even more than that knowing how the fandom works. I loved seeing the human version of Cadance, for she was long overdue, but I wasn't expecting Shining Armour to make an appearance. Then again, wherever one of them is, the other is not too far behind. The Friendship Games themselves was epic, and full of plot twists that made it an event no one will ever forget, and of the two events shown, event number two was the best as it had the most action. Of course, I can't forget the part right at the end where the two Twilights meet. I have a feeling this foreshadows a fourth movie, and perhaps we may see a human world version of Sunset Shimmer. What Equestria Twilight said when she appeared has certainly raised questions, and I guessed correctly that Friendship Games takes place after season five.
Overall, I'd give this movie a 98% which is almost perfect, but again the elephant in the room remains an issue that needs to be solved one of these days as it can't be avoided forever.
Edit: My score still stands mind you, but there is one thing I wish could have happened. After watching Friendship Games a few more times since posting this review initially, I wish there could have been a scene in Equestria where Twilight was struggling to fix the problem that delayed her. It only needed to last maybe a minute or two, and would have eventually zoomed over to her castle where the book that connects to the one Sunset uses constantly glows indicating that the messages were coming through, but Twilight was too busy to get to it.
Oh, and I've come to realize that Science Twilight upon transforming was driven by both the desire to understand magic, and being pressured by Principal Cinch and the Crystal Prep students into unleashing the magic because they felt it was right. She became corrupted due to being overwhelmed by all that power, but wasn't necessarily evil as her actions while transformed stem from just wanting to learn as much as possible.
Glad to know I wasn't the only person who saw the connection between the pilot as well. Its a stretch... but one can really compare Human Twilight going to Canterlot High School to Pony Twilight going to Ponyville. Cinch can be seen, partly (and if you squint) as a form of Nightmare Moon with different motivations. I thought I was crazy, but I am glad to know that it is there.
Best movie hands down... The 2nd one was good too (and the first is the black sheep) but this one blew everything out of the water and simply was the best. Even though this makes a good trilogy stopper, a part of me still hopes for a 4 at some point. Maybe 4 will include indirectly, the movie that is coming out sometime in 2017. But hey, Ponies make everything better and even if a sequel isn't necessarily needed, I would still watch it..