Friendship Games Review · 3:16am Sep 27th, 2015
Well, good news, I was able to get off of work in time to see the movie tonight! So, unless you're waiting for the DVD release come October, sit back, relax, and let's review the Friendship Games! May the odds be ever in Canterlot High's favor!
The movie begins right where "Rainbow Rocks" left off, with Sunset Shimmer writing to Twilight to see how things are going. In the time since The Battle of The Bands, things have quited down at Canterlot High. Sunset Shimmer's even going by the name of Sunset now.
But suddenly, Sunset Shimmer notices someone snooping around near the portal. Though she isn't able to get a good look at the person, she is able to notice them get on a bus to the city.
The person is human Twilight, who attends Crystal Prep, and has been studying the magical events at Canterlot High for some time. Life at Crystal Prep hasn't been the greatest though, because the students only care about always winning the Friendship Games (which are held every 4 years).
Dean Cadence leads Twilight to a meeting with Crystal Prep principal Cinch, who insits that Twilight compete in the games, or her application to a new university will be denied. The reason being, Cinch has noticed that Canterlot High is improving, and wants to ensure they don't win.
Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer shares the news about the mysterious visitor, and learns about the Friendship Games from Rainbow Dash. The games don't really live up to the spirit of friendship though, because Canterlot High always loses. Thankfully, Rainbow Dash rallies the school with a pep rally, promising that this year will be different.
Sunset Shimmer soon finds herself in a very difficult situation. She is tasked by Vice Principal Luna, with keeping magic out of the games, so Canterlot High won't be accused of cheating. Sunset Shimmer writes to Twilight for advice, but does not obtain any replies. Only growing further frustrated as she fails to understand the magic that forms in her friends, which now pops up when they get passionate about something, as opposed to just playing musical instruments.
As for human Twilight, only Dean Cadence and Sugar Coat are willing to even talk to her (though she has her dog, Spike, who she smuggled along, to keep her company), and making use of a special locket she created with the magic samples from the portal, she is able to track more sources of Equestrian Magic. As she does so, she is shocked to discover that everyone at Canterlot High already knows her. Even Flash Sentry, who is curious as to why Twilight is wearing glasses. And regards to his character, well he's no longer the love interest, but he really doesn't get much screen time and just feels sort of there. Still, it's something of an improvement.
Twilight's locket sucks away the magic from the portal, just as Sunset Shimmer was going to travel to Equestria to see if she could talk to Equestria's Twilight. But I have to point this out, even if she could go through the portal, how is she certain she could get back? If, for some reason, pony Twilight couldn't power the portal, Sunset Shimmer would be stranded in Equestria.
Human Twilight's locket also snatches the magic from Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, just as the first round of the Friendship Games begins. 12 students from both schools face off in a test of academic skill, and only the 6 who score the highest points move on to the second round. In the end, human Twilight wins the first round for Crystal Prep. But all of The Rainbooms advance to Round 2.
Sunset Shimmer continues to struggle in vain to contain the magic, as Fluttershy transforms after helping human Twilight feel welcome. This time, the locket has absorbed so much magic, that it can now open mini portals. Spike goes through one of them, and even after the portal closes, he gains the ability to talk.
Principal Cinch tasks Twilight with getting to know The Rainbooms better, via spying on them. And before long, the second round of the games takes place. The 6 students are split into 3 pairs for a triatholon consisting of archery, roller skating, and moter cross. Crystal Prep gets off to an early lead, but Fluttershy and Applejack pull ahead as human Twilight struggles to hit a bullseye. Applejack decides to be a good sport, and scarifice the advantage her team has to help human Twilight hit the target. In the process, she unleashes her magic, which gets sucked into the locket. The locket is knocked away, and magical plants appear on the moter cross track, causing trouble for both teams.
Rainbow Dash transformrs to help save the atheletes, and both schools tie. Soon afterward, Rainbow Dash's magic is sealed into the locket. Sunset Shimmer gets mad with human Twilight, and lashes out at her for her irresponsibility and tampering with things she doesn't understand, driving human Twilight away in tears. Sunset Shimmer feels guility, but in a very heart felt scene, Principal Celestia reassures her that it isn't her fault the magic is out of control, even though Sunset Shimmer still believes she should be preventing the problem.
Principal Cinch is offered the chance to end the games in a tie, but refuses. The final event is held, involving a race to find a flag and return to the front of the school with it. Principal Cinch and all of Crystal Prep pressure human Twilight, who is feeling vulnerable after her verebal assault at the hands of Sunset Shimmer, into unleashing the magic to help Crystal Prep win. Unfortunately, the magic is too strong for human Twilight to control, and she is turned into a demon not unlike that which Sunset Shimmer became in the first movie.
Tara Strong does an outstanding job as this evil Twilight, as she proceeds to rip open portals to Equestria, tearing apart the human world in the process. With Crystal Prep (except for Principal Cinch) and Canterlot High banding together, Sunset Shimmer gathers up the magic, and transforms into an angelic creature to combat evil human Twilight. She specifically mentions how she was in Twilight's place once upon a time, and doesn't want to see someone else make the same mistakes. In the end, Spike manages to reach out to his master's heart, giving Sunset Shimmer enough time to undo the damage and free human Twilight. The magic is restored, and the games end with a victory for Canterlot High.
Principal Cinch is furious, but realizes her reputation will be ruined if she even attempts to tell the school board about the events that transpired. And she storms off, though it isn't stated what becomes of her, and who (if anyone) takes her place at Crystal Prep (I like to think she'll be arrested for blackmail, and Dean Cadence will fill her position until a suitable replacement can be found).
Principal Celestia then offers human Twilight the chance to enroll at Canterlot High, and she accepts wholeheartedly. Sunset Shimmer then tells The Rainbooms that she relayed too much on Princess Twilight to help her, and that she needs to solve her problems on her own. A bit of a predictable moral, but still a good one to be taught.
The movie ends with what is hopefully, a hook for a televison series. Pony Twilight finally comes through the portal, and meets her human counterpart. (Seriously , Hasbro, get to work on it! You have no excuse!)
And that's the story, so what do I think of the movie? Well, I have to say that this is probably the best of the Equestria Girls movies. It hits pretty much all the right notes, and finally lets the series stand on its own two legs. It does waste a bit of time with exposition that recaps the first two movies, which it probably didn't need to do. And the fate of Principal Cinch probably should've been clarified. Human Shining Armor's appearance was also relatively pointless, and Flash Sentry, though no longer a bland love interest, really didn't have much to do. But those are minor flaws, and this movie was perfectly paced, with some very good songs. It did a fairly good job of showing what Equestria Girls could offer, and I really, really, really hope a tv series is in the works in the future!
This was the best Equestria Girls movie out of the 3. I can really see them doing a TV series, just hope they well take the chance!
3423301 I hope so too. At this point, they really have no excuse not to at least try.
Actually, I don't think that exposition was officially part of the movie, since the Discovery Family message that the movie was starting came after it.
Had this movie premiered in theaters (which it definitely should have), I doubt that bit would have been shown.
But yeah, this is definitely the best of the 3 movies.
I was having a hard time deciding if I liked this one or Rainbow Rocks more, and then... Unleash the Magic came along. And that whole song qualifies as one of the top ten creepiest moments of anything related to the FiM universe, and is definitely the creepiest moment in any of the EQG movies. After that song, this movie gained a slight edge, and then it kept pressing the advantage with that awesome yet terrifying transformation scene, and then the epic confrontation between humicorn Sunset and evil Human Twilight (dubbed Midnight Sparkle on the TV Tropes pages for this movie). And then that last scene with seeing regular Twilight coming through the portal was just the cherry on top of an epic sundae.
My only complaints about the movie are as follows:
1. The opening theme (and I mean the theme itself. the visuals for it were amazing) was kind of weak.
2. Dean Cadance's design is probably the one that falls into the uncanny valley the most for me. Mostly due to her lips not looking quite right.
3. The final confrontation between Sunset Shimmer and Midnight Sparkle should have been a few minutes longer. That way, the epicness of that moment would have been greatly increased.
4. The movie should have had an official premiere in theaters.
But that's really it. Everything else about the movie was better in this one than in RR.
Heck, this movie even gave me a character who I consider to be more of a b*tch than Diamond Tiara. The worst Diamond Tiara has done so far is make Scootaloo feel bad about not being able to fly. At least she hasn't put Equestria in mortal danger yet.
Now I'm even more excited for the fourth one than I was for this one.
If I had to rate it the movies:
1: Rainbow Rocks
2: Friendship Games
3: Equestria Girls
Not to say that the first movie was bad, but compared to the other two I think it could've done a lot more. That being said it was still enjoyable and helped get this part of the franchise off the ground.
Rainbow Rocks took everything from the first movie and improved it in my opinion.
And as for Friendship Games, I feel that it was entertaining and enjoyable but there were a few missed opportunities here and there, not enough to make it bad by any means but I just feel Rainbow Rocks brought more to the table in terms of development, mainly for the rival team. For a group that was supposedly built up as the anti-six, they really didn't get that much development outside from their base personalities.
3423323 I think I would also throw out, that I don't really like them using Pinkie Pie to handwave contrivances and provide exposition. She doesn't work like that.
3423331 Actually, I love those moments. I happen to find them hilarious.
For me, best one of the EQG movies, but it wasn't exactly perfect for me. The shadow five could've had a lot more attention drawn to them, the pacing was okay but I do think the battle scene was a little on the short side.
But for me, I did spot one thing that I think a lot of viewers missed. Did any one catch the part where human Twilight said "And try not to s***." when she put Spike in her bag, because I thought I heard her say that word.
Anyways, like you said, there needs to be a TV Series at this point like those shorts they made.
It's with this one that I was faced with a dilemma last night.
Everybody here knew that the picture would air at 5PM my time (which is Arizona Standard - I live in the Tucson Area).
On the other hand, I'm so happily back into watching The Lawrence Welk Show (I watched its reruns when I was little) that I wanted to watch that too. That night, on Ch. 6 in my area (which homes PBS station KUAT), they were repeating a 1971 episode of The Lawrence Welk Show focusing on trends in fashion/music from the 1920s up until the point of its original airing. I've a cleaning lady, Mrs. Connie Roma, who had fond memories of that program and it's because of those that I was roped back into watching it earlier this year. (In case you've never heard of him...http://www.allmusic.com/artist/lawrence-welk-mn0000116816/biography)
Meanwhile, as all this was going on, I solved it. I had two DVD recorders in my room so I used one (in my room) to tape the new EqG! picture and used the other (in the living room) to tape the Welk show. The taping in my room went 10 minutes longer than I wanted it to, causing the first 10 minutes of Madagascar III to be taped as well (I didn't want to tape that film!) Perhaps it was because I wanted to watch the Welk show so much.
Perhaps there's also another aspect as to how I solved it: My mom really wanted to watch the news at the picture's second half-hour.
Anyway, later on today, I think I might pop the disc of what I taped in my room onto my computer so that I could watch the Friendship Games. Before that, I plan to re-watch the Welk Show from last night on my computer as well.
How do you observe the problem and solution I encountered?