Friendship Games · 6:09pm Oct 9th, 2015
So considering I spent two blogs drooling over Rainbow Rocks, it seemed fitting to write another to say that after weeks of trying to tiptoe around spoilers, I finally saw the Friendship Games. Since I went into Rainbow Rocks expecting it to be shit and found it to be really good, I went into this one expecting the same but for the opposite reason, and in the end... yeah it was alright.
Unlike RR, not a lot happened, but the stuff that did happen was all fairly sold and safe. The overarching plot was generally weaker as there was no real sense of threat until the end, and even when things did start building up it could all have been solved quite easily if Sunset just took Twilight's locket thing even after it became obvious she was using it to accidentally steal their magic. Sunset Shimmer is still the best character in the Equestria Girls universe, even if her guilt complex is starting to feel repetitive, but the new Twilight Sparkle was also pretty good (and I will ship the two of them until the day I die). None of the songs were as good or memorable as the ones from RR, but since the plot wasn't entirely focused around that aspect, I can forgive that (plus they were all sung by characters as opposed to just playing in the background in the first movie which I hated). There was a few funny moments, a couple really forced and painful bits, but overall they just didn't seem to be trying to set any kind of comedic tone.
All the new anti-hero characters were boring, annoying and utterly forgettable, to the point where they had their names listed and I instantly forgot what I had just heard and went on not caring about any of them or their single personality traits which they repeated over and over again. The supposed main villain was equally dull, just because her motivation was so... meh, she wants to win the friendship games, that might carry more impact if the games themselves meant very much or were even interesting. They consisted of two main rounds, one of which was shown entirely in a montage, and a third that only existed as a tie breaker and never happened anyway. But considering the games are only between two schools and not even organised by an external or impartial force, it's hard to see why they carry so much gravitas. But hey, at least with this movie and that one short where they were making the banner, they finally managed to give Flash Sentry some personality so his presence isn't so repugnant, and naturally they're still not taking the whole Flash-light ship anywhere (thankfully) and only hint at it just to piss off people off at this point (although I can't imagine how much that's succeeding since I vehemently despised the ship and was rather vocal about it, and even I'm not bothered by it any more).
As for the ending, primarily the super anime transformations of Twilight and Sunset and the subsequent fight, yeah that was pretty badass... could have been more badass if they actually had a proper battle rather than a couple of quick blasts of magic and then it ending, I was hoping for something akin to the Tirek battle, but that was obviously expecting a bit too much. So yeah, alright, not as good as RR but nowhere near as terrible as the first one, give it a watch if you haven't already, just don't be surprised if you finish and then find it hard recalling much of it.
If there is one thing I am glad they fix is how they handle the build up with the first movie. I feel that Twilight and Sunset is much better here then in the first movie.