Ranking the Equestria Girls Films/Specials (From Worst to Best) · 4:15pm Mar 22nd, 2019
It really is interesting how far this spin-off franchise has come since its not so humble origins back in 2013. When the first "Equestria Girls" hit theaters in the Summer of 2013, to say the fandom was disappointed would be an understatement. And considering it was the only new content from MLP at the time (outside of the comics), it certainly didn't leave a good first impression in the eyes of many. Yet it did well enough to warrant a sequel, and as time has gone by the franchise has done so well that it's actually gotten a (poorly made) shorts series.
But we're not here to talk about all of those miscelleanous shorts (largely because I haven't seen most of them and have no desire to do so given their lack of effort for the most part), we're here to talk about the feature lengths films and/or specials that have been dropped us at least once a year since 2013. There's a total of 9 to consider, and this one is just a straight up overall entertainment and quality ranking. Of course the same disclaimers as all previous lists applies, and chances are you're going to disagree with some of my decisions.
9. Rollercoaster of Friendship
Why it's on the bottom: It may not even be a year since it was released, but ooh wee is this one a stinker! I suppose I should commend it for trying to shift the focus away from Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi, but in doing so it ended up justifying the focus on them as the only characters anyone actually watches this series for. Vigenette Valencia is by far one of the worst antagonists I have ever seen in any fictional work, and the whole conflict is contrived and incredibly insulting. At times it almost feels like they're going for a self parodying angle, but if that was the case they play it way too seriously for much of the special. Especially when they wanna rehash that still controversial scene from "A Canterlot Wedding, Part 1", which of course only happens because everyone is so stupid. Yes, even Sunset Shimmer of all characters becomes unlikeable, the star character that the whole fandom can't stop gushing about!
8. Mirror Magic
Why it's not on the bottom: I'm still not sure when in the timeline of its parent show that this is supposed to take place. Supposedly it takes place during "Shadow Play" when Twilight and the others are looking for answers to Starswirl's disappearance, but if that's the case why would Starlight not tell Sunset that and decide instead to tag along to see this other world she never even heard of before? At least one reviewer mentioned that it feels like they substituted Starlight in for Twilight at the last minute, and the only reason why I can think they did that is because they wanted to sell a human Starlight Glimmer figure. Her interactions with Sunset aren't bad persay, but again it feels like they're giving her special treatment. And meanwhile, Juniper Montage is an insufferable antagonist who never stops whining. And her monster design, I have no idea why they made it the way they did. It doesn't look frightening, it doesn't look otherworldly, it just looks like some kind of Barbie reject (which is ironic since I think Hasbro now produces Barbie toys).
7. Dance Magic
Why it's in the bottom three: Originally, this special was going to take place prior to "Legend of Everfree" but all that changed was the girls were raising money for the school field trip rather than to repair and save Camp Everfree. When it got pushed back it should've used that time to rework its story, because what we got was a pretty underwhelming rehash of "Rarity Takes Manehattan" which forgot that Rarity's breakdown worked because her friends actually tried to help and she was under pressure, whereas here her friends are just goofing around and tossing out ideas that won't work. There's also the strangely unexplained absence of Indigo Zapp, most likely done to preserve Kelly Sheridan for Starlight (since she also voices Indigo Zapp), which just further makes the decision to bill the Shadowbolts as the anti-Rainbooms seem pointless. If not for the mention that Cadence is now running Crystal Prep (meaning Abacus Cinch has either resigned or been fired) there would be nothing going for this special.
6. Rainbow Rocks
Why it's in the bottom half: Oh boy, I'm really stepping in with this one. Lots of people in the fandom are still in love with this movie and consider it a vast improvement over the original, for some it even remains the high water mark for the entire franchise. But sadly, while the villains are a marked improvement over the blandness of Sunset Shimmer (who was just a typical mean girl villain) and Sunset Shimmer is easily the best thing about this entire movie (giving her the best written redemption arc since she has to work for it), everything else is just there. Putting pony into this movie was a mistake, it made it seem like this franchise was afraid to stand on its own two legs and needed to drag its parent franchise in just to get people to actually be invested (which is why none of the promotional material featured Sunset Shimmer, even though we had shorts involving Vinyl Scratch and Trixie who were fan favorites). And the pacing is just awful, outside of the climax it feels way too rushed. It doesn't help that the Rainbooms are horribly unlikeable in a lot of places, especially human Rainbow Dash whose ego is inflated to absurd levels and human Applejack who keeps picking fights over every little thing. Meanwhile, pony Twilight's entire presence amounts to nothing other than wasting time, and in the climax they decide to just throw out the counter spell idea all together. It still irks me that the Dazzlings, by far the most popular and best written villains in this franchise, are the only ones whose fate remains unknown. Even then, though, only Adagio Dazzle commands any attention. Aria Blaze gets a throwaway line about a power struggle and Sonata Dusk is just the token comedic relief (and people forget that she willing went along with everything her sisters did, never once did she express regret or show any signs that she didn't agree).
5. Equestria Girls
Why it's in the middle: The one that started it all. To think that back in 2013, if you'd told anyone that not only was this film going to succeed but it was going to spark an entire spin-off franchise, they would've thought you were crazy. Of course, this first film didn't do the best job of defying first impressions and expectations, in fact it kind of seemed to reinforce a lot of them. In particular, Sunset Shimmer is just the generic mean girl villain and Flash Sentry the boring love interest with no development beyond that. That's not to say there aren't some good moments here and there, this was the first time since arguably "The Crystal Empire" that Twilight and Spike's bond was touched on and even if it wasn't much it was a nice detail to see (seriously, Spike was great in this film). But when it isn't using a lot of the cliches of high school teen drama movies, this film mostly seems intent on retreading old ground or simply apologizing for previous mistakes. The third act is probably the biggest thing that hurts this film, it's sloppy, too fast paced, and the initial redemption we got here was really weak.
4. Movie Magic
Why it's in the top half: This is a Scooby-Doo mystery plot plain and simple, so how much you like this special is gonna boil down to how much you like those kinds of stories. I do think they could stand to run with it a little more, like "Castle Mane-ia" did, but it's fine enough for the length of this special (even if Juniper Montage's motivation is incredibly weak). It's a nice touch to have Daring Do in this universe be an action/adventure type of movie hero, and I gotta admit Pinkie Pie and Spike as Shaggy and Scooby-Doo is a terrific pairing that I wish they focused more on. The Power Ponies bit odd, it's just there for one scene and then they forget all about it, meaning it's just there for fanservice. Yeah, maybe it's not the most original work out there, but sometimes just being able to put your own take on something that's already been done is all you really need to be successful (though that's more because what came immediately before and after this special both set the bar really low).
3. Legend of Everfree
Why it's in the top three: Early promotional material and synopsis' suggested this was going to be a Summer vacation film, but it turned out to be more of a Spring field trip. It was interesting to see Sunset start to take a back seat to Sci-Twi, and that Sci-Twi wasn't going to be fully integrated into the group right away. Granted, they drag out her conflict for a little bit more than what's necessary, and the foreshadowing to Gloriosa Daisy as Gaia Everfree is painfully obvious (they weren't even trying to hide it). I still don't get why she targeted the campers and not Filthy Rich, or why they even needed to have human Filthy Rich at all (just having the camp be behind on its payments and in danger of being closed would be conflict enough). The biggest highlight is seeing the Rainbooms develop their powers and begin to make use of them, even as they personally want it to be out of their lives. Plus, this was one of only two movies that ever treated us to a blooper reel (how come we didn't get that for the actual movie in 2017? Did they just not have time?)
2. Friendship Games
Why it's not on the top: This was the film that convinced me the Equestria Girls franchise could work as its own thing, not just an occasional piggybacker for its parent franchise to use to tide fans over. I think it helps that pony is completely absent from this movie until the very end, in a post-credits stinger that at the time sort of spoiled what lay in store for the very end of Season 5 (though they thankfully avoided the biggest spoiler of all). Sunset Shimmer starts to leap into the role of leader here and does so well. Sci-Twi's struggles are also something to be invested in, even if she never seems to question anything that happens. However, the film suffers from overcrowding, particularly in the introduction of Abacus Cinch and the Shadowbolts. And they're all done solely to make Crystal Prep look like the absolute worst place to be, with even characters we're supposed to be rooting for either being in on Cinch's corruption or doing nothing to stop it. Interestingly, we know that early drafts of this film were going to parallel Twilight's struggle with Sunset's and dwell upon Sunset being homesick. But considering the film was overcrowded as it is, adding in this extra plot would've made it difficult to tell what to focus on. And of course, it would've just made the Rainbooms seem further one note. Still, I think this marked a turning point for the franchise as it proved ready to finally stand on its own.
1. Forgotten Friendship
Why it's on the top: Yes, a part of what makes this special so enjoyable is that we got to see Sunset Shimmer come back to Equestria as a pony, and make amends with Princess Celestia. It was everything we'd ever wanted and then some. But I think it also helped to show us that Sunset's redemption is an ongoing process, there's always things you can strive to improve on and those who you still have to convince that you've changed. Wallflower Blush was surprising in that she doesn't turn into a monster, though her original reasons for targeting Sunset don't make much sense (why does she still think Sunset hasn't changed despite all evidence to the contrary?). Once it moved past the obvious red herring of Trixie as the villain, in favor of having her and Sunset hang out and bond, this special really started picking up steam. The scene where Sunset sacrifices her memories to keep the Rainbooms from losing theirs is incredibly touching and sympathetic, and is well acted. About the only thing that this special could've done better, was give Flash Sentry more of a role. The best we got was Sunset meeting his pony counterpart, and you'd think that with what details we got of them in the first Equestria Girls there'd be room to explore it more in depth. Still, considering what the franchise had been doing up to this point it was quite remarkable to see that not all creative talent had been lost. So for all those reasons, I'm putting this in the top spot.
And there you have it. This is sadly the end of my various episode rankings, but come back tomorrow for one last list ranking all the parents/families of the Mane Seven (Spike's family is still a mystery for the time being).
For me, it goes:
1. Mirror Magic, for obvious reasons.
2. Forgotten Friendship. It actually came REALLY close to overtaking Mirror Magic for my pick for best EQG thing. If they had worked in a conversation between Sunset and Starlight (even if it was just the two acknowledging each other), it would have been in first place.
3. Legend of Everfree. I just love everything about it.
4. Friendship Games. It took the improvements Rainbow Rocks made over the first film and tightened them.
5. Movie Magic
6. Rainbow Rocks
7. EQG 1. It's a bit of a mess all around, but an enjoyable mess.
8. Rollercoaster of Friendship. Mostly just dull, but with a few bright spots.
9. Dance Magic. The only enjoyable part is the song of the same name.
Might want to fix that.
...or it could make for an interesting story...
5031474 Yeah, we still don't know exactly what became of the human world's Sunset Shimmer, assuming there is one.
Honestly, Forgetten Friendship was my least favorite as the Mane Six did nothing and just focused on the bad things about Sunset. I also didn’t like Wallflower as she did this just because she wanted some attention. Also, I thought it was a dumb move for Clover the ‘Clever’ to just toss the stone into another realm like a scrap of paper into a trash can.
I disagree Friendship Games is number 3 for me. There wasn’t enough risk involved in it. I think the B-story would have made it a contender to the Rainbow Rocks. It would have combined perfectly into the finale. Think about out. The Rainbooms will have to struggle against the need to win against Crystal prep and the concern of Sunset leaving. And with sci-twi causing magical problems it would have been a bigger risk. And it was stupid to remove that duelet of Sunset Shimmer and Sci-Twi. It would have tied the two together nicely. Think about it. Sunset Shimmer is wanting magic to behave like it does in Equestria questioning if she should return home. Sci-Twi on the other hand is question if loneliness is better then being bullied. They both want something that seems impossible to them. Sunset need for normalcy and human twilight need to prove herself which would have ended with the battle because human twilight goes too far and becomes Midnight Sparkle and sunset finally realizing the truth. And in turn saving human twilight in turn
I’m on a mixed bag when I comes to Equestria Girls.
5031552 Yet Starswirl gets off the hook for dumping the Dazzlings into the same world and just leaving them there with their powers still intact?
So are you saying you consider Rainbow Rocks to be overrated?
5031744
Oh, I’m also mad at that as it was lazy for him to have someone else deal with the sirens. That must’ve been something Clover learned: to dump something dangerous on to someone else and feeling no regrets.
5031750 Yes.