Review of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games (2015) by Jack W — 11 Mar 2018

This third entry continues the Equestria Girls' habit of putting more effort into a high school film for young girls than one would expect. Again, this film does a strong job of using history and characterization from previous films. Former villain turned supporter Sunset Shimmer has become the leader of the group and it was a nice choice seeing the stress of her dealing with the aftereffects of the magic she released in the world of Canterlot High.

The plot, characters, and dialogue are all fun. The idea of the characters involved in a crazy competition worked well. Keep your eyes open for the obstacle course that can only exist in a children's film.

Liked the competing students, the Wondercolts. Yeah, they were probably created to sell more dolls and they don't have quite enough time to juggle them all, but the girls have personality. The main villain Principal Abbacus Cinch is one of the MLP universe's best villains. So delightfully prideful and manipulative. Special credit to should be given to her voice actress Iris Quinn who really nails it.

Animation is decent. Some of the character movements seemed a little awkward, but in fairness they were working on a straight-to-DVD budget. They did try to make the film as theatrical-looking as they could, especially during the musical numbers.

Speaking of the songs, they were all good, though not very memorable. The one highlight is the sinisterly, seductive, and chorus-heavy villain song "Use the Magic." In fact, I think it might be the best of all of Daniel Ingram's songs for the franchise.

Be aware that this film isn't supposed to be Shakespeare, but I think parents will mostly have as much fun as their children with this.