Review of My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Friendship Games (2015) by Duncan P — 30 Sep 2015

Another year, another My Little Pony film set in the Red Universe where things are Glee rather than fantasy, another attempt to justify this major guilty pleasure of mine... oh well, I'll give a good old college (varsity?) try to attempt to convince people I'm not TOTALLY nuts.

The theme for this one originally had me feeling a bit tepid, because I'm not huge on the rah-rah school sports stuff. However, despite the title, it was thankfully not too focused on that. I got a good laugh out of Crystal Prep's attitude - it reminded me of my first high school's nonsense about sportsgame (rugby, in their case). It wasn't funny at the time, but it gave me an extra boost of enjoyment at the satire there. Added points for Principal Cinch being a dead-ringer for the heads of that school too.

Anyways, on to the more universally tangible parts. It was ultimately not quite as good as Rainbow Rocks was, but I didn't expect it to be either. The villains were not quite as compelling or fleshed out beyond merely being antitheses for the protagonists, the story not quite as tight. That being said, none of that ruined the film - it was still great, and a really good wrap-up of various threads that had been introduced in the earlier films (I'm assuming it's probably the last, because we are getting full-blown Pony film in a few years). It did retread themes and elements (of Harmony) that both those and the series had done before, but with a left-field twist on one of the core elements of the original show.

Musically, again, Rainbow Rocks, er, rocked harder, but there were still an interesting mix of tunes here. A particular highlight was Ingram channeling Elfman/Burton musicals for a second time with "Unleash the Magic" ("Bats", the other time he did that, remains one of my top favourites from the show), but I also thoroughly enjoyed the entire "ACADECA" sequence, as well as, to my surprise, the "CHS Rally Song".

So, ultimately, it's just fan fodder (with less pandering to older fans than other entries). I know rationally that all of this is ultimately just overrated magical girl twaddle, but damn if I don't absolutely love it completely unironically for just being so much damn fun that never fails to put a smile on my face and puts me in a great mood no matter what I'm going through. If art is about evoked emotion ultimately, I need to give this top marks simply for that major visceral emotional response.