My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

[Rosewind]

I noticed we have a few topics/blogs with users reviewing this movie, but not an actual thread to discuss it. Since it's been out for a while and is available through many different resources, I think more of our users have had a chance to see it, if not recently.

So Canterlot, what did you think of this movie? What did you think of the character design, story, etc? What did you like the most about it? The least?

I have a friend with 5-year-old daughter, and she wouldn't let her watch it because of the skinny-stick-figure character design. I personally think that's a smart parenting choice, but I'm sure there are also parents out there that don't mind this, either. (I know that's kind of dipping into a completely different topic, but the character design is a big sticking point of this spinoff.)

Thoughts? Comments? Rants?

Warning: If you spam this topic with "it sucks," without trying to explain anything else beyond that, it's not inviting healthy conversation and may result in unpleasantness.

[RarityDash]

It was really cute.

[Deadpool]

-_-

if you must know why. The pacing was terrible, it relied PURELY on the popularity of the show. AND NOTHING MADE ANY SENSE !

EXAMPLE W/ SPOILERS: When Sunset Shimmer turned into a demon only to revert back to human 30 seconds later.

We had just finished comprehending that she was a demon. We barely saw her in action as one, and she went down WITHOUT a fight.

Another example is Dreamy McCute-bottom

I mean really, YOU SEE A DIFFERENT CREATURE IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION AND IMMEDIATELY FALL IN LOVE WITH HIM! WHY!?

[Valianca]

It got a fair rating if you ask me. As a brony, I enjoyed it, and I especially liked Sunset Shimmer as a character, but I don't think she was developed well enough. As a critic though, it wasn't exactly a great film. Sunset Shimmer wasn't developed well enough, she's just that as a main antagonist without much of a backstory. We just know that she was a former pupil of Celestia, and for those who read the comic, a pony who wants to rule Equestria. But how does she know Twilight? Why was she like the way she is? How would she rule Equestria? Why does she think she's so powerful? We don't know. It was also your fairly cliche high school film. Don't get me wrong, it was enjoyable and I say that as a brony, but if I was a parent taking their 6 year old daughter to watch this family, I would be that half of the family who wouldn't like it.

[augercorn]

I thought it was good for what it was, (a hour and a half side story, not meant to touch cannon or effect anything) animation was good, songs were good. and the plot was o.k.

it had a lot of stuff that made it essentially a love letter to Brony's including lots of memes and ideas explored in the fannon but not the show.

yes, it was too quick to understand yeah the development was skipped over, but in the end I thought it was a fun romp. that maybe will open the gates for exploring more fannon integration

that said I would of enjoyed more action and development

[QuickLime]

I thought it was cute! It was a nice little something to tide us over during the dry season and Help Twilight Win The Crown is catchy as all hay!

GET UP! GET DOWN! IF YOU'RE GONNA COME AROUND!

[elsporko]

Its more interesting as a character inspection for Twilight Sparkle more then anything else. The basic story is like that of the first two episodes but rather then needing to learn about friendship Twilight takes what she has learned in the last three seasons to teach others about friendship. It also touches on what Twilight's future is going to be like, physical changes, having to take on new things she isn't familiar with, having to be independent. Looking at it like this makes the movie more interesting then what it is on its own.

That said its no worst then the average episode and the song was sure catchy.

[starswirlthebearded]

Its more interesting as a character inspection for Twilight Sparkle more then anything else. The basic story is like that of the first two episodes but rather then needing to learn about friendship Twilight takes what she has learned in the last three seasons to teach others about friendship. It also touches on what Twilight's future is going to be like, physical changes, having to take on new things she isn't familiar with, having to be independent. Looking at it like this makes the movie more interesting then what it is on its own.

That said its no worst then the average episode and the song was sure catchy.

That there is the single biggest issue I have. It WASN'T simply an average episode. It was a full length movie that people payed a premium to go see in theaters (despite limited run).

I think I'm going to post a revamped and updated review after I support the Hub by watching it's reairing tomorrow.

[MapleLeif]

I thought the movie was good, but not great. There are several episodes that I prefer over the movie.

The parts I enjoyed the most were the CMC's reaction to their youtube comments and the Trixie scene (although I disliked her in the series, I thought she was funny here). There were some nice stuff for Bronies as well (Derpy with a letter and muffin, implying approval of some fanon).

I wasn't a fan of the ending and how Sunset Shimmer was "sorry." Of course she was sorry. I would be too if a rainbow blasted me into a crater.

[Frost137]

Is it me or should RD's clothes be a bit more, tomboy-ish, 'er athletic? Maybe if they did away the skirt I guess it would have been fine. The dress was really cute and brought out the "girl" out of her, so that can be kept.

I really loved the yellow and blue ears and tails they had in the cafe. I'm suprised that no brony hasn't made them for cosplay. I would so buy those!

[brianblackberry]

I went in watching this film with rather low expectations, and came out feeling they did a reasonably decent job. I feel what annoyed me wasn't the theme itself, even though I have no interest in 'high school' shows myself, but the fact that the story was pretty pedestrian. For me one of the draws of FIM is the excellent writing, which is why I dislike Mare Do Well so much, in addition to the powerful art and characters, and truth be told, if it wasn't for the fact it has characters I love, Equestria Girls would hold no appeal for me.

The issues I had were four fold, and all of which could have been fixed or done in a much more interesting fashion:

-- Problems were solved too easily or quickly. The prime example of this was when Snips and Snails, at the behest of Sunset Shimmer, made fake pictures of Twilight destroying the gym. Here was an excellent opportunity for the mane six to bond by coming together and working to uncover the truth and prove Twilight's innocence before the "big night", but this plot point was solved in ten seconds by Flash Sentry, making the whole scene unnecessary and thus pointless.

-- The story was just one big prom episode. How much cooler who it have been if Twilight first attempted to steal the crown back by being sneaky (in her mind, it isn't wrong, since it does belong to her and she plans to swap it with the one that belongs in the human world), but only going with the "princess of the fall formal" route when her initial plan fell apart in a silly and adorkable fashion?

-- Flash Sentry: I don't have an issue with Twilight having a romantic interest as long as it doesn't derail the main theme of FIM (the strong friendship bond between the mane six). I don't have an issue with Flash Sentry as an pony. My issue is that he was given no development, thus there was no compelling reason for Twilight to like him other than the basic "he is cute". Sure he helped her in the fake photo scene, but that was basically it other than them just bumping into each other, there was no chemistry.

Even that is forgivable, but what really alienated me was in his human form Flash Sentry was the all too typical love interest stereotype for tween focused high school shows. Tell me if you haven't seen this before: The slicked or spiked haired "rebel", but not too much of one, who happens also to be an artist of some kind (usually a musician in some garage band), who happens to be very attractive, and drives that awesome sports car. FiM has always been about going against stereotypes, and here was someone who was nothing but the most tried of tropes.

-- Sunset Shimmer: Her character just wasn't developed. We are never given much of a motivation other than she apparently wants power in Equestria, presumingly as an equal to Celestia. Why though? What pushed her to be the pony that she was? Unless Celestia is just terrible at choosing her personal pupil in magic, something happened that drove Sunset Shimmer to make the choices she did. See what makes a great villain is that no matter how immoral they may be, in their own minds they believe they are righteous, that they are doing the right thing. Sunset Shimmer is just being awful for awful's sake.

In the end it was an alright, but flawed pony story, equivalent to a lower-end episode. The animation was well done even if some of the human characters looked a little off. They tossed in some nice Easter eggs and the songs were catchy and fun; two and half stars. They had almost 90 minutes, it should have made a statement, run against the stereotypes and empowered it's target audience, none of that happened.

[elsporko]

That there is the single biggest issue I have. It WASN'T simply an average episode. It was a full length movie that people payed a premium to go see in theaters (despite limited run).

I think I'm going to post a revamped and updated review after I support the Hub by watching it's reairing tomorrow.

True. I think it was definitely originally just a TV movie that got a theater run to make some easy cash. I think a big difference in opinion is how much you paid for it.

[NeoExlucky]

I think I'm going to post a revamped and updated review after I support the Hub by watching it's reairing tomorrow.

I'm scared...

[QuickLime]

I'm scared...

Why? Starswirl is extremely fair with his review.

[NeoExlucky]

Why? Starswirl is extremely fair with his review.

But it's going to be so analytical and detailed that Neo Reviews is just going to die right there. It's like ryu going up against jigglypuff, we all know who will win.

[QuickLime]

But it's going to be so analytical and detailed that Neo Reviews is just going to die right there. It's like ryu going up against jigglypuff, we all know who will win.

It's really silly to compare your work to his, do it because you enjoy it, not because you are afraid you'll lose readers.

[augercorn]

exactly do it for the art,

do you know the band areosmith?

multiple times they have stated that there best and favorite song is "crazy" despite the critical and fan hate of that song they still proudly claim that as there best work. I acually met steven tyler and he said "look I know the song sucks. but is you listen to it really hard you can all tell were trying our very best for this one song. say what you will but thats why its my favorite"

be like steven and be proud of your work even if everyone hates it you can be proud

[starswirlthebearded]

But it's going to be so analytical and detailed that Neo Reviews is just going to die right there. It's like ryu going up against jigglypuff, we all know who will win.

But I cosplay as Ken... not Ryu....

I think what I'm going to do is c/p my original review (which I still stick by) and delve into a bit more detail... I'll do that soon...

[Rosewind]

Opinions are definitely varied, and you want a variety of them present to offer different points of view. The fact other people have different opinions than yours isn't a discredit to you, or them. It's a good thing.

[Accellerant]

Accellerant grabs mysterious soapbox and stands upon it.

I'm not much of a movie watcher but I found it enjoyable for what it was offering. It definitely felt rushed (especially that ending) but for the targeted audience it's forgivable, it was a wise choice to have it run for an hour plus twenty. I wasn't really thinking that I'd enjoy this flick but I was happy to find myself pleasantly surprised considering.

The overall design just seems lazily done. I know that from an animators standpoint that using the same stock body for key characters makes sense but because this is a movie I was sure as hell hoping they'd take the extra step and make multiple variants. I also was, how should I say this, put off by the fact that everyones skin color remains the same as their Equestria counterpart. It's as though Hasbro was worried that nobody would recognize any of the characters hair styles, voices or the blatantly huge cutie marks on their dresses/clothing. It also kills me how none of the main six wear pants or something other than boots, I mean c'mon. When it comes to having 'thin as rails' body types it's not great but is easily forgivable due to it being a cartoon. It's not like the many sources/examples of real individuals in their idealized forms via mags, images, shows and social medias.

Would I watch it again? Probably not, it's just not a memorable flick and I'd rather re-watch an episode from FiM.

Would I watch a sequel? Depends, but I don't think we'll ever see one considering how volatile the fandom was for this one :l

Accellerant steps off his soapbox and returns to his lurking duties.

[NeoExlucky]

exactly do it for the art,

do you know the band areosmith?

multiple times they have stated that there best and favorite song is "crazy" despite the critical and fan hate of that song they still proudly claim that as there best work. I acually met steven tyler and he said "look I know the song sucks. but is you listen to it really hard you can all tell were trying our very best for this one song. say what you will but thats why its my favorite"

be like steven and be proud of your work even if everyone hates it you can be proud

That's the most awesome thing I have ever heard about aerosmith.

But I cosplay as Ken... not Ryu....

Hadoken!

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110804102240/streetfighter/images/f/f3/Ryu_and_ken_hadoken_double_hit.gif

[Deadpool]

Yeah, This movie is like the DmC reboot, rushed with TERRIBLE execution

[brianblackberry]

Accellerant made a couple excellent points I forgot to mention in my critique of the movie. Like he, I didn't care for the pastel coloring on the humanized ponies, and felt they should have had human skin tones instead. I suppose Hasbro did this for two fold, one so the audience would better recognize the characters, and two, to avoid the whole racial aspect that would come into play (because, let's be honest, no matter which way they went on that, some people would complain loudly). The former reason though is annoying because I feel it purposely underestimates the intelligence of the target audience. Like Accellerant said, they have the same hair styles, and their cutie marks are plain to see on their clothing.

Another aspect that I did find annoying was all of the mane six (and every girl of similar age overall) had the same body structure. Granted this is true in the show as ponies as well, but that is television, and more importantly, they are not humanoid normally. Here I felt it reflected poorly on Hasbro that every gal had the same thin, rather tall body shape; how much better of a message would it have been if there were some real variety?

Anywya, another two cents form me, still liked the movie, it was just flawed... Like Prometheus.

[arrowghost]

Yeah, This movie is like the DmC reboot, rushed with TERRIBLE execution

All people want as usual as they say, we need more money. Although the movie is not perfect but I still find it just ok.

To everyone who had their reviews all mixed up, that's alright, like Jim Raynor once said, "Everyone's a critic."

[FrankT]

Well not only has it torn the Bronies apart, I still can't get it on DVD!