I have some understanding of the My Little Pony world. Sure, I may be a 30 year old male, but I watching the first season of the reboot with a friend of mine and quite enjoyed it for what it was. But now it looks as if I’m once again a fish out of water with Friendship Games. This actually works for this review as I’m going to be judging this straight to video film on its merits and quality without any fan bias.
The first thing to note is that My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games is a continuation of a series of films in this alternate universe of My Little Pony. I haven’t watched any of the films, but the sight of seeing human like versions of the My Little Pony characters was a bit jarring. I dig the new look, –even if it took some adjusting– but I still think a bit of the magic –no pun intended– is lost with them not being, you know, ponies.
Since this is a straight to video release, any new viewers like myself are going to feel lost for a good portion of the first act. In fact, the movie starts expecting viewers to already know what’s going on in this world. That’s fine for serious fans, but newbies will feel left out. It’s like if you watched the first Iron Man film and then jumped into Avengers: Age of Ultron. Still, thanks to Pinkie Pie –the real hero of the film for new views– you’ll get caught up in seconds after her bits of exposition throughout the film.
While this is your standard animated film with okay animation, the movie really shines thanks to the music numbers scattered throughout. Each is pretty fantastic and will have you singing along on multiple viewings. Heck, even as I write this I can still hear the film’s title track bouncing around in my head. Each song does a great job of not only being fun and catchy, but also in driving the story forward and giving much-needed exposition to each character. I have a feeling that those that watch this will no doubt be interested in picking up the film’s soundtrack.
Story wise My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games isn’t much to write home about. I haven’t seen the first film, but I have a strong feeling that in many ways this is a reversal of what happened there. The games themselves are pretty mundane for how they are built up, and aside from the final showdown that involves Motocross of all things, the events are easily forgettable. What we do get before that happens is a story of the magic in this world and how it’s manifesting in new ways, and how these ponies (human?) girls are losing their connection to it.
It serves it’s purpose as a story, but as an entry into the series it’s a pretty throwaway entry as it doesn’t do anything outside of creating a Twilight paradox –the implications of having doubles is mind-blowing– to be very memorable. I also want to point out that even for a kids film the story can often feel a little heavy-handed with what it’s telling the audience about right, wrong, and the power of friendship.
Still, My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games is a lot of fun and will no doubt satisfy fans of both series. The DVD even includes a decent amount of bonus features with deleted scenes, musical bits, and even an alternate ending. What’s even better for those serious fans is the ability to get audio commentary, the animated shorts leading up to the movie, and a really nice sing-along section that kids will no doubt play until the DVD wears out.
My Little Pony Equestria Girls: Friendship Games drops on Blu-ray and DVD on October 13th (pre-order here), but you can watch the movie on September 26 at 8/7c on the Discovery Family channel.
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