I think the Villain Song was needed. The tension was growing on Twilight as she was continued to be blackmailed by Principal Cinch. And it was Principal Cinch's influence that gave the Crystal Prep students to win the games at any cost. In other words, Twilight went total doormat under pressure.
I think the song was perfect for building up tension. And unlike Dr. Wolf I thought it was brilliant, catchy and dark as fuck. I was at the edge of my seat by the time Twilight started singing. I also loved Principal Cinch. Sure, she didn't have a backstory, but she had a very believable motivation. Her obsession with her school's reputation and her evil and manipulative personality made her a great and memorable villain (also THAT SONG). Out of all the EG movies, Friendship Games is my favourite. Rainbow Rocks remains the best in terms of the song department,though What More is out There and Unleash the Magic are still amazing songs.
The idea of the villain song was to maximize the pressure that was being applied to Twilight and build the scene up to when she went evil. It even made Twilight want to do it for a brief second. I personally found it to be the most memorable song as it had the most impact on an actual character. I doubt the scene would've worked as well without it. But here's one thing that we can all agree on: If there's now two Twilight's, where the -yay- is the second Sunset?
+animegx45 Rotting in a shallow grave. But yeah that REALLY is a question they need to answer. Thing is, EQG 1 was such a utter mess of rushed, unthought out, horribly plotted cliche and convenience, it as never thought about in the set up, and the only answers that really make sense are WAY to dark for this type of movie, so there really isn't a way to have a good answer to it. It's just a leftover bit of narrative and worldbuilding fail from EQG that the series has to deal with, and try to pretend doesn't exist.
+7Seraphem7 EQG1 Sunset certainly was the type of person who might make sure her doppleganger was taken out of the picture. I could see that in a film rated a little older than G... That said though, I can also easily see Sunset living far away with no reason to come to CHS at all. She was Celestia's student in Equestria, and likely moved to Canterlot to study under her. In the human world however, she would have no reason to move from wherever she lives and is likely still there.
+DolenOre Mmmm, true, about Human Sunset still being there, but by all means than the Human Twilight should have been there also, following that logic. But I do agree that the human Sunset has to be addressed. This is too much of a major plothole not to address.
So next Time in a postapocalyptic Movie where the President is going to press "the Button" he will get a Musical number as a mood Setter for the audience because that was exactly the Case in this movie
This movie to me was the best one of the three so far because Sunset Shimmer has come full circle since being introduced in the first one as the main antagonist, yet she shows that she has much more room to grow. Despite having accepted friendship into her life and earning the trust of Canterlot High, there are times where she regresses back to her villainous ways, but not intentionally mind you as she was merely frustrated over not being able to figure out what was really going on, and lashing out at Science Twilight all because of finally losing it. Unleash the Magic is actually a really good song, for Principal Cinch and the Crystal Prep students are pressuring Twilight into using the magic in order to win the Friendship Games, and also taking advantage of her desire to learn more about the magic which CHS has now gotten used to. It certainly did have me on edge when I first saw the song in the movie, and the chanting from the students made it feel even more menacing especially towards the end where everything was about to change. Cinch is a very good villain as she is cold, manipulative, deceitful, and more as in her own eyes, Crystal Prep is the dominant school because of what she has done in the name of reputation which seems to be a hidden key issue throughout the movie. I do agree that the five Shadowbolts (not including Twilight) who show up during the title song don't have much in the way of character development given how little they appeared, and it did take me several watches of the movie to remember who each one was, but I think they served as a foil to Twilight given how they constantly made her feel bad.With regards to the final battle, it was the best moment of the entire movie in my opinion, and arguably one of the best in the entire series, for you couldn't tell what was about to happen. I was expecting Cinch to end up in the position Twilight found herself in, but not Twilight herself. Also, Twilight wasn't really a demonic monster like Sunset was during the first movie, for she (Twilight) had no desire to rule either world, nor was she harbouring any negative feelings. All she desired was knowledge, and understanding magic which combined with her naïve nature, the magic consumed her as she had no control over it. Sunset becoming an angelic/alicorn form was an epic sight to see which reinforces her having come full circle, and I think she has moved one step closer to actually achieving the status of alicorn, but there is still a ways to go. It was a tender moment where Sunset offered the very same chance given unto her by the pony version of Twilight, and I do agree that Spike's silent contribution was just as tender because his expression shows that Twilight was on the verge of losing herself, and needed to be brought back before it was too late. I still stand by my decision to give this movie a 98% out of 100.
Unleash the Magic, does fit in this movie and it can reflect on real situations with people in school who are being peer-presherd into things they know are wrong.
I must be the only person in the fandom who really likes this villain. She's intimidating, moves the plot along nicely, surprisingly realistic if r an MLP villain, and has the best song in the whole film! I thought she was good.
+Junglehero127 nah i love her too she was just what she needed to be and that was to create a very realistic conflict that could happen in real life (but no magic ofc)
+Junglehero127 You're not alone. I really liked her as well. She was a refreshing change in that she had no ties to Equestria and felt like a villain you could meet in real life. She reminded me a lot of Lady Tremaine, the evil step mother, from "Cinderella". She didn't have powers or plans for world domination. She just had control over one aspect of someone's life and she milked every last drop out of it.
Whovian Roxas yes i can also see why she did it i mean im not saying she is justified by any means but just think form her perspective how insulting it would feel to have her most prized student not wanting to compete in the games and especially when the principal was so passionate about it and that no other student acted like twilight at all i mean its a fucking prestigious, pretentious prep school where school pride and status means everything
No I liked Principal Cinch as well. Even more than most villains MLP has offered but not above Discord and The Sirens. (Yes I did like Cinch more than Tirek). She was Cunning and several times she was threatening and really realistic. As for her song "Unleash the Magic" I think it is a good song but it's only the second best song in the movie to me behind what Twilight's "I want" song was called. As for Eq Girls overall it is in my Top 5 though.
Okay, I know I'm in the minority on this: but I think Principal Cinch is a very effective villain, if not ingenious!!! She had absolute control over Twilight's life through lying, manipulating and blackmailing, all the while justifying herself by claiming to have Twilight's best interests in hand. It seems to me that she is so obsessed with her "legacy" and "reputation" that she will go to psychopathic means to protect it, and she's probably been doing it to dozens of students over the years before Twilight, even cultivating an almost cultic obedience among her students (normal, human girls mind you) into committing all sorts of horrible, manipulative deeds for her own ends, as evidenced by the song. Her constant reminders of Everton to Twilight kept pushing her further and further into fear, despair and grief - powerful ingredients for keeping somebody under thumb, and providing Twilight a reason to not care if the world is destroyed when she gained the magic. She reminded me very strongly of Lady Tremaine, Mother Goethel and Judge Frollo, in the sense that they hold their respective protagonists in such an iron grip that they almost cannot conceive of a way to get out of under their thumb. One could almost expect Cinch to be some sort of demon or felon from Equestria who reveals her true self in the climax, but that in of itself is reversed when Twilight herself falls victim of a dark transformation. I'm actually in the opposite view regarding the villain song; 'Unleash the Magic' has remained locked in my mind ever since I first saw it and has a strong vibe of 'Poor Unfortunate Souls'; the buildup, the chorus, the atmosphere was tangible and it got my hairs to stand up! It was a villain song that was also about a hero's fall to the dark side, by the villain's own actions. It was the final straw that pushed Twilight, who had been nervous, alone, miserable and mistreated by everybody except the Humane 5 to open the locket, and for all intents and purposes, die alone, abandoned, and unloved, consumed by the power and transformed into an insane, vengeful creature of darkness. That is, until Spike intervened. It's also worth noting that this Twilight is NOT the Twilight of Equestria, she hasn't had Celestia as her mentor, she is actually a complete social pariah rather than socially disinterested, at least in Canterlot Twilight had a lot of nice ponies who wanted to be her friend. Here, this Twilight could not be in more despair and isolation. Seeing her peer pressured and way in over her head with these anomalies made me sympathetic to her plight. I also really liked Spike in this. I could also buy his ability to speak and communicate well with Twilight because, well, she talks to him all the time and from what we saw of them in the earlier scenes, Spike as a dog does have some basic understanding of her thoughts and emotions. His reunion with Twi after the climax was just to die for. Overall, the film is a solid 4/5 for me, behind "Rainbow Rocks" and above the first EQG film. It's fair to say that the Shadowbolts are not especially developed as side antagonists and even their redemption was pretty rushed. If this film had been 10 minutes longer, I imagine it would have been more well-rounded, or at least improve the pacing.
I liked her too! I wouldn't call her memorable, but I really liked that she had a basic goal, and destructive means of achieving it. She just used manipulation and blackmail, while the magic did the rest. Even though she isn't familiar with how magic works, she really seems like a puppet master.
+Oscar Stainton You make a very good point about Cinch and how she holds her students' lives in an iron grip. And to be honest, I agree that she'd be a *great* villain if this was a typical high school movie. My problem with her is basically her motivation, though, at least for someone who's the main villain of a fantasy film until the last ten minutes. In a setting where other villains want world domination, Eternal Night, Chaos, etc. her goal was to protect her reputation. That's a very realistic motivation for a villain (painfully realistic if you work in a professional setting, trust me) but it just seems so limiting and underwhelming for a spot usually taken by a larger than life character in a setting like this. Tastes are a part of it, of course, but, well...imagine the Hobbit Trilogy if they'd tried to play up the Master of Laketown as the main villain instead of Azog. Or Nolan's Batman with Falcone/Maroni instead of Ra's al-Ghul/the Joker.
Here's my biggest problem with this movie: Twilight never tries to learn anything. She walks around with the magic-eater held in front of her like she's the tool and it's the master. She strains against a leash instead of closing the thing the moment it starts sucking. And she never studies the magic she's contained. She steals it thoughtlessly, then moves on to the next scene to be confused and out of her depth. Not a single moment of her running even the slightest test on what she's got, just sucking up magic and staring in barely reactive shock at something she's seen several times. For someone obsessed with studying and data, she does about as much as the brainwashed students in the final act of the first movie. As a result, Sunset's rant at her about tampering with forces she doesn't understand came across as entirely justified, especially the part where she grumbles "you're supposed to be smart".
+Nathanael Unger yes that was her flaw in this movie that she was thoughtless and yes sunset's speech was justified it was supposed to be justified but i didnt get botherd by it becuase she didnt know she was hurting anyone and too her the magic was just data nothing else so yeah she did wrong but her intetions were good also being preassued to compete in the friendship games most likely kept her from going in depth
***** Seeing several people have what, for all you know, could be their life force drained out of them and yet continuing to not lock that thing away doesn't sound like she didn't know she was hurting anyone. More like willful ignorance, at best.
+Nathanael Unger To be fair all of this happened in the course of about a day, and besides there wasn't much she could do to study it with all of those people around so presumably she was going to wait until she got back to her lab to see what was up. That's just my assumption anyway.
+Nathanael Unger I don't think she really had time to study it, with the pressure of the games and all. I did have a problem with Principal Cinch demanding that Human Twilight unleash the magic, even after she saw what it could do. She had to have known Twilight couldn't control the magic, and there was no gurantee it would work the way she thought it would.
2:33 Challenge Accepted (It's been a week since I've seen this movie. Here we go) Soursweet: pink haired girl that looks like sontana dusk. "Riiiight, take advice from the one you're competing against!" "Actually, we're all to blame. Mostly HER though." Sugarcoat: Purple girl w/ white hair. "That was really terrible. You should consider not publicly speaking." "It's not really a competition since we always beat you." "You're really bad at this!" (when twilight is trying to hit the target.) Lemonzist: Yellow and green hair girl. "Hey! You should totally listen to this!" Sunnyflare: short, purple haired girl. "The back of the line is over there." Indigozap: Blue haired girl w/ peach skin. "Are we gonna win?! ... Wrong answer. Are, we gonna, win!?" Did I get these correct?
Honestly, I felt that writing wise this movie was slightly better than Rainbow Rocks. I love that Sunset Shimmer has fully taken on the role of main protagonist for these movies, and I love the conflict she has with Human!Twilight. I felt that Sunset's outburst at Twilight after the relay was understandable, and a great example of how even though she's improved a lot, she's still holding onto a great deal of anger. And that villain song? I love it. I love how it starts out rather simple and then slowly builds to Twilight's transformation, the students singing almost felt like a latin choir chanting in the background when Twilight started singing about how she wanted to understand the magic. Then there's the final battle, and as a fan of anime I simply adored the visuals and action. I especially love that Sunset and Twilight's superforms are simply reversals of their superforms from the first movie, Sunset is still very demonic looking but in a way that is more heroic and stable, while Twilight still looks like an angel but one that harkens more toward the dark and fallen. It's the sort of symmetry that I love seing in "rival" characters like this. Now I will admit, I think I like Rainbow Rocks a little more, but only because of the Sirens and their songs. I like the Shadow Bolts, they fill their purpose and get a few good lines in, but Adagio just killed it with how snakelike she was. The problem with going from magical evil force to normal yet cruel people is a matter of scope. Similar to how some people don't like Starlight Glimmer because she's not loud and bombastic like Discord or Chrysalis, I feel that people are just looking down on the Shadowbolts and Cinch because they're not the sirens, and I think that's unfair. I like that the writers are acknowledging that normal people can be evil as much as the conquerors can be. I do tend to prefer the conquerors, but that's a matter of personal taste. All in all, I liked this movie a lot, and I'm excited as hell to hear news about the next one.
+Xain Russell I also agree the songs and the movie felt very Disney in a good way and this is my favorite of the EG movies although Rainbow rocks made me laugh more this movie felt like it had a better Atmosphere.
+Xain Russell You can easily have a fair share of Bada$$ Normals that are compelling, and powerful in their own way. Heck, some of comics's greatest characters count: Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, Joker, Oliver Queen, Tony Stark before Extremis Clint Barton -- all normal despite their genius or specialized skills. But we can't really say much for Cinch because, much like Flash, she was presented as a one-note character. Worse even than him, she was completely obsessed with reputation, or all that glitters. If you know the rest of that proverb, and chances are you do, you know what I'm driving at. The problem, however, extends somewhat to the Shadowbolt since they don't have the focus for us to get to know them well. Yes, proper characterization can do wonders. I know a movie does not give a lot of time, especially ones that are a little over 1 hour, but DHX could have done something. Maybe 5 minute shorts to get to know the new characters, instead of the teasers and other shorts that were released. Just a thought. Oh, and +DRWolf001, that's the wrong Spike, and I'm pretty sure that jackalope was a jackalope. We've seen them on the show before. I think these unstable portals we got for this movie don't come with transformation functions, since Twilight only got the portal function from the main portal before Sunset interrupted her. My main problem with this movie is that magic is treated basically as if it's as normal as it is in Equestia. I can understand the CHS students and staff treating it this way: they've seen magic at work before, and fallen victim to it. But the rest of the world? Nuh-uh. This is why most media that include magic use what's called the 'Masquerade.' You probably know it best from _Harry Potter_, where the wizards did their best to hide the very existence of magic from the Mundanes. Harry was even going to be punished for using his Patronus to save his cousin even though he didn't deserve saving (he didn't deserve death either, but there you go). I think that _Friendship Games_ could have used the Masquerade to balance the revelation of magic, and make the HuMane6 try to stop themselves from transforming, like they were trying to do in _Rainbow Rocks_. This would have added another dimension of suspense to Twilight's investigations, despite the impossibility of her bringing any other equipment with her from her lab. The HuMane6 using magic like the Mane6 would, other characters' initial shock, and then progression to 'I want to use this too' was far too smooth and quick to be believable. In the manga _Negima_, one of the possible punishments for casting spells in front of a Mundane was being stripped of your magical license and being transformed into an ermine. By this measure, the entire HuMane6 should be mahou shoujo mascots now. Two things left the biggest impression on me in regards to this movie: 1. The contrast between EQG!Twilight being ignored or even shunned at Crystal Prep, and the warm welcome she received at Canterlot High because of FiM!Twilight's efforts and previous presence. EQG!Twilight got a taste from early on of what she had been looking for, and all she had to do was recognize it. It only took until the end for that to come about. 2. Sunset becoming Twilight's teacher completes the circle that started in the first movie, or even in Sunset's comic where she turned her back on Celestia's teachings to run away into CHverse. She wasn't in _exactly_ the same place in which Twilight found herself after releasing the magic, but since both were overwhelmed and corrupted by a great deal of power, their places were the same. In these three movies, Sunset journeyed from being the initiator and the antagonist to the protagonist who finds the key to solving a dilemma, to the one who reaches out to someone else who needed a helping hand, just as she needed it back then. It's a neat little progression, and well done in most respects. We even got to see some elements of her transformation from 'My Past Is Not Today.' I just wish that weird shading around her eyes wasn't there: too _Mad Max_ for my tastes. Overall I think that this movie has a lot of strengths, but it is held back from being the best by a few nagging weaknesses. _Rainbow Rocks_ definitely has the strongest writing, pacing, and characterization. A more limited cast certainly helped in that regard. It's that or extend the runtime, and Hasbro chose to make it a short movie. Here's hoping for more characterization if Hasbro decides to continue _EQG_ in any form. In the meantime, here's hoping season 5 and the 2017 Pony movie end up being great.
+Xain Russell I think this movie was far better because the plot was not so over the top. Like you said it is a matter of personal taste, but it is a lot more believable to me because no one was trying to take over equestria with an army of teenagers, or battle each other with music. Things made a lot more sense because of that. Twilight discovered an anomaly and wanted to study it more, so she came up with a way to collect samples,and this had unintended consequences because she did not understand that the anomaly was magic. It makes a lot more sense then some weird magic music battle. I admit the magical transformations at the end where kind of bizarre, but unlike sunset shimmer twilight did not have some sudden magical personality change. She was overwhelmed by power, and power corrupts, what I do not understand is why she didn't just make a portal and go through it so that she could study equestria, but whatever. I do like that she still was attached to spike, and that she was able to be guided back to being normal with some help from sunset. It is my favorite eqg movie by far, and was really entertaining.
Really? With all the songs only designed and used to fill up time in the first Equestria Girls, Unleash the Magic is the "most pointless?" Even when it beautifully built up tension to the climax and brought multiple storylines to a head?
Well, you gotta admit the last song was really pointless (The one where the evil principal sings). I felt the same was as the doc. When I realized she was gonna sing, I was like: "She's just singing because they need a villain song, right?"
Eh, in Crystal Prep's defense, the Shadowbolts DO learn their lesson and even call Cinch out on her bullcrap. They most likely only added onto Twilight's pressure because they weren't too aware of just what the magic would do once it was unleashed. Kind of like how someone who hears something is great calls it great without actually witnessing it him/herself.
"Unleash the magic" was the ONLY song I liked sound wise. I don't care if it was pointless or not but I think the song had a point because Twilight needed to be pushed further than just a bit of dialogue to open the device because Twilight clearly meant no harm. I think Twilight becoming a demon was a bit of a stretch but perhaps the point is that while Twilight meant no harm she only thought of Everton and learning about magic which is a bit selfish and the song along with the magic corrupted this bit of selfishness about learning to something evil.
I enjoyed Friendship Games like I did with Rainbow Rocks. The characters especially Sunset and Sci-Twi were fantastic, the story was great, the songs were great, the Shadowbolts were very interesting and I loved the way they redeemed themselves during the climax, even by supporting the Wondercolts against their own principal, the animation was awesome and it has open new doors to new adventures with Sunset, Sci-Twi and the Mane 6. Although the the pacing was awkward and Cinch was OK as a villain but she could have been done better, I put this in a tie with Rainbow Rocks, I give it 9/10 ^^
i cant see how its cringy at all i mean the song was fucking awesome and by god the tension when she considers unleashing the magic (when twi stars singing) even she thinks its a bad idea but its that or being hated by her peers and not getting her dream i mean i just love the fact that she tries to convince herself to do it but at the same time just know that what she is about to do is wrong ' and about the anit mane 6 yeah try to make 5 more characters likeable and memroble in 70 minutes AND have also a new main character to introduce im pretty sure then will be featured more if the decide to make a spin off series and i thought the villian was great beacause for one she didnt want world domination and was very realistic and relatable and believe me those teachers/principles exist (sorry if my english is bad)
+the last of the shpee's "and by god the tension when she considers unleashing the magic (when twi stars singing) " SO MUCH THIS! If it was just the bad guys singing and it left off after, yeah it would be rather pointless. But it's the switch to Twi's solo at the end that makes the song so damn great. And Cinch made a freaking awesome Hate Sink, just not a really great primary antagonist.
+7Seraphem7 yes and the words are perfect my favorite line is "imagine all id learn by setting it free" in a very i dont believe what im saying kind of way
Arthur2light I'm noticing. Thing is, I could maybe see a point to that if it was just Cinch and the Shadowbolts egging Twi on, then she stepped out and did the thing. Then yeah might have been unneeded, But not with Twi ending the song as a solo. That part, and the song leading up to it, just built the tension SO damn well. Starting low, creepy, off setting, growing more and more tense, getting darker, till finally Twi's at the decision point, giving into the temptation, the timing, the music, the build up, all of it just so perfectly set the stage for the transformation.
Hmm.... this is the first time I've genuinely disagreed with Dr.Wolf.... I mean, Unleash the Magic was one of the best songs of the movie in my opinion. This feels..... weird....
+BronyTran I feel you ;) I think I love it because... I can totally hear a Ursula or an other female Disney villain sing this. I am a sucker for Disney-esq songs.
I personally loved this movie. I loved meeting Twilight's human counterpart and I liked the parallels this film had with the first; especially with bringing Sunset Shimmer's story arc full circle. Sunset, Twilight, the rest of the Mane 6, and Spike the dog were definitely the heart of this film. I personally found the pacing to be pretty even. Not once did I feel like things were moving to quickly or too slowly. My interest was kept all the way through. I also really enjoyed all of the songs with "What More Is Out There", "Acadeca", and "Unleash the Magic" being my favorites. Yes, I really liked the villain song. Well, granted, I felt kind of meh about it at first but I grew to love it after several more listens. It did an excellent job building up to Twilight's transformation in my opinion. And speaking of the villain, while I'll admit that I found her to be less enjoyable than the sirens, I think she was a refreshing change. She was an EG villain with no ties to Equestria. She felt like a villain you could meet in everyday life. One character she reminded me of greatly was Lady Tremaine from "Cinderella" in that she didn't have any evil powers and even any large evil plans for world domination. She just had control over one aspect of someone's life and milked every last drop out of it. The only real complaints I have is that, yes, some of the new characters were forgettable and I wish we could have gotten a longer scene at the end between Sci-Twi and Princess Twilight. Overall, again, I loved this film and it's my personal favorite in the EG series thus far. From what I've heard, there's at least a fourth film planned. I eagerly look forward to seeing what lies in EG's future and I REALLY hope we get to see a full on crossover between the EG and main MLP worlds someday.
Doc, Every time you post a review, I feel like you're simply reading my mind and taking my thoughts. I don't know what the similarities are (Religion? Education? Being the only sane man in a room?) but your reviews put my thoughts perfectly almost without fail. Kudos.
+DRWolf001 I really loved this movie but your review was really good. I agree with almost all of your points, but as the mane focus was Twilight and they presented her extremely well, and as they did such a great job with all the mane characters, some underdeveloppe side characters really don`t bother me that much. The final was extremely intense and epic. The animation stunning. Celestia, Luna and Cadene also all got a moment to shine. It was a strong commentary on bullying. To me it was the MLP version of Carrie.
I didn't find this as "cringe inducing" as you. I really enjoyed this film. All I can say is that, the new characters could have more screentime and yeah the villain isn't the most original character ever, but I still liked her and as for her song, it's not the most pointless Equestria Girls song. That right goes to "This is Our Big Night." Overall, I think this is better than the other 2 movies and no offense, but I thought you were a little harsh on it.
+SquidofBaconator "This is our big night" is a montage song, and montages are used to artificially speed up a series of events that would otherwise take up too much time. So it does serve a purpose, a quite important one, actually.
+DarthSatoris Eh, it's them looking for dresses for almost one minute and it came in literally 50 seconds after the song before it. I'm sorry, but I don't see the need of looking at what they're going to wear. If they wanted to put a montage song in, then that's fine, I just can't see a purpose for that song to be there.
+DarthSatoris Not really given all we see is them messing around while playing dress up. they could have just said 'let's get ready" and skip to them showing up in the dresses. There was nothing IN the montage that needed to be seen.
5:15 It's actually a bit of fridge brilliance there. At the end, you can see Spike jumps into Fluttershy's magic and is visibly effected by it. And what's her unique ability? Talking to animals.
To me, while I like the Equestria Girls movies, I find all of them to be highly predictable and full of cliches, but I watch them because they still have their shining moments. Whether it be the truly touching times like that LOOK Spike gives Twilight, the humor that makes me laugh like Rarity's giddiness in costumes (especially motocross), the cool action, or just seeing what they do with the background characters like Derpy. I mean come on, Derpy may have been visible in about six scenes, but each one was darling, and that's why we love her. And that's why I like Equestria Girls. I actually liked this one a bit more than the other two, because while still as predictable, it had such charm and humor at moments that really made me smile. Spike's pleading look, Rarity's motocross outfits, the fight between killer plants and pony-human Dash, and a few other scenes are worth the watch. Plus... the more I see of Sunset, the more I want to see the girl enter the MLP show officially. :)
I suppose my "flaw" is that I'm also predictable, as I chose to watch Friendship Games with a clean slate, no significant expectations beyond it being... a movie. ... and I enjoyed the overall viewing experience.
+thespeedyyoshi Too rushed, underplayed Antagonists, Twily's her device Female dog, Sunset Shimmer goes Psycho Female Dog on the ignorant Twily... those are some of it's faults...
Alfonso Rodríguez Martínez awesome twi is awesome, all the new characters have defining personallities, THE VILLIAN SONG IS THE BEST SONG EVER!! These are some of the strengths.
"Most cringe inducing"? Compared to the one that had every character bar Spike acting like a complete moron, forced, and utterly failed, attempts at making some kind of romantic sub-plot, and a villain, whose master plan hinged on an army of a few dozen teenagers being able to take over Equestria? While invading the country through a narrow choke point, that already has three Demi-Goddesses, five of Equestria's greatest heroes, and a magical super weapon that vaporized the last person to try to take over, all sitting right outside of it? No EQG still remains the worst, stupidest, and most cringe inducingly bad of the lot. That said, yeah it was a movie that could have been a lot better. And yes, the single biggest issue is the villains. They really are dull, boring, flat, just... had nothing to them beyond one Character Quirk. Just, damn were they boring. And yet, still better villains then Sunset, at least Cinch's plan made sense, and didn't rely on shear idiocy and dumb luck. I'd rather a boring villain then one with an Idiot Ball slammed down their throat. The songs... huh? Wow totally the opposite on those. I found Twi's song to be the most forgettable, bland, just, meh song of the bunch. While Unleash the magic was, just so good. Haunting, dark, and it built the tension up for Twi's giving in so perfectly. Yeah rest of the songs were decent, fun, but not super AMAZING like the last movies, but still better then any of the first movies.. well other then the cafeteria one, that was still good. So, yeah, still a damn good movie, that sorely needed a more fleshed out antagonist, but was still SO much better then the first, if not as good as Rainbow Rocks. Oh and, still haven't had anyone give a good reason why 'predictable' is such a bad thing.
+7Seraphem7 I think that a problem that people have with predictability is that: if you can guess what's going to happen, then there's not much enjoyment in watching the "twists" or no twist at all. As for me, I can forgive predictability if the end product is enjoyable, which is the case for this movie. I was able to guess some of the stuff that happened, yet I still really like this movie more than the others.
+7Seraphem7 Thats one thing I don;t like about DR wolfs reviews, where he complains about "predictability". It gets really old whenever someone keeps complaining about something being predictable. As long as an episode or movie is overall enjoyable, who cares about predictability.Especially when it;s a cartoon thats geared towards kids that haven't seen these kinds of stories before.
***** "I can forgive predictability if the end product is enjoyable" Exactly, barring cases where surprising the audience is a major point, like a Who-Done-It mystery story, (No Rarity Investigates does not count, that wasn't a "Who-Done-It" it was a "How-Prove-It") or something Shamalan like where the whole point is to blow your mind with this epic twist at the end you never saw coming. What does it matter so long as the journey is fun and entertaining? Yes, having twists, surprising the audience does tend to be a bonus, and can make a story even better. But the lack of it isn't something that make it worse.
+SquidofBaconator But this movie was not a thriller, it was about the growth of the characters. The movie was not exactly trying to hide its outcome. I feel like people who complain about things being predictable needs to watch everything twice. everything is predictable the second time you watch it. In a good movie the plot is only the surface of the movie, and the truly interesting stuff is what lives underneath, and in this movie it was the character interactions and development. It is like saying that to kill a mockingbird was bad because it was predictable . It literally tells you what is going to happen in the middle of the book. My point is twists and turns is the hallmark of a good thriller, but this movie didn't need any twists and turns, it was awesome even knowing exactly what was going to happen because it was a bit deeper than just its plot. not half as deep as to kill a mockingbird, but still.
Isaac Fratti ^THIS^ Unless what you found to be 'predictable' was something that the story was clearly trying to prevent you from finding out and was meant to be some huge shocking reveal. What does it matter?
I'm sorry, Dr Wolf but I REALLY have to disagree with you here. You're saying that even with all the songs in the first Equestria Girls movie that served no purpose, Unleash The Magic was the most pointless? Yeah, no. That spot goes to This Is Our Big Night.
I"m surprised you didn't mention twilight's reaction to flash this time. I honestly thought the reaction she did in this movie should've been how Equestria's version of Twilight should've reacted to him, while having the human world twilight being the one that actually gets all flustered by him. At least, that's my opinion anyway because it seemed like real world twilight didn't seem that flustered by him.
About the rabbit thingy and Spike ability to talk. As those portals were created due to Twilight's necklace draining the portal's magic, and after seeing the rips in reality Mignight Sparkle tore in the finale, that lead directly into Equestria, I think the raw power of the portal connecting the two world was stolen, but not the finest subltleties of its magic that turns ponies into human, dragons into dogs, and vice-versa. So the rabbit thingy we see must also be a rabbit thingy on the other side, and Spike the dog didn't turned into a dragon when he went through the portal. Anyway, the portals are not link to Spike gaining the ability to talk, but because he was caught by the magic coming out of Fluttershy when it was drained by the necklace. Before that he was still barking like a dog do, and only spoke after.
The songs all felt pretty good to me. The part that got me was figuring out how these schools paid for these absolutely ridiculous contests, yet couldn't afford security when the student body is about to be eaten by giant interdimensional plants!
That last scene with Equestria Twilight mentioning time travel loop only confirms to me about Starlight Glimmer using time travel to muck up the Mane 6's bonds in Season 5's finale. Twilight mentioning that probably also means 'Friendship Games' was supposed to air AFTER the season 5 finale.
I was excited for Friendship Games. The 5 shorts did raise my expectations. But, my thoughts on the actual movie is pretty much exactly the same as yours Doctor. I didn't know what to make of the movie, but I can conclude that it's my least favourite of the EG movies. I did find the Unleash the Magic song to be quite epic. Not because of Principal Cinch singing it, but because of the build-up to Sci-Twi unleashing the magic. We didn't know what the magic could do, Twilight was slowly opening up the device, building up the possible epicness that was to come. I don't really like overall characters like Principle Cinch, and not even this movie made my interested in her. The Shadowbolts would've been as great as the Dazzlings, but because they were focusing more on Cinch and Sci-Twi, there was a lot of wasted potential. Sci-Twi was really cute and adorable, but Midnight Twilight was an cringe-worthy Satan Shimmer callback. Sunset Shimmer was awesome, especially with her character development, but her turning into an Alicorn goddess left me speechless and confused. As for the epilogue? Well, EG1 takes place after the Season 3 Finale and Rainbow Rocks takes place after the Season 4 Finale. So, I'm assuming Friendship Games takes place after the non-released Season 5 Finale. And the whole "time-loop" thing Twilight mentioned might have something to with [SPOILERS] Starlight Glimmer as we saw her in that animatic. She might still not understand that difference is better and she might trap Twilight, Spike (and maybe the other 5) in some time-loop to make everypony in PonyVille equal like before. Or something like that. My thoughts were almost the same as yours Doctor. 50/50. 60/40? I don't know.
I actually liked the movie, thought it much better then the first one but not as good as Rainbow Rocks. First off, the villains. While I agree that the Anti-Humane 6 were not all that memorable save for one or two gimmicks, I figured out that they weren't really the main villains. Surprisingly enough, neither was principle Cinch a main villain, but instead what they represented, the cut-throat nature of Crystal Prep, all driving twilight to *become* the villain. The movie was actually villain-less until the final 13 mins of screen-time, when the pressures of her peers, her principle, and a unquenchable thirst for knowledge led twilight to become the villain. This is why I, like many others have mentioned, really like the last song. It starts out with the principal putting pressure on Twilight, reminding her of the goals she set (and which she can take away). Then the Crystal prep students add background vocals, ever increasing in volume, showing the ever mounting peer pressure she faces at the school. Finally Twilight has her solo, reassuring herself that what she is doing is for the greater good and will help her accomplish what she always wanted, giving in and ultimately being consumed by her pressures. It is because that we don't have an actual "villain" at the beginning, but instead the villain is only created bat the very end that I really like Friendship Games. In some ways it's a very relatable story about people driven to the edge by social pressures around them, and thus makes Twilight a very sympathetic villain.
+AtrusOranis () THIS! That is thus far one of the best analyst deductions I have read, and I almost totally agree on it! My only slight picking is that it is all entwined: Cinch' expectations and drive to keep the school's reputation, the resulting cutthroat attitude in the school itself(although some might come from parents as well), and the pressuring of Twilight into a totally insecure situation, causing her to lash out. So essentially, there is no real villain, but too many bad circumstances.
In some ways both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games both exceed my expectations in different ways. Rainbow Rocks was better than I expected since it fixed all of my gripes I had with the first movie and improved upon the ones that were good. Friendship Games was more of an original story for me and the songs are the best that I've seen in the movie series so far. I know they're all under the same genre of music but I felt there was variety in the instruments used. In the end I can't really say I like each one more than the other they're both 9/10's for me. But that's just my opinion.
What really got me was after the teaser video they released where Sunset was having a moment and grew wings for a minute, and then really accepted the role of the magical element of harmony in this one and grew wings again. Is Sunset Alicorn now cannon?
When Spike was jumping through the portals, and he came back and could talk, I thought it was Spike from Equestria! That would've been REALLY awesome if they did that.
I actually remembered, like, 3 girls. I liked the one girl's monotone voice when pointing out the obvious, that loud girl who was like a Vinyl Scratch on crack, and Sour Sweet with her two-faced personality. I also thought the human world Twilight really made the movie the driving force and the Principal was a more realistic villain. I feel like Twi's conflict is easily relatable due to peer pressure and her timidity. There's actually one scene in the movie that was probably my favorite and most relatable. It was during when Twilight was trying to hit the targets, but kept missing as Sour Sweet was gradually getting more and more pissed until Twi was on the verge of crying. Then Applejack came and helped Twilight hid the target. That's one of my favorite heart-warming moments because I know how it feels to keep messing up in front of others and then they become angry towards you.
@3:03 Translation: Too many new characters to develop while still keeping the interest of 'antagonists' to the heroes compared to three villains who were the only focus in the last film.
I agree with you for the most part. I busted up laughing when spike gave those poor little puppy dog eyes toward twilight. I didn't think it was heartwarming, but more funny. The speech between sunset and twilight was heartwarming. The fact that sunset was the monster, and twilight helped her, and now it's the other way around was done pretty well. I loved how twilight became the villain, and I thought that was done pretty well. I will admit the villain song was cringeworthy at the start, but I started getting into it towards the end. Other than that, I agree with you.
Friendship Games was an experience that I for one couldn't refuse to miss. I'm glad to say that this was an experience that I was glad to see. A lot of good things came from this movie, and yet it also gave us some.....................bad concepts and executions. EQG Twilight was a really riveting character to have as a second anti-protagonist to the M6, if that makes any sense. She had many motivations towards the magic in her world, and her interactions and decisions were clearly a work of genuine art. I was surprised that she transformed into a better magical demon than Sunset in the first EQG movie. Speaking of Sunset, she was another gem of a star that this movie has graced us with. She still wins points in my book, and her battle against "Midnight Sparkle" was grand and so gratifying to her arc and conclusion to her journey ever since we all first laid eyes on her. She had so much to deal with, and for her to finish it all in what she did in this movie truly makes it worth the while. Main 5 were good as usual, and I'm ok with that. Thanks for the mention of Spike, cause even though I wasn't expecting him to do anything funny or eye- catching, the smallest thing he did in the end truly spoke volumes to his and Twi's relationship as an entire concept. The principal of Crystal prep is perhaps the new weakest villain in the ENTIRE EQG series of movies, and her students aren't that much better. The songs were pretty good overall, with one or two of them being really outstanding to me. I agree with you somewhat on the principal's song at the end, cause to me, it somewhat made sense, and it kinda came out of nowhere. Cadence really creeped me out with her eyes......................."shudders". Overall, I'm ranking this movie a solid 8/10, and if they fixed some things here and there, it could've been better than Rainbow Rocks. Also, that "post-credit" scene towards hinting something at S5 will be......................"interesting" to see......
I personally believe that the school was built just for the sole purpose of covering up the portal statue. Most likely by some kind of organization who knew that there was magic there and didn't want the world to find out (which probably explains why the school hasn't been shut down yet, or even as much as investigated by the CIA, or some other type of government security body), and the human Celestia and Luna were most likely actual people looking for some kind of job and just so happened to find this particular school. And I have a theory for why Celestia didn't seem TOO phased by the hu-mane six in their pony form in the first movie: she and Luna were probably informed of this as they were deciding to take their jobs as principals of this school, they were informed of why this school was here, but they were also told that they would be actual principals, rather than just posing as such. Now, at first glance, it might seem like a bad idea to put regular students in a place where there's all this weird s#&$ that has the possibility of eating them up, but if the sole purpose was just to cover up the portal, and NOT to study it, then you would need a large cluster of people to cover up the sudden appearance/disappearance of one more person. Think about it. If the school hadn't been built around the portal, and it had been left there out in the open all on it's own, and someone came through the portal THEN, don't you think that would start turning more heads and drawing the attention of even MORE people, even faster than if there was a school there? Also, human Celestia and Luna might not be immortal, but they've probably been at that school long enough to see some pretty weird stuff happen, so... they probably knew that the statue just in front of the school was a portal to an alternate dimension. That's just a theory... A Pony Theory! Food for thought.
The best thing about Friendship Games was the role reversal between Twilight and Sunset Shimmer, especially at the climax. We see the full extent of Sunset's qualities that made her a genuinely worthy student for Princess Celestia, back before she went through the mirror. People tend to forget how big of a deal it is to be chosen as one of the Princess's students, and it was great to see her actually doing spectacular things, even going so far as to become that world's version of the Element of Magic. At the same time, we see that, given the wrong set of circumstances, Twilight Sparkle was fully capable of falling prey to the same lust for power that Sunset did in the first movie. It made me wonder what would have happened if Sunset would have had her own version of a confidant like Spike to talk her down, back before she lost Celestia's favor. The resolution gave a wonderful vibe of coming full circle, and it really felt like redemption for Sunset beyond anything in the other two movies. She wasn't simply turning over a new leaf and "being good". She was reaching out to someone who was beginning to make the same mistake she had already made. Sunset had transcended that trap and lead Twilight back into the light, just as the Equestria Twilight had lead Sunset out of her own darkness. This was an amazing way to use the "alternate world" setting.
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 4 plot Sunset Shimmer think`s that with Twilight Sparkle around she's no longer needed by anyone at Canterlot High so she leaves & her friends go out to find her & bring her back thumbs up all those who like this possible story.
I actually decided not to spoil myself from watching the shorts and clips, so I watched the movie with little to no expectations, and combined with the fact that equestria girls was the one that got me to watch the show, it was great and very enjoyable to watch.
All I know is that this last movie means that Dr. Wolf might end up doing a revision of his "Where is Sunset Shimmer of the Human World" video. The final scene in the movie shows two Twilight's in the same area interacting. And yes, they don't really say anything to each other, but the human world Twilight didn't disappear when the Equestria Twilight came through the portal.
I also did a review for this, and for me the shadowbolt song is to start up the final battle. The shadowbolt is only fight for honor. At the last, we still get to see them to do something better. Spike is loyal and can say that he almost is all the harmony. Spike is sending a message to dark Twilight is that isn't the Twilight he know and want. This movie is wonderful for me. I love all the song and every scene. Although the best thing in rainbow rock is only the song, and how Sunset turn to help. I actually is looking forward to see some shadowbolt scene.
I agree with Dr. Wolf about the villain song, it's pointless. Why did they put a villain song in the end? And that villain song is not even interesting enough for me, it's just a typical evil song we would hear in a lot of places. But I must say those crystal prep students are pretty good, not as villains but as characters. They have their unique personalities that kinda make them memorable.
I didn't really see Principal Cinch and the Crystal Prep Students as villains. I just saw them as mean students and a principal who cared only for her "reputation".
I am glad i am not the only not who saw how Spike was able to get twilight to her senses for a moment as being very important. Had spike not been there, Sunset most likely would have lost. Also I liked that villain song. Peer pressure at its fullest and the building of tension worked.
While I agree that Principle Cinch wasn't really anything special as a villain, "Unleash the Magic" was actually my favorite song in the movie, with "What More Is Out There" as a close second. I'm a sucker for a good villain song and this one was a delightfully eerie mix of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Cell Block Tango." You can feel the tension and pressure building as Twilight becomes more and more motivated to let loose all the magic she's captured. I would've loved to have more lines from the Crystal Prep girls since all we got from most of them were slight hints at their personalities. Out of all of them, I think Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet had the most lines. They really should've gotten more screen time to themselves, especially for how they were built up in promotion for the movie.
Dr wolf have you watched the deleted scenes? They tell a whole different story of sunset and her struggle to stay in the human world, they are on UA-cam i recommend them
Thank you Dr. Wolf! This is just what I needed to hear; my feelings about the film were quite mixed as well, and was having a hard time putting them into words. I think you hit it on the nose for me, since I kept going back and forth on likes/dislikes too. I wanted to get it out of my system somehow and I think I'm good now.(also, that last song I could not agree more; just doesn't sit right with me)
I think the Spike talking thing came from the interaction with the pony magic. More specifically Fluttershy's magic and her ability to communicate with animals. I think if it were any other of the mane six Spike would have just been zapped and nothing really big would have happened.
I'll be honest, the only Crystal Prep student that I have seen a pony equivalent for yet, that I really liked, was Sugar Coat. She was the girl with the white hair in pigtails, blue skin & pink glasses. Whenever she spoke, I laughed.
I think Unleash The Magic was pretty good. I always find myself coming back and listening to it more often than the other songs, surprisingly enough, and I love how if you look closely at Human Twilight's eyes when she starts singing she starts giving into the desire to learn about the magic no matter the cost. It's rather difficult to put what I saw with her eyes into proper words on here but she slowly started to transform into that version of herself before she released the magic and transformed. That part was pretty awesome. Though the songs: Dance Magic, Acadeca, The Friendship Games, CHS Rally Song, and the duet of What More Is Out There (with Sunset and human Twilight) are what I like from the movie. Good to see you get to this though DrWolf. Been waiting for this review for a while ^_^.
I do wonder if we'll see Abacus Cinch's Equestrian counterpart in an upcoming episode. Also, Doctor Wolf, that 'rabbit creature' is a Jackalope. A being from modern Western folklore.
I think my season finale prediction is coming true, I said there would be time travel and it looks like there very well might be. Now only if she lost were wings after going to the past....
I thought that Cinch and Crystal Prep served to show what would've happened if Twilight had been mentored under a manipulative authority figure rather than a motherly, caring figure like Celestia. I loved Unleash the Magic and Cinch as a villain, it reminds me of a mix of Ursula and Mother Gothel, who insists that she has Twilight's best interests at heart, but she's really using her for her own ambitions. Unleash the Magic's song line "I've had students like you, one or maybe two, but they've all disappeared before I blink", shows that she has tried to blackmail other students in the past, but it is implied that either (1) the students left the school as soon as possible or (2) the students were brave enough to stand up to Cinch and not take it. Human Twilight was shown to be meek and a doormat, which made her an extremely easy target for manipulation and peer pressure Despite the fact that Crystal Prep students are a bit forgettable, I feel that Crystal Prep is a fairly accurate representation of some of the more intense, achievement-oriented schools, thus making this environment much more relatable in the human world. My own high school was kinda like that when we did competitions similar to the Friendship Games (though to a slightly lesser degree and without the intense peer pressure and blackmailing): we only cared about winning at every event and never associated with the other schools. Once I made friends from the other schools, they told me how much they saw my classmates as elitists and snobs, which was why they never tried to befriend us, like how the Crystal Prep students were shown to be very aggressive towards the Canterlot students. I like that they've changed the "something from Equestria [crown/Sirens] is going to take over the human world, we need to fix it!" formula to "trying to understand Equestrian magic while dealing with human conflicts".
Hey Dr. Wolf! Guess what? This Day Aria was pointless! Do you see anyone complaining about This Day Aria? No! No you don't! You know why? Because it's such a good song that no one *CARES* if it's pointless!
It would have been kinda cool if they had built each of the Crystal Prep mane 6's characters up by giving them a scene where they showed the opposite trait to the Canterlot Mane 6 (selfishness, betrayal, misery, deceit, malice), then the Canterlot character stepped in and showed their elemental trait and won Twilight's trust. I wonder if Twilight's line at the end about her being "stuck in a time paradox" has something to do with the Pony seasons finale. Also, in one of the magic portal-tear-hole thingys you see Alicorn Twilight fly past, looking up confused.... will she look up in the season finale and see that portal? It would be cool if for a very brief second we saw the human world in the pony cartoon.
It's hilarious how much I agree with you. I LOVED how they showed Sunset's overall development and what I love about the battle is that it wasn't a magical fix all rainbow, it was Spike breaking the mental spell and Sunset convincing her to stop. but I have to disagree with you on "unleash the magic" because it felt like a Disney villain or Tim Burton song. and while the first half of the songs wasn't that great, when they have Twilight singing her conflict against them with Luna and Cadece in the background you could really feel the tension that much more
For as much as I though the new characters needed more to do, I did really like Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet. I found their complete bluntness and backhanded-to-the-point-of-bipolar schtick pretty entertaining, though does anyone else think we should've got more of THEM at the expense of having human-world-Spike learn to talk for no reason relevant to the story?
I think the Villain Song was needed. The tension was growing on Twilight as she was continued to be blackmailed by Principal Cinch. And it was Principal Cinch's influence that gave the Crystal Prep students to win the games at any cost. In other words, Twilight went total doormat under pressure.
Eh not really
I think the song was perfect for building up tension. And unlike Dr. Wolf I thought it was brilliant, catchy and dark as fuck. I was at the edge of my seat by the time Twilight started singing.
I also loved Principal Cinch. Sure, she didn't have a backstory, but she had a very believable motivation. Her obsession with her school's reputation and her evil and manipulative personality made her a great and memorable villain (also THAT SONG).
Out of all the EG movies, Friendship Games is my favourite. Rainbow Rocks remains the best in terms of the song department,though What More is out There and Unleash the Magic are still amazing songs.
I leikd unleash the magic it was catchy and ...
SO INTENSE if you dont know me i LOVE intesity
+skellington15 I agree.
+Ethereal A. same! You took the words out of my mouth.
The idea of the villain song was to maximize the pressure that was being applied to Twilight and build the scene up to when she went evil. It even made Twilight want to do it for a brief second. I personally found it to be the most memorable song as it had the most impact on an actual character. I doubt the scene would've worked as well without it.
But here's one thing that we can all agree on: If there's now two Twilight's, where the -yay- is the second Sunset?
+animegx45 Rotting in a shallow grave.
But yeah that REALLY is a question they need to answer. Thing is, EQG 1 was such a utter mess of rushed, unthought out, horribly plotted cliche and convenience, it as never thought about in the set up, and the only answers that really make sense are WAY to dark for this type of movie, so there really isn't a way to have a good answer to it. It's just a leftover bit of narrative and worldbuilding fail from EQG that the series has to deal with, and try to pretend doesn't exist.
+7Seraphem7 EQG1 Sunset certainly was the type of person who might make sure her doppleganger was taken out of the picture. I could see that in a film rated a little older than G... That said though, I can also easily see Sunset living far away with no reason to come to CHS at all. She was Celestia's student in Equestria, and likely moved to Canterlot to study under her. In the human world however, she would have no reason to move from wherever she lives and is likely still there.
+animegx45 I almost want to say that she's in equestria.
+DolenOre Mmmm, true, about Human Sunset still being there, but by all means than the Human Twilight should have been there also, following that logic. But I do agree that the human Sunset has to be addressed. This is too much of a major plothole not to address.
So next Time in a postapocalyptic Movie where the President is going to press "the Button" he will get a Musical number as a mood Setter for the audience because that was exactly the Case in this movie
This movie to me was the best one of the three so far because Sunset Shimmer has come full circle since being introduced in the first one as the main antagonist, yet she shows that she has much more room to grow. Despite having accepted friendship into her life and earning the trust of Canterlot High, there are times where she regresses back to her villainous ways, but not intentionally mind you as she was merely frustrated over not being able to figure out what was really going on, and lashing out at Science Twilight all because of finally losing it.
Unleash the Magic is actually a really good song, for Principal Cinch and the Crystal Prep students are pressuring Twilight into using the magic in order to win the Friendship Games, and also taking advantage of her desire to learn more about the magic which CHS has now gotten used to. It certainly did have me on edge when I first saw the song in the movie, and the chanting from the students made it feel even more menacing especially towards the end where everything was about to change. Cinch is a very good villain as she is cold, manipulative, deceitful, and more as in her own eyes, Crystal Prep is the dominant school because of what she has done in the name of reputation which seems to be a hidden key issue throughout the movie.
I do agree that the five Shadowbolts (not including Twilight) who show up during the title song don't have much in the way of character development given how little they appeared, and it did take me several watches of the movie to remember who each one was, but I think they served as a foil to Twilight given how they constantly made her feel bad.With regards to the final battle, it was the best moment of the entire movie in my opinion, and arguably one of the best in the entire series, for you couldn't tell what was about to happen. I was expecting Cinch to end up in the position Twilight found herself in, but not Twilight herself. Also, Twilight wasn't really a demonic monster like Sunset was during the first movie, for she (Twilight) had no desire to rule either world, nor was she harbouring any negative feelings. All she desired was knowledge, and understanding magic which combined with her naïve nature, the magic consumed her as she had no control over it.
Sunset becoming an angelic/alicorn form was an epic sight to see which reinforces her having come full circle, and I think she has moved one step closer to actually achieving the status of alicorn, but there is still a ways to go. It was a tender moment where Sunset offered the very same chance given unto her by the pony version of Twilight, and I do agree that Spike's silent contribution was just as tender because his expression shows that Twilight was on the verge of losing herself, and needed to be brought back before it was too late. I still stand by my decision to give this movie a 98% out of 100.
Unleash the Magic, does fit in this movie and it can reflect on real situations with people in school who are being peer-presherd into things they know are wrong.
You must must be a Sadist if you enjoy Sunset lashing out at Sci-Twi then
I must be the only person in the fandom who really likes this villain. She's intimidating, moves the plot along nicely, surprisingly realistic if r an MLP villain, and has the best song in the whole film! I thought she was good.
+Junglehero127 nah i love her too she was just what she needed to be and that was to create a very realistic conflict that could happen in real life (but no magic ofc)
+Junglehero127 You're not alone. I really liked her as well. She was a refreshing change in that she had no ties to Equestria and felt like a villain you could meet in real life. She reminded me a lot of Lady Tremaine, the evil step mother, from "Cinderella". She didn't have powers or plans for world domination. She just had control over one aspect of someone's life and she milked every last drop out of it.
Whovian Roxas yes i can also see why she did it i mean im not saying she is justified by any means but just think form her perspective how insulting it would feel to have her most prized student not wanting to compete in the games and especially when the principal was so passionate about it and that no other student acted like twilight at all
i mean its a fucking prestigious, pretentious prep school where school pride and status means everything
No I liked Principal Cinch as well. Even more than most villains MLP has offered but not above Discord and The Sirens. (Yes I did like Cinch more than Tirek). She was Cunning and several times she was threatening and really realistic. As for her song "Unleash the Magic" I think it is a good song but it's only the second best song in the movie to me behind what Twilight's "I want" song was called. As for Eq Girls overall it is in my Top 5 though.
The willan song is amazing!!!
Okay, I know I'm in the minority on this: but I think Principal Cinch is a very effective villain, if not ingenious!!!
She had absolute control over Twilight's life through lying, manipulating and blackmailing, all the while justifying herself by claiming to have Twilight's best interests in hand. It seems to me that she is so obsessed with her "legacy" and "reputation" that she will go to psychopathic means to protect it, and she's probably been doing it to dozens of students over the years before Twilight, even cultivating an almost cultic obedience among her students (normal, human girls mind you) into committing all sorts of horrible, manipulative deeds for her own ends, as evidenced by the song. Her constant reminders of Everton to Twilight kept pushing her further and further into fear, despair and grief - powerful ingredients for keeping somebody under thumb, and providing Twilight a reason to not care if the world is destroyed when she gained the magic. She reminded me very strongly of Lady Tremaine, Mother Goethel and Judge Frollo, in the sense that they hold their respective protagonists in such an iron grip that they almost cannot conceive of a way to get out of under their thumb. One could almost expect Cinch to be some sort of demon or felon from Equestria who reveals her true self in the climax, but that in of itself is reversed when Twilight herself falls victim of a dark transformation.
I'm actually in the opposite view regarding the villain song; 'Unleash the Magic' has remained locked in my mind ever since I first saw it and has a strong vibe of 'Poor Unfortunate Souls'; the buildup, the chorus, the atmosphere was tangible and it got my hairs to stand up! It was a villain song that was also about a hero's fall to the dark side, by the villain's own actions. It was the final straw that pushed Twilight, who had been nervous, alone, miserable and mistreated by everybody except the Humane 5 to open the locket, and for all intents and purposes, die alone, abandoned, and unloved, consumed by the power and transformed into an insane, vengeful creature of darkness. That is, until Spike intervened.
It's also worth noting that this Twilight is NOT the Twilight of Equestria, she hasn't had Celestia as her mentor, she is actually a complete social pariah rather than socially disinterested, at least in Canterlot Twilight had a lot of nice ponies who wanted to be her friend. Here, this Twilight could not be in more despair and isolation. Seeing her peer pressured and way in over her head with these anomalies made me sympathetic to her plight. I also really liked Spike in this. I could also buy his ability to speak and communicate well with Twilight because, well, she talks to him all the time and from what we saw of them in the earlier scenes, Spike as a dog does have some basic understanding of her thoughts and emotions. His reunion with Twi after the climax was just to die for.
Overall, the film is a solid 4/5 for me, behind "Rainbow Rocks" and above the first EQG film. It's fair to say that the Shadowbolts are not especially developed as side antagonists and even their redemption was pretty rushed. If this film had been 10 minutes longer, I imagine it would have been more well-rounded, or at least improve the pacing.
+Oscar Stainton I think there were scenes deleted for the TV version.
+Oscar Stainton , "Overall, the film is a solid 4/5 for me, behind "Rainbow Falls
where can i find this movie???
I liked her too! I wouldn't call her memorable, but I really liked that she had a basic goal, and destructive means of achieving it. She just used manipulation and blackmail, while the magic did the rest. Even though she isn't familiar with how magic works, she really seems like a puppet master.
+the last of the shpee's Search on Dailymotion. That's where I watch all of the MLP episodes and movies.
+Oscar Stainton You make a very good point about Cinch and how she holds her students' lives in an iron grip. And to be honest, I agree that she'd be a *great* villain if this was a typical high school movie. My problem with her is basically her motivation, though, at least for someone who's the main villain of a fantasy film until the last ten minutes. In a setting where other villains want world domination, Eternal Night, Chaos, etc. her goal was to protect her reputation.
That's a very realistic motivation for a villain (painfully realistic if you work in a professional setting, trust me) but it just seems so limiting and underwhelming for a spot usually taken by a larger than life character in a setting like this. Tastes are a part of it, of course, but, well...imagine the Hobbit Trilogy if they'd tried to play up the Master of Laketown as the main villain instead of Azog. Or Nolan's Batman with Falcone/Maroni instead of Ra's al-Ghul/the Joker.
I liked the villan song, it was catchy and was pressure to have twilight release the magic
Here's my biggest problem with this movie:
Twilight never tries to learn anything.
She walks around with the magic-eater held in front of her like she's the tool and it's the master. She strains against a leash instead of closing the thing the moment it starts sucking. And she never studies the magic she's contained. She steals it thoughtlessly, then moves on to the next scene to be confused and out of her depth. Not a single moment of her running even the slightest test on what she's got, just sucking up magic and staring in barely reactive shock at something she's seen several times.
For someone obsessed with studying and data, she does about as much as the brainwashed students in the final act of the first movie. As a result, Sunset's rant at her about tampering with forces she doesn't understand came across as entirely justified, especially the part where she grumbles "you're supposed to be smart".
+Nathanael Unger yes that was her flaw in this movie that she was thoughtless and yes sunset's speech was justified it was supposed to be justified
but i didnt get botherd by it becuase she didnt know she was hurting anyone and too her the magic was just data nothing else so yeah she did wrong but her intetions were good
also being preassued to compete in the friendship games most likely kept her from going in depth
***** Seeing several people have what, for all you know, could be their life force drained out of them and yet continuing to not lock that thing away doesn't sound like she didn't know she was hurting anyone.
More like willful ignorance, at best.
+Nathanael Unger To be fair all of this happened in the course of about a day, and besides there wasn't much she could do to study it with all of those people around so presumably she was going to wait until she got back to her lab to see what was up.
That's just my assumption anyway.
Sigh Fair point, but she could have at least said something that made her seem less like the plot's mindless slave.
+Nathanael Unger I don't think she really had time to study it, with the pressure of the games and all. I did have a problem with Principal Cinch demanding that Human Twilight unleash the magic, even after she saw what it could do. She had to have known Twilight couldn't control the magic, and there was no gurantee it would work the way she thought it would.
2:33 Challenge Accepted (It's been a week since I've seen this movie. Here we go)
Soursweet: pink haired girl that looks like sontana dusk. "Riiiight, take advice from the one you're competing against!" "Actually, we're all to blame. Mostly HER though."
Sugarcoat: Purple girl w/ white hair. "That was really terrible. You should consider not publicly speaking." "It's not really a competition since we always beat you." "You're really bad at this!" (when twilight is trying to hit the target.)
Lemonzist: Yellow and green hair girl. "Hey! You should totally listen to this!"
Sunnyflare: short, purple haired girl. "The back of the line is over there."
Indigozap: Blue haired girl w/ peach skin. "Are we gonna win?! ... Wrong answer. Are, we gonna, win!?"
Did I get these correct?
Honestly, I felt that writing wise this movie was slightly better than Rainbow Rocks. I love that Sunset Shimmer has fully taken on the role of main protagonist for these movies, and I love the conflict she has with Human!Twilight. I felt that Sunset's outburst at Twilight after the relay was understandable, and a great example of how even though she's improved a lot, she's still holding onto a great deal of anger. And that villain song? I love it. I love how it starts out rather simple and then slowly builds to Twilight's transformation, the students singing almost felt like a latin choir chanting in the background when Twilight started singing about how she wanted to understand the magic. Then there's the final battle, and as a fan of anime I simply adored the visuals and action. I especially love that Sunset and Twilight's superforms are simply reversals of their superforms from the first movie, Sunset is still very demonic looking but in a way that is more heroic and stable, while Twilight still looks like an angel but one that harkens more toward the dark and fallen. It's the sort of symmetry that I love seing in "rival" characters like this.
Now I will admit, I think I like Rainbow Rocks a little more, but only because of the Sirens and their songs. I like the Shadow Bolts, they fill their purpose and get a few good lines in, but Adagio just killed it with how snakelike she was. The problem with going from magical evil force to normal yet cruel people is a matter of scope. Similar to how some people don't like Starlight Glimmer because she's not loud and bombastic like Discord or Chrysalis, I feel that people are just looking down on the Shadowbolts and Cinch because they're not the sirens, and I think that's unfair. I like that the writers are acknowledging that normal people can be evil as much as the conquerors can be. I do tend to prefer the conquerors, but that's a matter of personal taste.
All in all, I liked this movie a lot, and I'm excited as hell to hear news about the next one.
+Xain Russell I really could not agree more!!
+Xain Russell I also agree the songs and the movie felt very Disney in a good way and this is my favorite of the EG movies although Rainbow rocks made me laugh more this movie felt like it had a better Atmosphere.
Rainbow Rocks was far better
+Xain Russell You can easily have a fair share of Bada$$ Normals that are compelling, and powerful in their own way. Heck, some of comics's greatest characters count: Lex Luthor, Bruce Wayne, Joker, Oliver Queen, Tony Stark before Extremis Clint Barton -- all normal despite their genius or specialized skills.
But we can't really say much for Cinch because, much like Flash, she was presented as a one-note character. Worse even than him, she was completely obsessed with reputation, or all that glitters. If you know the rest of that proverb, and chances are you do, you know what I'm driving at. The problem, however, extends somewhat to the Shadowbolt since they don't have the focus for us to get to know them well. Yes, proper characterization can do wonders. I know a movie does not give a lot of time, especially ones that are a little over 1 hour, but DHX could have done something. Maybe 5 minute shorts to get to know the new characters, instead of the teasers and other shorts that were released. Just a thought.
Oh, and +DRWolf001, that's the wrong Spike, and I'm pretty sure that jackalope was a jackalope. We've seen them on the show before. I think these unstable portals we got for this movie don't come with transformation functions, since Twilight only got the portal function from the main portal before Sunset interrupted her.
My main problem with this movie is that magic is treated basically as if it's as normal as it is in Equestia. I can understand the CHS students and staff treating it this way: they've seen magic at work before, and fallen victim to it. But the rest of the world? Nuh-uh. This is why most media that include magic use what's called the 'Masquerade.' You probably know it best from _Harry Potter_, where the wizards did their best to hide the very existence of magic from the Mundanes. Harry was even going to be punished for using his Patronus to save his cousin even though he didn't deserve saving (he didn't deserve death either, but there you go). I think that _Friendship Games_ could have used the Masquerade to balance the revelation of magic, and make the HuMane6 try to stop themselves from transforming, like they were trying to do in _Rainbow Rocks_. This would have added another dimension of suspense to Twilight's investigations, despite the impossibility of her bringing any other equipment with her from her lab. The HuMane6 using magic like the Mane6 would, other characters' initial shock, and then progression to 'I want to use this too' was far too smooth and quick to be believable. In the manga _Negima_, one of the possible punishments for casting spells in front of a Mundane was being stripped of your magical license and being transformed into an ermine. By this measure, the entire HuMane6 should be mahou shoujo mascots now.
Two things left the biggest impression on me in regards to this movie:
1. The contrast between EQG!Twilight being ignored or even shunned at Crystal Prep, and the warm welcome she received at Canterlot High because of FiM!Twilight's efforts and previous presence. EQG!Twilight got a taste from early on of what she had been looking for, and all she had to do was recognize it. It only took until the end for that to come about.
2. Sunset becoming Twilight's teacher completes the circle that started in the first movie, or even in Sunset's comic where she turned her back on Celestia's teachings to run away into CHverse. She wasn't in _exactly_ the same place in which Twilight found herself after releasing the magic, but since both were overwhelmed and corrupted by a great deal of power, their places were the same. In these three movies, Sunset journeyed from being the initiator and the antagonist to the protagonist who finds the key to solving a dilemma, to the one who reaches out to someone else who needed a helping hand, just as she needed it back then. It's a neat little progression, and well done in most respects. We even got to see some elements of her transformation from 'My Past Is Not Today.' I just wish that weird shading around her eyes wasn't there: too _Mad Max_ for my tastes.
Overall I think that this movie has a lot of strengths, but it is held back from being the best by a few nagging weaknesses. _Rainbow Rocks_ definitely has the strongest writing, pacing, and characterization. A more limited cast certainly helped in that regard. It's that or extend the runtime, and Hasbro chose to make it a short movie. Here's hoping for more characterization if Hasbro decides to continue _EQG_ in any form. In the meantime, here's hoping season 5 and the 2017 Pony movie end up being great.
+Xain Russell I think this movie was far better because the plot was not so over the top. Like you said it is a matter of personal taste, but it is a lot more believable to me because no one was trying to take over equestria with an army of teenagers, or battle each other with music. Things made a lot more sense because of that. Twilight discovered an anomaly and wanted to study it more, so she came up with a way to collect samples,and this had unintended consequences because she did not understand that the anomaly was magic. It makes a lot more sense then some weird magic music battle. I admit the magical transformations at the end where kind of bizarre, but unlike sunset shimmer twilight did not have some sudden magical personality change. She was overwhelmed by power, and power corrupts, what I do not understand is why she didn't just make a portal and go through it so that she could study equestria, but whatever. I do like that she still was attached to spike, and that she was able to be guided back to being normal with some help from sunset. It is my favorite eqg movie by far, and was really entertaining.
"It really rubbed me the wrong way" Dr. Wolf, 2015
Really? With all the songs only designed and used to fill up time in the first Equestria Girls, Unleash the Magic is the "most pointless?" Even when it beautifully built up tension to the climax and brought multiple storylines to a head?
+Junglehero127 Yeah. I don't get his point either.
+Junglehero127 Agree, you're cool.
Well, you gotta admit the last song was really pointless (The one where the evil principal sings). I felt the same was as the doc. When I realized she was gonna sing, I was like: "She's just singing because they need a villain song, right?"
Random person I don't see it being pointless. It was to pressure Twilight into releasing the magic which caused her to become Midnight Sparkle.
Random person it was building up the climax. Brilliantly so in fact.
Eh, in Crystal Prep's defense, the Shadowbolts DO learn their lesson and even call Cinch out on her bullcrap. They most likely only added onto Twilight's pressure because they weren't too aware of just what the magic would do once it was unleashed. Kind of like how someone who hears something is great calls it great without actually witnessing it him/herself.
"Unleash the magic" was the ONLY song I liked sound wise. I don't care if it was pointless or not but I think the song had a point because Twilight needed to be pushed further than just a bit of dialogue to open the device because Twilight clearly meant no harm. I think Twilight becoming a demon was a bit of a stretch but perhaps the point is that while Twilight meant no harm she only thought of Everton and learning about magic which is a bit selfish and the song along with the magic corrupted this bit of selfishness about learning to something evil.
I enjoyed Friendship Games like I did with Rainbow Rocks. The characters especially Sunset and Sci-Twi were fantastic, the story was great, the songs were great, the Shadowbolts were very interesting and I loved the way they redeemed themselves during the climax, even by supporting the Wondercolts against their own principal, the animation was awesome and it has open new doors to new adventures with Sunset, Sci-Twi and the Mane 6. Although the the pacing was awkward and Cinch was OK as a villain but she could have been done better, I put this in a tie with Rainbow Rocks, I give it 9/10 ^^
i cant see how its cringy at all
i mean the song was fucking awesome
and by god the tension when she considers unleashing the magic (when twi stars singing) even she thinks its a bad idea
but its that or being hated by her peers and not getting her dream
i mean i just love the fact that she tries to convince herself to do it but at the same time just know that what she is about to do is wrong
'
and about the anit mane 6
yeah try to make 5 more characters likeable and memroble in 70 minutes AND have also a new main character to introduce
im pretty sure then will be featured more if the decide to make a spin off series
and i thought the villian was great beacause for one she didnt want world domination and was very realistic and relatable and believe me those teachers/principles exist
(sorry if my english is bad)
+the last of the shpee's "and by god the tension when she considers unleashing the magic (when twi stars singing) "
SO MUCH THIS! If it was just the bad guys singing and it left off after, yeah it would be rather pointless. But it's the switch to Twi's solo at the end that makes the song so damn great.
And Cinch made a freaking awesome Hate Sink, just not a really great primary antagonist.
+7Seraphem7 yes and the words are perfect
my favorite line is
"imagine all id learn by setting it free"
in a very i dont believe what im saying kind of way
+the last of the shpee's
Agreed.
And your English is perfectly understandable.
StrategicGamesEtc thank you i apreciate it
Anyone else disagree about the Unleash the Magic song? I personally loved it
+Mlp-Starsong the Pirate Pretty much everyone loves the song, so your not alone.
+Mlp-Starsong the Pirate Oh yeah, the song was just, so damn awesome, and such a perfect build up to her transformation.
+Mlp-Starsong the Pirate I thought it acted as great buildup to Twilight's transformation. My favorite part is when Twilight started singing.
+7Seraphem7 I guess Dr. Wold is in the minority of opinions when it comes to the song Unleash the Magic.
Arthur2light I'm noticing. Thing is, I could maybe see a point to that if it was just Cinch and the Shadowbolts egging Twi on, then she stepped out and did the thing. Then yeah might have been unneeded,
But not with Twi ending the song as a solo. That part, and the song leading up to it, just built the tension SO damn well. Starting low, creepy, off setting, growing more and more tense, getting darker, till finally Twi's at the decision point, giving into the temptation, the timing, the music, the build up, all of it just so perfectly set the stage for the transformation.
Hmm.... this is the first time I've genuinely disagreed with Dr.Wolf.... I mean, Unleash the Magic was one of the best songs of the movie in my opinion.
This feels..... weird....
+BronyTran Same...
+BronyTran Of the movie? Of the whole franchise.
+BronyTran no kidding, it's not on the same level as "tricks up my sleeve" or "welcome to the show", but it was still pretty close.
I was singing in the bus for a week after I heard it...It gave me chills up my spine! Some of the lyrics were so perfect...
+BronyTran I feel you ;)
I think I love it because... I can totally hear a Ursula or an other female Disney villain sing this.
I am a sucker for Disney-esq songs.
I personally loved this movie. I loved meeting Twilight's human counterpart and I liked the parallels this film had with the first; especially with bringing Sunset Shimmer's story arc full circle. Sunset, Twilight, the rest of the Mane 6, and Spike the dog were definitely the heart of this film.
I personally found the pacing to be pretty even. Not once did I feel like things were moving to quickly or too slowly. My interest was kept all the way through. I also really enjoyed all of the songs with "What More Is Out There", "Acadeca", and "Unleash the Magic" being my favorites. Yes, I really liked the villain song. Well, granted, I felt kind of meh about it at first but I grew to love it after several more listens. It did an excellent job building up to Twilight's transformation in my opinion.
And speaking of the villain, while I'll admit that I found her to be less enjoyable than the sirens, I think she was a refreshing change. She was an EG villain with no ties to Equestria. She felt like a villain you could meet in everyday life. One character she reminded me of greatly was Lady Tremaine from "Cinderella" in that she didn't have any evil powers and even any large evil plans for world domination. She just had control over one aspect of someone's life and milked every last drop out of it.
The only real complaints I have is that, yes, some of the new characters were forgettable and I wish we could have gotten a longer scene at the end between Sci-Twi and Princess Twilight.
Overall, again, I loved this film and it's my personal favorite in the EG series thus far. From what I've heard, there's at least a fourth film planned. I eagerly look forward to seeing what lies in EG's future and I REALLY hope we get to see a full on crossover between the EG and main MLP worlds someday.
Doc, Every time you post a review, I feel like you're simply reading my mind and taking my thoughts. I don't know what the similarities are (Religion? Education? Being the only sane man in a room?) but your reviews put my thoughts perfectly almost without fail. Kudos.
+scaevolamus Glad to be of service.
+DRWolf001 I really loved this movie but your review was really good. I agree with almost all of your points, but as the mane focus was Twilight and they presented her extremely well, and as they did such a great job with all the mane characters, some underdeveloppe side characters really don`t bother me that much. The final was extremely intense and epic. The animation stunning. Celestia, Luna and Cadene also all got a moment to shine. It was a strong commentary on bullying. To me it was the MLP version of Carrie.
I didn't find this as "cringe inducing" as you. I really enjoyed this film. All I can say is that, the new characters could have more screentime and yeah the villain isn't the most original character ever, but I still liked her and as for her song, it's not the most pointless Equestria Girls song. That right goes to "This is Our Big Night." Overall, I think this is better than the other 2 movies and no offense, but I thought you were a little harsh on it.
+SquidofBaconator "This is our big night" is a montage song, and montages are used to artificially speed up a series of events that would otherwise take up too much time. So it does serve a purpose, a quite important one, actually.
+DarthSatoris Eh, it's them looking for dresses for almost one minute and it came in literally 50 seconds after the song before it. I'm sorry, but I don't see the need of looking at what they're going to wear. If they wanted to put a montage song in, then that's fine, I just can't see a purpose for that song to be there.
+DarthSatoris Not really given all we see is them messing around while playing dress up. they could have just said 'let's get ready" and skip to them showing up in the dresses. There was nothing IN the montage that needed to be seen.
+SquidofBaconator
Precisely. :)
+SquidofBaconator () I like "This is our big night", it is well done, but I agree that it is the most pointless of the songs.
the bad guy song was friken amazing dr wolf
s sorry
+Bekah Gower I agree, it could be omitted if needed but for me its easily in the top three best songs out of all three movies.
I know right?!
im a theater kid at heart I LOOOOOOVE unleash the magic
s sorry
glad someone agrees
s sorry dr wolf
The sirens Songs were better and haven't got 75% of the lyrics saying unleash the Magic
Not my favourite song
5:15 It's actually a bit of fridge brilliance there. At the end, you can see Spike jumps into Fluttershy's magic and is visibly effected by it. And what's her unique ability? Talking to animals.
To me, while I like the Equestria Girls movies, I find all of them to be highly predictable and full of cliches, but I watch them because they still have their shining moments. Whether it be the truly touching times like that LOOK Spike gives Twilight, the humor that makes me laugh like Rarity's giddiness in costumes (especially motocross), the cool action, or just seeing what they do with the background characters like Derpy.
I mean come on, Derpy may have been visible in about six scenes, but each one was darling, and that's why we love her. And that's why I like Equestria Girls.
I actually liked this one a bit more than the other two, because while still as predictable, it had such charm and humor at moments that really made me smile. Spike's pleading look, Rarity's motocross outfits, the fight between killer plants and pony-human Dash, and a few other scenes are worth the watch.
Plus... the more I see of Sunset, the more I want to see the girl enter the MLP show officially. :)
Rainbow Rocks is still my favorite but this was a very good movie regardless.
I suppose my "flaw" is that I'm also predictable, as I chose to watch Friendship Games with a clean slate, no significant expectations beyond it being... a movie.
... and I enjoyed the overall viewing experience.
THIS WAS THE BEST FILM EVER 10/10 BETTER THEN RAINBOW ROCKS!!!
=)>
also, the cringe song sets the mood of darkness and the inner conflict of sci twi.
+thespeedyyoshi True
I agree!
NuclearPatato cool! Opinions are a thing and this is just my opinion =)>
+thespeedyyoshi Too rushed, underplayed Antagonists, Twily's her device Female dog, Sunset Shimmer goes Psycho Female Dog on the ignorant Twily... those are some of it's faults...
Alfonso Rodríguez Martínez awesome twi is awesome, all the new characters have defining personallities, THE VILLIAN SONG IS THE BEST SONG EVER!! These are some of the strengths.
"Most cringe inducing"? Compared to the one that had every character bar Spike acting like a complete moron, forced, and utterly failed, attempts at making some kind of romantic sub-plot, and a villain, whose master plan hinged on an army of a few dozen teenagers being able to take over Equestria? While invading the country through a narrow choke point, that already has three Demi-Goddesses, five of Equestria's greatest heroes, and a magical super weapon that vaporized the last person to try to take over, all sitting right outside of it? No EQG still remains the worst, stupidest, and most cringe inducingly bad of the lot.
That said, yeah it was a movie that could have been a lot better. And yes, the single biggest issue is the villains. They really are dull, boring, flat, just... had nothing to them beyond one Character Quirk. Just, damn were they boring. And yet, still better villains then Sunset, at least Cinch's plan made sense, and didn't rely on shear idiocy and dumb luck. I'd rather a boring villain then one with an Idiot Ball slammed down their throat.
The songs... huh? Wow totally the opposite on those. I found Twi's song to be the most forgettable, bland, just, meh song of the bunch. While Unleash the magic was, just so good. Haunting, dark, and it built the tension up for Twi's giving in so perfectly. Yeah rest of the songs were decent, fun, but not super AMAZING like the last movies, but still better then any of the first movies.. well other then the cafeteria one, that was still good.
So, yeah, still a damn good movie, that sorely needed a more fleshed out antagonist, but was still SO much better then the first, if not as good as Rainbow Rocks.
Oh and, still haven't had anyone give a good reason why 'predictable' is such a bad thing.
+7Seraphem7 I think that a problem that people have with predictability is that: if you can guess what's going to happen, then there's not much enjoyment in watching the "twists" or no twist at all. As for me, I can forgive predictability if the end product is enjoyable, which is the case for this movie. I was able to guess some of the stuff that happened, yet I still really like this movie more than the others.
+7Seraphem7 Thats one thing I don;t like about DR wolfs reviews, where he complains about "predictability". It gets really old whenever someone keeps complaining about something being predictable. As long as an episode or movie is overall enjoyable, who cares about predictability.Especially when it;s a cartoon thats geared towards kids that haven't seen these kinds of stories before.
*****
"I can forgive predictability if the end product is enjoyable"
Exactly, barring cases where surprising the audience is a major point, like a Who-Done-It mystery story, (No Rarity Investigates does not count, that wasn't a "Who-Done-It" it was a "How-Prove-It") or something Shamalan like where the whole point is to blow your mind with this epic twist at the end you never saw coming. What does it matter so long as the journey is fun and entertaining?
Yes, having twists, surprising the audience does tend to be a bonus, and can make a story even better. But the lack of it isn't something that make it worse.
+SquidofBaconator But this movie was not a thriller, it was about the growth of the characters. The movie was not exactly trying to hide its outcome. I feel like people who complain about things being predictable needs to watch everything twice. everything is predictable the second time you watch it. In a good movie the plot is only the surface of the movie, and the truly interesting stuff is what lives underneath, and in this movie it was the character interactions and development. It is like saying that to kill a mockingbird was bad because it was predictable . It literally tells you what is going to happen in the middle of the book. My point is twists and turns is the hallmark of a good thriller, but this movie didn't need any twists and turns, it was awesome even knowing exactly what was going to happen because it was a bit deeper than just its plot. not half as deep as to kill a mockingbird, but still.
Isaac Fratti
^THIS^
Unless what you found to be 'predictable' was something that the story was clearly trying to prevent you from finding out and was meant to be some huge shocking reveal. What does it matter?
I'm sorry, Dr Wolf but I REALLY have to disagree with you here. You're saying that even with all the songs in the first Equestria Girls movie that served no purpose, Unleash The Magic was the most pointless? Yeah, no. That spot goes to This Is Our Big Night.
Sorry, but Unleash the Magic is awesome. It reminded me of great Disney villain songs.
Rainbow rocks stays my favorite of the three. The passing felt more real and Trixie's song still spins in my head till this day.
I liked Unleash the Magic better than any other song
6:16 ok, she does have a bakery, right?
*where can i buy this cake?!*
I love unleash the magic is a great song I had so much fun with that one song!
what's the background music in that you're using Dr Wolf. been trying to find that forever
i don't know what to think of this movie, its not bad or good
+The Yu-Gi-Oh Brony Except it's super good, what're you talking about.
+Eduardo Flores Don't lie.
Victorious Secret Who's lying? This movie was so much fun and had great moments.
I think the Villain song was the most useful song in the entire movie...
@2:13
Translation: Sunset took it personally that someone was messing around with magic.
What are your thoughts on how Flash Sentry was portrayed in this movie?
I"m surprised you didn't mention twilight's reaction to flash this time. I honestly thought the reaction she did in this movie should've been how Equestria's version of Twilight should've reacted to him, while having the human world twilight being the one that actually gets all flustered by him. At least, that's my opinion anyway because it seemed like real world twilight didn't seem that flustered by him.
About the rabbit thingy and Spike ability to talk.
As those portals were created due to Twilight's necklace draining the portal's magic, and after seeing the rips in reality Mignight Sparkle tore in the finale, that lead directly into Equestria, I think the raw power of the portal connecting the two world was stolen, but not the finest subltleties of its magic that turns ponies into human, dragons into dogs, and vice-versa. So the rabbit thingy we see must also be a rabbit thingy on the other side, and Spike the dog didn't turned into a dragon when he went through the portal.
Anyway, the portals are not link to Spike gaining the ability to talk, but because he was caught by the magic coming out of Fluttershy when it was drained by the necklace. Before that he was still barking like a dog do, and only spoke after.
The songs all felt pretty good to me. The part that got me was figuring out how these schools paid for these absolutely ridiculous contests, yet couldn't afford security when the student body is about to be eaten by giant interdimensional plants!
is there anywhere i can watch this movie online?
That last scene with Equestria Twilight mentioning time travel loop only confirms to me about Starlight Glimmer using time travel to muck up the Mane 6's bonds in Season 5's finale.
Twilight mentioning that probably also means 'Friendship Games' was supposed to air AFTER the season 5 finale.
I was excited for Friendship Games. The 5 shorts did raise my expectations. But, my thoughts on the actual movie is pretty much exactly the same as yours Doctor. I didn't know what to make of the movie, but I can conclude that it's my least favourite of the EG movies.
I did find the Unleash the Magic song to be quite epic. Not because of Principal Cinch singing it, but because of the build-up to Sci-Twi unleashing the magic. We didn't know what the magic could do, Twilight was slowly opening up the device, building up the possible epicness that was to come.
I don't really like overall characters like Principle Cinch, and not even this movie made my interested in her. The Shadowbolts would've been as great as the Dazzlings, but because they were focusing more on Cinch and Sci-Twi, there was a lot of wasted potential. Sci-Twi was really cute and adorable, but Midnight Twilight was an cringe-worthy Satan Shimmer callback. Sunset Shimmer was awesome, especially with her character development, but her turning into an Alicorn goddess left me speechless and confused.
As for the epilogue? Well, EG1 takes place after the Season 3 Finale and Rainbow Rocks takes place after the Season 4 Finale. So, I'm assuming Friendship Games takes place after the non-released Season 5 Finale. And the whole "time-loop" thing Twilight mentioned might have something to with [SPOILERS] Starlight Glimmer as we saw her in that animatic. She might still not understand that difference is better and she might trap Twilight, Spike (and maybe the other 5) in some time-loop to make everypony in PonyVille equal like before. Or something like that.
My thoughts were almost the same as yours Doctor. 50/50. 60/40? I don't know.
I actually liked the movie, thought it much better then the first one but not as good as Rainbow Rocks.
First off, the villains. While I agree that the Anti-Humane 6 were not all that memorable save for one or two gimmicks, I figured out that they weren't really the main villains. Surprisingly enough, neither was principle Cinch a main villain, but instead what they represented, the cut-throat nature of Crystal Prep, all driving twilight to *become* the villain. The movie was actually villain-less until the final 13 mins of screen-time, when the pressures of her peers, her principle, and a unquenchable thirst for knowledge led twilight to become the villain.
This is why I, like many others have mentioned, really like the last song. It starts out with the principal putting pressure on Twilight, reminding her of the goals she set (and which she can take away). Then the Crystal prep students add background vocals, ever increasing in volume, showing the ever mounting peer pressure she faces at the school. Finally Twilight has her solo, reassuring herself that what she is doing is for the greater good and will help her accomplish what she always wanted, giving in and ultimately being consumed by her pressures.
It is because that we don't have an actual "villain" at the beginning, but instead the villain is only created bat the very end that I really like Friendship Games. In some ways it's a very relatable story about people driven to the edge by social pressures around them, and thus makes Twilight a very sympathetic villain.
+AtrusOranis () THIS! That is thus far one of the best analyst deductions I have read, and I almost totally agree on it! My only slight picking is that it is all entwined: Cinch' expectations and drive to keep the school's reputation, the resulting cutthroat attitude in the school itself(although some might come from parents as well), and the pressuring of Twilight into a totally insecure situation, causing her to lash out. So essentially, there is no real villain, but too many bad circumstances.
Rainbow ROCKS is still my favorite But the Friendship Games is still pretty good
In some ways both Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games both exceed my expectations in different ways. Rainbow Rocks was better than I expected since it fixed all of my gripes I had with the first movie and improved upon the ones that were good. Friendship Games was more of an original story for me and the songs are the best that I've seen in the movie series so far. I know they're all under the same genre of music but I felt there was variety in the instruments used. In the end I can't really say I like each one more than the other they're both 9/10's for me. But that's just my opinion.
*cracks neck*
Here I go...
*falls to knees*
*looks up to the heavens*
*screams*
I FUCKING LOVED THIS MOVIE!!!
What really got me was after the teaser video they released where Sunset was having a moment and grew wings for a minute, and then really accepted the role of the magical element of harmony in this one and grew wings again. Is Sunset Alicorn now cannon?
When Spike was jumping through the portals, and he came back and could talk, I thought it was Spike from Equestria! That would've been REALLY awesome if they did that.
what's the backround music called
Dr Wolf, have you seen the deleted scene of Friendship Games?
I actually remembered, like, 3 girls. I liked the one girl's monotone voice when pointing out the obvious, that loud girl who was like a Vinyl Scratch on crack, and Sour Sweet with her two-faced personality.
I also thought the human world Twilight really made the movie the driving force and the Principal was a more realistic villain. I feel like Twi's conflict is easily relatable due to peer pressure and her timidity. There's actually one scene in the movie that was probably my favorite and most relatable. It was during when Twilight was trying to hit the targets, but kept missing as Sour Sweet was gradually getting more and more pissed until Twi was on the verge of crying. Then Applejack came and helped Twilight hid the target. That's one of my favorite heart-warming moments because I know how it feels to keep messing up in front of others and then they become angry towards you.
-I really think its weird how so much people actually liked unleash the magic....
-Yeah... we agree with you doc!
-Dont include me, I never take sides
@3:03
Translation: Too many new characters to develop while still keeping the interest of 'antagonists' to the heroes compared to three villains who were the only focus in the last film.
(5:03)
It's a Jackelope. A rabbit with deer horns is called a jackelope.....
I agree with you for the most part. I busted up laughing when spike gave those poor little puppy dog eyes toward twilight. I didn't think it was heartwarming, but more funny. The speech between sunset and twilight was heartwarming. The fact that sunset was the monster, and twilight helped her, and now it's the other way around was done pretty well. I loved how twilight became the villain, and I thought that was done pretty well. I will admit the villain song was cringeworthy at the start, but I started getting into it towards the end. Other than that, I agree with you.
The villain song is actually a excite point for what happens next.
holy moly 2 videos in 1 day , so how's Comic Con so far
Who likes this Twilight better than Equestrian one better?
Friendship Games was an experience that I for one couldn't refuse to miss. I'm glad to say that this was an experience that I was glad to see. A lot of good things came from this movie, and yet it also gave us some.....................bad concepts and executions. EQG Twilight was a really riveting character to have as a second anti-protagonist to the M6, if that makes any sense. She had many motivations towards the magic in her world, and her interactions and decisions were clearly a work of genuine art. I was surprised that she transformed into a better magical demon than Sunset in the first EQG movie. Speaking of Sunset, she was another gem of a star that this movie has graced us with. She still wins points in my book, and her battle against "Midnight Sparkle" was grand and so gratifying to her arc and conclusion to her journey ever since we all first laid eyes on her. She had so much to deal with, and for her to finish it all in what she did in this movie truly makes it worth the while. Main 5 were good as usual, and I'm ok with that. Thanks for the mention of Spike, cause even though I wasn't expecting him to do anything funny or eye- catching, the smallest thing he did in the end truly spoke volumes to his and Twi's relationship as an entire concept. The principal of Crystal prep is perhaps the new weakest villain in the ENTIRE EQG series of movies, and her students aren't that much better. The songs were pretty good overall, with one or two of them being really outstanding to me. I agree with you somewhat on the principal's song at the end, cause to me, it somewhat made sense, and it kinda came out of nowhere. Cadence really creeped me out with her eyes......................."shudders". Overall, I'm ranking this movie a solid 8/10, and if they fixed some things here and there, it could've been better than Rainbow Rocks.
Also, that "post-credit" scene towards hinting something at S5 will be......................"interesting" to see......
I wouldn't say Cinch is the absolute worst EG Villain. That "honor" goes to evil Sunset and her utterly stupid evil plan
+Junglehero127 have to agree there. Cinch's plan had a chance to work. Sunset's never did.
The bunny that spike chased was a vampric jackalope from part 3 of the Return of Queen Chrysalis comic.
I was actually disappointed that King Sombra wasn't Crystal Prep's principal.
I personally believe that the school was built just for the sole purpose of covering up the portal statue. Most likely by some kind of organization who knew that there was magic there and didn't want the world to find out (which probably explains why the school hasn't been shut down yet, or even as much as investigated by the CIA, or some other type of government security body), and the human Celestia and Luna were most likely actual people looking for some kind of job and just so happened to find this particular school. And I have a theory for why Celestia didn't seem TOO phased by the hu-mane six in their pony form in the first movie: she and Luna were probably informed of this as they were deciding to take their jobs as principals of this school, they were informed of why this school was here, but they were also told that they would be actual principals, rather than just posing as such. Now, at first glance, it might seem like a bad idea to put regular students in a place where there's all this weird s#&$ that has the possibility of eating them up, but if the sole purpose was just to cover up the portal, and NOT to study it, then you would need a large cluster of people to cover up the sudden appearance/disappearance of one more person. Think about it. If the school hadn't been built around the portal, and it had been left there out in the open all on it's own, and someone came through the portal THEN, don't you think that would start turning more heads and drawing the attention of even MORE people, even faster than if there was a school there? Also, human Celestia and Luna might not be immortal, but they've probably been at that school long enough to see some pretty weird stuff happen, so... they probably knew that the statue just in front of the school was a portal to an alternate dimension.
That's just a theory... A Pony Theory! Food for thought.
The best thing about Friendship Games was the role reversal between Twilight and Sunset Shimmer, especially at the climax.
We see the full extent of Sunset's qualities that made her a genuinely worthy student for Princess Celestia, back before she went through the mirror. People tend to forget how big of a deal it is to be chosen as one of the Princess's students, and it was great to see her actually doing spectacular things, even going so far as to become that world's version of the Element of Magic.
At the same time, we see that, given the wrong set of circumstances, Twilight Sparkle was fully capable of falling prey to the same lust for power that Sunset did in the first movie. It made me wonder what would have happened if Sunset would have had her own version of a confidant like Spike to talk her down, back before she lost Celestia's favor.
The resolution gave a wonderful vibe of coming full circle, and it really felt like redemption for Sunset beyond anything in the other two movies. She wasn't simply turning over a new leaf and "being good". She was reaching out to someone who was beginning to make the same mistake she had already made. Sunset had transcended that trap and lead Twilight back into the light, just as the Equestria Twilight had lead Sunset out of her own darkness. This was an amazing way to use the "alternate world" setting.
Did anyone else notice that one of the students at Crystal Prep is Fluffy Clouds?
Just curious, what kind of music do u like?
@4:23
Translation: Don't double the number of major characters without expanding the time to give the characters due respect.
@7:48
don't forget this is a NEW Spike. Not one we have had the time to get to know like the Dragon Spike!!
My Little Pony: Equestria Girls 4 plot Sunset Shimmer think`s that with Twilight Sparkle around she's no longer needed by anyone at Canterlot High so she leaves & her friends go out to find her & bring her back thumbs up all those who like this possible story.
I actually decided not to spoil myself from watching the shorts and clips, so I watched the movie with little to no expectations, and combined with the fact that equestria girls was the one that got me to watch the show, it was great and very enjoyable to watch.
All I know is that this last movie means that Dr. Wolf might end up doing a revision of his "Where is Sunset Shimmer of the Human World" video. The final scene in the movie shows two Twilight's in the same area interacting. And yes, they don't really say anything to each other, but the human world Twilight didn't disappear when the Equestria Twilight came through the portal.
I also did a review for this, and for me the shadowbolt song is to start up the final battle. The shadowbolt is only fight for honor. At the last, we still get to see them to do something better. Spike is loyal and can say that he almost is all the harmony. Spike is sending a message to dark Twilight is that isn't the Twilight he know and want. This movie is wonderful for me. I love all the song and every scene. Although the best thing in rainbow rock is only the song, and how Sunset turn to help. I actually is looking forward to see some shadowbolt scene.
I agree with Dr. Wolf about the villain song, it's pointless. Why did they put a villain song in the end? And that villain song is not even interesting enough for me, it's just a typical evil song we would hear in a lot of places. But I must say those crystal prep students are pretty good, not as villains but as characters. They have their unique personalities that kinda make them memorable.
I didn't really see Principal Cinch and the Crystal Prep Students as villains. I just saw them as mean students and a principal who cared only for her "reputation".
I am glad i am not the only not who saw how Spike was able to get twilight to her senses for a moment as being very important. Had spike not been there, Sunset most likely would have lost. Also I liked that villain song. Peer pressure at its fullest and the building of tension worked.
While I agree that Principle Cinch wasn't really anything special as a villain, "Unleash the Magic" was actually my favorite song in the movie, with "What More Is Out There" as a close second. I'm a sucker for a good villain song and this one was a delightfully eerie mix of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" and "Cell Block Tango." You can feel the tension and pressure building as Twilight becomes more and more motivated to let loose all the magic she's captured.
I would've loved to have more lines from the Crystal Prep girls since all we got from most of them were slight hints at their personalities. Out of all of them, I think Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet had the most lines. They really should've gotten more screen time to themselves, especially for how they were built up in promotion for the movie.
Dr wolf have you watched the deleted scenes? They tell a whole different story of sunset and her struggle to stay in the human world, they are on UA-cam i recommend them
Thank you Dr. Wolf! This is just what I needed to hear; my feelings about the film were quite mixed as well, and was having a hard time putting them into words. I think you hit it on the nose for me, since I kept going back and forth on likes/dislikes too. I wanted to get it out of my system somehow and I think I'm good now.(also, that last song I could not agree more; just doesn't sit right with me)
I think the Spike talking thing came from the interaction with the pony magic. More specifically Fluttershy's magic and her ability to communicate with animals. I think if it were any other of the mane six Spike would have just been zapped and nothing really big would have happened.
I'll be honest, the only Crystal Prep student that I have seen a pony equivalent for yet, that I really liked, was Sugar Coat. She was the girl with the white hair in pigtails, blue skin & pink glasses. Whenever she spoke, I laughed.
I think Unleash The Magic was pretty good. I always find myself coming back and listening to it more often than the other songs, surprisingly enough, and I love how if you look closely at Human Twilight's eyes when she starts singing she starts giving into the desire to learn about the magic no matter the cost. It's rather difficult to put what I saw with her eyes into proper words on here but she slowly started to transform into that version of herself before she released the magic and transformed. That part was pretty awesome. Though the songs: Dance Magic, Acadeca, The Friendship Games, CHS Rally Song, and the duet of What More Is Out There (with Sunset and human Twilight) are what I like from the movie.
Good to see you get to this though DrWolf. Been waiting for this review for a while ^_^.
So the Principal's song is basically "Stay In Here" from Hunchback of Notre Dame?
That would make Twilight's song "Out There"
I actually forgot about the sirens until just now.
In other words, the villian principal is another version of King Sombra? XD
The "rabbit creature" was a jackalope by the way ^-^.
I do wonder if we'll see Abacus Cinch's Equestrian counterpart in an upcoming episode.
Also, Doctor Wolf, that 'rabbit creature' is a Jackalope. A being from modern Western folklore.
The rabbit creature is called the Jackelope
I think my season finale prediction is coming true, I said there would be time travel and it looks like there very well might be. Now only if she lost were wings after going to the past....
Sunsets an alicorn sunsets an alicorn look at her magic pony form
I honestly like Unleash the Magic. Quite a build up for the introduction of Midnight Sparkle.
I thought that Cinch and Crystal Prep served to show what would've happened if Twilight had been mentored under a manipulative authority figure rather than a motherly, caring figure like Celestia. I loved Unleash the Magic and Cinch as a villain, it reminds me of a mix of Ursula and Mother Gothel, who insists that she has Twilight's best interests at heart, but she's really using her for her own ambitions. Unleash the Magic's song line "I've had students like you, one or maybe two, but they've all disappeared before I blink", shows that she has tried to blackmail other students in the past, but it is implied that either (1) the students left the school as soon as possible or (2) the students were brave enough to stand up to Cinch and not take it. Human Twilight was shown to be meek and a doormat, which made her an extremely easy target for manipulation and peer pressure
Despite the fact that Crystal Prep students are a bit forgettable, I feel that Crystal Prep is a fairly accurate representation of some of the more intense, achievement-oriented schools, thus making this environment much more relatable in the human world. My own high school was kinda like that when we did competitions similar to the Friendship Games (though to a slightly lesser degree and without the intense peer pressure and blackmailing): we only cared about winning at every event and never associated with the other schools. Once I made friends from the other schools, they told me how much they saw my classmates as elitists and snobs, which was why they never tried to befriend us, like how the Crystal Prep students were shown to be very aggressive towards the Canterlot students. I like that they've changed the "something from Equestria [crown/Sirens] is going to take over the human world, we need to fix it!" formula to "trying to understand Equestrian magic while dealing with human conflicts".
Hey Dr. Wolf! Guess what? This Day Aria was pointless! Do you see anyone complaining about This Day Aria? No! No you don't! You know why? Because it's such a good song that no one *CARES* if it's pointless!
It would have been kinda cool if they had built each of the Crystal Prep mane 6's characters up by giving them a scene where they showed the opposite trait to the Canterlot Mane 6 (selfishness, betrayal, misery, deceit, malice), then the Canterlot character stepped in and showed their elemental trait and won Twilight's trust. I wonder if Twilight's line at the end about her being "stuck in a time paradox" has something to do with the Pony seasons finale. Also, in one of the magic portal-tear-hole thingys you see Alicorn Twilight fly past, looking up confused.... will she look up in the season finale and see that portal? It would be cool if for a very brief second we saw the human world in the pony cartoon.
curious to see what you would think of the deleted scenes and the aborted expanded sunset storyline.
I kind of wish a few monsters escaped into the human world. Maybe a changeling or two.
I don't know why, but I was hoping that the principal of Crystal Prep was going to be Sombra or perhaps Radiant Hope from the comics a while back.
At the end Twilight was talking about the season 5 final and all the time travel stuff she went through. Not season 6.
It's hilarious how much I agree with you. I LOVED how they showed Sunset's overall development and what I love about the battle is that it wasn't a magical fix all rainbow, it was Spike breaking the mental spell and Sunset convincing her to stop. but I have to disagree with you on "unleash the magic" because it felt like a Disney villain or Tim Burton song. and while the first half of the songs wasn't that great, when they have Twilight singing her conflict against them with Luna and Cadece in the background you could really feel the tension that much more
For as much as I though the new characters needed more to do, I did really like Sugarcoat and Sour Sweet. I found their complete bluntness and backhanded-to-the-point-of-bipolar schtick pretty entertaining, though does anyone else think we should've got more of THEM at the expense of having human-world-Spike learn to talk for no reason relevant to the story?