So, I finally saw 'Equestria Girls'
I finally watched Equestria Girls...
And I was seriously underwhelmed. It was neither as horrid as some fans would have you think, but at the same time... it's just kind of there. IMHO the film lacks a lot of the charm and sly humor that appeals to adults as much as kids that is the foundation of My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic's appeal. I did notice all the cameos by various human avatars of the ponies found in Equestria, but that really felt more tacked on. Like they said 'See, here they are, you got your shout-out fanboys, now stop grumbling about a little girl's cartoon'. Worst of all, little if any of it had anything at all to do with the plot. And in a 72-minute movie you don't have a lot of time for stuff like that.
And Snips and Snails were Sunset Shimmer's flunkies? Seriously? A 'human-ized' Gilda Griffin would have been much better. Gilda was genuinely nasty in Equestria, and she just would have worked better than poor Snips and Snails (who even for a little kids' cartoon manage to be about as intimidating as Beavis and Butt-head). I suppose this was a shut-out to their foolish fanboyism of Trixie in the two episodes she showed up in, but even then they were just somewhat sycophantic nincompoops, not bullying thugs.
I did like the opening with Twilight wondering if she had what it took to be a princess. However, it left me wondering what if the movie decided to go with Twi being offered rulership of a Principate (I think that's what you call a government lead by a Princess) by Celestia, and she has to deal with everything going wrong before the inevitable upbeat ending. Sunset Shimmer could have tried to usurp the throne to prove herself more worthy than Twilight, and Twi's friends could have gone along full of ideas about 'how much fun' or how easy it would be to be a princess, only to be disabused when the realities of leadership raise their ugly head. Okay, not so much of a story, but it feels like it would've worked better than a story using the magical ponies in flipping high school of all things.
So in the end, I didn't love the movie but I didn't hate it either. It just feels like it could have been so much more. Then again, if this does well we might get more MLP movies. Hopefully ones set in Equestria. And seriously, I doubt anyone not old enough to remember the 80's MLP would have believed a new MLP movie was even possible before this.
And I was seriously underwhelmed. It was neither as horrid as some fans would have you think, but at the same time... it's just kind of there. IMHO the film lacks a lot of the charm and sly humor that appeals to adults as much as kids that is the foundation of My Little Pony:Friendship is Magic's appeal. I did notice all the cameos by various human avatars of the ponies found in Equestria, but that really felt more tacked on. Like they said 'See, here they are, you got your shout-out fanboys, now stop grumbling about a little girl's cartoon'. Worst of all, little if any of it had anything at all to do with the plot. And in a 72-minute movie you don't have a lot of time for stuff like that.
And Snips and Snails were Sunset Shimmer's flunkies? Seriously? A 'human-ized' Gilda Griffin would have been much better. Gilda was genuinely nasty in Equestria, and she just would have worked better than poor Snips and Snails (who even for a little kids' cartoon manage to be about as intimidating as Beavis and Butt-head). I suppose this was a shut-out to their foolish fanboyism of Trixie in the two episodes she showed up in, but even then they were just somewhat sycophantic nincompoops, not bullying thugs.
I did like the opening with Twilight wondering if she had what it took to be a princess. However, it left me wondering what if the movie decided to go with Twi being offered rulership of a Principate (I think that's what you call a government lead by a Princess) by Celestia, and she has to deal with everything going wrong before the inevitable upbeat ending. Sunset Shimmer could have tried to usurp the throne to prove herself more worthy than Twilight, and Twi's friends could have gone along full of ideas about 'how much fun' or how easy it would be to be a princess, only to be disabused when the realities of leadership raise their ugly head. Okay, not so much of a story, but it feels like it would've worked better than a story using the magical ponies in flipping high school of all things.
So in the end, I didn't love the movie but I didn't hate it either. It just feels like it could have been so much more. Then again, if this does well we might get more MLP movies. Hopefully ones set in Equestria. And seriously, I doubt anyone not old enough to remember the 80's MLP would have believed a new MLP movie was even possible before this.