Initial thoughts: Equestria Girls

Yes, I know they don't quite look like this. Never mind, eh?

Like just about everyone else in the fandom (or so it sometimes seems) I eventually caved in and watched Equestria Girls via one of the short-lived shakycam versions that popped up on YouTube a little while ago. However, you'll notice that, although this post has the "reviews" label, I haven't reflected that in the subject line. This is deliberate: I'd rather wait until I've seen the film properly, ideally on an official DVD, before I write an in-depth review. Past the jump, I'll say a bit more...


I do have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by this movie. It was by no means perfect, and I still dislike the whole high-school setup. It also had a slightly embarrassing shoehorned-in romance subplot, although this did seem to be kept as minimal as the writers could get away with while placating Hasbro's obvious desire to appeal to the tween crowd. Rarity fans may be a bit disappointed with her limited screen time, and several of the songs were so-so.

That's the bad news. There's more good than I thought there'd be. One of the songs was brilliant and superbly catchy, and the remixed theme tune was also generally excellent — actually, the whole opening credits sequence could easily have come from within the fandom. The use of FiM's voice actors was vital, allowing the humanised characters to feel very close to their pony forms. There were a lot of references, but not too many. And the villain, Sunset Shimmer, was good too.

Overall, I think if I had to rate this at the moment, I'd be looking at a 7/10 or so. This isn't an official rating as far as Louder Yay is concerned, as that will wait until I've seen the film properly. I still think FiM is by far the better series, and I still don't want any further Equestria Girls films (or shows). But it can't be denied that it's a great deal better than I originally thought it would be.