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| After this, Crystal Prep's double-decker bird house just doesn't cut it |
Friendship Games
Written by Josh Haber
26 Sep 2015 (Discovery Family) / 23 Oct 2015 (UK cinemas)
My original rating: ★★★
IMDb score: 6.6
The one with Twilight about to sign for Everton (on the wing?)
Thoughts: With Meghan McCarthy by this time working on the FiM film, Josh Haber stepped up to write Friendship Games. The movie is quite fun and has its moments, but to my mind it's a step down from Rainbow Rocks, and not only because of the music – indeed, Friendship Games actually has several excellent songs, such as "ACADECA", "What More is Out There?" and my own favourite, "Unleash the Magic". However, there's nothing here to rival Sunset's redemption journey in the previous film, and Principal Cinch is a rather by-the-numbers antagonist without much charisma. The series seemed to be losing interest in Flash Sentry's feelings for Twilight by this point – the few "mistaken identity" scenes are lacklustre, and I'm glad Legend of Everfree took Flash's story in a different direction. This being a Josh Haber film, inevitably we have some flashy set-pieces: yes, the motorcross event is lampshaded as over-the-top in-film, but it's still rather ridiculous. I do like Applejack's archery lesson for Sci-Twi, though. Talking of whom, she's a solid part of the sub-franchise by the end, though Pony-Twi's reason for being late really stretches plot convenience. I enjoyed seeing this in the cinema in 2015, but it just doesn't have the coherence that Rainbow Rocks – even beyond its songs – manages with Sunset's arc. I gave Friendship Games three stars when it was new, and I think that's a reasonable mark now. I'm not sure it's an especially high three, though. Above the run-of-the-mill certainly, but not outstanding by any means.
Choice quote: Fluttershy: "Not everything has to be magic to be important."
New rating: ★★★
Next time, it'll be back to Friendship is Magic and the somewhat strange episode "Brotherhooves Social".
Feeling like I really need to go back and rewatch all of EQG sometime.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll have reason to soon enough. :B
I'm glad you highlighted that specific scene from ACADECA, it never really rang true for me - the idea is that the two sides match each other until the final showdown, but that birdhouse doesn't look particularly impressive compared to the Mona Lisa cake. My son said they should have used the asset for Rarity's "improved" birdmansion in Inspiration Manifestation, which would have been an excellent callback.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, yes, good fun, spiffing songs (I think Unleash the Magic, with the multi part harmonies and the tannoy voiceover, is a masterpiece, while my children's favourite is the Rainbow Dash rally song near the start), but yeah, it's a little bit of a comedown after Rainbow Rocks and the antagonist is cardboard (albeit well acted cardboard, I like the actress' performance a lot actually). I'd call it a high three and maybe scraping a four if I was feeling generous that day.
that birdhouse doesn't look particularly impressive compared to the Mona Lisa cake.
DeleteI don't have access to any production documents for anything EqG (and even if I did, between it being the equivalent of three episodes and a few extra minutes, and it being known to have major enough changes along the way thanks to those animatics on the DVD/Blu-Ray, I don't see myself having the time or energy to dig in), but I'll bet the visual gags of the Mona Lisa cake and birdhouse weren't in the script (songs tend to be what get changed and plussed the most, between Daniel Ingram's lyrical rewriting and the justified tendency to put your best gags and animation in them). So that might partly explain the discrepancy there. Though I'm equally sure the board artist(s) on that scene just didn't consider the imbalance of the two.
My son said they should have used the asset for Rarity's "improved" birdmansion in Inspiration Manifestation, which would have been an excellent callback.
I'll assume he didn't use the word "asset", but he'd be very animation-insightful if he did! Great idea, though given this was the film where EqG got a proper development team/staff, as opposed to just being a side project for the FiM team in the hiatus, it'd be a little harder, and it's probably something that never occurred to them in any case.
while my children's favourite is the Rainbow Dash rally song near the start
Have I said before your children have good taste? Because they do.
Weirdly, this is easily the EqG film I'm most familiar with, thanks largely to the songs, which were mainstays in my mixes for a while (okay, just CHS Rally and ACADECA, but it counts). I always found Rainbow Rocks' songs too tied to their onscreen function/visuals to demand just listening to them in isolation.
ReplyDeleteI didn't bother to rewatch this, not out of any particular malice, but it just didn't feel that important. Nothing said here feels untrue, and an observation of my own: this is where EqG was firmly established as a spinoff that would continue for at least a good while, independent of FiM, and as such, this film is saddled with a lot of readily transparent series setup, setting the groundwork for future instalments. It's not nearly as much as many MCU movies, so that's something.
In retrospect, Josh Haber feels like a really weird choice to write this one. This sits alongside "Leap of Faith" as something where hardly any of his usual tics are present. Mostly for good, though I imagine the higher micromanaging of a film meant he couldn't indulge in many of his bad habits (though if the trade-off of this is what he wrought with "The Cutie Re-Mark", I don't know if it's an acceptable tradeoff…) Sans, perhaps, the ridiculousness of the motocross, if that was even his idea, but that reads more as typical anime "elevated madness played straight" – can you say Friendship Games on Motorcycles?
I recall once coming across someone saying Cinch should have just been Sombra, and now I can't unsee it. She's no less thinly-written despite much more dialogue and a good voice performance, and Sombra would at least have carried over an intimidation factor from his FiM counterpart (on that note, the other Shadowbolts were supposed to be pre-existing FiM character, or at least Indigo Zipp was written as Lightning Dust, but they decided to make them "original" knockoffs/counterparts to the EqG Mane 5.
The deleted scenes are interesting, showing the film also had a character arc for Sunset wondering if this was the right place for her and contemplating going home (mostly in an early scene of Pony Twilight popping over and the two talking about it in a café), with "What More Is Out There?" being a duet between her and Sci-Twi. Hasbro felt the film was too complex for its target audience and insisted it be simplified, and being a film they had time to do so even after the first animatic screening. I'm sure many viewers would have preferred that be kept, though it's perfectly possible it may have left the film a bit muddy and unfocused, and erratic in its pacing. Who knows.
Anyway, it's a perfectly satisfying, competent EqG film, there's just nothing hear to really wow. Okay, how the magic works here isn't competent at all, it's typical "because the plot says so" stuff, but that's a given for EqG. On the other hand, unlike the Mane 5, at least Sci-Twi isn't just a blank slate that seems like a character because we impose our impression of her FiM counterpart. This is actually a good-faith depiction of what she would have been like without friends (and unlike "Equestria Girls", her arc isn't just a reskin of FiM's two-parter setup), accounting for her being far meeker than most of us would write her, I'm sure.
Oh, and "Right There in Front of Me" is easily the least-memorable end credits song for an EqG film; "Shine Like Rainbows" and "Hope Stands Eternal" remain the clear standouts, while "A Friend for Life" is reasonable – meanwhile, I treasure the cut "My Little Pony Girls" one from the first film, but that's neither here nor there.
though if the trade-off of this is what he wrought with "The Cutie Re-Mark", I don't know if it's an acceptable tradeoff…
DeleteIt's going to be so interesting when I finally get there. Checking back, I gave that four stars in 2015 and I don't think it was particularly low in that band, either. We'll see whether its flaws annoy me more this time around.
with "What More Is Out There?" being a duet between her and Sci-Twi
Probably the deleted scene that the largest number of fans wish had been retained. I do like the canon version of the song, but I like the duet version more.
This one was just okay for me, and the biggest thing against it is that they developed all these Crystal Prep characters only to barely do anything with them. They're all defined by a single personality feature and do not grow any through the film. Dance Magic arguably did a better job with them.
ReplyDeleteAs to plot, I agree it was too filled with convenience. Three stars seems about right, and probably somewhat low in that range.