[Blu-ray/DVD Review] My Little Pony: Equestria Girls

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls is the first movie of the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic series. Unfortunately, it’s not quite the movie fans were looking for: instead of featuring everyone’s favorite ponies, it features everyone’s favorite ponies as humans. Yep, ponies have invaded the human world.

The Film ★★

In My Little Pony: Equestria Girls, our newly crowned princess, Twilight Sparkle, is woken in the middle of the night by a thief who is stealing her crown! Twilight Sparkle chases after this mysterious pony, but the burglar jumps into an enchanted magic mirror. Princess Celestia tells Twilight Sparkle that she must enter the mirror, which leads to a new world, in order to save her crown or else the elements of harmony won’t work and Canterlot will be in peril. So Twilight Sparkle hops in, only to discover that she’s turned into a human, high school student and must learn how to fit in and make friends so she can be voted Princess of the Fall Formal in order to win back her crown.

Equestria Girls is an interesting movie. In the human world, Twilight Sparkle meets up with her other pony friends, but these aren’t really her friends–they are their human counterparts. Basically, the have the exact same look and personality, except for they are humans. Just as Twilight jumped into the mirror, this alternative human universe exactly mirrors Canterlot and Ponyville. I thought that was a bit bizarre and odd. In the movie, the girls even mentioned to Twilight “There’s a girl who looks exactly like you in Canterlot”, showing that, yes, even Twilight Sparkle has her own human counterpart roaming around somewhere in this world.

That being said, we have to be re-introduced to all the characters we love: Fluttershy, Rarity, Apple Jack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinky Pie. It takes a lot of screentime and space. Personally, I would have preferred to have had the Ponyville gang follow Twilight Sparkle through the mirror, so we don’t have to waste half the movie meeting them. It would have allowed for a more interesting plot and direction, in my opinion.

The mysterious burglar pony is named Sunset Shimmer, who turns out to be one of Princess Celestia’s former students who went rogue. I wasn’t a fan of Sunset Shimmer, she was really grating and her design (red and yellow hair that looks like flames) seemed a bit extreme for this universe. Although I must say, her ultimate fate was a bit unexpected.

This wasn’t my favorite film. It had a hard time keeping my attention. And the whole time I couldn’t help but think that this film was a blatant attempt to create a new spin-off line of pony toys. I can’t hold it against Hasbro, it is a toy company after all, but still. It seemed a little contrived.

The Features ★★

Equestria Girls has a few bonus features, but they aren’t anything too special. There’s a three-part documentary called “Through The Looking Glass Of Equestria Girls” that’s goes into the making of the film. The three parts cover the story, the look, and the songs. All in all, it’s about 30 minutes and features interviews with various story makers, including Twilight Sparkle’s voice actress Tara Strong.

The featurette I was most excited for–Ponify Yourself–turned out to be the most disappointing. I thought it would be a chance to create my own pony character that look like me…but it wasn’t. It was basically a two-minute clip of some pre-teen girls “ponyifying” themselves by putting colored streaks in their hair and putting on horrible eyeshadow. That was it. Just a montage of those girls turning themselves into the main characters. I thought maybe in the end it would reveal a “ponify yourself” kit that you could buy in stores, but it didn’t. (Thank goodness.)

Lastly, there were karaoke songs and a printable movie poster. Nothing special (for me at least. I’m sure younger girls might enjoy those features).

Final Thoughts

If you’re an MLP fan, then definitely check this out. I still am holding out for another My Little Pony movie, but I hope that that one stays in the pony world. Then I think that movie will knock it out of the park.

Purchase

My Little Pony: Equestria Girls:  Blu-ray/DVD/Digital | DVD | Rent