Alright, here it is; the big one. Equestria Girls. The movie that many bronies have been torn about. Some have gotten excited, but the vast majority were repulsed by the concept of this movie. Some have even predicted it to be 'the end of the fandom'. Is it truly that bad? Well let's find out.

Before I get started, let me first say that this review will contain absolutely zero spoilers. I will do another review in the next few days that will contain spoiler talk. If you want to see my initial thoughts about Equestria Girls, go here: http://mlpforums.com/blog/268/entry-4714-equestrian-girls-trailer-breakdownthoughts/

I must admit however, I was way too harsh on this movie in my initial trailer breakdown.

Anyways, on to the review.

The first thing I must say about this movie is that it is a very good looking movie. The animation is very top notch, even by MLP:FiM standards. I've heard a lot about how people don't like the design of the 'human/anthro' ponies, but to be honest they looked much better in motion. Every character feels alive; movement is very fluid and smooth. All in all, it was a very pretty movie if nothing else. If I was rating this movie solely on visuals, it would score highly with me.

Unfortunately, the plot manages to sneak up on me and punch me in the face. I'm going to be completely honest here, it felt like the I was watching a fanfiction. I can't give away much without spoilers, but most of you know the general plot;

Princess Twilight gets her crown stolen by one of Princess Celestia's former students; Sunset Shimmer. She has to go through a magic mirror to retrieve it.

But maybe I'm being overly critical, this sort of plot can be good if it's done right. Is it done right here? Ehhhhh.

I will say that the movies biggest downfall is it's pacing. It spends little to no time on the introduction, and everything seems to be happening too fast. This is obviously due to it's short running time (the movie is only 72 minutes long). To the movies credit however, I believe they did the best they could in little over an hour.

This brings me to the movies biggest strength: it's comedy. This movie is quite funny, and had me laughing every other scene. I was definitely a huge fan of the scenes where Twilight does something incredibly awkward; and trust me when I say that happens a lot in this movie. Pinkie Pie also has quite a few hilarious antics. The songs are also not half bad. The 'Get up, get down' song (Just found out the actual title of the song is 'Helping Twilight win her crown') is especially catchy. I definitely never found myself bored while watching this movie.

Unfortunately for everything good this movie does, there is also a lot of problems.

The major issue with this movie is that it is chalked full of stereotypes. Seriously, every single high school movie stereotype can be found in this movie. You got the typical bully/mean girl in Sunset Shimmer, you have the prom queen plotline, you have all the high school cliques, you even have the half baked romance.

Oh god the romance. I haven't seen a lazier excuse at a romantic subplot in a long time. Twilight and Flash Sentry (That's right, his name is Flash not Brad), share literally two scenes together before deciding to hook up. Now, this wouldn't be so bad if Flash was an interesting character; but he really isn't. Honestly, he has the personality of a piece of cardboard. He serves little to no use to the overall plot other than to be the romantic interest. He is your typical perfect, leather jacket wearing, guitar playing dudebro. He does help Twilight out of one situation, but he seems very irrelevant in the bigger scope of things.

BEHOLD! THE MOST BORING CHARACTER IN THE UNIVERSE!

The villain isn't really that great either. She is at least a little more interesting than Brad (*Cough*, I mean Flash), but as the bad guy she kind of falls flat. She honestly seems like more of an annoyance than an actual villain. Every single action she takes against Twilight gets brushed away almost immediately, and the final confrontation seemed pretty anti climactic.

NOT AS BORING AS FLASH, BUT SHE'S KIND OF AN AWFUL VILLAIN

To the movie's credit however, it does wrap up nicely. I won't spoil the ending in this review, but trust me when I say that even if this was cannon everything would be fine.

So Equestria Girls: Is it as bad as people thought it would be? Not even close. Is it fantastic? Also no.

As a contained story, it really wasn't that bad. The pacing was off, the villain was sub par, the plotline seemed a tad lazy and the romance was shoehorned in, but for what it was I enjoyed it.

I say it's worth a watch for any fan of FiM, though it's nothing too special.

There are some other things I have to say about this movie, but I would risk spoilers. I will return for spoiler talk in a few days.

THE VERDICT:

I give Equestria Girls the Movie, a 6/10.

Take it for what it is: a separate, contained story. It has a ton of flaws, but it's still enjoyable.

As a little treat, here is the best part of the movie. No spoilers, don't worry

This is the song I was talking about. Youtube link isn't the best quality, but It's kind of hard finding a solid version on the web at the moment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LcJNO7Hme4