Rank Every Equestria Girls Movie/Special from Best to Worst

[Lone Traveler 87]

To recap, here is a list of the Equestria Girls movies and specials:

2013-2016 Movies:
Equestria Girls 1
Rainbow Rocks
Friendship Games
Legend of Everfree

2017 Half-Hour Episodes:
Dance Magic
Movie Magic
Mirror Magic

2018-2019 TV Movies:
Forgotten Friendship
Rollercoaster of Friendship
Spring Breakdown
Sunset’s Backstage Pass
Holidays Unwrapped

Note that since Hasbro no longer cares about youtube uploads for G4 MLP, all the Equestria Girls movies/specials can all be watched here!

Feel free to express your own opinions and rank all these yourself! Below is my personal ranking and opinions on all of these.

12: Equestria Girls 1 - Sunset is an awful villain, the plot is completely incoherent and stupid (Sunset's plan was total nonsense, there was no reason for Twilight and Sunset to not just steal the crown, battle at end made little sense), plot was very uninteresting and by the books, setting was totally boring, the songs were mostly crap (with 1 obvious exception), very little of consequence happens throughout most of the movie. It is redeemed by Twilight's charming dynamic with Spike and the other characters, but it’s still a very weak movie that has nothing else going for it.

 

11: Rollercoaster of Friendship - It had the same basic plot as Mirror Magic, but both twice as long and much less interesting/well written in every way. The villain was just kind of nasty and annoying this time around rather than very hammy or funny,. The pacing was the worst it was out of any EQG stuff, a huge chunk of it was just the characters vibing around the amusement park. Which was charming, but its content would have been much better suited for the EQG shorts. And the redemptions are getting absurd, and it's really stupid how this is now the 4th EQG special in a row that redeemed its villain. And this is by far the worst and most forced example of it yet. She had no redeeming values shown beforehand at all, and it was explicitly made clear that she had no issue killing a bunch of people just to replace them to make her show better.

 

10: Spring Breakdown - Basically, the first half of it is terrible but the 2nd half is actually pretty good (but not great), averaging out to being just okay overall. The vast majority of the first half should have been cut. It was a bunch of annoying scenes of Rainbow Dash being an insensitive jerk annoying everybody (we only needed a couple minutes of this to establish the conflict, not half a freaking tv movie), combined with minor subplots that were pointless. It’s uninteresting and annoying, and leaves only the next 22 minutes for the meat of the special. The 2nd half is pretty good, there’s fun action with the ship going down, and same with Sunset, Rainbow and Twilight going through the island and then to Equestria. However, it feels like there could have been a lot more fun and stuff explored with the island/Equestria part of the special, which the special could have had much more time for if the first half did not waste so much time. They should have gotten to the island 7 minutes into this thing, not 22 minutes in. Because of the limited time, all that happens with their adventure is that they fight one monster in the island, then go to Equestria and talk to Twilight. That is it. It’s good, but so much more should have happened here. It is astounding how poorly this special was focused and was at using its time, and it literally feels like a first draft.

 

9: Holidays Unwrapped - This is a collection of six 7-minute shorts that really should not be considered a “tv movie”. The shorts here are certainly charming with seeing the characters just vibe with each other in low stakes conflicts. But at the same time, I did not find any of the shorts very interesting, and I don’t see having much of a desire to watch this again in the future.

 

8: Dance Magic - I pretty much feel the same way about this as I do about the Holiday Unwrapped shorts. Charming, but not very interesting or entertaining to me. But it's far from bad, and I can very easily see others liking this and Holidays Unwrapped if slice of life is their thing.

 

7: Movie Magic - It’s an enjoyable mystery with all the characters on a cool film set. There’s nothing else to say. It’s nothing special, but it’s plain fun and uses the characters well.

 

6: Legend of Everfree - It was a breath of fresh air to have a movie set outside of the school. I really liked the bonding between Twilight and Sunset, and Gloriosa was actually a really good villain. However, the pacing was pretty bad, and I think it could have easily done more interesting things with being in the woods than it actually did. It’s a solid enough movie, it just feels a little lacking in places.

 

5: Mirror Magic - This was really fun. Sunset had another interesting personal conflict here, she had great interactions with Starlight, and the humor and action here was great. Juniper was a great villain, just being a total brat who is very hammy. I wasn't crazy about her redemption (she should have had a better reason to give in). But since she didn't do anything too bad, I don't think it was anywhere near as bad as some of the show's other redemptions.

 

4: Forgotten Friendship - A very intense and emotional conflict with Sunset that kept me very invested. Her bonding with pony Twilight and finally apologizing to Celestia was really cool to see, and I also loved all her bonding with Trixie. It was emotional, intense, funny, and heartfelt. That being said, Wallflower's "redemption" felt pretty darn forced, which does hold this down a bit.

 

3: Friendship Games - I really like how they introduced human Twilight. Her motivations were very clearly defined, she was very likable, and they actually made her distinct in personality from pony Twilight in a way that made sense. Her story was very enjoyable, and I was rooting hard throughout it for her to become friends with the rest of them. Sunset continued to also be very likable, and had clearly developed further after Rainbow Rocks. The plot was pretty solid, and it had a really fun climax with the games and Twilight becoming a demon. It was really awesome to see Sunlight having developed to the point where she was able to calm down Twilight the way she did. However, this movie still suffered from being a bit overly similar to the first two (it's yet another film taking place at the high school with some sort of competition), and for being slow at places. Still, it’s a great movie.

 

2: Sunset’s Backstage Pass - Since Holidays Unwrapped was just a collection of shorts, this is in my mind the true finale we had of Equestria Girls. And it’s thankfully really great. The conflict with Sunset and Pinkie Pie was really well done, as it was made clear that when Pinkie Pie made her crucial mistakes, that she actively tried not to beforehand, and afterwards clearly felt terribly about it. So Sunset was justified in being annoyed with her and even angry when Pinkie ruined her night, but at the same time Pinkie herself was still well intentioned and likable. It was very satisfying seeing Sunset adjust to the time loop, lighten up more and more to Pinkie again, and really bonding with her at the end once she realized that she needed to stop obsessing over routine constantly. The story and bonding between the two was wonderful. Sunset’s emotions and change here felt so real and compelling. The moral about perfection is also one that really spoke to me. On top of that, this was really funny, the time loop plot was really fun, the Dazzlings had a cool return (they actually made for a great red herring), and it was consistently exciting throughout.

 

1: Rainbow Rocks - This movie single-handedly turned Equestria Girls from a forced cash-in with no potential at all, to a franchise that actually had an artistic reason to exist and that can be great. It is a fantastic animated film in general, and it’s easy up there among the best episodes of Friendship is Magic. It's a shame this movie wasn't the first one, as I'm sure many people would have enjoyed this and the later EQG stuff but were turned off by the first movie. Even if Equestria Girls does not interest you in general or the first movie turned you off, please give this one movie a chance.

 

It turned Sunset from a crap villain to an amazing character in just one movie, by showing how she had fully accepted what she had done wrong and was committed to change. Even though everybody else rightfully hated her and she had much to do to become liked again, she was finding joy and fulfillment in her newfound friends, and that was keeping her by. But at the same time, she did not feel that she had the right to fully contribute to the group or be on the same level as the rest of them. Her struggles here felt real, and she was extremely likable and well written here. This single-handedly turned Sunset from the worst villain of the whole show, to being as likable as the mane six. It was very satisfying to see her get the courage at the end to actually sing herself and fight against the Sirens, and even more so when it was clear that the rest of the group had fully accepted her as one of them. It felt completely earned on her part. THIS is how a proper redemption is done.

On top of Sunset being amazing and it being super heartfelt, this movie is just plain fun with a super campy concept (a high school band battle with a bunch of magic) that is used to its full potential. The Sirens were both hilarious and threatening. The music is among the best in MLP (Welcome to the Show might be my favorite song in the entire franchise). It is really funny too. So this movie saved a previously worthless franchise, saved a terrible character, handled a redemption in by far the best way MLP has ever done, introduced awesome and memorable villains, is super campy and fun, and has awesome music. What else is there to say?

Edited July 13, 2023 by Lone Traveler

[Sparklefan1234 161,888]

2013-2016 Movies:

1. Equestria Girls 
2. Friendship Games

3. Rainbow Rocks
4. Legend of Everfree

2017 Half-Hour Episodes:

1. Dance Magic
2. Movie Magic
3. Mirror Magic

2018-2019 TV Movies:

1. Forgotten Friendship
2. Rollercoaster of Friendship
3. Sunset’s Backstage Pass
4. Holidays Unwrapped    

5. Spring Breakdown

Edited July 12, 2023 by Sparklefan1234

[Fluttershutter 2,120]

Some day I really need to figure it out and watch all of Equestria Girls. For now just the movies:

1 Rainbow Rocks

2 Legend of Everfree

3 Friendship Games

4 Equestria Girls