Equestria Girls: Literal Video Version review

The newest in the long-running Literal Video series is here! Does it live up to the earlier videos? Find out below!

Arguably, this should go to the music reviewer. But given that this falls under the month-end video top 10, I think this counts as my territory.

I think I might like this literal version a bit better than the original "Equestria Girls" song from the movie. That's mostly a difference in the lyrics. The original was not well-written. The lyrics were awkward and stupid, and if the Mane Six said the things they say in those lyrics without a catchy tune, I feel it wouldn't have ended well for them. As such, the literal version is a significant improvement. While it obviously still wouldn't be something you'd actually want to say, in this case that's not important. It's a goofy description of the scene, and it succeeds admirably, with plenty of clever jokes. It's funny, and that's all that anyone really wants out of these. The negative section may be longer than the positive section, but that mostly comes down to the fact that there's only so many ways to say something's funny.

However, it must be noted that this only works as comedy. Musically, it's still the same catchy tune, but the voices are a lot weaker. They sound a lot blander, which I really can't hold against them, given that it's a goofy parody and casting isn't exactly the primary focus. The bigger problem is that they sound distinctly insecure. And not just a bit, so it can be ignored. It's really distracting, and their problems with carrying the song make the repetitive tune more obvious. The writing is very good, but it's not perfect. When it's at its most literal, it's just not very funny, and kinda awkward. This could be funny with stronger singers, but they honestly sound kinda bored, making these parts fall flat instead of being entertainingly goofy.

There are rough edges, and the singing is terrible to the point of being distracting, but the rewritten lyrics are mostly funny. They kept in the cutaway to Sunset Shimmer, and without giving it away, I can tell you that what they did there is hilarious. It's a good video that's worth checking out, and honestly one of the funnier fanworks of the autumn.