My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks

'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic' is in my opinion one of the best animated shows in recent years. The first film based on it 'Equestria Girls' was an enormous disappointment and the complete anti-thesis in quality as one could get. Hearing there was a sequel was less than enthusing to me and made me feel very apprehensive.

What a pleasant surprise 'Rainbow Rocks' turned out to be. While not as good as 'Friendship is Magic', it is much closer in quality to that than to 'Equestria Girls'. The general consensus is that it is an enormous improvement over 'Equestria Girls'. Heartily concur with this. Was really worried as to whether 'Rainbow Rocks' would repeat the same mistakes as 'Equestria Girls', amplify them and make more on the way like a lot of animated sequels seen recently (the 'Alpha and Omega' sequels being prime examples). Instead, it felt like 'Rainbow Rocks' seemed to have seen the numerous complaints made about 'Equestria Girls', took them on board and corrected them. A shining example of a good animated sequel that others should learn from and strive to be.

On its own two feet, 'Rainbow Rocks' fares just as well and is an incredibly fun film in its own right. It is not quite perfect, though the flaws are far less and less glaring. The romance is awkward and not particularly well written, Flash is a bland character, Twilight's role in the film is occasionally a little forced and there is some cheesy lyric writing. Compared to the flaws 'Equestria Girls' had, they are next to nothing.

'Rainbow Rocks' animation is much closer to the vibrant and rounded animation quality of 'Friendship is Magic' than the flat and robotic animation of 'Equestria Girls'. The character designs don't look anaemic or anorexic this time round, which looked ugly and parents had a field day saying what a bad message it sent. The music is much catchier and much easier to remember the lyrics (on the most part witty and heart-warming) and melodies.

Apart from in the romance, the dialogue also improves hugely here. Again more in the spirit of 'Friendship is Magic' than the predecessor film. There is a better balance of humour and emotion, with winning and amusing humour and poignant and never schmaltzy or mawkish emotion. The references are cleverer and much better integrated, much more natural and not forced at all. The messaging is well-meaning and heartfelt, not at all overly-didactic in how it's put across.

The story here is far better paced and more eventful, this is not a less than half-an-hour extended episode padded with lots of filler, the complete opposite in fact. The climax is exciting, and the characters apart from Flash and Twilight not always written consistently are more interesting and likable, with the trio of villains being humour, sinister charm and colour to the proceedings. Sunset Shimmer is a conflicted, well-developed and easy to root for character and Sonata Dusk is a hoot.

Voice acting is very strong, no talent wastes here. Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball, Rachel Shoichet and Maryke Hendrikse particularly excel.

In conclusion, thoroughly enjoyable and a surprising and refreshing improvement. 8/10 Bethany Cox

There were two things I did not like about the previous "EQUESTRIA GIRLS" movie. First was the shallow theme that fantastic musical talent wins you friends. In the last movie, instead of showing Twilight winning over the hearts and minds of her school mates through her honesty, sincerity and helpfulness, she wins them over through the magic of song and dance. Next is the tons of wasted potential to tell a much deeper or more mature story that one couldn't show in the regular MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC series. Instead of that we get unnecessary musical numbers. RAINBOW ROCKS takes a dive off the deep end and make the music the central driving force behind the whole plot. Surprisingly, it works. And what we have is a decent musical movie that works around music to deliver the morals and themes that the franchise should have from the get go.

As Canterlot High prepares for its annual talent showcase, three mysterious girls with mind controlling voices turn the showcase into a "Battle of the Bands". Their sinister songs bring out bitter rivalries between the bands, negative emotions which the girls seem to feed on and grow more powerful. Only the 5 main characters, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and AppleJack are unaffected by the spell due to their contact with Equestrian magic. Also unaffected is a reformed Sunset Shimmer, the antagonist from the previous movie.

In an interesting reflection of the original 1986 MY LITTLE PONY cartoon, Twilight Sparkle takes on the "friend from another world" role that Megan had in that series. Only this time, it is a magical pony who travels to the human world to help solve her human counterparts problems. So in comes Twilight who soon realises that trouble is brewing from within. The gang ain't getting along due to conflicts of interest, egos and generally familiar problems that tend to crop up in any group of pals. Thankfully, the day is not saved once again through a song and dance routine but through some actual character development and harsh lessons.

Generally the writing is an improvement over the lackluster first entry of EQUESTRIA GIRLS. There are good lessons to be learned from the way the group dynamics of our main characters grow and mature. The bottom line is that RAINBOW ROCKS keeps the conflicts real. The characters go through real problems that real people face everyday, solving them like real people and in doing so makes those characters all the more relatable. Most intriguing is Sunset Shimmer and her journey towards redemption in the eyes of her peers. Now the black sheep of the school, Sunset's character arc of regaining the respect and trust of her friends can get quite heart wrenching when you see how hard she tries and still people remember only her bad deeds of the past. This is a very real problem that youngsters face. Just as real is Twilight Sparkle's dilemma of being the designated "hero" and cracking under the pressure to live up to everyone's sky high expectations.

"Sky High" also describes the production quality on this. RAINBOW ROCKS earns its status as a "movie" by showcasing a tremendous leap in terms of animation quality from anything seen in the TV series. The production team experiments with bolder shot set ups and action scenes and more detail in the art. Just look at the way the shadows from the refrigerator plays off Twilight and Sunset during a night scene in the kitchen! It is beautiful!. Designs have been tweaked slightly, making the humans look less uncanny. The characters facial expressions are the definite highlight here; dynamic, perfectly drawn, and covering a wide range of emotions that are complimented with some of the finest voice acting in modern animation.

Of course, we have the songs. Expertly written and composed by Daniel Ingram, the songs are catchy and fun. As usual, one could compare them to the best of Disney musicals but with a more modern spin. Think of it as a fantasy styled retelling of Glee with a bit more depth. Moving into more mature storytelling seems to be the way to go, and a way that works well for the Equestria Girls franchise.

After seeing Equestria Girls I had no desire to see another humanized ponies movie. But the teasers actually made me curious. Because there is actually more a theme present in this movie. The theme, music, is very well up to MLP; FiM standards as we know this song for having music that is better than most series. The music is a bit different from the series in exploring more pop genres. Aaaand, we now have a set of villains that are way more interesting than we had in Equestria Girls. The villains actually have separate characters and a history that old school bronies will find interesting. The story was also more interesting and riddled with Easter eggs. The end battle runs circles around the end battle of the former movie. Finally no simple deus ex machina. Do not see this movie expecting the level of the series, because of course these characters and story telling and cartoon style still works way better with ponies than with these doll like humans. Expecting ponies will be quite disappointing. They should have used ponies, they didn't. Tough break. But for simply a color full animation for the whole family it is a fine movie. Watch out for the risk of having the songs stuck in your head after wards. They're quite catchy.

I enjoyed the first movie, sure it was a bit cliche, but still thanks to it's fantasy-high school mix, it became more than that and managed to entertain me and other fans around the globe. So obviously, Hasbro would make not 1, but 3 sequels, each having a different theme. This one is about music and battles!

Some time after the first movie, the group of 3 sirens notice that there's Equestria magic, since it's exactly what they wanted, the trio decided to step in and try to get it. Meanwhile, Sunset Shimmer from the last movie tries to redeem herself, but outside of the mane 5, nobody would want to hang out. Later, when Sunset wanted to introduce Canterlot high to the Dazzlings (sirens), she noticed that they were after the magic and to get, they have to make everyone go against each other. So, Twilight Sparkle has to go back to the human world, create a song spell and banish the sirens. The plot is a big improvement over the first movie, since it has 2 things, that make the experience worthwhile. First the songs, they were upbeat and fun! Each one has a memorable melody and lyrics, except the spell song, but that one was intended to be bad! I especially love Shake your tail from Rainbooms and Under your spell from Dazzlings. They are different, since the latter one comes from the villains, and it sounds more evil in general, but I like how distinctive they are. Even Trixie got a song, but sadly, we barely heard it, because of Rainbooms arguing scene. But luckily, it's available online separately. And I especially loved the Welcome to the show song, which is a final battle scene between Rainbooms and Dazzlings. And the first time both would be face to face with each other. Speaking of the sirens, they are actually my favorite villains of the whole MLP Franchise. It consists of Adagio Dazzle, the leader who wants the power so bad, Aria Blaze, the more sarcastic type, and Sonata Dusk that is barely evil and rather eat tacos and have fun than taking goals seriously. All of them are surprisingly interesting, and I especially love their singing skills. The mane 7 characters still remain the same, except for Sunset. She used to be the meanest student, but now changed a lot, and wants everyone to see the good side of hers. I like how she progressed, thus making her seem real and relatable to some people. Yes, she did a lot of mistakes in the past, but we see that everyone can learn from their mistakes and start a new life. She's extremely different from her past self, and I'm proud of this decision of both the character and the writers.

The story is mostly focused on the battle of the bands and trying to stop the villains from making everyone angry! Sure, still cliche, but even if that, it's at least more creative with the new music theming and even more mythology. The jokes aren't the strongest part of it, but it has moments, like Sonata just wanting to celebrate Taco Tuesday or when Maud pie (Pinkie's sister) would feed her pet rock. Lastly, the animation got better as well. I love the new costumes, since they are neon rainbow themed, and I noticed that the animation is more fluid since last time. Not to mention, they even added more background characters, like Photo Finish, Lyra and Bon bon, Derpy, Bulk Biceps, Octavia and even Cloud Kicker. This proves that Hasbro also cares about the fans who watch both the show and the movies, so they would add some fan favorites!

This is honestly a great follow up to the first film, thanks to it's improved animation, more great friends and foes, amazing songs and a more entertaining plot. Definitely a must watch for Equestria girls and My little pony fans. Even if you never watched the first movie, you'd still like this one, but only of you either liked MLP or at least fine with it. Haters wouldn't like much though, maybe for the exception of the Dazzlings, cause I believe they can make anyone fall in love with them. Still, I'm very impressed by it, especially the soundtrack!

What an addition to the "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic" franchise! This film has references to the first movie, a bit of story from the last season of the show and even all the little extra characters that My Little Pony fans love!

It is definitely a combination of adventure with a crème of comedy and a sprinkle of excitement all rapped up in a friendship sandwich.

The adventure starts when a band performance is planned at Canterlot High where the kids can make bands and raise funds and three very unusual girls turn it into a super competitive battle of the bands. When they run out of things to do, Twilight's friends from that world call to another world where Twilight is. Will they be able to come there and save them or will evil prevail?

This film is just fantastic! Hasbro was smart to include a lot of little fun things from the shows that fans adore including the beloved Derby Hooves pony who is really never part of the story, just in the background for fun. The songs are great as well. We hear not just the classic My Little Pony songs from the TV show. Instead, the music is very pop like which suits the story well. I imagine that sing-along coming to the fans shortly and being a smash hit. The show's creators also connected to the first Equestria Girls movie which I thought was perfect.

My favorite scene is when girls are having a sleep-over at Pinkie Pie's house. When Twilight gets out of bed and walks to the kitchen she finds Pinkie's older sister feeding her pet boulder. I love this scene because, in the show, there is an episode where we meet this sister. So, I thought having her in the movie is a great idea and so unexpected.

This film does not have anything parents should be worried about and for extremely little kids who do not understand the ponies, they will enjoy the bright colors. I give this film 5 out of 5 stars for its original story, fantastic songs and those little characters that fans and Bronies love so much! If you want to see "My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic, Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks," check it out at your nearest theater.

Reviewed by Gerry O, KIDS FIRST! Film Critic.