My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Legend of Everfree

'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. Was apprehensive about watching its first sequel 'Rainbow Rocks' but was both pleasantly surprised and very impressed. 'Friendship Games' was flawed but still decent.

Likewise with the third sequel and fourth overall instalment 'Legend of Everfree'. It's not as good as 'Rainbow Rocks' and nowhere near as good as 'Friendship is Magic', but it is a huge improvement over the first 'Equestria Girls' film. It is hard to say which is better between 'Friendship Games', there are a couple of the same problems while things are done better than the other and others done worse than the other. It was such a good surprise to find sequels vastly better than the original film, considering the general reputation with sequels (with obvious exceptions of course), but the 'Equestria Girls' films, while still not perfect films, manages this feat.

There are issues with 'Legend of Everfree'. It does suffer still, like 'Friendship Games' from trying to do too much with a few too many characters and plot strands, but whereas 'Friendship Games' suffered quite majorly in this respect it's only at times with 'Legend of Everfree'.

Other problems exist, with the most forgettable song scores of the sequels. Don't remember many of them at all, and didn't feel they were particularly good in their own right, certainly better than the soundtrack in the first film but very meh still. It also has the weakest script of the sequels too. Not awful, there are good qualities in it, but it does have some clunky and unnecessary exposition, cheesiness and repetition which wasn't present in the previous two sequels.

Much more could have been done with the magical powers stuff. An interesting angle with the powers appropriately fitting to each character, but not given enough screen time and done with not much imagination.

However, there are many good qualities in 'Legend of Everfree'. The animation is vibrant, ethereal and well-rounded, like 'Friendship is Magic', 'Rainbow Rocks' and 'Friendship Games' and unlike 'Equestria Girls', with character designs that are appealing and don't send warning signs about potential bad messaging.

While the script is flawed, there is a good balance of humour and emotion, with winning and amusing humour and poignant and never schmaltzy or mawkish emotion. The references are clever and naturally integrated and the messages are well-meaning and heartfelt and avoid being preachy.

Story here has its messy moments but still moves along nicely and it doesn't feel like an extended TV episode. It was great to see that the romantic subplots were much better handled than in 'Rainbow Rocks' (one of the very few problems with that film), especially the main one. The characters, though Flash is still a bit bland, are better developed as an overall whole than in 'Friendship Games', have believably done conflicts and flaws and are well-realised and easy to like. Twilight and Sunset Shimmer are particularly well done.

Voice acting is very strong, no talent wastes here. Tara Strong, Ashleigh Ball and Rachel Shoichet are particularly good.

Overall, just as decent third sequel but could have been better. 7/10 Bethany Cox

After Friendship Games being as weak as it was, I went into this movie expecting another downward spiral for this franchise. I was pleasantly surprised though to see how much this movie actually improved the Equestria Girls formula. The pacing seemed to work a lot better, and the music while not as good as Rainbow Rocks manages to move closer to the "good" side of the scale.

Plot as well taking a positive turn as this film seemed to be more entertaining with a more focused plot that didn't feel like it was scrambled together at the last minute like the previous film. I think the biggest issue that FG suffered from is that the writers changed their mind about the focus of the film halfway through and it showed. This one however pulled less punches. With Sunset being a bigger role in this movie, and the overall feeling being far better, I would have to say that Legend of Everfree refreshes the series and is definitely worth a watch!

all of the equestria girls are good this one is the last equestria girls movie i was crying that hasbro said that legend of everfree was the last equestria girls movie i was crying so hard but hasbro made a equestria girls summertime shorts series that i was excited because i thought equstria girls was done for but hasbro made my life feel better so i was happy legend of everfree is a good movie of all of the equstria girls movies i'm not saying that all of the movies are terrible but all of them are so good and such a good musical so the equestria girls series is 20% awesome i'm now a brony because i love my little pony so much wow just wow

This is my least favorite of the Eqg movies. I don't even like this franchise at all they really should've just ended it after the 3rd movie because this is just an hour long toy commercial. The first 10 minutes of the movie are completely barebones and stupid. They even add in a fashion show subplot and an uninteresting romance subplot (which also happened in the first movie.) but after that they have this other subplot where things start to get interesting but it's written into the story very poorly. Also rarity in particular really annoyed me. Most of the movie is just the mane seven enjoying camp. The villain was very boring. I also only liked 2 out of the 6 songs in the movie songs in the first and second movies are leagues better. It also really didn't need to exist.

My Little Pony has caught up with sci-fi and now has dimensions where the ponies are teenagers. WOW! This is an awesome concept! I love this colorful DVD with its amazing story line, fantastic characters and terrific animation. This film is one of my favorites of this series. I love the story line and how it fits perfectly with the rest of the series. The animation is fantastic. I love that they mix it with a little bit of Japanese anime. It really brings this film to life.

The cast is so fun and entertaining. Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong) is a loving main character. She shows this by helping her friends and trying to find ways to make the world a better place for everyone. She does this despite the fact that she is dealing with her evil dark side that came out in the last film. Plus, things at Camp Everfree are going wrong and strange things are happening all around camp. Sunset Shimmer (Rebecca Shoichet) is thoughtful, generous, wants to help everybody and wants to solve the mystery. She also helps Twilight Sparkle overcome her fear and gain more confidence about herself. Rainbow Dash and Applejack (Ashleigh Ball) is daring, adventurous and a total tomboy. She tries to do the most outrageous and dangerous stuff with her friends including rock climbing and archery. Applejack is brutally honest and cares deeply for everyone. She can be a bit mean at times, but she just wants you to know the truth about everything. She once told Rarity that her idea of a runway was dumb because they were in a forest and no one but her would use it. Pinkie Pie (Andrea Libman) is hyper and loves to throw parties anywhere, anytime and any place. She brings marshmallows to everything to make s'mores. She tries her best to be fun and bring life to the party. She even dares Rainbow to eat as many marshmallows as she can fit in her mouth in one bite while they are telling scary stories by the campfire. Fluttershy (Andrea Libman) is shy, quiet and loves animals with all of her heart. She even goes to help a bird get back into its nest when she is in a hurry. Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain) loves to sew clothes for all her friends and is a complete girly girl at heart. She even wants a runway where she can show the other campers the clothes she has made.

Sunset Shimer is my stand out character. She wears a crown that has a spell cast on it and ends up with a demon inside her that she must fight off. Her character is compassionate. I like that she is always battling her caring side against her evil side. She is thoughtful of others. The way she tries everything in her power to help Twilight Sparkle overcome her fear is a great reminder to take good care of your friends and family, which is the theme of this film.

This is filled with magnificent songs that provide a musical theater vibe because the girls sing throughout the movie. They all have beautiful voices. You will want to learn the lyrics and sing along with them. They are so heartfelt that they really make you feel the emotions the characters are feeling.

I recommend this film for ages 7 to 16. Younger kids will love the story and fun characters. Older kids will find it inspiring. I give this 5 out of 5 pony stars.

Reviewed by Morgan B., KIDS FIRST! Film Critic.