Hello and welcome to my newest article in the series of reviews I've been doing every once in a while over the past couple of weeks. Okay, months... never mind that! I usually review movies, but for now, I have decided to take a closer look on the second Equestria Girls cartoon, Rainbow Rocks. It is quite obvious, yet I always state this nevertheless: if you haven't seen the cartoon yet... SPOLIER ALERT!
Although I gotta say, this review will be quite short compared to my other articles, since most of the internet reviewers have already summed the movie up pretty well, including the things I've noticed as well. However, here and now, I'd like to add a few of my observations I didn't see in other reviews. Okay, let's jump into it, shall we?
Since I always begin with a short description of the plot, this time will be no exception either. So according to our story, Twilight Sparkle has to take another journey to the universe that has been established by the previous movie, Equestria Girls, to solve yet another crisis at Canterlot High. Just like in the first movie, we are introduced to our primary antagonists rather early. Since My Little Pony – Friendship Is Magic has been using many elements of Greek mythology in the past, such as the Cerberus, the Manticore, and the Chiméra, it was not really a surprise that in Rainbow Rocks, our villains are the Sirens. I've been wondering when the writers will play that card, to be honest.
All right, so the Sirens are drawn to Canterlot High because of the Equestrian magic, that has been lingering there since Twilight's last visit. Why? Convenience, no need to pull threads on that one, okay? It's just there without any particular reason. Basically, we'll have to follow this logic throughout most of our analysis. Don't really question things...
So Twilight manages to reactivate the portal and go through it along with Spike. Who gets to turned into a dog, while the Diamond Dogs get to be human... weird. Anyways, Twilight reunites with her friends' human counterparts so they could utilize the magic of friendship... again? And surprise-surprise, it doesn't work... Sigh...
It turns out, they have to play catchy songs in order to grow pony ears, tails and wings and defeat their enemies... okay, I can go with this...
But instead of working together to achieve a common goal, namely to free the students and the faculty from the spell of the Sirens, an internal conflict erupts and escalates within their circles throughout the film and they begin to drift apart. Sound familiar? It should, because this concept have already been utilized and explored in the previous movie. Just like the final “battle”. The girls resolve their differences and unite once more and eventually defeat the villains rather abruptly.
But Hasbro executives had dollar signs for their eyes again and they decided, that fans need to be milked once more! And what better way to do such a thing, then sexualizing cute little talking horses by turning them into anorexic teenage girls! $ . $
This is the result. Rainbow Rocks is reusing numerous plot elements and character dynamics of its predecessor. Internal conflicts between protagonists, generic antagonists, rainbow stuff... nothing new, really. We have seen this before, it's merely presented in a different scenario. It's a no brainer why it had the same effect on me.
Just like with Equestria Girls, I felt pretty neutral to the sequel as well. The movie failed to drag me in emotionally, which is a key element and also a sign of of good screen-writing. However, the plot was predictable, I've seen it coming from miles! It did not explore more on the main characters, so all in all, nothing new. I'm not saying it wasn't fun to watch both movies, I'm only saying it didn't really have an effect on me. All and good fun, but I wouldn't shed a tear for not seeing them.
But my main problem is with this movie: Twilight Sparkle. She's one of my favorite characters in MLP – FIM and that is why it was so heartbreaking to see her in Rainbow Rocks. She was utterly and completely incapable of handling even the simplest tasks! Her presence in the premise was quite unnecessary and changed nothing; she did not add anything more or anything new to the Mane 5. Furthermore, she was incompetent and she failed to comprehend the conflict in depths and that is definitely not what you'd expect from the Princess of Friendship! This concept was an insult to Twilight's overall wise character.
Okay, now that we moved the bad stuff out of the way, let's focus on the things this movie did right!
First of all, the animation was spectacular! DHX Studios are truly widening the boundaries of flash animation all the time! The movements, the lighting, the expressions, were all amazing, even better than in the first movie. The visual design for the villains was excellent too, I think they managed to capture the essence of “vicious beauty” with all of them. Their songs were also the best in my opinion, but all of the songs were quite catchy. Of course, I wouldn't expect anything less from Daniel Ingram, he did a pretty good job once more.
And last but not least: Sunset Shimmer!
Never thought I'd be fanboying her once, haha! XD But since I truly enjoy stories about bad guys becoming good guys and vice versa, seeing her in this movie was a blast for me! The funny thing is, Sunset Shimmer was a generic and cliché antagonist in Equestria Girls, but in Rainbow Rocks, she did a far better performance as a side character. It was very interesting to witness her transformation and her struggle to fit in with others, despite the Mane 5 treating her poorly and inconsiderately. They have been constantly reminding her of her past faults and misdeeds, which really bothered me. People make mistakes, but that doesn't mean they don't deserve a second chance. I am very well aware how fragile trust is. Very easy to lose, very hard to regain. But I felt like the others were ripping out Sunset's fucking gizzards, holding them in front of her face all the time!
Despite all of this, it appeared to me, that Sunset Shimmer was the only one who understood the root of the problem and the true meaning of friendship, something not even the Princess of Friendship could do in this movie.
All in all, Rainbow Rocks was not a complete abomination. Although the plot had several serious holes, and relied to circus-like, unrealistic elements and physics, as well as the VERY cliché “deus ex machina” method way too often (magic book, Spike and Vinyl rescue the others, Vinyl's surrealistic Transformer-bass cannon car... um.. btw! Did anyone else notice that the girls were standing on top of a hill in one second and they were near the stadium the next? How did they get there so fast? I guess Twilight's teleportation spell? Okay, no time, moving on!), which even the movie itself addressed from time to time, like if it was its own parody. It appeared to me, that the sequel did not try to take itself as seriously as Equestria Girls did. And that's a good thing, because it did not bring anything new at all, except for an interesting, well established side character, that was Sunset Shimmer. She was the only character I truly enjoyed in the movie, plus I never realized how sexy her rather deep voice was. So it was good to watch it for once, although I highly doubt the movie would hold too much of an entertainment value for a second viewing.
And now... Ratings!!! To Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks, I give 2.5/6 cutie marks, because of its predictable and “swiss cheese”, cliché plot, bad character dynamics, awesome animation and visual designs, catchy songs and an enjoyable, deep side character.
Do you agree with my opinion?
Feel free to leave a comment! Perhaps I'll be doing more MLP reviews in the future, so if you have a suggestion which episode should I tear apart and see what makes it tick (or not), just let me know below!
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Thank you for reading! :)
