My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Rainbow Rocks (2014)

Rainbow Rocks is the sequel to the first Equestria Girls movie. The first film was pretty bad that had a predictable story, a mixed bunch of songs, a generic setting and premise, and was nothing more than a cheap attempt by Hasbro to compete with Mattel's Monster High series and sell toys of the MLP characters as humans. Despite the mixed reception and all, a sequel was made, but this time it would have Sunset, the villain of the last movie, take center stage.Taking place after the events of the first movie, Sunset Shimmer has been struggling to fit in and make friends with everybody; especially since the school is still angry at Sunset for the years of torment she put them through. As Sunset struggles with fitting in, three mysterious girls come into the school and use some magic to twist the school and "feed" upon their hate and bickering. Now faced with a new threat from Equestria, Sunset must get Twilight to come back and team up to take down this threat.The first thing I'll say to the movie's credit, is the story is much better than the first movie's. While still predictable and by the numbers, this one actually works out a bit more and does have some better elements in it. The story overall is nothing amazing, but at least it's a step up from the previous movie at least.What's not so good though are some of the forced plot elements. When Sunset needs help from Equestria, she writes in a magic diary that can communicate with Princess Celestia. Yet as we see in Equestria, Twilight ends up with it for no reason at all other than because movie said so. There's no explanation as to why Twilight has something so dear to Celestia in her possession other than because the plot demands it.The other major forced thing is the romance between Flash and Twilight again. If you thought the first movie was bad, this is even worse. Not only is the dialogue between them still terrible and awkward and we still know nothing about Flash, but it also makes Twilight seemingly stupid. For example, Twilight meets with her human friends after being told about the new threat. The first thing she talks about? How Flash has been talking about her. Yes, this is the first thing she brings up in regards to a threat to the human world. And don't even get me started on that near kiss.Speaking of Twilight, while the movie seems to focus on Sunset initially and her dealing with her past demons, the movie ultimately focuses on Twilight. Sunset's story about her wanting to show she's changed doesn't get a lot of focus as a result. It's rather irritating since she was supposed to be the main character, but instead gets pushed aside by Twilight. To be fair though, like the last movie, the interactions with Sunset and Twilight are good again. They have some good character development and the scenes are pretty sweet overall. It's just a shame that it feels more like Sunset gets kind of pushed aside.The villains end up being three sirens disguised as humans. Sonata Dusk, Adagio Dazzle, and Aria Blaze, AKA the Dazzlings. They're much better villains than Sunset was in the first movie. While Sunset relied on intimidation alone to rule the school, these girls use magic and systematically take over. They also get a few good laughs, especially Sonata, and are enjoyable villains overall.With the theme of the movie being about a battle of the bands competition, there are a lot of songs in this movie. Unlike the first movie with how mixed the songs were, all the songs in this movie are really enjoyable. From the Rainbooms, to the Dazzlings, and even Trixie gets a song in. They're all enjoyable and different in their own ways. Even if you don't like the movie, I'd definitely buy the music for this movie and listen to it.The climax is better as well. Ignoring the really weird inclusion of Vinyl's car (Another toy Hasbro wanted to sell), it was kind of over the top and kind of exciting to see the sirens in their true forms and it was kind of awesome to see Sunset step up to the plate and help save the day. It's nothing amazing, but at least it's a step up.While not perfect and not something I'd watch constantly, Rainbow Rocks does end up being much better than the first movie. It does improve on many things such as the story, villains, characters, and songs. However, it still has some issues that hurt it as a whole. Twilight taking over ended up being the thing that hurt the most here. Sunset barely gets to do anything and gets pushed aside. Combine that with some issues with forced plot points and the terrible romance subplot, and it brings the movie down. However, those things won't ruin what is a pretty rocking movie overall, and is worth checking out.

This film really did surprise me. I was a fan of the first movie for a while but it left me feeling underwhelmed. I was expecting a bit more for the first film in the series to be made. But this was the fun action adventure film I was waiting for! To start off, the villains of the film are great! Adagio Dazzle (Voice by Kazumi Evans is a great main villain and a very hypnotic presence, Aria Blaze (Voiced by Diana Kaarina) is a very moody and downbeat, yet still likable and fun character. Sonata Dusk (Voiced by the legendary Maryke Hendrikse) is a tonne of fun to watch! She gets great lines and the dizty-ness is just too cute! Sunset Shimmer is given much more of a character and an arc in this one and is sooooo likable! The songs are great! It's just a great film! Watch it and you won't be disappointed.

(please check out my other reviews please)Heavy Spoilers)) So this is the sequel to MLP Equestria Girls film.. but does it stand up to the praise it has lets find out also was to nice on the first movie so i will review this one better so MLP Rainbow Rocks lets review!!Story & Setting- So we start of this movie with the main villains The Dazzlings in a café causing chaos and feeding of the negative emotions as they see a rainbow light destroy Sunset Shimmer in her demon form and claim this to be Equestrian Magic.. we begin the story as the mane 5 are preparing for the for the Musical Showcase and Sunset Shimmer is now a reformed person as this is going on Sunset has to heal her past mistakes until strange new students arrive (The Dazzlings) and the showcase becomes a Battle of the Bands... and so it beings... also 6 moons have past since the last film.Characters- So the main character is Sunset Shimmer as i said before she is on the path to healing her past mistakes. In the second film, Sunset Shimmer appears to have completely changed from her old self and started believing in friendship, becoming friends with her former enemies, even Twilight Sparkle, and friendly toward others. She also appears deeply repentant for her actions made at the end of the first film, referring to her transformed into "raging she-demon." However, she suffers from a lack of confidence, keeping silent in situations she feels it isn't her place to speak up and falling prey to The Dazzlings taunting. During the final battle, she finally overcomes her insecurities and joins the Rainbooms in defeating the Dazzlings, gaining a half pony form in the process. At the end of Rainbow Rocks, Sunset starts writing friendship reports to Princess Twilight using the book she once used to communicate with Princess Celestia. To me anyway she is a very relatable character and although this she has a lingering side story that she sat through out the sidelines of the story until at the very end play an active role.The Mane 6- As Twilight returned to the human world to help her friends defeat the Dazzlings which is later found out that they are power hungry sirens. The Mane 5 greet Twilight and admire her efforts helping them as they expect so much form her meanwhile its the opposite for Sunset. Also has lots arguments bout priorities in the band like clothing,music etc which causes a brief rift between them.Animation & Sound- So the animation is light-years better than the first movie as colours are brighter and stand out more with in contrast with background this is seen when Sunset and Twilight have a conversation during the night were they have a reconciliation. this break form the action slows down the tempo and is very relaxing scene with a cameo of Maud Pie of course.The Soundtrack is amazing hands down brilliant, Daniel Ingrams's work is amazing, songs like Rainbow Rocks, Better Than Ever, Under Our Spell, Shine Like Rainbows just to name a few. in other words these songs are amazing and didn't feel forced like the first movie excluding the Cafetria Song of course.The Villains- The villains are known as the Dazzlings a singing group of sirens with there goal of making humanity there slave. Adagio Dazzle is shown to be scheming, manipulative, and only concerned with being adored by others also she is the leader. Sonata Dusk is shown to be somewhat air-headed and carefree, similar to Pinkie Pie. Aria Blaze is portrayed as being more level-headed than her companion Sonata Dusk and often speaks in a rather bored disposition and she is the other one.Conclusion/Final Thoughts- i love this film its better paced and generally better also Brad (Flash Sentry) is this movie and he has less of a part int this film. all in all the movie is awesome and holds ground because of Sunset Shimmer, the Songs etc..so better and more awesome. i cant wait for the 3rd film and the future if this series. i give this a rating of 7.9/10.. lets hope that the 3rd film wont disappoint

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.