sporeviews
The first Equestria Girls was basically writing on the gimmick of, "Ha ha, they're all humans now! Isn't it wacky! This is what you wanted Bronies, right! Yeah, we totally did this for you, and not as another toy variation! Or six." It wasn't awful, but it wasn't very good either. What it had in character designs and certain songs, it lost in an incredibly boring villain and her incredibly stupid scheme. And sure the new one is still a blatant toy commercial, but Rainbow Rocks is a VAST improvement in nearly every way.For starters, there is a stark upgrade to the animation, particularly in their graphics and effects. Seriously, the battle montage was AMAZING! Not to mention the cameo ante has been jacked WAY up, and pays off EXTREMELY well.I also have to note that I really loved all the shorts Hasbro released, leading up to the movie. They were really cute, and more importantly didn't waste any of the movie's time. And while they seem to have replaced a generic popularity contest plot line, with a generic Battle of the Bands plot line, two things make this story much more effective and entertaining:1 is the villains. The Dazzlings are pretty much the PERFECT filler villains. Namely that they're not over emphasized. Because they aren't so much characters, as they are conflict catalysts. They don't try to contrive a personal vendetta against Twilight or Celestia; All you need is an origin that makes sense, a skill that's believably threatening, and some mildly quip lines every time we cut back to them to remind us that they exist. They're just necessary and entertaining enough, and nothing more. And that kind of makes them brilliant. It's perfect that the villains in a supernatural battle of the bands story would be SIRENS. And fittingly, they have all the best songs. I also think it helps that they aren't the only source of conflict. As we saw from the beginning, that friction was ALREADY developing between the Mane 6. We brings us to reason..2. More focus on our girls. The first movie was very much Twilight's story, or at least Twilight's awkward and wacky adjustments in the human world story. But thankfully this one gives EVERYONE a turn in the spotlight and especially a certain one. Which brings us to this movie's greatest accomplishment: Making Sunset Shimmer likable; A feat so insurmountable, it could only be done at the cost of continuity, logic, and likability of the new mane 6. And you know what? IT WAS WORTH IT.Sunset really was NOT just one of the worst people, but also one of the worst villains out of ANYTHING. She was just so generic and boring in motivation, and execution. Ending with the most abrupt, unconvincing character turnarounds ever. But somehow, Rainbow Rocks takes that unconvincing character shift, and OWNS it, and makes it work. Mostly because she's currently juxtaposed against the rest of the main 6, which are being TERRIBLE. It's not always fun to see our girls being this transparently cruel. And yes, all of the "no offence," lines do feel very forced.I was more or less okay with it, because it made sense that they still wouldn't completely trust her. Everyone was still in character and in a way, it humanized them. It showed them that they aren't completely perfect. Again, by all logic, Sunset Shimmer would have gone full demon, and killed them all off at several points. But ultimately, I am glad that she didn't relapse; She stuck to her convictions, she seemed honestly remorseful, and I think it all paid off well. The biggest downside aside from just having to watch the main six be terrible, and the authority figures are utterly useless, was TWILIGHT being useless! But I think that was the point.The Rainboom songs were okay, but yes, they should NOT have beaten The Dazzlings. And it has a couple of "happens because the plot wills it" moments. And then of course, the ongoing party-killer that is Flash Sentry. Although he was, if possible, even LESS prevalent in this movie, which is at least, something. I know a lot of people don't like the excessive flash hate, a character with SO little impact on the film as a whole, that any lasting thought about him is hardly worth it. And the fact is people's response to him is just a matter of, it either bothers you that Twilight has a meaningless love interest, or it doesn't. But I just can't hide the fact that I can't think of a single relevant, or positive element of his existence brings to this movie. And that bothers me! I REALLY dislike obligatory useless love interest characters on principle, regardless of what gender they are.But that's all still pretty minor, and overall, I REALLY did enjoy this! And I really am looking forward to a third one because, BEST cliff hanger EVER!
Bonnie O'Connor
The first movie was horrible with no character development, rushed story line, and so forth. When I heard there was a sequel I was not thrilled because of the awful predecessor, but I guess the lesson of this movie is that things are not always as they appear. Story: Sirens had been banished by Star-Swirled the Bearded long ago. Their power is to sing beautifully and their voices get stronger as they feed of negative energy. However without Equestrian magic the magic in their voices aren't strong enough. When they figure out that there is magic at Canterlot High, they challenge everyone to a Battle of the Bands. Twilight comes back to help her five friends, with a reformed Sunset Shimmer added to the team, to win the Battle of the Bands and defeat the Sirens (renamed the Dazzlings).The story arc is better told and better paced. It's like a longer version of a My Little Pony episode (or My Little Girl). They establish the conflict, and just about everyone is in character. The songs are awesome along with the accompanying animation. I especially love the Sirens' songs (caught between "Under our Spell" or the final conflict song), whoever voiced them absolutely knew how to sing, and the animators were at their best. I also loved that nobody in Canterlot High was stupid (like AppleJack actually questioned how and why they turned into ponies while playing music). What's also great about it is that Sunset Shimmer is the only character with character development. She's the only three dimensional character. You actually feel sorry for her and look forward to her redeeming herself at the end, and at the end it pays off. Speaking of which, the ending is worth the movie. The final conflict is more tense than the first movie. The Mane 6 are fighting with music, sound waves, and the power of friendship against the sirens who are stronger than the Mane 6, until Sunset Shimmer steps in. The song is great, the animation is great, and amazingly it almost brought me in tears. It even managed me to like one thing I hated in the first movie: the seven becoming half human half ponies. If a movie can pull me into liking something I've hated, then that's worth a great grade for this film!The main problems I have with this movie are unfortunately just many: 1) Celestia and Luna still look scary as humans 2) If the Sirens were dragons in Equestria and now humans in Canterlot High, Spike has no excuse for being an ugly looking dog 3) Also he's useless and annoying (yes he freed the Mane (Seven?) but aside from that he could be cut out of the story without it making a difference 4) Aside from Twilight and Sunset Shimmer everyone character is two dimensional 5) The leader of the Sirens is awesome but the two side kicks are annoying! 6) Great to see less of Snips and Snails but why did they have to get a horribly done rap number? 7) The most annoying thing about this film was that Twilight repeats the same lesson that she did in every MLP episode (starting from the first one!): She always tries to do something on her own but always fails, because she NEEDS HER FRIENDS SINCE EPISODE ONE! You would think after four seasons and two movies she would learn that already! 8) Another bothersome thing: The Mane 6 not only hammer into Sunset Shimmer what she did in the past, but they don't let her help the band until last minute! It had a great payoff, but irritating in between!However what's really good is really great! This movie was a better improvement of the first movie, and this time the writers, animators, composers, and actors knew what they were doing!
Miora
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.
