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.
