Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

I'm probably in the minority of the MLP fandom as someone who enjoyed the first Equestria Girls movie, and like the general idea of our favorite pony characters being turned into humans. Even so, love it or hate it, there's really no denying that Rainbow Rocks is actually good and a genuine improvement over the original.

The story begins in a diner, where our three antagonists, the Dazzlings, are making the patrons argue and feeding off the negativity, which is absorbed into their ruby necklaces. They exposit briefly about having been banished here from Equestria, and witness from a distance the climax from the first film. Adagio Dazzle, the leader of the trio decides to set a plan in motion to replenish the power they once had and make the population of this world adore them.

Then we cut back to Canterlot High. We're not sure how much time has passed, but Sunset Shimmer has taken her reformation to heart. The rest of the school still hates her, but the Mane Cast has at least accepted her as one of their own. The school's getting ready for a musical showcase, and they've formed a band of their own called the Rainbooms. (Sunset seems content as a groupie, tho.) Whenever they play, they seem to "ponify" like they did in the first film, with pegasus wings, ponytail hair, and ears. (Why not pegasus horns too?) They sound great, but we already get some shades of conflict as Rainbow Dash seems to like to put herself in front and hog the spotlight. Flash Sentry pops in, hoping maybe Twilight Sparkle might be coming back for the showcase, but there seems to be no indication of that happening. Rarity makes a remark about his crush on Twilight, but then apologizes to Sunset, remembering that she's his ex-girlfriend. Sunset brushes it off, claiming she never really liked him, and was just using him for popularity back when she was evil. (It sounds strangely like denial.) Fluttershy offers a song for the band to sing, but Rainbow Dash shrugs it off, saying they'll get to it.

The Dazzlings have arrived at the school as new students, and Sunset offers to show them around, hoping to make a first impression before they learn too much about her past. Adagio and her comrades, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk, seem a bit off to Sunset. As she tells the Rainbooms about them, the trio bursts into the cafeteria and sing a song to rouse the student body into turning the musical showcase into a Battle of the Bands. The great part of this scene is it's the complete opposite of the Help Twilight Win The Crown sequence from the first film. Again, we have a musical number rousing the Canterlot High schoolers to a cause. But instead of bonding everyone towards a common goal with their similarities, it drives them apart with the promise of a competition.

The Mane Six, unaffected by their magic, try to bring this to the attention of Principal Celestia, but she and Vice Principal Luna have already fallen under the Dazzlings' spell. Sunset then decides to send a message to Equestria for help, using a magic diary to send a letter to the Princess Celestia, hoping a message will get to Twilight Sparkle. We then cut to Ponyville and the new Castle Treehouse Playset, where the Mane Six ponies are residing in the throne room. Some books arrive for Twilight, presumably from Celestia, a copy of Sunset's diary among them.

Some quick research reveals that the Dazzlings are sirens; giant seahorses who use their magical songs to manipulate the minds of others and, as established, feed off their negative energy. In order to stop them, Starswirl the Bearded banished them to another realm. Realizing the threat they present, Twilight uses some scientific magic to modify the Crystal Mirror and reopen the portal to the human world. Applejack offers to go with her, but Twilight refuses, noting how strange it would be if two of everybody suddenly showed up in the other world. However, Spike the Dragon is still ready to accompany her.

Twilight (now human) and Spike (now a dog) arrive at Canterlot High and the Rainbooms go to a party for all the competitors. The negative emotions run high as nobody seems content to socialize, however Twilight does have a brief cute reunion with Flash Sentry. Though clearly in a competitive mood thanks to the Dazzlings, he was at least happy to see her in this first encounter. The Dazzlings show up, and the Rainbooms attempt to summon their Rainbow Power against the Dazzlings to undo the spell. Unfortunately, nothing happens. The group quickly exits, but not before Adagio realizes something's special about them, and that they might have the magic the Dazzlings are looking for.

The Rainbooms and Sunset realize there must be some connection between their Harmony Magic and their music, so Twilight will have to compose a counter-spell, join the band, and together they'd sing a song to brake the Dazzlings' spell over the students. Realizing that Twilight just stayed in the school library, Pinkie Pie invites her to a slumber party at her house. It's actually a nice moment of the girls just hanging out, and has some fun interactions between the characters. There's also a nice quiet scene between Sunset and Twilight.

The next day, the Rainbooms are at Applejack's trying out the counter-spell, which doesn't quite have the magic touch they were expecting. Since their song isn't ready yet, it means the Rainbooms will have to compete in the competition for real until it is.

They arrive at school and the competition begins. Under the Dazzlings' influence other students attempt to sabotage the Rainbooms during their performance. Photo Finish and her band use magnets to attract Rarity's sequin-heavy jacket. The great and powerful Trixie and her band point the spotlight on Fluttershy, and stage fright gets the better of her. The tension between the Mane Six themselves doesn't help things either. Nonetheless, they're able to move on in the competition.

Twilight bumps into Flash outside, and instead of the usual meet cute, he's abrasive and angry over how badly he wants to win, and how she just shows up for the sole purpose of competing. We realize he's not himself, but the scene is really heartbreaking to watch, and it's hard not to feel bad for Twilight during this.

Sunset confronts the Sirens in a poorly lit hallway, again reflecting a moment between her and Twilight from the first movie, with Sunset as the protagonist and the one being intimidated this time around. Adagio Dazzle plays with Sunset's insecurities, how the school will never truly accept her, and that even the Rainbooms don't really consider her one of them, hence why she's not in the band too.

We then get a montage of the Battle of the Bands, set to another song by the Dazzlings. In addition to being a really awesome song, it shows off some great cameos of other characters and their bands. Even as the Rainbooms advance, the montage also shows that Twilight still hasn't been able to get a counter-spell ready. By the time the montage is over, there's only three bands left: the Dazzlings, Trixie's group, and the Rainbooms.



The Battle of the Bands resumes after a performance by Trixie. It's cool to hear Trixie sing, and the song is pretty catchy. (The full version, however, is not heard in the movie.) With the counter-spell still not done, the Rainbooms need to make sure they're good to get into the finals. Rainbow Dash takes charge and insists that they play her song, Awesome As I Wanna Be. While a good entry to the soundtrack, the scene makes it pretty obvious that her band mates are pretty fed up with Dash's showboating. It goes so far, that her magic begins to manifest. Sunset notices, and in a panic, tackles Rainbow Dash off the stage, earning her further disdain from the student body. (Octavia knew she was still trouble.) The Mane Six think they're out for sure, but the Dazzlings sing for Celestia and Luna, ensuring the Rainboom's place in the finals.

The finals take place at an outdoor auditorium. Having been snubbed in the last round, the great and powerful Trixie rigs the stage so the Rainbooms fall through a trap door into the locked basement under the stage, giving her the chance to perform again. The Mane Cast's conflicts come to a head; Rarity's obsession with costumes, Rainbow Dash's showboating, Twilight's failure to write a counter-spell, and Fluttershy's song being overlooked by the band the whole time. The argument is enough for the Rainbooms to finally succumb to the Dazzlings' magic, who absorb their negativity and even some of their Friendship Magic.

Sunset Shimmer's been watching all of this as an outsider for a while now, and finally steps in to put a stop to the finally steps in to help her friends. In the end, the Rainbooms decide to use the song Fluttershy wrote as the counter-spell, but first they have to get out of the cellar. Fortunately, Spike shows up alongside DJ-P0N3. Vinyl Scratch has been in the background with her headphones on the whole film, and was thus unaffected by the Sirens' spell.

The final confrontation is nothing short of a spectacle. The Dazzlings sing another song, feeding on their absorbed power and the adoration of their audience to ponify like the Rainbooms, albeit with thinner, more sinister wings. The Rainbooms counter with their own music, with a little help from Vinyl and her car/bass cannon. Still, at first the Sirens can still overpower the Mane Six. But then, Sunset Shimmer steps up, adding her own voice to the Rainbooms, and ponifying like the others. This is strong enough to create a giant alicorn aura, which manages to defeat the Dazzlings' own manifestations of their Equestrian selves. Their necklaces are shattered, destroying their singing voices and rendering them powerless. The trio retreat and their spell over the students is broken. Flash Sentry is back to his old self, but before he and Twilight can kiss and make up, Trixie pops in out of nowhere and ruins the mood.

And so once again, the day is saved. Twilight bids a heartfelt farewell to her friends. Sunset promises to use the diary to write to her about what happens from now on, now feeling like a true part of the Mane Six/Seven. Twilight Sparkle goes through the portal back to Equestria, and it seems like the movie's over.

Then, after the credits we cut to...Twilight Sparkle? It seems she has a human counterpart after all, who's been keeping track of the magical occurrences that have happened in the films, which teases the possibility/inevitability of a third and final (?) entry in the film franchises.

Rainbow Rocks is definitely a strong entry for Equestria Girls and MLP as a whole. While the animation in the first film looked good already, here the human characters look much more polished. The shorts preceding the movie were probably some good practice for the crew in between films. It also sports some new and eye-catching character designs, specifically the Sirens/Dazzlings, and the sequence revealing their backstory is a cool return to the storybook illustrations from Friendship Is Magic's premiere episode. The music in the first film was fun enough, but in the songs in this one are much more fun and easier to listen to. While the Dazzlings' designs are eyecatching, their characters could have been fleshed out a bit more. Adagio's the mean one in charge, Aria Blaze is the snarky one, and Sonata Dusk is the oddly loveable ditz. Unlike Sunset Shimmer, they're given no offer of redemption after their defeat and it's unlikely they'll be seen in a third film. As for Sunset herself, I was happy the movie focused so heavily on her. It was nice to see her reform stick and finally earn her place among the Mane Cast. I can certainly recommend this movie to its fanbase and target audience, and to anyone else curious about My Little Pony and Equestria Girls. You might just be surprised how enjoyable it really is.