Pros and Cons: Legend of Everfree

I never really gave my thoughts on Legend of Everfree, did I? Better late than never. I never did my thoughts on season 6 either, and it's unlikely I will, because I don't have that much to say. The show, while still a watchable cartoon, is getting a bit stale in my eyes, while Equestria Girls is still fresh. Rainbow Rocks, Friendship Games, and Legend of Everfree all have a bit of a similar formula, but it hasn't started showing it's age to me. I'm a touch worried about the three specials coming out this year. Legend of Everfree felt like such a good setup for movie five, with the superpowers and the cliffhanger, that I would imagine the writers didn't know they'd be making specials instead of a movie five at the time.

Anyway, if you want the short version, I really like Legend of Everfree. I rank the movies Friendship Games > Legend of Everfree > Rainbow Rocks > Equestria Girls OG. If anyone's curious, my blog Every Episode Ranked and Reviewed (Seasons 1-5) contains my thoughts on the first three Equestria Girls at the bottom.

What I liked about Legend of Everfree:

1. The visuals. This one's obvious. Past the first movie, the Equestria Girls movies are very nice looking. It's pretty impressive considering our first impression of Equestria Girls was a very un-enticing mane six pic. Really, the mane six still look a bit odd, especially Rarity's bright white skin, but I like the look of the background people. I feel the characters created for Equestria Girls, like Sunset, Sci-Twi, Timber, Gloriosa, and Principal Cinch look the best. And Legend of Everfree provides a lot of nice new environments at the camp, which pretty much the entire movie takes place at. The forest scenery is lovely. The high point though is all the vines during the climax. That must've been tough to animate! It's like something out of the climax of Castle in the Sky.

2. The songs. The theme is my favorite intro song out of the movies. It puts me in a good mood with its bouncy beat and humble yet optimistic tone. Embrace the Magic is a nice little bit about not being afraid of your talents that shows off Sunset's voice. We Will Stand For Everfree is my favorite. It feels big and grand and elegant, like This Day Aria, and is quite catchy. Legend You Are Meant to Be is a cute little bubbly pop song, though the rhythm is rather generic. Hope Shines Eternal is surprisingly good for a credits song, I just soak in the high points. The only one I'm not fond of is The Midnight in Me. The singing is impressive, but we've already heard everything Sci-Twi is singing about, so it just feels like scenery chewing, and they don't seem to know what to do with Sci-Twi visually. She just stands up, walks a tiny bit, and then sits back down. But as for the rest, I'm a fan.

3. Timber and Gloriosa. These two make a likable pair, with Timber as the more laid back one and Gloriosa as the one who tries to hard and can come across as a bit much (I was annoyed with her super chipper attitude towards the beginning the first time I watched LoE but now I understand that it's forced because she's under strain). It really feels like Camp Everfree is their home and that they're used to it, with Timber chopping wood at night like it's nothing, and Gloriosa taking suggestions like she's done it multiple times before.

4. Sci-Twi and Timber romance. My biggest problem with the first Equestria Girls was the romance. Flash helps Twilight off the floor, and bam, she has a crush. They have no chemistry. He's just a nice, "cool" boy who can play guitar. This is a big upgrade. Sci-Twi and Timber are both nerds, so they have something in common. Also, Timber's awkward flirts are executed so that it's obvious he knows he's being a dork and is just having fun. When he makes jokes that make Sci-Twi laugh, I actually believe a real teenage girl would laugh. That's not a deep chemistry, but considering their romance takes up like five minutes of screen time, it's enough. I'm not sure why the movie doesn't let them kiss at the end. They earned it. I suppose I'll have to count their lanterns bumping together as the kiss.

5. Flash. You know, I never really disliked Flash himself. He was lacking in personality, but he didn't annoy or completely bore me. It was Twilight's crush on him that bugged me. After the reception Flash received, the writers seemed wary of giving him much screen time in Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games, the latter of which made him an endearing butt monkey. This time around, the writers are actually a bit ballsy, acknowledging that Flash doesn't know what to do about this new Twilight that doesn't really know him. They even vaguely hint at the possibility of Flash and Sunset getting close again. I'm sure the two of them will never become a couple, but the fact that the writers took even the teensiest tiniest baby step in that direction is really impressive considering that the writers are aware of Flash's reception (I watch the commentaries).

6. Sunset. Sunset's character development was the biggest pleasant surprise of Rainbow Rocks. In Friendship Games, it continued, with her being insecure about if she can handle herself without the aid of Twilight, and after her beautiful transformation, she became a confident leader. After Friendship Games, I wanted to continue seeing a more confidant Sunset, and that's what I got in Legend of Everfree. Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games both had two main character conflicts: Sunset and Twilight, and then Sunset and Sci-Twi. This time, it's Sci-Twi and Gloriosa. Sunset's over her "I don't know what to do" angst. She does her best to help her friends get used to their new magic, and is smart enough to realize that she shouldn't accuse Timber of trying to ruin the camp without being 100% sure. Can you imagine if Sunset had accused Timber of being a douchebag without proof and ticked Sci-Twi off, causing her to throw a big hissy fit about it? That scene would've sucked! And you know a writer who's too eager to go for melodrama would've gone that route. But instead, Sunset's not an idiot. Thank goodness. Her tough love bit with Flash is pretty great too, as is her sympathy towards Sci-Twi's insecurities.

7. Sci-Twi. Sunset overcame a major hurdle in Rainbow Rocks, and still had insecurities to deal with in Friendship Games. Sci-Twi overcame a major hurdle in Friendship Games, and still has insecurities to deal with in Legend of Everfree. My favorite thing about the whole Midnight Sparkle affair in this movie is the intensity. In the opening scene, and during Twilight's nightmare, they treat Midnight like a horror villain, and I find that cool. Otherwise, Sci-Twi's conflict is standard but fine. I like Sci-Twi's resistance to letting the others help her. She's somewhat close to Sunset due to the ending of Friendship Games, but it feels like she still barely knows the other girls and is a bit unsure around them.

8. Some of the humor. I find this the funniest of the four EG's. Timber's banter is charming, I enjoy Applejack's smugness over making her own hammer, Pinkie's floating off the ground gag is cute, and Bulk Bicep's crazy dancing gets me every time. The best part for me though was Derpy comforting Flash for a second time. I think the reason that's what made me really lose it is because I had no idea they were going to bring that joke back. It was really unexpected.

9. The mystery. Up until the reveal of Gloriosa being the culprit, there are a few possibilities for what's going on at Camp Everfree. Perhaps the story about Gaia Everfree was true. Perhaps Timber is messing things up because he still doesn't want to live there. Perhaps Filthy Rich has goons sneaking around. I really like how Timber has gem dust leaking out of his pocket, making him suspect. Really, I like LoE more as a mystery than MMMystery on the Friendship Express or Rarity Investigates.

10. The climax. The last twenty minutes scream "big, epic movie" much more than the rest of it. I love the scale of Gloriosa's powers, such that the mane six can't tear through the vines without Sci-Twi. Gloriosa's words really spark the imagination. You really believe she'll stand up to police and government helicopters when they come to save the hostages. Epic. What's cool is that she doesn't want to hurt anyone. She just wants to save the home that's been in her family for generations, but because she was willing to do that at the cost of others safety, the magic warped her into a super-villain. Due to the impressive scale of it, the climax is my favorite part of the film.

Things I didn't like:

1. Rarity's humor. In Friendship Games, I wasn't fond of Pinkie and Rarity's dialogue. Pinkie's was mostly loud and random and Rarity's was mostly about fashion. This time, I find Pinkie pretty tolerable, but Rarity is much worse, and her bits make me cringe in an otherwise enjoyable flick. I don't find Rarity being into fashion funny. In episodes like Suited For Success, Rarity Takes Manehattan, and Canterlot Boutique, I find her artistic passion admirable, which is why she's my third favorite mane six (after Twilight and Fluttershy). I don't expect Equestria Girls to go to that kind of depth with her. Heck, characters like Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are pretty one note in Equestria Girls. But that doesn't bother me because they aren't annoying. They aren't treated like a complete joke. Here, Rarity feels like a parody of herself, and it bugs me.

2. Some Gloriosa stuff. I like Gloriosa, and I like the climax, but although I kind of get Gloriosa turning into a villain, as I expressed earlier, I also kind of don't. The magic turns Gloriosa into a monster because she places saving the camp over the safety of others the same way it turns Sci-Twi into a monster for placing the pursuit of knowledge over the safety of others. I get that part. But why is she so obsessed about saving the camp? Why is she so desperate about not leaving and living somewhere else, doing something else with her life? I suppose it's possible that Timber and Gloriosa's parents are dead, and since the camp's been in their family for generations, she has some sort of complex over that, but since it's a kids movie, that has to be inferred. Gloriosa becoming the villain could have been set up much better if I had connected to her love of the camp more. Maybe a nostalgic little montage showing some precious moments of Gloriosa's childhood on the camp, or something like that. I just had trouble buying that she cared this much.

3. Pacing and density. Legend of Everfree is a little on the slow side compared to Friendship Games. One of my favorite things about that movie is how packed with stuff it is and how large and crazy it feels. Comparatively, Legend of Everfree just feels like a long TV episode up until the climax. I wish more of it screamed "big, epic movie" like Rainbow Rocks and Friendship Games. There are too many scenes with not a whole lot happening. Perhaps a little more plot and a little less Spike wanting to chase squirrels and Pinkie's obsession with marshmallows and Rarity's obsession with the runway etc. would've made me happier.

And that's that. At the end of the day, I dislike Equestria Girls OG, kinda like Rainbow Rocks, love Friendship Games, and really like Legend of Everfree. Considering I only kinda liked season 6, I was really thankful for Legend of Everfree. I've watched it three times now and enjoyed it each time. I'm curious if a bit worried about those three upcoming specials. I would love to be pleasantly surprised by them.