Review: Rainbow Roadtrip

They made a second MLP:FiM movie while we weren't looking and slipped it direct to video. So how's it shape up?

Well... There's no grand adventure or world-threatening villain. This is the mane six going to a /social/ Adventure Town, discovering a social problem, and solving it, against the backdrop of the magical land of Equestria.

As with the last movie, the character dialogue is solid and has a lot of funny little moments.

When you get to the first musical number and realize what this movie is about, it feels like a slice-of-life fanfic come to life, in a good way.

Once the problem is explained the solution becomes clear quickly; we're just waiting for the characters to realize it. For the most part though, time isn't stretched out by characters being stupid or anything; the time is occupied by the mane six being themselves and the local characters being themselves and the interactions between them.

There are some obvious teaching-positive-social-behavior moments, this is after all a children's show, but the mane six don't pick up an idiot ball so that they can learn lessons they should already know -- instead they're teaching, inspiring, and helping the locals, which feels much less stilted -- much more fitting almost nine years into all this. I actually really liked the sequence with making the cranky neighbor come around -- they're manipulating him, the lesson is clear, the youngest kids can learn by observation, the slightly older/smarter ones can feel smart by realizing what they're doing (and thus have the lesson reinforced,) without the insult to the viewer of telling rather than showing or making a main character stupid so /she/ can be beaten over the head with a lesson as a viewer proxy. The writers of certain late-season episodes could learn from this, if G4 production wasn't already over.

Also, for once we don't have plot hinging on glaring lore mistakes or characters forgetting everything. I could make some nerdy nitpicks about the beginning, but once things get going even if you're one of those people who overanalyzes everything, you won't have those distracting moments where a lore contradiction pulls you out of things.

If you're an MLP fan, give this a look!