Movie Re-Review: Rainbow Rocks · 7:11pm Apr 17th, 2021
As the hiatus after Season 4 got under way and fans anticipated a swift return in the fall of 2014 (unaware of a development that would bring about the end of an era and the start of another), the only thing to really tide them over now that Hasbro seemed intent on cracking down on any kind of fan projects no matter what was an unwanted sequel to the first Equestria Girls movie. And this one too would be released in theaters in the middle of summer, a busy time at a box office that was already seeing renewed interest in kids entertainment thanks to Disney's Frozen and The Lego Movie taking the world by storm. Meghan McCarthy was at the helm for writing once again, and it's clear that between writing the script for this sequel and juggling her writing commitments for Season 4 she had no time to be a story editor. And I'm sure all of this was before the 2017 movie was greenlit. So there was already a lot working against this sequel, especially since sequels seldom surpassed the original at the box office or even in pop culture. Nowadays, however, many consider this to be really good and perhaps even the best Equestria Girls had to offer. LillyPeet (before she destroyed her reputation) even considered this the high water mark of the franchise. But much like "Twilight's Kingdom" I find much of the hype to be overblown. Is this really an improved sequel, or was it just more of what made the first film so uninspiring? Well, let's find out.
The movie begins in a diner somewhere in Canterlot city (I would assume that's the name) as we see green magic floating across to a trio of mysterious singers wearing hoods. These are our new antagonists, the Dazzlings which consist of Adagio Dazzle, Aria Blaze and Sonata Dusk. Adagio is the leader, Sonata is the comedic relief and Aria is... well she's just there. We get some clunky exposition that's basically "As you know" about how they were banished to the human world long ago and feed off of discontent that they cause through their singing. Suddenly, they see a huge flash light up the sky and Adagio realizes that it's Equestrian magic. This is apparently taking place during the climax of the first movie. Adagio then decides to use that magic to subjugate the entire human world.
We then get a pretty good title sequence that uses an original song "Rainbow Rocks", though we'll eventually see that the rock theme really isn't that crucial (although this movie will be somewhat of a musical). Afterwards, we get the song "Better Than Ever" as we see the humane five playing their instruments in this rock band never before mentioned. To be fair, there were a series of promo shorts leading up to it that involved each member getting their own instrument, but there was never any mention of them having been in a band before or even considering starting one. The song itself basically just recaps what happened during the first movie in a more or less abridged version, but the bigger development is that we see that the humane five are friends with Sunset Shimmer now and they also gain pony ears, tails and wings when they play (though most are not concerned about it). Flash Sentry also shows up just to ask about pony Twilight, getting no development aside from also showing that he's friends with Sunset again (even if there's been a considerable passage of time, he sure didn't take long to come around to her after their break up). So Sunset has already earned the trust of those who were most affected by her. But the entire school hasn't quite forgiven her yet, they more or less just ignore her and we see that Sunset's rather insecure about this, still tinged with regret over what she did. I guess she's also starting to regret what she did as a pony?
Sunset Shimmer is then given the task of showing a trio of new students around and meets the Dazzlings, with Sonata Dusk more or less giving away what they do when she mentions how they sing all the time to make others obey them. But Sunset ignores this when Adagio insists that Aria and Sonata are idiots. Sunset also doesn't think much of the Dazzlings guarding their pendants, though she later confesses to the humane five (called the Rainbooms) that she found something was off about them. Then we get clunky exposition reiterating what the Dazzling do even though we already saw it, as if they feel the need to hammer home that one point. We get a joke about Taco Tuesday from Sonata, and a throwaway line from Aria about a power struggle that will never be mentioned again.
This leads into the song "Let's Have a Battle (of the Bands)" as the Dazzlings persuade all of Canterlot High (except the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer for reasons unknown) to turn a musical showcase into a full on battle of the bands. They even convince Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna, so the Rainbooms and Sunset Shimmer realize they're in over their heads. Sunset then reveals that she hung onto an old enchanted journal that was tied to Princess Celestia, whenever she wrote something into it it would go straight to the princess. So Sunset opts to try it.
We then transfer the focus to Equestria as we see Twilight's new castle, meaning this has to take place after "Twilight's Kingdom" but the lack of a certain feature means it can't be taking place during Season 5. And it just so happens that Princess Celestia was donating books to the castle, including her enchanted journal. Yes, that's right, Princess Celestia just disregarded something that could let her get in touch with her former student even after being informed that said student was going to undergo redemption. And at no point is it established that Princess Celestia sent the journal to Twilight knowing that Sunset would be more comfortable around her. It'll become clear soon enough why this was done, and it's not for a particularly strong narrative reason. Yes, maybe Celestia did just forget about the journal and didn't mean to give it away, but you'd think something as important as that would be kept close just in case Sunset ever did come back.
Twilight just so happens to realize that the threat Sunset is facing are actually sirens. Much like sirens of mythology that are often known for using their singing to lure sailors to a watery grave, the sirens here (the Dazzlings) used their singing to gain control of other ponies and turn them against each other. But they were banished from Equestria long ago by Starswirl the Bearded. Twilight then decides that she and Spike need to go to the human world to help Sunset Shimmer defeat the Dazzlings, and for no reason other than because potatoes she doesn't let any of her friends come with her. So this movie only wanted pony Twilight back, just so they could have ponies because I guess they felt that if there weren't ponies general audiences would be confused and fans wouldn't pay money to come see it. But considering the first movie debuted to lukewarm commercial and critical reception, why even bother putting the sequel in theaters? It came to home media eventually, so why not just accept that the franchise wasn't something audiences would go pay money to see on the big screen and then you wouldn't need to use ponies as a crutch. This is arguably the biggest misstep for the movie, especially considering we'll see later that they were setting up for another installment. A sequel would've been the perfect opportunity to let this spin-off franchise stand on its own instead of leaning on its parent franchise.
So pony Twilight and Spike go back to the human world as Twilight just so happens to have found a way to rebuild and permanently power up the mirror portal using the journal she obtained. Upon arriving, the Rainbooms immediately crowd around pony Twilight and ask her for help, and she tells them that the only way to win is to work up a musical counter spell. Not used to having hands, Twilight opts to just sing. And we soon see that Twilight is a bad singer when the band is rehearsing at Sweet Apple Acres. We also get some of the first hints of discontent as human Applejack argues with Rarity over costume changes. In fact, just about every conflict the Rainbooms will have here will be started by human Applejack deciding to just complain. Sometime later, we have a sleepover at human Pinkie Pie's place (it doesn't appear to be Sugarcube Corner) and Twilight stays up late to work on a counter spell. We also see that human Rainbow Dash cheats to win because she doesn't ever want to lose, which really doesn't make her look good. And this is a warning sign of what's to come for her character.
We do get an interesting scene between Twilight and Sunset Shimmer as Sunset comments on how everyone's depending on Twilight to save the day, shortly before we meet human Maud Pie who also has a pet Boulder. The next day, we get to see the battle of the bands unfold starting with human Snips singing a terrible rap song and dressing up like a stereotypical rap artist. Then we have a squabble amongst the Rainbooms over what song to play as human Fluttershy wants her song to be used, but human Rainbow Dash says no because they're in a competition.
This leads into the song "Shake Your Tail" where the Rainbooms are unable to perform well due to painfully obvious sabotage from others (which goes completely unnoticed and unacknowledged, and this is before they've done much aside from a cringe inducing scene of just holding hands to send the Dazzlings away). Rarity's dress is held up by magnets, Fluttershy runs away when a spotlight is shone on her and Applejack gets mad at Rarity bumping into her. And the Rainbooms are all at each other's throats already because of this. Fortunately, we see an interesting development from the Dazzlings as Adagio Dazzle encourages her sisters to "save the good stuff" before we get "Under Our Spell". The song is pretty much the Dazzlings rubbing their apparent victory in everyone's faces. They're not bothering to hide their intentions and neither are they dragging their heels. The power they're using now is enough to control most of the school, and they believe no one can really oppose them. Admittedly though, only Adagio Dazzle really benefits from this as the leader. Aria and Sonata are still pigeonholed into their roles, and even Adagio doesn't progress much beyond being a leader (you could easily play up her chessmaster persona to make her a control freak, which could explain why Aria wants to oppose her).
This song also serves as a montage to show the battle of the bands progressing, which just reflects how insanely fast paced this movie is. And I've seen movies with 70 minute run times that have had no trouble with pacing despite having a large cast of characters. I should mention that during one interlude we get to see Flash Sentry corrupted by the Dazzlings, but this is the extent to which he has any real involvement. Instead, the semi-final sees the Rainbooms going up against Trixie's unnamed band (which defeated Flash Sentry's band). And I hope you like hearing the same exact lines of "Tricks Up My Sleeve" every single time Trixie's on stage, because for some reason we never get to hear the other verses. That's a really lazy way of trying to promote the official soundtrack. Once Trixie's band is done performing, Rainbow Dash convinces them to go with "Awesome as I Wanna Be" since Twilight's counter spell is still not ready. And the song is pretty much human Rainbow Dash inflating her ego so much that it could pop. For some reason, her doing well on her own is enough to make her start gaining pony ears, prompting Sunset Shimmer to tackle her to keep it a secret. And the entire school thinks she was intentionally sabotaging Rainbow Dash for no reason.
This apparently requires the Dazzlings to step in and sing to regain control of Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna so as to ensure the Rainbooms advance. By now, we've gotten a call back to the first movie when the Dazzlings earlier cornered Sunset Shimmer in the same darkened hallway and taunted how no one would believe her. They also point out how the Rainbooms never let her be part of the band despite apparently considering her a friend, which is something that never gets addressed. It's brought up and discarded without fanfare, almost like it was an afterthought. I should mention that to those who advocate for Sonata Dusk's reformation, keep in mind that in that scene she willingly goes along with her sisters and taunts Sunset. And she goes along with everything else her sisters do too, so Sonata is willingly engaging in these horrible acts and isn't sorry for doing so. Except that means she's aware of this, but she still acts stupid for no other reason than because the plot wants her to. It's not even a case of "Playing the fool". Anyway, the Rainbooms are allowed to advance to the final against the Dazzlings. But Adagio Dazzle convinces human Trixie to trap the Rainbooms via a trap door on the outdoor stage, so what was the point of letting the Rainbooms advance if they were never going to fight them? Why not let Trixie's team make it to the final to ensure your victory, rather than chance the Rainbooms being able to defeat you? And Sonata's comedic relief becomes so bad that Adagio literally facepalms from it.
The Rainbooms now argue with each other all the time, feeding the Dazzlings even before they've taken the stage. It's only now that Sunset Shimmer finally speaks up, telling the Rainbooms that they're better than this because they're friends. And this speech is enough to make them stop. Then they're able to escape from the room they're trapped in because Spike found the one other human not affected by the Dazzlings, human Vinyl Scratch who never takes off her headphones (and got a promotional short instead of Sunset Shimmer. In fact, none of the promotional shorts used Sunset Shimmer at all, not even the two music video ones: Shake Your Tail and Perfect Day for Fun). Meanwhile, the Dazzlings have launched into their apparent victory performance with "Welcome to the Show" as they reach full power. However, Twilight reveals that there's no need to write a specific counter spell, just playing musical instruments and singing is enough to defeat the Dazzlings. So her entire subplot was pointless. She could be written out entirely and we would lose nothing of substance.
The Rainbooms are ready to fight back, except they can't use the stage and need a way to carry their voices to overpower the Dazzlings. Fortunately, human Vinyl Scratch has a transforming speaker system, perhaps a nod to Soundwave from the Transformers franchise.
So what's the song the Rainbooms use for this final battle? Fluttershy's song which is basically "I've Got The Music in Me 2.0" complete with at least one bad lyric set: "I didn't come here seeking infamy or fame" even though infamy is something I'm sure no musician ever intentionally sets out to achieve (fortune would roll off the tongue just as well and get the same point across). But the Dazzlings unveil their true forms and use powerful screeches to force the Rainbooms back. Sunset Shimmer is then persuaded to finally take the stand and join in singing, and she ends up being the difference needed to carry the day.
The Dazzlings survive, but their pendants are destroyed and so they can not only no longer control people but in fact can't sing at all. They run away and the Rainbooms celebrate their victory as Sunset Shimmer offers to join the band full time (revealing that she can play guitar, which she most likely learned from Flash Sentry). We get an almost kiss from Twilight and Flash Sentry, and then Twilight leaves after indicating she'll come back someday. Then, during a post-credits scene we see human Twilight with her own Spike having pinpointed magical happenings to Canterlot High, meaning they were already setting up for a third installment.
And that's the story, so what do I think of the movie? Well, it is an improvement over the first Equestria Girls but that's not really saying much when the first was so bland and uninspiring. It was easy to improve from almost nothing, in fact it would've been more surprising to do worse than almost the bottom of the barrel. The biggest issue is the insanely fast pace, which means conflicts come and go lightning fast and almost nothing gets focused on. On top of that, pony Twilight coming back is a complete waste because she does nothing all movie long except stall with a counter spell only for the resolution to be: We don't need to come up with one, just play good. Some of the songs are good, but others are pretty weak. There's a lot of exposition that reiterates what we already know, especially for the Dazzlings. And it kind of raises an interesting question about whether it's some sort of self-sustaining loop (they use energy to control people to create discontent to get energy that they then use to control more people, and you get the idea). Plus, we never learn how the Dazzlings were going to subjugate the entire world after taking over Canterlot High, seeing as they never find out about the portal to Equestria. Adagio Dazzle by herself is interesting, much like Tirek she seldom makes mistakes and knows what strings to pull to get what she wants. Unfortunately, she's held back by being saddled with the forgettable Aria Blaze and the comedic relief Sonata Dusk who don't contribute anything as individuals and in fact make the whole that much worse because of it. Sunset Shimmer is easily the best part about this entire movie, turning her into the entire fourth generation's gold standard for reformation and redemption, even if the early stages have already been glanced over. If you just cut out ponies and had Sunset writing to Princess Celestia for help, things would probably be a lot better since we wouldn't have to waste time in Equestria and arguably not as much time would go towards stalling with the counter spell. Of course, that would still need the Rainbooms to not always be squabbling over petty things or failing to notice obvious sabotage. But at least that would be a start. As it is, this movie gets a C+, it probably benefitted from the low expectations people had for it originally.
So now it's on to Season 5 proper as we say goodbye to the Hub era (and the classic seasons) and come to a season marked by a noticeable changing of the guard, beginning with what may not have even been planned as the season premiere originally but ultimately became it in the form of "The Cutie Map" (originally called Cutie Markless").
Honestly, even though Sonata and Aria don't contribute much, I actually like Sonata more than Adagio.
And yeah, this movie is definitely pretty overrated. Still enjoyable, but I definitely prefer pretty much all of the EQG stuff that followed more.
As for the songs, I pretty much liked all of them, except for the two we were meant to dislike.
Shine Like Rainbows was probably the weakest of the good ones, but that's just because the others were better.
As for best song, I'd go with Awesome as I Wanna Be
Is this movie starting to become a little bit overrated after nearly 7 years?
5499904 Doesn't seem like it.
Okay, I need to make a retraction regarding what I said in the Twilight's Kingdom re-review. I said that episode was the end of G4's Hub Network era and this movie was the start of its Discovery Family era due to the fact it had premiered on TV less than a week after the channel was rebranded. However, I failed to take into account that Rainbow Rocks initially premiered in theaters a month before The Hub switched over to Discovery Family. As a result, this movie is technically the true end of the Hub Network era and The Cutie Map is the true start of the Discovery Family era.
I wonder if the Dazzlings qualify as the MLP versions of the Seekers (Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp) from Transformers?
No they didn't, the Dazzlings did.