Fish and Cherries Productions

Summary: We return to the mirror world of Equestria where human duplicates of the ponies reign supreme. This time, we join our heroes Sunset Shimmer (Rebecca Shoichet), Applejack, Rainbow Dash (both Ashleigh Ball), Rarity (Tabitha St. Germain), Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie (both Andrea Libman), and the newest addition to the group: human world Twilight Sparkle (Tara Strong). Their class camping trip is taking them to Camp Everfree, where the brother and sister counselors Gloriosa Daisy (Enid-Raye Adams) and Timber Spruce (Brian Doe) want to make sure that everything’s running smoothly so the students have the best time they can. However, it isn’t long before things take a turn for the mysterious: the siblings are arguing about something vague, odd things keep happening around the camp, and the girls suddenly get extranormal powers. All the while, the students of Canterlot High can’t help feeling that it’s all connected to a story about an ancient spirit named Gaia Everfree…

Review: My Little Pony: Equestria Girls: Legend of Everfree is the second best of the spinoff movie series meant to promote the Equestria Girls toyline, the best being Rainbow Rocks. It still doesn’t quite capture the brilliance of the main My Little Pony show, but the writers have proved themselves able to make a sales concept likeable and engaging. Besides, the real reason to watch this movie series — the original character Sunset Shimmer — continues to be likable, compelling, and very three dimensional. Her relationship with Twilight’s human doppelganger plays to both characters’ strengths and makes for a compelling b-plot.

That said, this unfortunately comes at the expense of the other main characters, who are mostly inconsequential to the plot. Instead, we get more focus on the brother-sister duo of counselors, who are kind of hit and miss. I rather enjoyed Timber Spruce and found him very charming, but I could not say the same for Gloriosa Daisy; her constant “I got this!” lines combined with her forced smile really got on my nerves. On top of that, the writers have to contend with the token love interest in the first movie who has been reviled by the fandom (to a point where the hatred seems ridiculous), Flash Sentry (Vincent Tong). In the last two movies, it feels like he’s there because he has to be there, so in revolt the staff gives him the most barebones appearances and he never, ever gets the good end of the stick. It feels like the writers think they’re stuck with him and really, his only crime is being boring. Why not make the most of him?

The songs are spectacularly done, particularly the first one, which captures the spirit of a campfire ballad. That said, as good as they are, I can’t say I found them too memorable. What was memorable was the mystery and how the whole thing stemmed from a very human desire to protect what’s important. I also liked the different powers the girls were given as well as how they were used in the climax. And apart from the obvious pushing of new playsets and toys, I’m actually kind of curious to see where they take things in future movies, as the status quo has changed dramatically. If you want to get into the MLP fandom, this definitely isn’t a good jumping on point, but the initiated will find a perfectly decent product.

Fun Tidbit: This is the first Equestria Girls movie where the actual Equestria, land of magical ponies, is never seen. Even in the previous movie, Friendship Games, which took place entirely in the human world, glimpses of the world could still be scene through random portals.