Welcome to a new edition of Alicorn Reviews and we move on to the fourth Equestria Girls movie called Legend of Everfree. It has been a while since we did anything pony related so I decided to take a break from retro gaming. The HuMane Seven along with some students of CHS have raised enough funds to attend Camp Everfree. However, when the girls arrive, they learn of some legend through a camp counselor named Timber Spruce of a spirit called Gaia Everfree. Upon hearing this, strange things start to happen as the girls experience sudden magic bursts around the area and from themselves. The setting of the story was an ideal choice as instead of taking place at a school, the area was at a campsite in a forest. It made sense for the movie to take place here because that would've been redundant to use CHS again. On top of that, the writers world build once again which in turn helps expand the lore. It's not a surprise that the Everfree Forest is a normal woodland as opposed to its counterpart being magical. For once the HuMane Seven and the other characters from CHS finally get different clothes. Of course, they are camp outfits, but it's still nice to not see them have that terrible horseshoe boot design. There are a few character arcs that's used in the story which is a pleasant surprise. Starting with Sunset, once again the mare continues to prove how far she has come since the first film. Her courageous leadership has rivaled Pony Twilight as Sunset is able to take charge when a situation develops. Another strong trait is how she encourages the HuMane Six as seen with her solo song. Of course, there is Twilight's arc and it's taken further compared to the last film. She still feels guilty for attempting to open large portals that could've destroy both worlds in a corrupted form as Midnight Sparkle. Through Twilight's arc, she worries that her alter ego will take over and eventually come after her friends as shown in the nightmare scene. I also love how Midnight acted as a side villain, something the writers got right this time when compared to Cinch. The way the "she-demon" constantly beckons Twilight to unleash her magic gives us a what if scenario. Aside from Midnight Sparkle, the Human counterpart of Filthy Rich serves as a secondary antagonist. His personality is that of a cutthroat business person who only cares about making profits off his new resort he had planned for the campsite. I honestly felt this suited his personality perfectly since I never saw his pony counterpart act this aggressive. It's true that Pony Filthy Rich would cheapen a deal he would make in Equestria when the opportunity came to him. However, he never went as far as to not care about a land that was owned by a family for generations. The main villain was a misguided Gloriosa Daisy, the sister to Timber Spruce. I love the way she played off like some happy camp counselor and gradually the stress gets to her. My favorite was her catchphrase of "I got this" said in her obvious fake happy voice. Another one is where her right eye twitched for a second after so many of the students asked for things. Gloriosa's reaction gets me every time as if she was going to become another lake killer. How can I forget to mention the gags that were the funniest they ever been. I'll start with Pinkie (of course) and we finally get to see what goes through her mind. It's the part where Pinkie asks Sunset to use her mind powers on the pink girl. Safe to say I wasn't ready to handle it as Pinkie's mind is an LSD trip. It clearly makes so much sense now about why she is so hyperactive. The next one was a running joke of the dock getting destroyed. It was fun to see their reactions every time the dock got ruined in some capacity. The last one during the mid-credit scene was the best of them all as it gets destroyed by Pinkie's explosive power. They were obviously done fixing the thing at that point as seen by their expression of disbelief and not to mention Rarity fainting in her usual dramatics. I mean surely when you give Pinkie bomb powers its mostly not going to end well. Of course, this now has me come to the shipping moments between Timber Spruce and Twilight. To think what would've happened if Pony Twilight and Flash were actually written decently without it coming off forced. I'll be truthful to say I'm not a fan of the shipping as Timber sounds like a goofy guy that will act like a dork on purpose to get a girl. The romance between both of them was still entertaining and would come across genuine. The moments they had either was him giving a typical one liner on purpose or their interactions with talking about the types of crystals. The shipping came across believable compared to FlashLight in the first two films. Another scene that gave me a chuckle is when Sunset tries to convince Twilight to come back to the camp in the middle of the night. Then out of nowhere Timber comes out with an ax in hand and causing them to scream for a moment. However, that wasn't the part that gave me the chuckle but rather when Twilight gets giddy for Timber again. I just love how Sunset would roll her eyes twice at another romance transpiring. It's like she was going to enjoy some alone time with Twilight (possibly shipping) only for the typical love interest to ruin the fun. Overall, Timber is a step up from Jar Jar Flash as he wasn't the usual high school goody. One of the few things the movies gets right is continuing to world build the series. As stated before, we get introduced to the counterpart of the Everfree Forest as a national park. It was interesting how the Elements of Harmony were inside a cave within the forest. It's a little similar to how the Mane Six in Equestria found their magic inside the Castle of the Two Sisters near that world's Everfree Forest. Even the Elements are within a cavern structure just like the Tree of Harmony. It's even more impressive that the writers made these powers different from the way they are in Equestria. The HuMane Seven are given superpowers with Rainbow (speedster), Pinkie (explosive energy), Sunset (mind reading), Twilight (telekinesis), Rarity (diamond shields), Fluttershy (telepathy) and AJ (Super Strength). I just find this very interesting how the parallel world has its own magic which now that I think of was presumably always there. I mean these powers was most likely subdued for a long time until the portal opens every 30 moons. It is doubtful that those magic orbs escaping the portal were the reason because the scene of them leaking out happens afterward. The soundtrack saw an improvement once again as each song brought a diverse style. The songs feel more lively compared to the first film and Friendship Games. Like I said, each one had a varied pop style between country, regular and theatrical dark tones. The list of songs is short compared to the two previous films, however, this is a case of quality over quantity. It was a nice change to see a quality soundtrack when the entire Gen 4 was lackluster at the time. When songs like A Changeling Can Change by Spike and Unleash the Magic from Cinch and the Shadow bolts isn't exactly a good track record. The villain song was a drastic improvement from Gaia Everfree and didn't come off generic. A dark theatrical tone similar to The Midnight in Me is used too as the lyrics felt more catchy unlike Unleashed the Magic. Speaking of Twilight's solo, that was another improvement from her song in Friendship Games. There was a lot more feeling of doubting herself because of Midnight Sparkle hence the title of the track. Sunset's solo about embracing their new magic was a thing of beauty thanks to her already sexy voice. For some reason, the country-pop style works for Sunset in a lot of ways which was something I didn't expect. I'm actually glad the studio finally gave Sunset this since up until now she always sang with the rest of the girls together. Now, just when you think Jar Jar Flash finally went away along with that obsession to his pony waifu. He makes his return and contributes nothing to the plot aside from being there for the sake of it. It's the fourth time he's a recurring character and obviously, the writers didn't learn anything from the last three movies. Pony Twilight is not coming back and as far as I see they don't want to develop his personality. If they don't want Flash to contribute to the plot then make him a background character. There was one scene that I will admit the writers did right and that was when Flash got into a conversation with Sunset about Pony Twilight. Sunset basically tells him constructively he should get over not seeing her again. I know, he's actually having a simple conversation for once but here's the thing, it's too late. The writers should have done this since the first movie considering his sole purpose has always been to act like Pony Twilight's love interest. The next issue regarding character growth is with the HuMane Five who still have the same personality since the first movie. I don't get why it's so hard for these writers to build these five characters up. Take for example Rarity and she acts so overzealous about her hobby that not even her pony counterpart acts this way anymore. That is just lazy writing not to take the time in a few scenes to progress these characters in a different way from FIM. Another issue that I need to bring up is how a TV or internet series should've been in this movie's place. At this point, the 70-minute movie format doesn't work for EQG anymore as the series isn't progressing at a normal pace. One of the many reasons FIM is successful in terms of content is that it has the seasonal release of 26 episodes. A seasonal format is enough to not only build the main characters up but even for the recurring cast members. It's the reason the Crusaders, Starlight, Thorax, the Pillars of Light and Daring Do have been developed so much beyond the Mane Six. It's obvious why we haven't seen the Dazzlings, the Shadow Bolts, and yes even Flash get any character growth. If you want to hear more of the subject, I already went into full detail with "Is the New Equestria Girls YouTube Series a Bust?" article. In the end, it's just wasted potential when Hasbro knows EQG can make them as much money as FIM. You can tell DHX has there hands full but if Hasbro is this filthy rich (no pun intended) then they can invest in another studio. Rating: 8.5/10 Great
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Retro Gamer has been an avid fan of the My Little Pony Series since the debut of Gen 4 in 2010. Whenever she isn't talking about gaming, Retro will give her thoughts on MLP and other pony themed brands.
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