Analyzing Sequels: Equestria Girls: Rainbow Rocks

So I finally saw Rainbow Rocks, the sequel to Equestria Girls, a movie in which well……if I may toot my own horn, I did a write up of it, and that’s always been one of my favorite write ups I’ve done. I’ll link it below but, Equestria Girls was a really fun movie I ended up having a real positive experience with, and had a lot of fun interesting things to say about it. So I was curious to know how I’d find the sequel:

My Equestria Girls write up: http://johnnyappleshy.blogspot.com/2013/08/equestria-girls.html

And I have to say after watching Rainbow Rocks my general thoughts on it are that…….it was pretty much exactly what I expected it to be, for better or worse. It felt a lot like Equestria Girls, where it was just the first one kind of all over again. New evil villain who has evil plan, Twilight must return to the world to help, go through dramatic and tense scenes, have fights and discord, discover the answer is friendship, have lots of good songs, some great writing and awesome funny moments, and yeah, it, felt very similar to the first Equestria Girls. Unlike the first one though which I loved to death I can’t say I felt similar with this one.

Not that I disliked it or anything though! Don’t get me wrong! I did truly enjoy it, and I was smiling and laughing at a lot of it, it was great really. Just, I found it interesting that I didn’t fall in love with it like I did the first one, and I wondered, why? What’s going on here?

I think the obvious solution is simply that, while I have no problem with sequels being similar to their predecessors, I’d still like them to be different in some way, or better or have some cool new things, and I unfortunately didn’t really get that vibe with Rainbow Rocks. The villain felt similar to Sunset in the first film, the plot also felt similar, even the humor was still about oh look it’s that character from the pony world and look at the silly way they do our life stuff mixed with equestria, the general pinkie silliness, the characters too were similar, with the exception of Sunset Shimmer, which is why she might have been my favorite part of the film, but overall yeah it, to me at least, I apologize if you felt differently and aren’t enjoying this, but Rainbow Rocks didn’t feel very different from the first one to me, and like there wasn’t really anything new here that the first one didn’t have, Sunset aside.

But even then actually, Sunset felt a lot like Twilight of the first Equestria Girls to me, where it’s a character who’s confused and lost and makes mistakes that has people judge her wrongly, and through the story they learn more about how to be themselves or something and find the answer hidden inside, and yeah, I guess even then Sunset didn’t feel that different and new to me. So that could be a reason.

But I think there are other reasons as well, some more personal ones if you will. First, I think the other obvious one is simply that Rainbow Rocks isn’t the first. It’s a reason why some bronies still call the first season of Friendship is Magic the best, and maybe why I’ll always have a soft spot for it, is that it’s the first one. As a result it feels the most new to you, and it surprises you the most for that reason. It’s true of all franchises I think where the first installment is always special for being the first, and I think that definitely plays a part here.

As I said, I went into Rainbow Rocks with a good idea of what to expect, and got exactly what I expected. But with the first Equestria Girls, that couldn’t of been more wrong. I had no idea what to expect going into that movie, it was going to be an MLP movie, holy crap, and it’s going to have them going to a human world, oh my god, I couldn’t have had a smaller idea of what was going to happen in Equestria Girls, and I think that’s a big reason why the movie blew me away so much and I loved it, was that I didn’t know what to expect and got something amazing. With Rainbow Rocks, I was expecting something amazing, so it didn’t feel as special. It’s about perspective, and I would say that having the perspective of the first film, caused me to have a greater idea of what to expect, so I wasn’t really surprised by anything in Rainbow Rocks. Nothing stood out for me.

And I feel like honestly that is the main reason why I ended up enjoying the first one so much more than the second, was that I just had such a more memorable experience with it, and I got much more immersed in the film.

If I try and remember what it was like when I first watched Equestria Girls, what I remember is just so much more energy and passion. I was super excited for this because it was a movie and it was gonna take place in this strange world, or rather I was nervouscited, as I was scared it was gonna be terrible. I remember when it released in theaters I intensely monitored forums to see what people thought and get an idea of what would become of this bomb shell of a film. I remember fighting the urge to watch a version on youtube with not good quality and waiting for the DVD to come out to watch it there. And I just remember being so into this film, like the moment it started I was super attentive, just all into the effects and story, and there was just so much more energy in me with the first film, and I think as a result I got so much more into it and really loved it.

The second one on the other hand was very much the opposite, which is kind of weird considering how much I loved the first one. I think I saw my love of the first one as a fluke, so I was kind of scared to watch the 2^nd one, and I remember keeping up with the early shorts as they released, but then over time it just…..I dunno, I lost interest. I don’t know why but, when it came out I barely bothered to look it up, I could of watched it so long ago, but I didn’t just due to me being lazy and not into it, I only ended up watching it because I got a friend of mine to help with it and basically get it for me. I didn’t watch the 2^nd one because I was excited to, I watched it because I was bored and had nothing else to do.

And I think those 2 differing mind sets, those 2 different experiences I was going through, greatly influenced how much I got into the 2^nd film. I remember that even though the ending of the first film was pretty predictable, I got so into it, and I loved it, and I was just staring at my computer screen in awe. With this 2^nd film I just wasn’t able to get into it like that, I knew the ending from a mile away, and apparently that was a problem for me here where it wasn’t in the first film.

I think this is another reason why, I don’t really have anything to say on the themes and morals of Rainbow Rocks, unlike Equestria Girls where I did that giant write up that’s at the top of this write up. I’m not quite sure why, as this film did have morals and I liked them, but, maybe they felt too similar to the friendship themes of the first film to me, or maybe it was just the experiences, but for some reason I just didn’t walk away from Rainbow Rocks thinking so much and analyzing and connecting them, I just wasn’t hit hard by it in any way like I was the first, and what I’m getting at here is the importance of perspective.

See it’s funny but, I think the exact opposite is true for lots of bronies out there. I feel like a lot of bronies went into the first one with negative expectations, ready to hate it, just being cynical, didn’t care for it and only watched it cause they had nothing to do, and as a result wasn’t a big fan of it. But then by the time the 2^nd film came out, those expectations had dwindled, they’d accepted it by now, maybe the comics that covered the world of Equestria Girls helped, but regardless they went into the 2^nd film with a much more positive outlook, and a result liked it more and took more away from it and found it more memorable.

And the point I’m getting at with this write up is simply that, perspective is important, and I think it’s something that needs to be brought up more. I do think I would have enjoyed Rainbow Rocks more if I had better experiences with it, and vice versa for the first film. And I think both are awesome films in their own right that all MLP fans should see, but I also just, found it really interesting how different I found the 2 and what different experiences I had with them. I greatly loved the first film, while the second one I enjoyed but didn’t find memorable at all.

And that’s really all I wanted to share. That is how I feel about both Equestria Girls movies, and I think says something about the importance of being new, being different, and just being something that people will get excited about, and not react to negatively. And yeah, I’m not quite sure how to wrap this up but, I hope you took something away from this, and that you maybe could think about how your experiences with things have changed your opinions on them. I would love to hear all about your thoughts and experiences with these films, feel free to share, and thank you so so much to anyone who read this. I really appreciate the time you took for it and yeah, I hope you have a lovely day. Take care, and remember, friendship is magic~