Good evening everypony, and welcome back to another edition of "Batbrony Reviews"! Tonight, I'm reviewing the latest installment of "Equestria Girls," a series which I originally loathed (at least in concept) but has steadily grown on me in its own way since it first came out. That's obviously not to say that the series as a whole is perfect, but it has certainly earned its place in the MLP-verse and I no longer mind seeing new installments added to it, if only for the things which it tends to do REALLY right, even if other elements are a bit cliche or predictable at this point. Without further ado, let's begin, this is "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls - Legend of Everfree"!!!

So interestingly this is the first installment of the series which, aside from Sunset Shimmer (and that kind of doesn't count since she's been in the human world for years by now), did not involve any character from Equestria itself, namely Twilight Sparkle (our Twilight, not the Human Twilight). I actually liked this decision for the most part since it further allowed more attention to be given to the characters in this particular setting. If you're going to have the alternate universe setting, might as well focus on IT and the characters who actually inhabit it rather than a fish-out-of-water plotline like the first film did (and really, that would only work for the first film since Twilight would increasingly not be surprised by the setting itself as she goes there more and more). Another element about the setting which I really liked was the summer camp setting. Now granted, we've seen this type of setting a TON in cartoons before, and like in all of those the camp is usually ridiculous "nice" looking and not dirty at all by real-world standards, but cartoon logic so whatever, that doesn't bother me. Really, I felt that the writers took advantage of this setting as much as they possibly could, namely in how the story felt a little smaller than "Friendship Games" did. A huge problem I had with "Friendship Games" was that there were simply too many characters involved to the point that both the HuMane 6 (besides Human Twilight) and their Crystal Prep Academy counterparts got very limited screentime (although the HuMane 6 did fare better there than in "Rainbow Rocks"). This setting, however, had literally only a busload of students and a couple of camp counselors, and you could tell that not all of Canterlot High's student body was there. The most notable absence was the human CMC, but really I didn't mind this one bit. Such a small pool of characters allowed for more time to be devoted to a smaller cast overall, even for little things like funny gags. Heck, human Derpy even had a line for once, that was awesome! But the HuMane 6 fared pretty well here too and it wasn't JUST the Twilight and Sunset show, even if those two were still obviously the main characters. Besides that, I thought that for a summer camp-storyline, the writers did as best they could; these never for amazing storylines, but if they're clearly just entertaining, one-time adventures and treated as such, they're fun enough at their best.

Building off of that point, the story was once again somewhat predictable and frustrating in its predictableness. Most frustrating of all is that now it appears they're trying to make Human Twilight the main character of this series, and after "Rainbow Rocks," that just feels like a disservice to Sunset Shimmer. I was never opposed to a Human Twilight showing up, but why does the spotlight have to be on her? Oh sure, you could argue they were both main characters, but Sunset to me was clearly a deuteragonist to Twilight's protagonist. Sunset didn't have a problem, she was there to give advice and pep talks to Twilight, and while I like seeing how far she's come since the first film, I just wish she were the main focus still. I don't know who's making these choices on the writing for these, but I don't like them. It's not even that I don't sympathize with the problem that Twilight was facing, I actually really liked the idea of her fearing that Midnight Sparkle was a part of her still (the segments kind of reminded me of some of what Luna went through with the Tantabus), but I guess the reason it still feels like a disservice to Sunset is because, technically, Human Twilight is a character we've only known for two films now. She may have some characteristics similar to our Twilight, but she's a tad bit more shy (she sometimes has a Coco Pommel vibe to her), and sometimes has almost a Mary Sue vibe to her. Her nerdiness wasn't even able to be utilized that much here since, well, they were in the woods, not too many opportunities for a character like that to nerd out in a summer camp setting (which probably explains the many, many, MANY nerd jokes between her and Timber Spruce). Bottom line is I just really don't care for Human Twilight being the focus of these films; it felt after "Rainbow Rocks" (still the best of these films by a long shot) that the main character was going to become Sunset Shimmer and focus would be on her growing more and more, possibly to a point that she might one day, even if only temporarily, go back to Equestria. Now I really don't know what the direction's supposed to be. Maybe it'll turn back to Sunset after having Twilight get over some of her initial insecurities which we saw here, but I don't know.

Speaking of Sunset, she was great, and every time she was onscreen only made me lament them making Twilight the main character even more. She's matured so much and really seems to be the leading voice among the HuMane 6 at this point, and there's an excitable inquisitiveness about her that I love to watch as well. When she realized there might be magic at the camp, she jumped right into to figuring out what was up in such an upbeat way, not very much like pony Twilight's bookish way of going about things; there's an energy to the way Sunset tries to figure out if Equestrian magic is affecting a place and she seems to always hope it might be used for good in some way. In many ways, we're probably getting to see what type of a student she was at her best under Celestia, and it's nice that she's not just a carbon copy of Twilight in that respect. You can see her old ambition there, except now of course it's being channeled for good. She also had the best solo of the movie which didn't hurt, and even opened up a few new character threads which, surprisingly for me, I'd like to see explored more in the future (more on that later). But yeah, while I loved everything from Sunset here, her appearance still left me disappointed in that it was clear we weren't supposed to think of her as the main character, but rather the deuteragonist. I can only hope that changes in future installments and that, like in "Rainbow Rocks," ol' Bacon Hair becomes the focus of the EQG-verse again.

As I said earlier, the HuMane 6 had one of their better outings, similar to "Friendship Games." They weren't just an afterthought, but they still felt like cliche versions of their Equestrian counterparts. Like, it always seemed like all of them (except maybe Applejack who didn't say one thing about apples) had to get in a line that identified their most superficial character trait. Rarity in particular couldn't shut up about fashion in this one, and while I love Rarity (both the pony and human ones) it just felt forced here, probably because of the camp setting and this just not being a natural place for the types of things she was getting up to, like all-out fashion shows (I feel like even pony Rarity would call that a bit much and simply try to have some R&R while at summer camp). Now don't misunderstand, they were still plenty fun to watch and had some delightful gags (AJ and Rarity had some great chemistry as usual, Fluttershy had some funny gags with animals, and Pinkie had the best gag of the movie when Sunset saw what was going on in her mind), but again, as long as they're never the focus of these things, they'll probably just always come off as cardboard cutouts of their Equestrian versions. That's the nature of these movies, not much time for character growth in an ensemble like that except for the most basic of things. Still, no real harm, no real foul.

As far as supporting characters go, let's start with both old supporting characters and background characters just to make things simpler. I thought Principal Celestia and Vice Principal Luna were a lot of fun to see (although sadly enough Celestia here had probably more lines, screen time, and an impact on events than Celestia in the show did in all of Season 6), and their bit about the sundial they helped make was especially funny. The background characters, given that there were far fewer than usual in these movies, made the most of their screen time, especially Bulk Biceps and Derpy who were just all over the place! And now let's get to the big surprise of this thing for me: Flash Sentry. Those of you who have read my reviews before on EQG know I hate this motherbucker with a passion, not because he's some "waifu-stealer," but because he's been a waste-of-space as a character who's contributed nothing at all to this series or justified his existence.

Well... I can't believe I'm saying this, but for the first time ever, I... didn't mind Flash. Don't get me wrong, he still didn't actually do much in the story itself, but he DID actually feel like a real character for once. Firstly, SOMEBODY at DHX clearly gave the writers on EQG this message:

Yes, I am pretty sure that they are officially killing off FlashLight from EQG and THANK THE LORD!!! Besides the fact that, as Sunset pointed out, Flash and Twilight really won't see each other most of the time, it always had a creepy vibe to it. Like, Flash is aware that this is someone who is a pony most of the time, and he still had the hots for her... and look, I know that SunFlash or whatever you call their ship might happen, but that's different, especially if Sunset chooses to live out her days in the human world. Anyways, the fact that we can lay that nonsense-ship to rest for good made me VERY happy and showed that DHX realized there really wasn't anything they could do with this ship besides having those two blush like idiots for the 5 minutes they were around each other, cause that's such a "fulfilling" relationship. The other thing that worked was really the two conversations Flash had with Sunset. They were actually two of the best moments in the whole film (mostly because so much focus was on Sunset in them), but it was really the first time that Flash came off as an actual character and not some "laid-back, cool highschooler" stereotype like he always has. The fact that he didn't have his stupid jacket on or a guitar anywhere in sight probably helped, but yeah, Flash was surprisingly subdued and shared as much with Sunset, and even seemed lonely realizing that Twilight and him probably wouldn't work out and he had no real reason to try to do the same with HuMan Twilight. I actually find myself interested if those two (Sunset and Flash) will eventually become a thing again, and just the fact that he showed renewed interest in her was an oddly fascinating character trait. Sunset didn't show much interest here, but this is clearly probably not the last we've seen of these two, and dear Lord, if he can actually become a real character for once, more and more, then ship away, DHX, ship away!!!

Speaking of ships, let's get into the two new characters, Timber Spruce and Gloriosa Day. Timber Spruce... ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. That's really all I have to say. My nickname for him is "Diet Flash" because really, he came off as the diet version of Flash in the first three films, less infuriating, but also less helpful. Aside from some exposition he really didn't do anything, and I was NOT feeling that ship between him and Twilight. Sure they had a cute moment here and there but I couldn't figure out the guy's age and that kinda freaked me out; he struck me as more of a college age guy than high school (I mean come on, he's running a business with his sister WITHOUT their... presumably dead parents, I suppose), and if that's the case, that's kinda creepy. Besides that, yeah, he just left me feeling nothing but "mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" every time he was onscreen, so I really have no care for this ship if it becomes a thing.

Gloriosa Day was... the second best villain of this series, but that's not saying much. It's not hard to beat out Principal Cinch (easily the worst MLP villain ever, whose most evil, dangerous actions were a result of stupidity and nothing else) and EQG 1 Sunset Shimmer (whose plan to take over Equestria was still laughably bad), and really all Gloriosa was was a well-intentioned villain who got carried away by a power she couldn't control (all too similar to what happened to Human Twilight in "Friendship Games"). She only showed up for about 10 minutes and was laughably easy to beat at the end, plus her defeat could only be so satisfying given that she was sympathetic to begin with, unlike the deliciously, unapologetically evil Dazzlings whom you couldn't wait to see get their comeuppance. Again, she was harmless enough as a villain and her situation was sympathetic (although I wasn't crazy about Human Filthy Rich being a douche nozzle), but more than anything she just kind of underwhelmed, plus she had some pretty bad lines which were delivered somewhat forcefully at times. I DID kind of love the build-up to her going full villain, how she was just increasingly driving herself crazy by telling everyone with a smile on her face "I got this!" There were some hilarious moments along the way where she just looked ready to snap any moment and really that was her best character trait, the "older sibling who's burdened herself with too many responsibilities to handle alone" character arc. Overall, while she was barely OK as a villain, as a character overall she was perfectly fine (not that I expect to see more of her).

Some things came off as sheer nonsense, like the Gaia Everfree red-herring. Granted, it added an air of mystery to events, BUT the payoff when we learned what was really going on was more underwhelming than the red herring itself. It was just some Equestrian crystals with magic in them, nothing more, and honestly if some being called Gaia Everfree had been causing magical disruptions instead, that would've been more interesting. Granted it'll be interesting seeing in the future what the magical rift back at Canterlot High causes, but for this movie alone, the payoff to the mystery set up at the start just didn't really deliver. What DID deliver was the best running gag of the movie, the dock. HOLY CRAP, these poor bastards trying to fix this dock! No less than three times (if not more) did they try to fix this dock, and even with the help of magic, every time they did inevitably that bucker got destroyed! It was amazing, and the film went out on the perfect after-credits scene in which, once more, the dock got blown up, by Pinkie Pie no less! Actually that's probably my favorite after-credits scene of these movies yet, no set-up for the next one, just this hilarious scene that won't get brought up again. It kinda reminded me of the schwarma scene in Avengers in its randomness. Needless to say, that's how you do a running gag, and boy oh boy was it funny. Besides that, there was plenty of other funny bits, though they were just a tad limited by their setting in the range of jokes they could make.

Musically this one was on oddball. It's probably the least or second least impressive of the EQG movies so far overall (only six songs and none of them except two particularly memorable), BUT strangely enough the best song of the movie was the opening credits one! I can't recall the last time that happened in ANYTHING I watched! "Legend of the Everfree (Intro)" is this incredibly fun, bouncy, country tune with a great beat and backed up by great ensemble vocals, piano, and what I believe was a banjo. It doesn't really slow down at any point (unusual given that intro songs in these films usually have far slower tempos), the lyrics don't even have much to do with the plot itself, and it's not even something the characters themselves are singing in the film, but it's just a great song with a great intro sequence and, boy oh boy, let me tell you, IT WILL GET STUCK IN YOUR HEAD AND YOU WILL BE HUMMING IT FOR HOURS!!!

Of course the one down-side of the best song being your intro song is that none of the others after that point will be as good, and yeah, most of the others weren't that memorable besides this sweet solo from Sunset.

And yeah, that's nice and all, and really nicely highlights what a leader she's become to these girls, but clearly nothing here really compares to the amazingness of "Rainbow Rocks" soundtrack overall (even if, again, that's the best intro song for any of these movies I've ever heard). But at the same time, it didn't ever feel like Daniel Ingram really NEEDED to throw in his best songs ever into this or as many as he could, so overall, even though most of the songs are just ho-hum and not that memorable, I can't really complain. The soundtrack's pretty much just what the movie needed, nothing more, nothing less.

The animation continues to get nicer and nicer for these films, and I was particularly impressed with their handling of the outdoor environments since those are something we see increasingly less in the show itself (seriously, I can't recall the last time we had an episode largely set in the Everfree Forest). It was a pretty basic summer camp setting, but it worked, and some of the background characters were a ton of fun to watch. The gawdy outfits that we've come to expect in these climaxes (along with the by-now standard "semi-horse" transformations) were just... mehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. I guess Sunset's last dress was pretty nice, but I've really never cared for these outfits and they seem to be purely there just to sell new doll-lines, and they're just so sparkly and blah, but whatever. It even feels at this point like the animators themselves are phoning in some of these designs just to give Hasbro something to put on new dolls, because they are SO glittery it's ridiculous! Now the ones at the concert were a bit nicer (like the aforementioned last dress Sunset wore), but the big-battle climax ones, not so much, those were a bit much.

All in all, this is a pretty standard outing for the EQG-verse at this point. My hope remains that at some point a new film here might reach the same level of awesome that "Rainbow Rocks," did, ideally by shifting focus back to Sunset Shimmer as the main character and having a strong villain again like the Dazzlings, but I can't say whether or not that will happen at any point. But for this, it is what it is; it was entertaining enough, didn't have anything infuriating in it (and honestly was better than "Friendship Games"), and is a fun sit for 75 minutes. Hardly the pinnacle of achievement for DHX, but not something that'll make you slam your head against the wall, and I am still thoroughly impressed that for the first time ever I actually kind of like Flash Sentry since he seemed to be an actual character for once. If you haven't checked "Legend of Everfree" out yet, I'd definitely recommend it if you have an hour and a half to kill some afternoon, it's a fun, lazy sit, nothing more, nothing less. That's all I got for you everypony, until next time, this is Batbrony signing off! I'm off!!! *cue dramatic exit*

P.S. As a bonus, enjoy the amazing "Legend of Everfree Bloopers"