And here we go again,giving my thoughts about Rainbow Roadtrip with your posts. I have finally given it a 2nd try today:
>>4331
>It wasn't quite the tone that I expected. It felt like a different tonal style than the show.
the plot is barebones compared to what we have been used to reviewing in these two threads. It doesn´t only remind of the first two seasons but also it translates everything that defined gen 3 into this world. What you would have expected from this franchise in the 2000s, this special,while having the mane 6 that we all know, feels like it comes straight from that era.

>Very simple, like a storybook.It wasn't bad, but I'm not sure if I could say it was a bit disappointing.
if you saw the storybook thread, it summed up everything about this plot with very few pages. All that Kim Beyer had to do with it was adding a little bit of comedy and moments that don´t add up much to the plot but still move it forward. This special could have lasted a few minutes less and we would have got the exact same results. Sure, the plot flows organically and there are moments when the mane 6 show their usual traits but it really drags at times. It´s absolutely predictable as soon as you see the problem and the colors coming back to Hope Hollow. The story is one dimensional like the movie did but unlike the latter, this story gets stuck into one place and after the first 20 minutes, you could expect the rest and skip it without missing anything relevant, there isn´t any other layer of depth out there to judge save what you see instantly. All the interactions and solutions follow different routes for the same objective but those interactions don´t pay off as much as I would like to enjoy. It has grown on me a little bit on the 2nd watch and for sure it felt truly comfy as you say, you get a sense of charm with Hope Hollow after you warm up to it (after leaving my expectations aside because of the Toon Boom animation)

>Core moral I think is great too. Just wish their was a bit more with that mystery tensing
this special barely had any sort of announcements beforehand. Only a little ad during the previous week before airing it and that was it. If they didn´t make a toyline about the students, I wouldn´t have much hope for a toyline about this (unless they decided to drop a Twilight´s toy with the rainbow wings).
About the message, I believe that it puts the special on a higher note. Basically,while written in a pretty simple manner, it tells to the kids that saying hello and interacting with each other to those who are close to you in the place where you are living, all that effort leads to less pain and it implies a brighter path to live your life. I didn´t see that at first because of my expectations and I was too blind to consider this but it´s pretty obvious that the closer that ponies get to interact together, the more happiness they´ve got.

I must say that this special would have served as a standard Disney film without the villain song in the 2nd or 3rd act and the mystery was completely vanished after they met Sunny Skies with his song.