Out of all the Equestria Girls movies and specials I've seen, this film had concepts that actually had great potential and some of them do meet up to the expectations, and some of them really don't.
Pros:
1. Sunset Shimmer's reunion with Princess Celestia is hands down the highlight of the film since Sunset was her top student before Twilight came along, and we never really got to explore their relationship in the previous films though flashbacks or see them make amends. And the interactions they have is both funny and heartwarming, and it actually makes the film very much worth watching.
2. Sunset's relationship with Trixie is also worth a watch since they both have plenty of screen time working together and building a chemistry that's as good as the chemistry between Starlight Glimmer and Trixie back in Equestria, which even adds to giving human Trixie some character development on her part.
Cons:
1. The main plot of everyone forgetting Sunset Shimmer's redemption is a big critique for me because they don't really do much with it outside of everyone thinking that Sunset is still a bully and it feels rather mean-spirited towards her. Even Sunset's friends Sci-Twi and the others forget about her redemption, and they don't do anything with them either. They only made Sci-Twi questioning her nice behavior towards them, but that's completely tossed out the window eventually and none of them actually step up to truly see that if Sunset has changed and it waits until the villain reveals herself, which doesn't really speak out how strong their bond is even if their memories of Sunset are erased.
2. The villain of the special Wallflower Blush is a weak villain. She was meant to be a sympathetic villain who was an outcast and wanted to ruin Sunset's life and prove she hasn't really changed because Sunset ignored her. This is the kind of villain that you could easily make sympathetic and relatable by giving her a good amount of focus and making her motive match up with her actions, but sadly they don't do that and instead make her a twist villain with not much screen time to build up investment in her status as an outcast and she has a weak motive. Her motive is weak due to her targeting of Sunset because Sunset didn't really do anything to match up that intense hatred Wallflower has towards her. They could have made this work if Wallflower was instead written to be an outcast who was the main victim of Sunset's bullying all the time with no break and was still ignored even after Sunset changed her ways with Sunset not even walking up to her to apologize, which would actually feel like a more justified motive that would definitely come back to bite Sunset in the back after being such a nasty bully.
Overall thoughts: This special was fine. It had some heartwarming and funny moments and a touching reunion between Sunset and Princess Celestia. But the rest of the movie feels rather mean-spirited towards Sunset and there's no real justification for it due to the villain's weak motive and nothing really being done with it other than forgetting that Sunset is not a bully anymore, and it also feels a bit unnecessary since Sunset already had a redemption plot back in Rainbow Rocks that was so well received and made her a popular character among the fanbase. Not to mention, I just found it unpleasant because I really warmed up to this character since Rainbow Rocks and she is just such a likable character with so many great moments in this series that watching her go through this stuff in this special without really doing anything to deserve it is just really sad and unjustified. But still, there is plenty that I got out of this, so I'm glad I watched it in the end.
Pros:
1. Sunset Shimmer's reunion with Princess Celestia is hands down the highlight of the film since Sunset was her top student before Twilight came along, and we never really got to explore their relationship in the previous films though flashbacks or see them make amends. And the interactions they have is both funny and heartwarming, and it actually makes the film very much worth watching.
2. Sunset's relationship with Trixie is also worth a watch since they both have plenty of screen time working together and building a chemistry that's as good as the chemistry between Starlight Glimmer and Trixie back in Equestria, which even adds to giving human Trixie some character development on her part.
Cons:
1. The main plot of everyone forgetting Sunset Shimmer's redemption is a big critique for me because they don't really do much with it outside of everyone thinking that Sunset is still a bully and it feels rather mean-spirited towards her. Even Sunset's friends Sci-Twi and the others forget about her redemption, and they don't do anything with them either. They only made Sci-Twi questioning her nice behavior towards them, but that's completely tossed out the window eventually and none of them actually step up to truly see that if Sunset has changed and it waits until the villain reveals herself, which doesn't really speak out how strong their bond is even if their memories of Sunset are erased.
2. The villain of the special Wallflower Blush is a weak villain. She was meant to be a sympathetic villain who was an outcast and wanted to ruin Sunset's life and prove she hasn't really changed because Sunset ignored her. This is the kind of villain that you could easily make sympathetic and relatable by giving her a good amount of focus and making her motive match up with her actions, but sadly they don't do that and instead make her a twist villain with not much screen time to build up investment in her status as an outcast and she has a weak motive. Her motive is weak due to her targeting of Sunset because Sunset didn't really do anything to match up that intense hatred Wallflower has towards her. They could have made this work if Wallflower was instead written to be an outcast who was the main victim of Sunset's bullying all the time with no break and was still ignored even after Sunset changed her ways with Sunset not even walking up to her to apologize, which would actually feel like a more justified motive that would definitely come back to bite Sunset in the back after being such a nasty bully.
Overall thoughts: This special was fine. It had some heartwarming and funny moments and a touching reunion between Sunset and Princess Celestia. But the rest of the movie feels rather mean-spirited towards Sunset and there's no real justification for it due to the villain's weak motive and nothing really being done with it other than forgetting that Sunset is not a bully anymore, and it also feels a bit unnecessary since Sunset already had a redemption plot back in Rainbow Rocks that was so well received and made her a popular character among the fanbase. Not to mention, I just found it unpleasant because I really warmed up to this character since Rainbow Rocks and she is just such a likable character with so many great moments in this series that watching her go through this stuff in this special without really doing anything to deserve it is just really sad and unjustified. But still, there is plenty that I got out of this, so I'm glad I watched it in the end.