REVIEW: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

I was fourteen years old when “Sonic Adventure 2” came out. This means I was right in the target demographic to find Shadow the Hedgehog appealing. In retrospect, it's tricky to overlook how calculated a character Shadow was. The “Sonic the Hedgehog” fandom was already full of original characters that were barely anymore than different colored versions of Sonic. This was an official character with almost the exact same gimmick... Except he was also an edgy antihero with a tragic backstory and a plethora of superpowers. In other words, Shadow the Hedgehog felt a lot like a cheesy original character except he was one hundred percent official. Ashamedly, this strategy worked exactly as planned. Shadow immediately became the second most popular character in the franchise, launching a hundred other O.C.s. When Sega gave him his own game, allowing him to shoot a gun and ride around on a motorcycle, it almost felt like self-parody. 

I wasn't above being caught by this. I too loved Shadow when he first debuted. However, at some point, I woke up to the blatant corporate manipulation at play here and turned on the character. However, Shadow has now been an established part of the “Sonic” universe for over two decades. I've long since made my peace with the character. I would go so far as to call myself a fan of Shadow the Hedgehog, when he's written well. However, how would the character be integrated into the cinematic “Sonic the Hedgehog” universe? That was the question on my mind as I sat down to watch “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” somehow the third big budget theatrical adaptation of the beloved series. The latest sequel, and Shadow's much-hyped debut, has been well received by fans. What would I, an ever-shrewd old man, think of this?

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles' peaceful lives with the Wachowski is interrupted again when G.U.N. specifically recruits the furry alien heroes. A black hedgehog from the same world as Sonic, but far more powerful, is on a rampage in Tokyo. Kept on ice by G.U.N. for fifty years, this Shadow has a grudge against the organization. He proves too powerful for Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles to defeat on their own. This leads them to forming an uneasy alliance with their greatest enemy, Dr. Robotnik. The new team soon are led to the secret base of Dr. Gerald Robotnik, the villain's grandfather and the scientist who studied Shadow fifty years ago. He recruits his grandson and Shadow into a plot to activate the Eclipse Cannon, a planet killing weapon he designed. Sonic races to stop villains new and old, the fight quickly getting personal. 

To utilize the inevitable pun, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3's” script hits the ground running. Within the opening minutes, we are being presented with Shadow's back story. Not long after that, Sonic and his friends are already dueling against the new threat. By the half-way point, we've already had alliance switches and betrayals and dramatic revelations, heroes teaming up with villains, villains teaming up with villains, and then breaking apart again. The movie breathlessly races from one plot point, and accompanying set piece, to the next. MacGuffins come and go, heroes chasing after access cards and the Master Emerald. The script looks like it's going to shove in the “Sonic Adventure 2” plot point of G.U.N. chasing Sonic before going in a wholly different direction, which then set-up dramatic heist and confrontations between the good guys. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” rarely slows down, trying to squeeze as much into its 110 minute run time as possible. I guess this is what happens when you're attempting to tell a blockbuster worthy script but keep it within the runtime restraints of a traditional kid's flick.

Part of why “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” feels stuffed to the brims has to do with a problem that is often encountered in this franchise: There's a lot of characters here. In the returning column, we have Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Tom Wachowski, Maddie, Robotnik, Agent Stone, plus the Olive Garden guy and cameos for Wade Whipple, Maddie's sister, and the undercover G.U.N. Agent she nearly married in the last movie. To this already considerable cast, the film adds Shadow, Gerald Robotnik, Maria via the power of flashbacks, and Krysten Ritter as a new antagonistic G.U.N. commander. If the studio is going to pay recognizable actors like James Marsden and Ritter to be in the movie, it better give them things to do too. All of this must co-exist alongside the story of Shadow and Maria that the fans are truly here to see, as well as new additions these adaptations always feel the need to make. 

Part of why Hollywood struggled so long to adapt video games is because of the wildly different structural needs of both mediums. This has mostly been resolved by movies and games becoming a lot more like each other. The first two “Sonic” movies mostly invented their own narratives, drawing from the extensive back stories of the games, which probably was the best approach to take. “Sonic 3,” meanwhile, is the first movie to truly be adapted one of the game's plots, directly pulling a lot of ideas from “Sonic Adventure 2.” That doesn't mean only Shadow's backstory, as I expected. In the middle section of the film, both the good guys and villains seek access cards, the kind of fetch quest you'd fully expect from a video game. The sequel goes so far as to include the gravity switching gimmick that was so prominent in “Adventure 2's” later levels. One gets the impression that this is the movie Jeff Fowler and his team have really been wanting to make all along, rather than grafting bits and pieces of established “Sonic” elements on traditional kid movie set-ups. 

Fidelity to the source material is a lot less important to me than honoring the characters as we know them. The “Sonic” cinematic universe has increasingly revolved around the idea of family. Sonic finding his new family with the Wachowski defined the first movie, while the second was about him learning responsibility when faced with a sidekick that looked up to him and an equally powerful rival. Family continues to be a heavily touted theme, the script emphasizing Sonic's connection to Tom and how it compares to Shadow being treated his whole life as a science experiment. Robotnik ends up aligning with Gerald largely because his similar want for a bloodline. However, that is secondary to the theme the movie flatly states again and again: “Making good decisions,” as Tom puts it, especially when the world constantly tries to break your heart with its overwhelming awfulness. In other words: Shadow and Sonic both have great power but only one of them has learned great responsibility from a father figure. 

While this is the kind of easily grasped themes and ideas you'd expect from a kid's movie, repeated enough times for the little ones to pick up on it, I do think “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” actually pays proper tribute to its emotional center. The sequel is seriously invested in Shadow the Hedgehog, particularly how the loss of Maria weighs on him. A surprising amount of time is devoted to establishing Shadow and Maria's relationship, via lengthy flashbacks. Though hassled with the franchise's continued obvious soundtrack picks – why is a scene in the seventies featuring a Traveling Wilburies song? – these moments are genuinely adorable. When Maria is inevitably killed, the pain Shadow feels is sincere. As sarcastic as these films get, the emotional stakes remain one hundred percent serious. I didn't expect a “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie to feature a touching depiction of overcoming grief and learning to live beyond that heartache but here we are. 

When it was announced Keanu Reeves was cast as the voice of Shadow the Hedgehog, people got excited. This struck me as a little odd. I know Keanu is a beloved pop culture icon these days and I love the guy too. He's not truly a voice actor though, “Toy Story 4” aside. Much like Idris Elba as Knuckles, I can definitely feel some of that awkwardness coming through Reeves' performance. However, Keanu manages to find the heart of the character before the film is over. Ben Schwartz' take on Sonic is well established by now, the actor even getting a chance to stretch his dramatic legs a bit in this installment. I do wish Elba as Knuckles and Colleen O'Shaughnessey weren't increasingly sidelined by the story though, another side effect of the film having so many characters in it.

Following “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Jim Carrey announced his retirement and the character's fate in that film seemed potentially final, should the star really not come back. Well, Carrey loves money enough to return for part three, as both Robotnik and his grandfather. This means we get a double-dose of Carrey's manic comedy. The make-up effects that transform him into the 100 year old Gerald are good. In general, the illusion of one actor playing two characters that often interact is pulled off successfully. While Carrey's clownery is amusing, there are multiple moments when his buffoonery becomes difficult to sanction. A dance sequence among security laser or the increasingly nutty finale feel like moments when the star's chaotic energy take over the movie, to its detriment. Robotnik also gets a genuine character arc and I'm not sure Carrey is able to pull it off in-between all his extended mugging. 

Another reason “Sonic 3” feels a little overstuffed is because it has to make room for its human co-stars. Tom and Maddie get a sequence devoted to themselves, in which they sneak into a G.U.N. building in London. It is an inessential sequence, to say the least. Ritter, a decent actress, is given very little to work with as Rockwell. She's simply another obstacle for the heroes to run around. In general, the tension between what the fans most want to see – Sonic and his friends doing stuff – and the need for these films to be live action family-friendly comedy continue to make these unsteady affairs. Except for Lee Majdoub's agent Stone, whose role as Robotnik's loyal sidekick has expanded naturally into a full-on homoerotic will-they-or-won't-they? Majdoub and Carrey's banter continues to be a highlight of these movies.

My continued suspicion that these films would be a lot better if they were entirely animated is furthered by the last act. That's when “Sonic 3” becomes a colorfully directed action flick, the CGI hedgehogs blasting around the world and into outer space with enough verve to outclass some recent, bigger budget superhero flicks. The film also makes sure to get a prominent song on the soundtrack, once again suggesting that Fowler knew exactly what kind of fan service he had to include. I have a lot less investment in “Sonic Adventure 2's” plot than most but it was nice to see a “Sonic” movie truly push the limits of what its hero can do on-screen.

That evident desire to give people exactly what they want continues into the inevitable sequel baiting mid-credits scene. The “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies continue to exist in a bizarre space between special effects driven spectacles and goofy kid movies full of wacky comedy. The compromise agreed upon to make these movies possible continue to stick out badly. If I had seen this during the peak of my teenage Shadow fever, I probably would have loved it. “Sonic the hedgehog 3” feels like a movie primarily made for those people. The older I get, the more ambivalence I have towards franchises existing primarily to appease fans and activate nostalgia-driven dopamine rushes... From a simple factor of loyalty to the source material and on-screen flash, “Sonic 3” is easily the best entry in the series. How I'll feel about it in the future remains to be seen. But at least it beat the "Lion King" prequel at the box office... [7/10]

Knuckles, Episode 1.06: What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno

Knuckles, Episode 1.06: What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno

Original Release Date: April 26th, 2024

In the final episode of "Knuckles," our favorite spiny anteater and Wade Whipple face their mutual enemies. Knuckles and Wade trick Agent Mason and Willoughby, before rescuing Wade's mom and sister. Next, it's time for Wade to match-up against his dad on the lanes in the final round of the bowling tournament. While this is going on, the Buyer takes to the streets of Reno in a fearsome mech with the ability to directly drain Knuckles' special energy. The weakened echidna comes crashing through the walls of the bowling alley, forcing Wade to stand up not just against his father but for the life of his best friend and mentor. 

I found myself annoyed with the cliffhanger of the previous episode of "Knuckles." One could assume that Wade hadn't actually betrayed his best friend. That he would find some way to turn the tables on the rogue G.U.N. agents. Yet Wade Whipple is such a feckless schlub of a protagonist – and Adam Pally is so much better at playing a defeated sad sack than a clever schemer – that it really felt like Wade might have sold Knux out. Of course, this is not the case. Yet the solution that is cooked up isn't really satisfying either. Turns out Knuckles had his ear piece in, listening to the conversation with the agents the whole time. I guess Wade and Knuckles figured this out off-screen or something? It feels like a cheat. Wade couldn't have slipped a note into Knuckles' hat or whatever? I guess this development is still less of a cheat than Knuckles using the big red mascot outfit briefly introduced last time as a decoy. Now how the hell did he lug that up there in time? Moments like that make me feel as if the writers of this show – John Whittington is credited with the screenplay of this one – don't respect our intelligence. 

As unbalanced as "Knuckles" approach to its characters has been, at least the show knows which side its bread is buttered on. The final episode does feature its fair share of action featuring Knuckles. The opening battle with the agents is pretty good, with lots of laser beams getting tossed around and people thrown through stuff. By this point, it's clear that Mason and Willoughby have personal grudges against Knuckles, explaining why they run into hand-to-hand combat with someone that outmatches them. If nothing else, this sequence does feature Knuckles actually using his gliding and hand spikes, two of his trademark abilities that have been mostly ignored in this show. The climax of the fight, involving two Warp Rings being opened right next to each other, was kind of cool too. 

However, there is a moment during this penthouse pummeling that really speaks to the entire problem with the "Knuckles" show. When Knuckles is wailing on the henchmen, something we've been waiting to see again since the first episode... The scene cuts away to Wade trying to save his mom and sister. What follows is another very dumb series of jokes about Wanda Whipple grossly overestimating her FBI training and bickering with her brother. It feels as if we're finally getting some satisfying pay-off when the show decides it's time for Stupid Whipple Tricks again. What Wade and Knuckles are doing never feel connected. Knuckles does the cool stuff, the Whipples do the schtick, but the two never truly meet. For what was supposed to be a buddy show between these mismatched characters, it feels very strange. 

This frustrating separation is present all throughout this last episode. Ya know, when I was in screenwriting class, I was taught that something a properly structured script should always try and do is integrate its main story line and any subplots by the finale. I don't think this is a rule you have to follow and there's plenty of great films that don't. However, it's also not a bad piece of advice. Generally leads to a more even-handed, smoothly flowing narrative. I kept waiting for Knuckles' final fight with the Buyer to connect with Wade and his dad's bowling match. Maybe the big scary mech smashes through the alley right as Wade is waiting for the last line to fall over. He'd rush to Knuckles' rescue, realizing that his bond with his new friend is more important than any lingering issues he has with his dad. Or maybe Pistol Pete would attempt to sell his boy out to the final boss, proving to Wade definitively that his father isn't someone he needs in his life. And maybe something Wade taught Knuckles would help him defeat this new adversary, really bringing everything together. 

Instead... These two plot threads simply never meet. Wade and Pete have their bowling match, with son defeating father. Knuckles is then tossed through the wall, causing our chubby hero to rush outside and help in the fight against the Buyer. After the big, action packed, special effects filled final fight, the show gets back to re-emphasizing what a – to burrow the term Little Susie uses to describe him – "turd bucket" Pistol Pete is. It's like a really hacky comedy about a clumsy man-child confronting his shitty dad on the bowling lanes and the "Knuckles the Echidna" solo movie are randomly cut together. 

The bowling match is played pretty straight, all things considered. Yeah, there are awkward jokes. Paul Scheer and Rob Huebel deliver some underwhelming banter as the sports commentators, those two truly having a thankless job. Pete and Wade snipe at each other before the younger Whipple rips his pants off, male stripper style. (Don't worry, he has bowling shirts on underneath.) Yet the typical sports movie melodrama – Pete scoring a spare and Wade waiting for the last pin on his throw to slowly tumble over – is fully intact. This is the kind of shit that turns me off so many sports movies. It's especially out of place in a show that has treated the sport of bowling so derisively up to now. And, ya know, what the fuck is any of this shit doing in a "Knuckles the Echidna" show... But I think we're past the point of asking that question being a fruitful practice. 

I spent a big chunk of the previous review complaining about how the Buyer was, thus far, not an especially compelling villain. Mostly because he's barely been in the fucking show. Obviously, the idea was for this guy to be the ominous Man Behind the Man, the one pulling the strings of the secondary villains that keep mucking things up for Knuckles and Wade. The Thanos to the show's Loki, who decides "Fine, I'll do it myself" after Mason and Willoughby are defeated. That should be a big deal, this super powerful baddie who presumably has more important fish to fry stepping up to get his hands dirty, going fist-to-fist with Knuckles. Yet this guy has been such a consistent non-entity, that it's hard to get too hyped about the final boss battle. We know almost nothing about the Buyer, not even his name! His motive never developed beyond wanting Knuckles' power for his own. He simply has no personality, being nothing but a blustering generic bad guy who doesn't do much. This is the first time he's even interacted with Knuckles! So much for a big, meaningful clash between hero and villain. Wade's shitty dad was a more prominent antagonist than this guy! 

So, yes, the Buyer – arrgh, why couldn't he have had an actual name?! – sucks. I didn't hate the climatic showdown though. The live action "Sonic" franchise focusing so much on the game cast gaining their abilities from a nebulous, mysterious "power" within them continues to strike me as odd. Yet Mr. Buyer's mech having the ability to drain this electric strength from Knuckles' body at least raises the stakes for the final fight. If he could do that all along, I don't know why Mr. Alonzo Buyer was depending on his two chumps to bring Knuckles in. Why he didn't just attack with his big smashy robot – Wade calls it a "metal onesie" and I’m going with that as the official name until something better is announced – to begin with. But that's a pretty standard action trope. 

Knuckles' defeat of Sir Alonzo Lancelot Buyer isn't the most satisfying duel in the world. After grabbing a hold of the Metal Onesie's whip/tentacle accessories, Knuckles just takes The Glow back. He boots up the Flames of Disaster and that's about it. Yeah, Knux saves the day by deploying a special ability that he's never mentioned before. Wade and Michael Bolton did all the foreshadowing for this particular super move. That's not the most suspenseful, dramatically sound pay-off... But, ya know, it's still a cool fight scene. The whippy waldo thingydos are dynamic weapons. Knuckles is given enough of a challenge that it's not a totally inert climax. This actually feels like something you'd expect to see in a "Knuckles" TV show. Could've been a lot better! But I didn't hate it. 

Wade does get involved in the final fight. As is all too often the case with the live action "Sonic" stuff, the human co-star mostly stands around and watches before contributing in some way. Wade trash-talks Sir Alonzo Lancelot Buyer, DDS long enough for Knuckles to recoup. His mom swings by in a bowling pin shaped go-cart – not set up by any previous scene, by the way – and hands Wade the rocket glove he previously failed to master in episode two. He then uses that to help Knux win the battle. (Though you get the impression that he probably could've handled it on his own, at that point.) This, I guess, is the real conclusion to Wade's character arc. The realization that his mom and sister, no matter how much they annoy him, have been here for him in a way his dad never was. Yet it is not, ya know, an elegant merging of these two story threads. 

The final shot of "What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno" before the credits roll is a freeze frame of Knuckles and Wade doing an enthusiastic high-five. This really clarifies that the entire show was something of a gag, not to be taken too seriously. I'm fine with comedy in the "Sonic" franchise. I'm a certified "Boom" defender, after all. Yet Paramount+'s "Knuckles" definitely felt too flippant overall. The aggressive wackiness of its first four episodes sour most of the attempts at sincerity in the last two. The first episode promises a story about Knuckles training Wade to be a warrior. Yet that's not really what we got, is it? Whipple completes his training in episode four, via a magical dream sequence, and spends the rest of the show bowling and putting his Daddy Issues to bed. Wade is still, at the end of the day, not a character I have any desire to spend more time with. Yet the scenes of him interacting with Knuckles were still the best moments of the show. It's so odd that their banter is sidelined so often to focus on – and I cannot stress the randomness of this enough – motherfucking bowling. 

Ultimately, it's hard to escape the impression that the "Knuckles" series was a rush job. Paramount's attempts to relaunch the "Transformers" film franchise, building a shared cinematic universe with their "G.I. Joe" series, flopped. (Though they are still trying, apparently.) The "Sonic" movie, meanwhile, was a surprise hit and its sequel was even bigger. A rush happened to prioritize this one I.P. over the other ones. The producers looked around at what they had easy access to, realized Adam Pally's phone probably wasn't ringing off the hook, and conceived of The Wade and Knuckles Show. The connection to the game was loose. Fusing the demands of a big budget streaming show, with enough special effects spectacle to draw more eyeballs to Paramount+, with lowbrow comedy and half-ass family drama never truly gelled. The excessively wacky splurging of the third and fourth episodes felt like desperate attempts by writers given very little to work with trying to cook up something interesting. I don't know if this speaks to regarding the source material with a certain degree of contempt or simply a lack of time and money. I can't say. But that's my theory. 

Despite the boatload of reservations I have about this show, I also didn't hate "Knuckles." Idris Elba's take on Knuckles still feels a little unfinished. A "why are you punching yourself?" joke in this episode struck me as out-of-character. Yet I still enjoyed spending time with him. Hell, as utterly unnecessary as I think elevating Wade Whipple to co-lead status was, I didn't even hate him either. The action is solid. Stockard Channing was an unexpected highlight. We got a little more expansion on the universe's mythos. Basically, a show that ends with Knuckles developing a love of Challah bread can't help but charm me a little. That musical was, ya know, bold. Some big swings were taken here. Is it "Knuckles?" I don't know. It's certainly not any version of "Knuckles" that I would've expected. But at least it wasn't six hours long. 

Initially, the "Knuckles" show was referred to as a mini-series. Suggesting this was a one-and-done deal. There's since been a little bit of chatter that a second season isn't impossible. Considering this show couldn't have been cheap to produce, and the complexities of your star being a CGI cartoon character, I'm not expecting a season two anytime soon. Considering Paramount's commitment to making "Sonic" an actual cinematic universe, and their continued quest to make Paramount+ successful, I think we probably will see another "Sonic"-adjacent streaming event. Maybe Tails and Crazy Carl can go looking for Bigfoot together. Or perhaps Shadow will latch onto Jojo as a Maria surrogate in the third movie, setting up a cross-country adventure to a sneaker designing contest. Or, ya know, maybe Paramount will get a fucking clue and just greenlight an animated series set in this universe, finally dispensing with the meat bags. Kind of doubt that though... 

In conclusion, "Knuckles" was a not entirely unsuccessful attempt to weave something entertaining out of unpromising ingredients. I don't know if the live action "Sonic" series will ever stop feeling like there's a serious disconnect in it, between what fans want to see and what the producers want this franchise to be. The second movie proved a smoother blending of these attitudes is possible. Hopefully the third movie will continue down that route. Because six episodes of Take the Echidna Bowling as another weird one-off in a multi-media franchise full of them is one thing. But I don't want it to be the future of the series. Anyway, "What Happens in Reno, Stays in Reno" gets a [6/10]. The title probably refers to Knuckles and Wade definitely committing a crime in the final act, which they don't seem to face any consequences for. There's a post-credits scene but it's another dumb joke, not these two consulting a lawyer and Knuckles struggling to understand the legal definition of manslaughter. Just one missed opportunity after another with this show, let me tell you. 

Knuckles, Episode 1.02: Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You

Knuckles, Episode 1.02: Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You

Original Release Date: April 26th, 2024

The first episode of “Knuckles” ended with the proud echidna warrior captured by rogue G.U.N. agents, Mason and Willoughby. They carry him off to an obscure ski resort in Montana and await the mysterious Buyer. Wade Whipple, armed only with the one energized gauntlet left behind, goes on a rescue mission. This does not exactly go swimmingly, Wade's tendency towards fucking everything up quickly undermining any attempt at stealth. Despite the deputy's incompetence, he does end up saving Knuckles and getting away... Though not without making himself a wanted fugitive. 

Early on in “Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There for You,” a flashback shows a younger Wade watching “Bad Boys.” This is not just one of the many overbearing pop culture references that Paramount's “Sonic” projects love to make. It's clearly a statement of purpose too. This show wants to follow the classic buddy cop formula that so many films and TV shows before have ridden to success. On the surface, “Knuckles” certainly resembles “Bad Boys” or “Lethal Weapon” a little. They are not as openly antagonistic towards each other as Riggs and Murtaugh were at first. Clearly, however, they will earn each other's respect and love by the end of this story. The classic buddy cop dynamic – of one loose cannon and one straight-laced, by-the-book guy – is sort of represented. Though Knux and Wade both fill these roles in their own ways at different times. 

No matter the differences and similarities “Knuckles” is showing to this well-worn set-up, it definitely has one thing in common with every buddy story made before. This show is at its best when its two dudes are interacting. Probably the best moment of “Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There for You” is when Wade and Knuckles sit down to have dinner outside a fast food joint. They bond over their mutual statuses as outcast, both having experienced betrayal and abandonment. It's a better moment of these two relating to each other than the similar scene in the first episode. Secondly, this show is simply just funnier when these two are interacting. Knuckles hot-wiring a car with his hand spikes, and Wade's reaction to it, definitely got the biggest laugh out of me this time. 

The showrunners are clearly aware that this is the meat of “Knuckles,” Wade and the echidna hanging out. Despite that, this episode still keeps them separated for most of their runtime. Without Knuckles' humorless literalism to play off, the audience is left with Adam Pally's solo shenanigans. A staggeringly long sequence is devoted to Wade imagining himself as a James Bond-like action hero, who effortlessly sneaks into the lodge, defeats the baddies, and rescues an incredibly appreciative Knuckles. Instead, he trips, falls, sets off all his supplies, alerting his presence to the agents. The focus on Wade's pratfalls do not stop there, as we also get a long sequence devoted to him getting dragged around by the rocket punch gauntlet he stole. 

I must emphasize that these sequence of broad physical comedy are dire. It's not that Adam Pally is an all-together unappealing comedic presence. A scene where he hides from Agent Mason, by placing his head next to a wrack of display hats, got me to chuckle a little bit. (Even if that joke is obviously inspired by a funnier moment in “Young Frankenstein.”) A moment shortly after that, where his fight with Mason is interrupted by a call from the agent's mom, isn't completely worthless either. Yet, when forced to react to computer-aided antics, all Pally can do is mug gratuitously. When combined with the extremely thin foundation of the character – a chubby, goofy guy who acts like an idiot man-child most of the time – the result is far more irritating than amusing. Again, the question is unavoidable: Why is this show about this character? 

I already know the answer to this question: Pally making funny faces in front of a green screen is a lot cheaper than animating Knuckles the Echidna. Yet a protagonist that is annoying more often than not isn't the only thing I'm unsure about with “Knuckles.” How do Agent Mason and Agent Willoughby stand up as antagonist? Well, Kid Cudi is a surprisingly compelling screen presence. There's not much of anything to Mason as a character. He seems to be a generic tough guy, in many ways. But at least he actor is visibly having fun. Ellie Taylor has a lot less to work with as Willoughby. She is stuck in the all-too-common role of the snarky woman who has to react to the dumb guys around her. Not the most inspired material and certainly not the most exciting of adversaries. 

Despite that, I suppose these two fill their roles. They are functional. That's the attitude I'm finding myself taking with “Knuckles.” This show is never going to be what I want it to be. Or even what it probably could be. The theatrical “Sonic” films managed to be entertaining despite a concerted effort to flatten the material out into bland slop. “Knuckles” is having a much harder time resisting these efforts. All the overbearing hallmarks of the films are even more noticeable when you shove them into a half-hour episode. The needle drops are always composed of overplayed pop standards that everyone knows. I like “Holding Out for a Hero” and “Rock Me Like a Hurricane” too. If you're going to use music that well known, that overexposed, it has to be really worth it. Sorry to say, a sequence of Wade buying stuff at a gas station or him and Knuckles head-banging are not going to become iconic moments. 

Easy – some might even say lazy – pop culture references like this represent a lack of effort, to really invest this story with the heart and soul of the creators. I feel the same way about the call-outs to movies and television. Like a random shout-outs to “E.T.,” “Mission: Impossible,” or Uma Thurman. Maybe try and write an actual joke, instead of trying to get the audience to laugh or nod in recognition at something someone else created... Am I being unreasonable here? Is all of that too much to respect from a TV show vaguely inspired by a video game? I don't know, man. Maybe it is.

It probably sounds like I'm being really negative here. I don't actually hate “Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You.” As mixed as my feelings toward Wade Whipple as an entity are, I do think he is slowly growing on me. Idris Elba continues to be amusing as Knuckles, even managing to turn a not-great bit about the echidna imagining crushing his enemies into a decent gag. If nothing else, I guess the show deserve some credit for not using the fast food scene as an excuse for more product placement. Knuckles and Wade eat at an establishment called Burger Shack. There is a small chain of restaurants in Virginia with this name. Considering this episode is set in Montana, I'm doubting that was an intentional reference and this was a generic name cooked up for the show. (Though the scene of them eating sure-as-shit has the Lays Potato Chips logo facing the camera for as long as possible.)

Oh, and speaking of names: The ski resort is called “Ice Cap,” the kind of half-hearted nod towards the classic Genesis games that I guess is going to be common here. The title sequence, set to Scandal's “The Warrior,” from the previous episode is reused here. The pencil-style animations of Knuckles and Wade having some adventures, some over his CD binder, is pretty cute. This makes way for the end credits, which are set to a bizarre theme song. With intentionally campy lyrics, I can't decide if I hate or love this just yet. Sadly, my feelings are not that ambiguous about the episode itself. “Don't Ever Say I Wasn't There For You” continues to display the strange decisions made around “Knuckles” as a series, the program continuing to be pulled between what it can do and what we actually want it to do. [5/10]

Knuckles, Episode 1.01: The Warrior

Knuckles, Episode 1.01: The Warrior

Original Release Date: April 26th, 2024

From his origins in the third “Sonic the Hedgehog” game, Knuckles the Echidna has always been defined as the last of his kind. This has presented difficulties when trying to create stories all about him. The classic games never much worried about, just sticking the echidna into whatever adventure everyone else was having. “Sonic Adventure” made the background of Knuckles' tribe part of the overarching story. Most modern stories center in on Knuckles' fixation on fulfilling his destiny as guardian of the Master Emerald. Ken Penders just said “fuck it” and introduced an entire city of echidnas. 

“What does it mean that Knuckles is the last of his kind” is surely a question screenwriters John Whittington and Toby Ascher must've asked when conceiving of the “Knuckles” streaming series. The movie version of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” ejected most of the lore surrounding the character but did maintain his loner status. The solution the writers seem to have thought of is, if Knuckles is the last echidna, he must pass his culture onto someone else. Connecting various dots is probably how we got to the “Knuckles and Wade team-up” premise the show is seemingly built around.

Perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself. “The Warrior,” episode one of “Knuckles,” has the echidna struggling to square off his proud warrior ways with the more simple, suburban life he finds himself living in. After getting grounded by Maddie, he receives a vision from Pachacamac, the long gone chief of his people. The spirit tells Knuckles to teach his ways specifically to Wade Whippel. Wade is feeling down on himself after getting kicked out of his bowling club. He decides Knuckles' strength is what he needs to make it to the bowling tournament in Reno. Their road trip is interrupted by a pair of rogue G.U.N. agents, armed with weapons from a mysterious third party, who are determined to bring Knuckles in on their own.

By focusing in on the premise that Sonic and his buddies are essentially aliens from another world, trapped on Earth, the “Sonic” movie franchise have basically become fish-out-of-water comedies. Sonic has thoroughly absorbed himself in Earth pop culture. Tails is learning. Knuckles, meanwhile, is stuck in his ways as a proud warrior. This is where most of the jokes in this first episode come from. Maddie has a perfectly normal request for Knuckles. It results in him building a gladiator pit in their living room or forging a throne out of their car. Knuckles sees people remodeling the house and mistakes them for attackers. You get the idea. 

It's not the worst joke to play off of. I actually think the bit where Knuckles expects Ozzie, the family dog, to fight the mailman in mortal combat to be pretty funny. Yet it would probably get old as the basis of an entire series. This is where the buddy movie set-up comes into play. Sonic operated as the goofball loose cannon to Tom's straight man in the first movie. “Knuckles” looks to be trying a similar dynamic with different attributes. Knuckles is the straight man, in the sense that he takes everything extremely seriously and at face value. Wade is a big clown, mocked by little girls and the business card of his bounty hunter friend. You get sequences built around Knuckles taking classic hip-hop songs literally or overestimating Wade's strength. Set-ups like these are worthy of a chuckle or two but it remains to be seen if the show can ride this further.

This presents a different question: What of Wade Whipple? The live action “Sonic” movies have always struggled with this idea that they have to justify human characters being in these stories. Otherwise, it would just be a cartoon, which Paramount seems to think wouldn't be popular. In the better moments, you get Jim Carrey hamming it up and Lee Majdoub taking a nothing part and making a fan favorite out of it. In the worst moments, you get a subplot about Tom moving to San Francisco or an inexplicable interlude devoted to a mad black woman's wedding. Wade's antics, especially in the second movie, veered more towards the latter for me. I don't hate the guy.  Adam Pally can at least commit to a pratfall, even if I find his man-child demeanor more irritating than charming. 

Mostly though, if you were to ask me what I think of Wade Whipple, my answer would be “I don't.” He's in the parts of these movies that my brain edits out when I remember them. The broad, uninspired comedy inserted, I guess, to amuse the parents who it is assumed won't relate to Sonic and friends. Making Wade the secondary protagonist of the “Knuckles'” show is understandable. In the sense that Wade's back story hasn't been developed. His personality, outside of being an idiot and a klutz, barely exists. “The Warrior” gives us more insight into Wade's life. His general incompetence has left him with self-doubt problems, an eagerness to prove he's not a fuck-up. This seems born out of a traumatic childhood incident where his father abandoned him at a J.C. Penny's. 

Because that's what I want to see when I turn on a TV show about Knuckles the Echidna. An emotionally stunted man-child grappling with the burden of having an absentee father. I can tell that the show is going to try and bend this into some bullshit about Knuckles' own status as an orphan. A desperate attempt to connect these two characters. If Wade's weepy backstory strikes me as an odd decision, building a good chunk of this series' plot around a bowling tournament veers towards the asinine. Why bowling, you guys? Of all things, why bowling? Why is the “Knuckles” show partially about, in anyway whatsoever, fucking bowling?! 

I know I'm going to have to get over this. Accept the show for what it is, not for what it isn't! So let me focus on the things I liked about “The Warrior,” for a minute. Knuckles and Wade's back-and-forth has potential. The scene of them on the road and trading dialogue got a few chuckles out of me. I wasn't totally sold on Idris Elba's vocal performance in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” finding him a little flat at times. He does better here, clearly having grown into the character some. Playing up Knuckles' naivety, evolving out of his commitment to his culture, isn't a bad take on the character. As with the two feature films, Tom and Maddie accepting Sonic and his friends as their children is a surprisingly adorable story element. The scenes of Sonic, Tails, and Knux just hanging around the house, causing chaos, are kind of cozy. 

If I were to compromise on the idea of a ”Sonic” movies and TV shows focusing on the characters on Earth, the idea of them being on the run from oppressive G.U.N. agents is probably the main plot I'd follow. I still don't know if Kid Cudi, as Agent Mason, and Ellie Taylor as Agent Willoughby, will be compelling villains on their own. Honestly, I find their personalities extremely routine right now. When watching the fight between the agents, and their souped-up gear, with Knuckles in a bowling alley, I had a distressing realization: This is what I always feared the live action “Sonic” franchise would be. By which I mean, if you squint, it kind of resembles what we expect from this series... While also not really having anything to do with it. It's not bad. The special effects are very good, if noticeably a step-down from the movies. The action scenes are decently directed and choreographed. Yet... Knuckles fighting some rogue Men in Black types inside a bowling alley? I'm just going to need some time to accept that.

Ultimately, “The Warrior” is about on par with the movies in that sense. There's the typical, lowest common denominator inclusions you expect from kid-friendly, studio drivel. Lots of immediately recognizable pop songs on the soundtrack. Lots of quibby one-liners from the characters, many of which are more grating than amusing. Egregious product placement, something Paramount's “Sonic” titles clearly are trying to play off as an ironic joke while very unironically taking money from Dorito's and Zillow. This kind of thing – what my buddy JD calls “Hollywood bullshit” – coexists alongside genuinely cute shout-outs for the long-time fans. Such as an obstacle course being modeled after elements from the classic games, Knuckles' love of grapes, or the words “Green Hill Zone” being said on-screen. Pachacamac appearing as some sort of Force Ghost, filling the role usually occupied by Tikal, is the biggest example of this. Christopher Lloyd playing him as a confused old man getting the grips on being a ghost is funny, even if it has nothing to do with the character as he's always existed. 

Whether “Knuckles” will fall to the same obnoxious pacing problems all streaming shows struggle with remains to be seen. I'll say this first episode packs a lot of stuff into its thirty-three minutes. The series still has a long way to go to justify the bizarre decisions made in its conception. Wade Whipple being Knuckles' sidekick, a whole subplot about bowling, some chick with a bangs shooting laser beams: None of this stuff belongs here. But it is here and I'll have to grapple with that. “The Warrior” gets a [6/10], for now. And one more thing: Tom's absence in this episode is explained by saying he's out-of-town. I guess James Marsden is outside of Paramount+'s budget... 

REVIEW: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Despite my best efforts to keep my expectations measured, I went into “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” hyped. The first movie was for the normies. It was the safe kids movie designed to gently nudge people into the full-blown weirdness that is the “Sonic” franchise. From the moment the second movie confirmed that Tails and Knuckles would be costarring alongside Sonic, I got the feeling that the sequel would be focusing more on the shit we care about and less on Sonic’s cop friend debating his future career opportunities. In retrospect, I probably — definitely — expected too much from this sequel. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” isn’t that movie but it is still a reasonably entertaining children’s film. 

Since the end of the first film, Sonic has continued to live in Green Hills, Montana. At night, he sneaks out and uses his super speed to fight crime, to mixed results. After being left alone at home, while Tom and Maddie are on vacation, Sonic gets a real chance to test his mettle. Dr. Robotnik has returned, escaping the mushroom world he was stranded on last time. And he has a partner. Knuckles the Echidna is a proud warrior with the same sort of powers as Sonic, determined to settle a centuries old rivalry between tribes. When Tails — a young fox also from Sonic’s world — arrives, a race is soon on. Robotnik is after the Master Emerald, a legendary relic that can grant incredible powers to whoever wields it. Sonic and Tails want to make sure he doesn’t succeed, soon pulling the gullible Knuckles along with them. 

As I have said before, a movie with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in it is something I’ve been dreaming about almost literally my entire life. This means “Sonic 2” put me in a weird place as an analytical movie fan. Throughout this motion picture, I had to repeatedly remind myself that this movie isn’t for me. This isn’t the “Sonic” I would write. This is a breezy flick for kids to enjoy and their parents not to be too annoyed by. There are fart jokes. There are easily understood pop culture references, via Ben Schwartz’ constantly quipping Sonic. There is an extended dance number set to a top twenty pop hit, a sequence that felt especially gratuitous to me. These are not things I, personally, want to see in a “Sonic” movie. I don’t necessarily hate their inclusion. Schwartz is funny and the dance scene has a couple laughs. But moments such as these definitely had me second-guessing whether I was having a really good time or not, 

Then again, “Sonic 2” shouldn’t be measured against the half-mad imaginings of a life-long “Sonic” nerd. This is both a video game adaptation and a kids’ flick about a cuddly, sarcastic CGI animal. By those metrics, “Sonic 2” succeeds by just being fairly narratively coherent and having actual character arcs for its protagonist. In the first movie, Sonic was just trying to find his place in this mixed-up, crazy world, learning along the way that his friends are who he fights for. In the sequel, the hedgehog is learning to be a superhero responsibility. The opening, mad cap chase scene, where Sonic foils a high speed pursuit, wrecks as much chaos as it mends. All throughout the film, Sonic is waiting for the moment to prove himself. Considering the cinematic Sonic is more of an impulsive kid than any other version, this is a strong arc to graft to him. 

The first film mined a lot of cuteness, and even something like pathos, out of Movie Sonic’s status as a lonely kid. The sequel expands on that some. Sonic’s not so lonely now, as he’s got a home, surrogate dad and mom, and even a suitably cute dog. Yet he’s still in search of some peers his own age, other cartoon animals he can relate to. Naturally, Tails and Knuckles provide just that. The sequel provides the inevitable cheer moment, when the Sega-created trio stand together as heroes. And, yeah, I internally cheered for that too. Yet the scenes of Sonic acting as a mentor to Tails or a friend to Knuckles are almost more satisfying. Our little blue son is growing up and watching that happen is pretty sweet.

And what of those beloved “Sonic” cast members that are now movie stars? How does the film handle Miles “Tails” Prower? Pretty well, I’m happy to say. His backstory is different, owing to the changes the movies have made to established “Sonic” lore. His personality is intact though. Tails is still the flying, boy genius able to invent almost anything the ridiculous plot requires. Despite his superhuman skills, he still doesn’t believe in himself much and looks up to Sonic as a big brother figure. The two CGI critters have an amusing chemistry together and it leads to more than one simply adorable moment. With regular Tails voiceover actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey returning to the role, it really does feel like Tails stepped right out of the cartoon or games. 

Knuckles, meanwhile, got the celebrity voiceover upgrade, with Idris Elba playing the echidna. Elba mostly does a decent job, though he sounds a little bored or out-of-his-element sometimes. I was writing recently about how Knuckles' personality has evolved over the years. The movie strikes a balance between the gruff brawler of the earlier games and his more recent status as simple-minded comic relief. He's still a physical rival to Sonic, imbued with similar (and still unexplained) powers to the movie-verse's hedgehog. He's also pretty gullible, which the screenwriters have turned into an overly literal mindset that reminded me a lot of Dave Bautista's Drax the Destroyer. Like that Marvel superhero, Knuckles is a proud warrior guy hyper-focused on his goal that eventually is accepted into the hero's improvised family. It's a transition that happens perhaps a little too quickly, over the course of about two scenes, but I was mostly pretty satisfied with how Knuckles was handled. 

Different as their backstories may be, I think "Sonic 2" mostly does right by its characters. The biggest issue facing the "Sonic" sequel, and maybe the entire film series going forward, is one of tonal identity. The first movie fit comfortably into the "live-action kids comedy starring a CGI cartoon character" genre, albeit with bigger action set-pieces and more callbacks to the source material. The second film is torn between this tone, heavy on the comedy and superfluous subplots starring fleshy humans, and something more akin to the aforementioned Marvel movies. "Sonic 2" devising its own mythology, separate from the games and comics. (And quite different, in a way that didn't entirely sit well with the pedantic nerd side of me.) The film's backstory is full of eons-old rivalries between warring factions, trying to control a massive source of power that change the nature of reality. We even get a fairly epic exposition dump, brought to life through stunning traditional animation. As "Sonic 2" goes on, the stakes get higher... Yet the film still seems reluctant to leave its small town setting behind, making sure the world-endangering theatrics never feel too severe. At some point, the people who make these movies are going to have to decide if "Sonic" is a goofy comedy, akin to "Alvin and the Chipmunks" or "The Smurfs," or if they're Paramount's attempt to forge their own universe of epic superhero movies. 

This uncomfortable divide is most apparent in the role the film's live action cast plays. James Marsden's Tom is ported off to Hawaii for most of the movie, which you would think would be an excuse to remove this largely superfluous character from a story that doesn't need him. But you don't pay a sort-of movie star like Marsden the big bucks and not use him. So Tom and his wife Maddie weave their way back into the story eventually. Okay, I guess it's possible someone out there was invested in the trials and tribulations of Doughnut Lord and Pretzel Lady. This doesn't explain why a lengthy chunk of the movie, halfway into its two hour run time, is devoted to Maddie's sister being angry at her fiancée and going on a BrideZilla rampage. It's agonizing, as if “Sonic 2” randomly switched reels with “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” for several minutes. Why is precious screen time devoted to the comic relief antics of a boisterous bride? 

This is not the only unnecessary, and frankly annoying, digression involving the live action cast. Tom's dim-witted deputy Wade gets far too much screen time, another symptom of the sequel's refusal to expand pass Green Hills for too long. But one cast member at least does the extra leg-work. Jim Carrey, sporting Robotnik's traditional bald head and giant mustache this time, hams it up to his usually extreme levels. While you can debate how accurate a Robotnik that makes him, it's absolutely entertaining to watch. Carrey makes sure there's never much of a wait between funny moments, stretching and contorting his face and body in a gloriously ridiculous fashion. My favorite moments is when he mimes playing his leg as a guitar or his liberal application of the phrase “hater.” The movie also smartly brings Lee Majdoub back as Agent Stone, Robotnik's loyal henchman. He has several cute scenes with Carrey that will make the shippers loose their minds. 

A lot of the complaints I've had here won't matter to most people. For the most part, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is an entertaining mixture of humor and action sequences. I still don't know if Jeff Fowler has much of a visual eye as a director, as most of the movie is pretty pedestrian looking. However, he is good at engineering a decent action scene. A snowboarding sequence down a mountain side escalates nicely. When Sonic and Knuckles finally fight it out, it's a well done confrontation. One of my favorite scenes in the film has Sonic overcoming his fear of water. (Yes, it's canon that this version of the hedgehog can't swim either. I knew you'd all be disappointed if I didn't mention that.) The last act definitely sets out to top the original's finale, in terms of special effects and collateral damage, and I would say it succeeds.

Ultimately, “Sonic 2” is at its best when skillfully integrating elements from the original games into its silly plot. An extended set piece in the second half directly references the most difficult stage from the original game, with explicit shout-outs to many of the level's elements. I really enjoyed that. Of course, it's far from the only shout-out in the movie. The game mechanic of Sonic loosing his rings when injured is amusingly recreated here. The “Sanic” homage in the first movie is joined here by a number of other in-jokes for the memers in the audience. I'm trying very hard not to include any spoilers here so I'll just say the climax included some appearances from “Sonic” characters and conventions that I expected but at least two that caught me off-guard.

In my first write-up on the “Sonic 2” trailer, I said that the lowered expectations from that abysmal first trailer actually worked in the first movie's favor. We all expected it to be bad and, when it turned out to be decent, it was a pleasant surprise. The sequel has the exact opposite problem: We liked the first one, the sequel's trailers were all great, so I was actually excited for part two. Inevitably, this caused me to come away from the movie a little disappointed. Which isn't to say I didn't like it. It's a fun movie and mostly well-assembled. The “Sonic” franchise is set to continue, which this film's closing minutes eagerly sets up. I'll probably dig it more on a second viewing but, for now, I'm genuinely not sure if I liked it slightly more than the first or slightly less. I guess I should probably just be grateful that a movie starring Tails the Fox and Knuckles the Echidna exists at all. But, obviously, a nitpicking nerd like me can't help my contrary nature. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” gets a mildly disappointed [7/10].