LM23 Rating: Sonic and Knuckles is where it’s at!
I quickly watched Sonic part 1 over the weekend, so I could prepare myself for Sonic 2. Most sequels I find you don’t necessarily have to see the movie prior as they tend to gloss over the details. However, be warned that there are lots of little details from part 1 that you will need to know in order to understand what’s going on in part 2.
Sonic 2 is a continuation of Sonic 1. You’ll need to remember Rachel’s sister. The niece. The sheriff friend. The government secret agent that’s been watching them. The guy who plays the Smithers to Dr. Robotnik’s Montgomery Burns. And the Owl or longclaw. Sonic 1 is available on Prime Video, so definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it before you go see Sonic 2.
The movie starts off with Dr. Robotnik having adapted to his solitary life on a mushroom planet. However, he’s about had enough and wants to find his way back to earth. One day it just so happens that a portal appears with Knuckles, a basically red hedgehog version of Sonic. Knuckles is on the hunt for Sonic as he believes Sonic will lead him to the powerful green emerald stone.
I sort of lost the point of this stone, but I guess it’s the key to holding all of the power in the universe. However, I missed the point of why Sonic would have it. Anyway, we later find Sonic moonlighting as a wannabe superhero in the mean, rainy streets of Seattle. He’s not exactly good at it as he tries to intervene on a robbery in-progress.
Sonic zooms his way back to his attic room, another detail that you will only get if you watched part 1, and is about to fall asleep until he’s awaken by his human friends/foster parents. Turns out this isn’t the first time Sonic has snuck out of the house to try to fight crime and so Tom has a talking with the kid.
Despite Sonic’s penchant for action outside of the house, the Wachowskis leave on a quick weekend trip to Hawaii for Rachel’s sister’s wedding. Sonic is put in charge of the house and of the family dog. That of course is our signal that of course something terribly wrong is going to happen when Sonic is left home alone.
Sonic is getting ready to start a movie with the dog when the lights go out. Dr. Robtnik and Knuckles have arrived. Luckily for Sonic, Tails appears and whisks him away. Again, if you didn’t see part 1, you may not know why Tails is suddenly there. What did surprise me during this scene was that Sonic didn’t show any concern for leaving the dog behind as they were best buddies.
What was really great about Sonic 2 is the introduction of the new characters. Part 1 was more about Sonic interacting with the humans and his new earthly surroundings, but this movie spends more time on Sonic and his journey and less on his human friends. Sonic and Tails end up in Siberia where the green emerald is apparently at. There’s a dance off sequence to a Bruno Mars song between Tails and Sonic and some bar room brawlers that is simply hilarious.
Meanwhile back in Hawaii, Tom is having a bit of trouble gelling with his soon to be brother-in-law, Randall, and his boy squad. I had no idea Shemar Moore was in the film until he swaggered his way to introduce himself to Tom. And I had no idea that one of the twists in the movie was that Shemar and his squad at the wedding were actually all undercover government agents under the command of the old guy we saw in part 1.
The jig is up when Tom interrupts the wedding with an emergency call from Sonic. Sonic and Tails are skiing downhill in the snow as they’re being chased by Dr. Robtnik and Knuckles and the evil robots. Sonic needs Tom to use the ring he gave him before they left for Hawaii to transport them to safety. It’s also the first time Tom is hearing that Sonic is not at home.
Tom tosses the ring in the air but the ring falls to the floor with no fanfare. Turns out, Tom had accidentally exchanged the rings when he was horsing around with their niece who was serving as the ringbearer. Tom has no other choice but to punch Randall to get him to give up the ring. Tom tosses it in the air and Sonic and Tails bring the snow with them as they crash land in a pile of snow in Hawaii. Before Sonic can explain himself, he’s tasered by the undercover agents posing as the groomsmen. Sonic and Tails are caged up while Tom and Maddie are taken away by the agents.
Now, I did miss a bit of what happened at this point as I had to run to the bathroom. By the time I returned, Sonic and Tails had escaped with Tom and Maddie in tow. At this juncture, Sonic is determined to make things right. So he gathers his courage and he runs across the water to get to where Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles are causing havoc. Now, I don’t recall what Sonic’s issue is with water, but he mentions several times how he doesn’t want to run in the water. He’s able to, but he seems hesitant.
Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles have found their way into the underground maze which will lead them to the emerald stone. As they’re about to breach the area where the stone is, Sonic interrupts them. This part of the movie, even though it’s mainly focused on Sonic and Knuckles, features the best fight sequence.
Idris Elba’s voice really brings Knuckles to life. You can sense that Knuckles means business and he’s not a funny lightweight like Sonic. He’s here to destroy Sonic and anything that gets in his way. When the two fight to the practical death, it almost feels like a Marvel live action fight sequence.
But as they’re preoccupied with killing each other, Dr. Robtonik is of course going to grab the emerald for himself. Knuckles tries to stop him but he and Sonic end up in the water. Knuckles is trapped underneath a cement column and Sonic of course comes to his rescue. However, Knuckles swims to the top without Sonic. You actually may cry during this part as Sonic begins to slip away. But of course, there’s no way the red version of Sonic will leave his own man behind.
It’s at this point Sonic 2 loses a bit of its steam. Many movies that have two seemingly ending scenes can make the it feel like it’s longer than necessary. If you can recall in Sonic 1, Sonic was an avid viewer of Speed the movie. Once the bus and the passengers are saved, the actual final ending sequence where Annie is taken hostage on the subway felt very plus one to me.
But I think I know why another “ending” was needed here. The fight scene with Knuckles versus Sonic didn’t include any of the human characters or Tails. We need everyone to tag team in for the big finale. The actual final fight scene involves Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails teaming up to defeat Dr. Robotnik. These fight scenes were not as powerful as the tete-a-tete between Sonic and Knuckles. In fact, they felt kind of rushed. It would’ve been more exciting if we saw some synergy of fighting between the three against Dr. Robotnik.
Dr. Robotnik has somehow used the stone’s power to operate a huge metal version of the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that can crush and vaporize anything in its way. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails each take a turn to bring Dr. Robotnik down. At one point, the giant robot monster is about to crush Sonic, Tom, and Maddie to death, but Tom and Maddie refuse to leave Sonic by himself.
Sonic is holding onto the emerald stone which unexpectedly shatters to a million pieces. This is another surprising emotional moment as Sonic’s cries as the stone breaks just breaks your heart. But all is not lost. The stone actually broke down into smaller individual stones. Sonic is then transformed into a beaming golden hedgehog who is now the most powerful being in the universe.
There’s one more unexpected potential tearjerker when Tom and Maddie want to rush to hug Sonic, but Knuckles stops them as it would mean their destruction. Sonic isn’t who you remember anymore, says Knuckles. But no fear, Sonic uses his new special powers to summon a tasty chilli dog and all is good with the world.
The movie finishes with the new family playing a round of baseball and heading for some ice cream. Sonic even addresses Tom as his dad. And throughout the film, it’s clear that Tom and Maddie view Sonic as their son. Tika Sumpert and James Marsden surprisingly have great chemistry and really work well as Sonic’s caretakers.
Sonic remembers to pick up the cooler holding the emerald stone before they drive off. The ending sequence shows Dr. Robotnik’s trusty aide at the crime scene where we’re told no one could have survived the destruction. But the end credit with the appearance of Shadow tells us most likely Dr. Robotnik survived and we’ll be seeing more of these bad guys going after Sonic. And now that it’s been said out loud that they are family, I’ll bet anything that Tom and Maddie will have a baby of their own in part 3 thus throwing another wrench into Sonic’s life on earth.
The weakest part of Sonic 2 has to be Jim Carrey. He was just right in his whackiness in part 1, but something seemed to be off in this installment. Maybe it’s the new haircut and Super Mario handlebar moustache, but Dr. Robotnik seemed to be acting in a different realm versus everyone else. He was too kitschy and slapsticky and just not likeable. It’s as if he were an actual video game character with no soul behind his eyes. Damn even Knuckles outperformed him in getting the audience to care for him emotionally.
Now that Jim Carrey may be retiring from Hollywood, I’d like to see someone play Dr. Robotnik with more humor and relatability. Maybe a Seth Rogen or Kevin James. Or maybe a female actor can take over to be the bad guy like a Tiffany Haddish or even Monique. I think Dr. Robotnik was too one-dimensional this time around. Even his trusty sidekick added no humanness to him despite his weird stalkery obsession with his boss…that relationship was never explored. Maybe if the two had a rapport and relationship building scenes together, it may have helped.
One last weak spot for the movie is that the special effects overall were great. However, there were times when Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles seemed more realistic and some times where they seemed too cartoony. I think about the movie Christopher Robin and how all of the animal characters looked so real against the human characters. Never once did they seem cartoonish or fake. In Sonic 2, the cartoon characters one too many times looked too much like animated characters and not live action like character.
In the end, I do recommend Sonic 2 as there are big moments that will look better on the big screen. Watch part 1 if you haven’t as you will need to know a lot of the characters that carry over from the first one.
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