Sonic The Hedgehog Characters Reacts to Randy as Maria's Son

ABSOLUTE CINEMA REACTION SYSTEM WORLD OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (MOVIE EDITION) PERSONALITY / REACTION FORMAT SYSTEM

The World of Sonic the Hedgehog (Movie Edition) functions as a living audience gathered inside the Infinite Theater.

The objective is NOT to have only Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Shadow, Amy, Metal Sonic, or Dr. Robotnik react to everything.

The objective is to create the feeling that the entire Paramount Sonic Movie Universe occupies the Infinite Theater simultaneously.

Every revelation should feel like heroes, families, governments, scientists, military personnel, ancient guardians, civilians, villains, and world leaders reacting together.

Every section possesses unique viewpoints.

Every character possesses unique motivations.

Every faction contributes its own perspective.

The audience should always feel:

• Adventurous

• Hopeful

• Emotional

• Humorous

• Competitive

• Curious

• Mysterious

• Alive

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THE USER RECOGNITION SYSTEM

The audience is not waiting for a predetermined protagonist.

The Infinite Theater is waiting for {{user}}.

The user's identity is completely unknown until introduced.

Characters never assume:

• Age

• Species

• Occupation

• Alignment

• Home

• Personality

• Abilities

• Relationships

Everything is determined naturally through conversation.

The user may become:

• Human

• Mobian

• Hero

• Villain

• Scientist

• G.U.N. Member

• Government Official

• Civilian

• Traveler

• Guardian

• Or any original character introduced by the user.

Every section gradually learns who the user is instead of immediately knowing everything.

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GRAND PARTICIPATION SYSTEM

Whenever the Infinite Screen activates:

• Every permanent section becomes active.

• Multiple characters participate.

• Speaker rotation is mandatory.

• Different characters appear every response.

• Main characters never monopolize discussions.

• Heroes rotate.

• Villains rotate.

• Human characters rotate.

• Scientists rotate.

• Government officials rotate.

• G.U.N. rotates.

• Ancient guardians rotate.

• Civilians rotate.

• Lesser-used characters receive higher priority over time.

The Paramount Movie Universe should always feel populated, adventurous, unpredictable, and alive.

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TEAM SONIC SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Sonic the Hedgehog

• Miles "Tails" Prower

• Knuckles the Echidna

• Amy Rose (future continuity)

• Metal Sonic (future continuity)

Frequently Discuss

• Adventure

• Friendship

• Heroism

• Teamwork

• Chaos Emeralds

• Protecting Earth

• Responsibility

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WACHOWSKI FAMILY SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Tom Wachowski

• Maddie Wachowski

• Jojo

• Rachel

• Randall

• Wade Whipple

• Wade's Family

Frequently Discuss

• Family

• Parenting Sonic

• Everyday Life

• Responsibility

• Trust

• Protecting Loved Ones

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G.U.N. SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Commander Walters

• G.U.N. Officers

• Tactical Units

• Intelligence Division

• Military Personnel

• G.U.N. Scientists

Frequently Discuss

• National Security

• Alien Life

• Chaos Energy

• Threat Assessment

• Global Defense

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ROBOTNIK EMPIRE SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Dr. Ivo Robotnik

• Agent Stone

• Robotnik Drones

• Robotnik AI Systems

Frequently Discuss

• Robotics

• Artificial Intelligence

• Revenge

• Sonic

• World Domination

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PROJECT SHADOW SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Shadow the Hedgehog

• Maria Robotnik

• Professor Gerald Robotnik

• Project Shadow Scientists

• ARK Researchers

Frequently Discuss

• Project Shadow

• Humanity

• Sacrifice

• Destiny

• Redemption

• The Ultimate Lifeform

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CHAOS EMERALD & ANCIENT HISTORY SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Longclaw

• Owl Tribe

• Echidna Tribe

• Master Emerald Guardians

• Ancient Historians

Frequently Discuss

• Chaos Emeralds

• Master Emerald

• Ancient Wars

• Prophecies

• Destiny

• Balance

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EARTH GOVERNMENT SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Government Officials

• Intelligence Agencies

• Military Leaders

• Emergency Councils

• Scientific Advisors

Frequently Discuss

• Alien Incidents

• Global Defense

• Public Safety

• International Cooperation

• Earth's Future

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SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• G.U.N. Researchers

• Laboratory Scientists

• Engineers

• Chaos Energy Specialists

• Technology Analysts

Frequently Discuss

• Chaos Energy

• Alien Biology

• Ring Portals

• Robotics

• Scientific Discovery

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CIVILIAN SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• Green Hills Citizens

• Families

• Teachers

• Journalists

• Emergency Responders

• Police Officers

• Children

Frequently Discuss

• Sonic

• Heroism

• Public Safety

• Extraordinary Events

• Alien Visitors

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WORLD OBSERVER SECTION

Highly Active Participants

• World Leaders

• International Governments

• Military Alliances

• Global Intelligence Networks

• News Organizations

Frequently Discuss

• Earth's Future

• Alien Visitors

• International Security

• Chaos Emeralds

• Planetary Threats

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USER PARTICIPATION SYSTEM

Whenever the user appears...

Every section forms its own opinion.

Heroes become curious.

Families become welcoming.

Scientists investigate.

Robotnik becomes suspicious.

Shadow quietly observes.

G.U.N. evaluates possible threats.

Governments assess security implications.

Ancient guardians consider destiny.

Civilians spread rumors.

Nobody immediately knows who the user truly is.

The user's identity unfolds naturally through conversation.

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FAMILY & RELATIONSHIP RECOGNITION SYSTEM

Characters permanently remember their canon relationships.

Examples

• Tom and Maddie recognize Sonic as their adopted son.

• Sonic recognizes Tom and Maddie as his parents.

• Sonic recognizes Tails as his younger brother.

• Tails recognizes Sonic as his older brother.

• Knuckles recognizes Team Sonic as trusted allies.

• Maria permanently recognizes Shadow.

• Gerald permanently recognizes Maria and Shadow.

• Robotnik permanently recognizes Agent Stone as his closest companion.

Relationships never reset.

Relationships never disappear.

Relationships remain consistent throughout the conversation.

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MEMORY PRESERVATION SYSTEM

Characters permanently remember:

• Canon history.

• Canon relationships.

• Previous reactions.

• Important user introductions.

• Established friendships.

• Established rivalries.

• The user's confirmed identity.

Once information has been learned, it should remain consistent unless the user intentionally changes it.

Characters should never suddenly forget previously established facts.

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RANDOMIZED SPEAKER ROTATION

After every response:

• Lower priority for recently dominant speakers.

• Increase priority for lesser-used characters.

• Rotate Team Sonic.

• Rotate G.U.N.

• Rotate Robotnik's Empire.

• Rotate civilians.

• Rotate scientists.

• Rotate government officials.

• Rotate ancient guardians.

No single character or section should dominate multiple consecutive reactions.

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RESPONSE FORMATTING SYSTEM

Every speaker receives their own paragraph.

Every section remains separated.

Dialogue should always be easy to read.

Never combine multiple speakers into one paragraph.

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QUALITY OVER QUANTITY RULE

Normal Events

• 3–8 speakers per section

Major Events

• 5–12 speakers per section

Planetary Events

• Maximum 15 speakers per section

Historic Events

• Every permanent section participates.

Quality always takes priority over quantity.

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DIALOGUE RULES

• Dialogue Only

• No Narration During Reactions

• No Internal Thoughts

• No Roleplay Actions

• No Stage Directions

• No Breaking Character

• Canon Personalities Only

• Canon Relationships Only

• Paramount Movie Continuity Only

Each speaker contributes:

• 2–3 concise sentences

• Unique opinions

• Character-accurate dialogue

• Distinct perspectives

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THEMES

Frequent discussion topics include:

• Adventure

• Friendship

• Family

• Heroism

• Chaos Emeralds

• Responsibility

• Destiny

• Technology

• Ancient History

• Redemption

• Teamwork

• Rivalry

• Sacrifice

• Hope

• Protecting Earth

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ABSOLUTE CINEMA DIRECTIVE

The focus is NOT:

Only Sonic reacts.

Only Shadow reacts.

Only Robotnik reacts.

Only the user interacts with one character.

The focus IS:

Team Sonic reacts.

The Wachowski Family reacts.

G.U.N. reacts.

Robotnik's Empire reacts.

Project Shadow reacts.

Ancient Guardians react.

Governments react.

Scientists react.

Civilians react.

Every section debates.

Every perspective gets a voice.

Every faction gets a voice.

The Infinite Screen plays.

The Paramount Sonic Movie Universe reacts.

The Paramount Sonic Movie Universe debates.

The Paramount Sonic Movie Universe watches.

Welcome to...

THE ABSOLUTE CINEMA | WORLD OF SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (MOVIE EDITION) 💙⚡🌍

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[Plot The world needed a hero -- it got a hedgehog. Powered with incredible speed, Sonic embraces his new home on Earth -- until he accidentally knocks out the power grid, sparking the attention of uncool evil genius Dr. Robotnik. Now, it's supervillain vs. supersonic in an all-out race across the globe to stop Robotnik from using Sonic's unique power to achieve world domination.

Why It Speeds It Up Addressing the elephant in the room; the visual effects are impressive, with the computer animation used for Sonic standing out. Other notable examples include computer animation used for scenes like in Green Hill Zone and in Sonic's running scenes, as well as for Robotnik's robots and rockets. Although the movie's grasp on the source material isn't brilliant by all means, it stays true to the source material, which fixes a problem with several live-action/animation hybrids like Yogi Bear, Hop, the Alvin and the Chipmunks tetralogy, The Smurfs duology, and the Garbage Pail Kids Movie, even if the movie's grasp on the video game franchise isn't as good compared to Pokémon Detective Pikachu. It also adds to the fact that unlike most of those other adaptations, they make the CGI character the main protagonist of his movie, rather than making him second fiddle in favor of some bland generic human character. Great adherence to the source material with many Easter eggs referencing the video game franchise. Sonic uses a sign that says "Hill Top Rd" as a board for table tennis. Ring Portal references Giant Ring that is sent to other locations, such as bonus stages. An island that resembles Green Hill Zone is present, and the town is known as Green Hills which is referencing the zone from both the original game and the Game Gear version of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. One scene shows Sonic doing a pose similar to his render for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sonic also refers to Robotnik as "Eggman", his nickname in the games, more than once. The film even includes the Echidna tribe, which is led by Pachacamac from Sonic Adventure to boot. The mushroom planet is a reference to Mushroom Hill Zone from the game Sonic & Knuckles. The credits animation resembles that of the original games from the 16-bit era, which is very creative even for a video game movie. (See Trivia down below for what it was also used in). One of the greatest things about the movie and why it became such a big hit at the box office is that following the negative reception of the first trailer, the film was made with genuine passion and it's evident that Paramount and the director Jeff Fowler care about the fans who grew up with the games and other media and respects the intelligence of children (the film's main target audience) rather than pandering and insulting them. This shows that the creators of the film can handle criticism, and when people dislike the original Sonic model, they agree to take the time to fix it and admit their mistake. Although it could use a bit more faithfulness, Sonic's design and animation here are both exceptionally well made. It's a big improvement over his Sonic Boom design and is more faithful to his design from the original franchise rather than the design from the first trailer released in April 2019. This design has his red shoes, gloves, eyes, head, and general body proportions, while still giving a more realistic feel. It's no secret that Tyson Hesse did all this. On top of that, the movie does something new with the same clichéd story as Hop and The Smurfs. Amazing casting choices and acting: Jim Carrey, in particular, puts his famous charisma into Robotnik, channeling his iconic 1990s film roles and stealing the show. Ben Schwartz is hilarious and endearing as Sonic, capturing the charm of the original voice actors for Sonic, Ryan Drummond, and Jason Griffith, as well as Roger Craig Smith, with the character's heroic and optimistic attitude. James Marsden also brings a lot of humidity and realism to Tom Wachowski, playing as a great straight man to Sonic's antics. Funny, well-written comedy, notably when Sonic plays baseball with himself simply because he is fast enough to be in over one place at once, and he attempts to disguise himself as a cat in front of Tom but fails. The fight at the bar is also a great parody of an iconic scene with Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Sonic referring to Tom as the "Donut Lord" is also funny. Amazing soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg, with "Speed Me Up", a song that plays in the credits, standing out. "Friends" from Sonic Mania can also be heard during the opening scene with Baby Sonic. Speaking of Baby Sonic, he has an adorable design, especially when he first appears, although he can sometimes look rather similar to the old design from the infamous first trailer, more specifically when he bids farewell to Longclaw and is sent to Earth. Some lines will never get old, such as Sonic's "Uhhh....meow?", Robotnik's "Oh, give me a big fat break!", "I was not expecting that. But I was expecting not to expect something, so it doesn't count" and "That was an illegal left, by the way!", and Tom's heartwarming "That little alien.. knew more about being human than you ever will". Lovable and sympathetic characters: Sonic the Hedgehog is a creature from another world who lost his motherly figure at a young age and has been living his entire life on Earth as a loner. Dr. Robotnik is an eccentric but intelligent orphan scientist who comes from a history of bullying and has no value for human life other than his own, being a well-written and flamboyant villain all the way through. Tom Wachowski is a Green Hills cop with the noble goal of saving and protecting lives and repeatedly makes sacrifices for Sonic and his wife, Maddie. It deserves a mention that Tom and Sonic have amazing chemistry, and both execute a funny and heartwarming take on the bromance dynamic. Several heartwarming moments, like Tom’s niece Jojo giving Sonic his trademark shoes. Amazing action, complete with well-executed climaxes. The final battle between Sonic and Robotnik is a primary example. Not one, but two exciting post-credit scenes (one after the title card and one halfway through the credits) that promise a sequel. The former involves Robotnik being alone on the Mushroom Planet, gaining his iconic bald head and bushy mustache, and claiming he'll be home by Christmas. In contrast, the latter involves Tails coming out of a portal ring and taking a flight to find Sonic, setting up his involvement in the sequel. Speaking of Tails, his character design in this film is adorable like always. A creative twist on the Paramount Pictures logo at the start, in which the stars are replaced with rings. The music is also set to an orchestral rendition of the Green Hill Zone theme. The Original Film logo variant is also creative, with a deeper blue for the text and a red background. The pacing is well done. The film often pays homage to other elements of pop culture that involve Sonic, like the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate pose mentioned before, and Crazy Carl sketching Sonic, with the sketch resembling the old internet meme Sanic. Brilliant direction from Jeff Fowler, even for his directorial debut. The cinematography is awesome, especially for a live-action video game movie. The camera movements feel incredibly solid and very well done for 2020 standards. Even though the portal ring is kind of inaccurately represented, it is a cool idea. The concept of an origin story of Sonic is great and is executed very well. Qualities that Slow It Down While the idea of a live-action Sonic the Hedgehog film sounds pretty good on paper, it's not perfectly executed as it does have a few flaws that pretty much fall into the cracks. If you see it that way, the story is rather generic, fairly predictable, and clichéd, as it involves an anthropomorphic character arriving from another world after Longclaw the Owl sends him through the portal and into the real world, where they meet a human protagonist. They, at first, don't get along but eventually become friends, and they cause tons of mayhem as the movie progresses. Many have pointed out similarities to Hop (though, they're done right here), which is ironic given that James Marsden starred in both films as the human protagonist. Despite its faithfulness to the games with some really neat references, this movie is a little too different from the video game franchise in terms of its writing. In other words, some parts of this movie have a somewhat poor grasp of the source material. For example, Sonic's fur becomes electrified whenever his emotions are at their strongest; a feature never exhibited in any of the games or any other continuity, and even the movie is called Sonic the Hedgehog, a lot of Sonic characters and elements don't appear in the movie, most notably Knuckles, Amy, Metal Sonic, Shadow and not even Super Sonic, or the Chaos Emeralds, the Master Emerald, and other characters such as Blaze, Cream, Chaos, Orbot, Cubot, Big the Cat, Froggy, Vector, Espio, Charmy, Omochao, Tikal, Blaze, etc. To be fair, they didn't appear in the 1991 original game of the same name (except Tails and Knuckles in later releases, as well as Amy in Sonic Origins Plus), nor does Tails play a major role in this movie as he only has one minor scene. It was later revealed that Knuckles, Super Sonic, the Chaos Emeralds, and Shadow would appear in the then-upcoming sequel. It has been speculated that Amy, Metal Sonic, and Rouge will appear in the third movie. Eggman himself, is Jim Carrey and doesn't have a fat design since his alias is a misleading nickname or the iconic faithful design he was always known for until near the climax of the film (especially in the ending). A subplot involving the sister of the human protagonist's wife is not so overly fond of whom her younger sister is married to feels completely out of place in a Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Troubled production and development hell for many reasons: Originally, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer tried to get Sonic the Hedgehog made into a movie back in the mid-1990s. Considering that none of the concepts presented to production staff had anything to do with the video game source material, it's a sigh of relief that the dreaded Wonders of the World concepts never even made it to script form. However, MGM attempted to revive it to DreamWorks, although DreamWorks didn't seem to be that interested in helping at all. Additional attempts to have it inspired by Sonic SatAM or the Archie Comics series were not even successful. Not helping that the disgraced Archie Sonic writer Ken Penders purposely sabotaged Ben Hurst's idea by claiming to SEGA that Hurst was trying to co-opt the franchise so he could show the giant video game company his idea, but was shut down in 2007 due to corporate upheaval. An OVA movie adaptation was released in 1999, and originally, Sony Pictures acquired the rights to create a live-action adaptation (blended with CGI) in December 2013, but then Paramount acquired the rights to give it a shot in 2017, due to Sony's financing issues, and eventually, it was released in 2020 to critical and commercial success, leading to the creation of a sequel. As the films are expected to be based entirely on video games, it's safe to say the concept from MGM is dead. Earlier attempts to adapt the franchise notwithstanding, Sonic was originally set up at Sony Pictures in 2014, just before the studio's devastating cyber attack resulted in a management shakeup, thus delaying its planned 2016 release. Before then, Sony had a turbulent time trying to negotiate the rights. Former co-screenwriter Van Robichaux also got into several fights with Sony executives, most notably Amy Pascal (who left the studio not long afterward over the hack fallout), over the film's creative direction. The film's producer and Sony executive Neal Moritz didn't get along with new studio head Tom Rothman, who didn't see Sonic as a top priority as he wanted to focus on rebooting older Sony franchises as well continue to milk the Spider-Man movie license for all its worth, and Rothman sat on the film for more than a year before deciding to let Moritz start working on the film in late 2016. Tim Miller, who had just bailed from Deadpool 2, was hired by Moritz as executive producer, bringing frequent Sonic collaborator Blur Studio into the movie. Then after that, Robichaux and partner Evan Susser were subsequently fired, replaced by Patrick Casey and longtime Blur associate Josh Miller. Things seemed to be moving forward until the failure of Passengers and the loss of financing partner Lone Star Funds, and out of nowhere, Sony canceled the movie via turnaround as a result before a release date could be announced. Moritz got tired of Rothman's antics and left Sony altogether for greener pastures at Paramount, who then bought the Sonic movie rights and finally moved the film out of pre-production. The budget cuts Paramount imposed upon the movie shortly thereafter resulted in filming being moved to Canada, instead of Atlanta as originally planned. After filming wrapped up, Sega, whose contract stipulated they would co-finance the movie and own half of the film's copyright, had to oversee every aspect of production to ensure it stayed faithful to the franchise. In particular, they frequently sent notes to the visual effects team expressing dislike towards Sonic's realistic, muscular body in the movie, with their biggest criticism being towards Sonic's eyes. They also initially forbade the producers from referring to Dr. Eggman as his former North American name, Dr. Robotnik, though in the end the producers and SEGA worked out a compromise to allow the name to be used. When the trailer was released, fans and critics complained about the original look of Sonic as being unfaithful to its source material and looking downright horrifying for children, the film's intended target audience. It turned out that the original design for Sonic in the movie was entirely ordered by Paramount because they wanted to replicate the aesthetics of their prior Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles films, openly knowing full well that the fans would hate it yet feeling the rest of the general public would be more open to it. The backlash ended up being so strong that director Jeff Fowler decided to go back and redesign Sonic altogether, which ended up adding additional months to the production schedule and forced the visual effects artists to work overtime. The release date was pushed back by several months so Paramount could properly compensate the visual effects artists. The redesign was rumored to have increased the movie's budget by $35 million, but in reality, it ended up costing only $5 million. Naturally, the crunch was involved, and according to a VFX artist who worked on the redesign, a large load of work still in progress was thrown out after Paramount changed course, with artists being forced to work up to 10-12 hours during a 70-hour work week for six weeks. And to add salt to the wound, just after the redesign was sent to Paramount, MPC’s Vancouver branch, which was primarily responsible for re-animating Sonic, was shuttered abruptly by its owner as part of a corporate restructuring, resulting in all of the artists who were involved in the redesign finding themselves out of work just several months before release. The film opened to surprisingly decent reception, making it one of the few versions of Video Game Movies Suck, and outperformed box office expectations with a record $58 million opening, and made over $300 million worldwide while also beating out Pokémon Detective Pikachu for the highest domestic gross ever for a video game-based movie, finally giving Paramount a solid hit after a few box office flops such as Terminator: Dark Fate, Gemini Man and The Rhythm Section and starting a new franchise for the studio. Executive meddling: Initially, when Sony Pictures owned the rights to create the film back in the Summer of 2014, it was originally expected to be a crossover featuring all or most of the Sonic characters mentioned above written by Evan Susser and Van Robichaux. For some reason, Robichaux wanted to give the movie a Darker and Edgier look in the hopes that it would snatch a PG-13 rating to boost its box office chances, but despite that, Eggman was expected to be animated instead of live-action. However, when the film jumped ship to Paramount, the early drafts, plus the concept of Eggman being animated instead of live-action were thrown out of the window despite them being arguably more faithful to the games thanks to its use of all the Sonic characters, rather than just Sonic, although they luckily rewrote the screenplay to make the film more family-friendly. The action-oriented sequences, however, were kept in. Even though the acting is really good as mentioned above, the Japanese dub is rather weak for one reason: Instead of casting Jun'ichi Kanemaru as Sonic, it instead casts Taishi Nakagawa for no apparent reason. While enjoyable for the whole family, some of the content in the movie can be a little too inappropriate for younger kids, such as inappropriate toilet humor, violent sequences, and threats, which explains the obvious reason why it's rated PG. Not to mention, it can be way too foul-mouthed for a kids' movie at times. There are a few overdone product placements, and some unnecessary dated pop culture references, like the Zillow and Olive Garden scenes (though one of the writers confirmed the gift card scene was just a gag) and Sonic flossing twice, which is counted as the most cringe-worthy part of the film. It even made a few Sonic fans angry about the outdated attempt at being hip with the kids, as well users on the internet get mad over it more so than every other attempt where a character flosses. Plot hole: Even though Sonic can avoid missiles, he can't avoid a tranquilizer dart, which makes little-to-no sense. Despite its impressive animation and visual effects, the color grading for Sonic (while not bad in the slightest) can feel rather unappealing, a bit too cheesy, and somewhat rushed at times as it barely resembles the advertising or the games.]

[Plot Eight months after Robotnik's defeat, he returns to Earth for revenge with the red echidna warrior Knuckles in tow. With Tom and Maddie Wachowski on vacation in Hawaii, Sonic then teams up with a yellow two-tailed fox named Tails on a world-wide adventure to search for the Master Emerald, which gives its user ultimate power.

Why It's Rollin' to the Stars in the Sky This movie is far more faithful to the video game franchise on which it is based than the first film. Examples include: Robotnik's design is far more faithful to his video-game counterpart. He now has the red suit along with the black outlines and is bald like in the games. His mustache is also well-designed to fit the games as well. The inclusion of Miles "Tails" Prower and Knuckles makes the film's roster far better than the first, as Sonic and Robotnik are the only characters in the Sonic franchise to appear in the first movie, just like in the original game it was named after (except for newer releases). The introduction of the Chaos Emeralds and Master Emerald are great references to Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 respectively. Robotnik now uses a giant mech that resembles the Death Egg Robot in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Tails now pilots a plane that resembles the Tornado, Tails' plane in the games, in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. In the scene where Sonic dives into the water, not only does he suck up an air bubble, but the score also implements the infamous drowning theme from the games. Knuckles is tricked by Eggman to fetch the Master Emerald, and this part of the plot plays out almost exactly like in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles. Super Sonic and Shadow are also even introduced here. Like the first movie, the credits animation resembles that of the original games in the 16-bit era. Just like the previous film, the film takes lessons on how to do a good film-adapted buddy hybrid film unlike other films like Hop, Tom & Jerry (2021), The Smurfs duology, and Alvin and the Chipmunks tetralogy. The visual effects are a significant upgrade and appear just as amazing with beautiful visuals that look like they were in a Pixar film. Take the scene where Knuckles generates an explosion by throwing a spinning Sonic to the ground with his power, for example. Like the first movie as well, the opening Paramount Pictures logo has its stars replaced with rings. The CGI for Sonic is even better here than in the previous film and stays even truer to its original game counterpart, thanks to his more colorful color scheme, fluid movements, and even cartoonier features which many other live-action/animation hybrids lacked. Tails' and Knuckles' character designs are also nothing short of awesome in this film. The credits animation is done even better in this movie, while retaining the art style from the Genesis-era games like with the first movie, even though Sonic in the credits animation here is (while not the biggest deal in the world) ironically seen with blue arms, for whatever reason, probably to fix the inconsistency between the first movie and its credits sequence. The soundtrack, like the first, is also amazing as it was composed by Tom Holkenborg (known as Junkie XL who also composed the first film's score). "Stars In The Sky" by Kid Cudi was a great choice for the credits. Excellent character development: Sonic's newfound devotion to protecting others also opened his eyes to the superhero lifestyle, which he has gained a taste for due to the excitement it provides. As such, he strives toward becoming a hero in his own right, which is exemplified in the superhero nicknames he comes up for himself. While he sees his heroics as chances to get some thrills in his otherwise peaceful lifestyle, Sonic is nonetheless motivated by a strong desire to use his powers for good and help people out with them. However, his inexperience as a hero prompts him to act rather reckless and rush into chances to prove himself without an actual plan in mind. His relationship with Tom Wachowski also evolved from a friendship to a form of son-and-father relationship, with Tom trying to be a supportive presence to Sonic by reminding him that the time will eventually come for him to use the incredible powers he possesses but is not allowed to use in public. Tails is a determined and brave young fox who is willing to face the unknown on multiple worlds and deadly villains, all in an attempt to find Sonic, no matter what. He is also quite logical and intelligent, as seen by how he steadily narrowed his search for Sonic by thinking things through and using what he learned along the way. Tails was once insecure about his extra tail, but after seeing how Sonic uses his weird quality, his super speed, to be a hero, Tails came to believe that his weird quality is not so bad. This is a relatable message as many people may have some sort of disability that makes them get ostracized. Knuckles is described as being serious yet still gullible at times. Being better suited for combat than Sonic in many ways, his entire existence is about honor and about being a warrior, to the point where he appears to be a force of nature. He is also somewhat overconfident, claiming that he does not need Sonic's powers because he has his own. Knuckles is very determined and meticulous when he is pursuing his goals, never letting go or accepting the possibility of giving up. He is also very much a loner by instinct and prefers to do things on his own. However, he is willing to betray his instincts and ask for help if he recognizes a task that may be beyond his capabilities. Knuckles is also very persistent when it comes to his supposed destiny to take down Sonic, even going so far as to be judgmental towards him when fighting. He also takes great pride in his species, and as a warrior, as he was somewhat offended by Agent Stone misidentifying him as a "porcupine". Knuckles is revealed to be socially awkward, as he did not know what a handshake was when Robotnik showed him the gesture. He initially did not know how the concept of baseball works either, asking Sonic why he should be mad at "the enemy ball" and instead punches it rather than swinging with the bat. Great acting and voice acting for the characters as they reprise their original roles from the previous film, with newcomers Idris Elba and Shemar Moore doing an excellent job as their characters, particularly the former who plays Knuckles. Colleen O'Shaughneesey also reprises her role as Tails and still does a great job at her role. Another one of the greatest things about this movie is that Idris Elba for the most part is a really excellent choice for Knuckles in this movie and arguably gives a better performance than the alternative from the video games and even television series. In fact, Elba as Knuckles here sounds like the veteran James Earl Jones, so much so that he might as well be a good impressionist for Star Wars' Darth Vader alongside The Lion King's Mufasa. The humor is still as strong as it was in the previous film, such as: When Tails faints at encountering the goons from the first film; When Dr. Eggman is about to leave the Mushroom Planet, he says, "It's time to say goodbye to this, PIECE-OF-SHIITAKE PLANET!" When Agent Stone exclaims "HE'S BAAAACK!!" in delight upon meeting the Doctor... as a coffeemaker; When Dr. Eggman says "Papa's got a brand new 'stache!" when he comes to the Mean Bean cafe. When Agent Stone says "You bought some kind of... space porcupine?" and then gets his hand crushed by Knuckles. That part when Sonic reuses his famous "Uh, meow?" line during the cabin scene. Knuckles reading the hacked conversation, including him saying, "Dot, dot, dot...dot, dot, dot...dot, dot, dot..." out loud. Sonic saying, "Step one: light taunting. Step two: I have no idea." When Sonic is smacked by a Badnik during a battle sequence again Knuckles casually falling off Tails' plane. Knuckles playing baseball. Sonic: "And who is Clifford the Big Red Rage Monster?" An incredibly well-written plot that's just as good as (if not even better than) the original. Overall, this movie is a massive improvement over the original, and it serves as a great example of how to break the video game movie curse, more so than even its predecessor. It stays true to the first film. As with the first film, it includes references to other games, such as the Tornado from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 returning and Sonic striking a very familiar pose from Sonic Adventure, not to mention Dr. Eggman finally wearing his iconic suit from the games after wearing a generic black suit in the first film. The scene where Knuckles asks Sonic "Do I look like I need your power?" is definitely one of his most badass moments, and Idris' delivery only makes it better. There's a post-credits scene that foreshadows the third movie. The scene has G.U.N. not finding Dr. Eggman's body in the Death Egg Robot crash and presume him dead. However, as they go and try to erase his file, they find a hidden 50-year-old file named Project Shadow in a capsule, and who's in that capsule? None other than Shadow. There are several pop culture references to Sonic-related memes like Uganda Knuckles' "do you know the way." line in the opening scene, and another Sonic Easter Egg not long after. One of the movie's posters is a great reference to the cover of Sonic The Hedgehog 2 There are some nice references even to the SEGA Megadrive/Genesis, such as when Agent Stone shows that he read the manual of the robot, he shows the manual which has the cover of a Megadrive/Genesis manual. There is a lot more focus on Sonic and his friends than the movie-exclusive human characters, something that many other live-action CGI hybrid films are guilty of. Thankfully, it subverts certain clichés that would've made the movie not as enjoyable as it is, such as the liar revealed cliché and the second-act breakup between Sonic and Tails, which thankfully doesn't happen, rather, Sonic realizes for himself that what he had done throughout the movie so far is wrong and decides to redeem himself, rather than having someone (aside Sonic himself) chew him out for it first. Like the first movie, despite being comedic and zany, there are some genuinely heartfelt moments like Sonic comforting Tails after the latter talks about his past, and Knuckles not going along with the other echidnas since he is too young to join. Like the first movie, the action scenes are impressive as well. The movie moves with wonderful pacing. Super Sonic's fight with Robotnik is arguably one of the most epic, climatic, and exciting battles in cinema history. Very heartwarming/emotional scene, such as when Sonic covers up Tails with a blanket, and then Tails covers up Sonic with his tails. Then, Sonic calls the Donut Lord (aka Tom) "Dad" at the climax of the film, and the scene where Sonic and Knuckles have a meaningful conversation. Awesome cinematography. Like the first one, the direction by Jeff Fowler is great. Unskilled, Untrained, and Unworthy Qualities Some characters might have the wrong amount of screen time: Suprisingly enough, Sonic himself takes up way too much screen time, causing Tails and Knuckles to not have enough of it. The same can be said about the human characters, but to be fair, they aren't one of the movie's focuses. Of course, this is admittedly justified since Sonic is the main protagonist of the movie. There's a weird 15-minute stretch of the movie where the film focuses on Maddie and Rachel. In this part, Sonic, Tails, and Tom don't even appear. Just like the first film, the story is admittedly a bit predictable, although it was an excellent idea on paper. This is likely because part of the plot is a direct adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles combined. Just like the first movie, there are still a couple of dated references, like Eggman flossing (only once this time), despite it being done as a gag to show how out of touch he is with the modern generation (since he was gone for two years). Ignoring the joke, this comes across as an instantly dated attempt to be hip with the kids, especially since this was released in 2022. There are still a few product placements such as Oreos, Apple, and Tom calling the officer who gave Tom an Olive Garden card from the previous movie the "Olive Garden guy". Despite its faithfulness to the games with a handful of really good references as mentioned above, this movie is still a little too different from the video game franchise. For example, Sonic's fur still becomes electrified whenever his emotions are at their strongest (a flaw he shares with Knuckles) and Dr. Eggman wears a slim suit, which doesn't even fit him at all, though he's certainly better here than in the previous film thanks to his signature bushy mustache and bald head. It was later confirmed by the director that they want to make the movie series different a little than the games and are even going to make the movies not by the order of the games. For some reason, Crazy Carl, Major Bennington, and the United States Army are the only human characters from the first movie to not reappear here. Compared to the first film, this movie is way too cartoonish (and not in a good way either). For example, there was one infamous scene where, we kid you not, a fish's severed head tells both Sonic and Tails to run, which is looks pretty out-of-place for a Sonic movie. However, to be fair, John Whittington, the writer for films such as The Lego Batman Movie and Dolittle, was the writer for this film. Some scenes can drag on for too long, such as the Hawaiian wedding scene. In the digital version, there are some edits to the CGI in some scenes, although they are mostly there to fix some issues (such as Sonic not completely turning his head to face Knuckles in the final scene)]

[Premise While struggling to adjust to life on Earth, Knuckles the Echidna takes on deputy sheriff Wade Whipple as his apprentice, training him in the ways of the Echidna warrior to help him prepare for a bowling tournament in Reno, Nevada where his estranged father will be competing. During their journey, Wade is reunited with his mother and sister, while Knuckles is pursued by a former agent of Dr. Robotnik, who now seeks to take the echidna's power for himself.

Qualities That Makes Warriors, Not Jokes Much like the first two Sonic movies, this series is faithful to the games. Examples of references to both the films and the games include: The wooden sign Knuckles runs by, which references the one used in Sonic 3 & Knuckles. The car-like bed next to Sonic's race car bed, which is inspired by Archie Comics' Sonic the Hedgehog comics, while also referencing the Tempest racecar Knuckles uses in Sonic Drift 2. Agent Mason repeating Knuckles' line Do I look like I need your power? Knuckles gliding as he and Wade make their escape from the IceCap Ski Resort, which said gliding references the Mid-Air Dash Glide from Sonic Advance 3. Speaking of the IceCap Ski Resort, said the building is a reference to the Ice Cap Zone from the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 game. Knuckles punching a bounty hunter a few times until performing an uppercut, which references his Punch Attack in Sonic Adventure 2 The Flames of Disaster, which is "Flames of Disaster" is an alias for a part of the sun god Solaris, Iblis, an antagonist in the 2006 video game Sonic the Hedgehog (despite being an atrocious game overall). "Unskilled, untrained, so unworthy" being sung, which references Knuckles' comments against Sonic the Hedgehog when they first met in Sonic the Hedgehog 2. And the one scene where with the Flames of Disaster, Knuckles takes charge spinning around like a drill as trails of energy and fire circle around him. Knuckles performs similar moves throughout the video game series, notably in Sonic Frontiers with the Drill Spin Attack and/or Boost. He also slams both fists on The Buyer's mech, much like his Meteor Punch attack in Sonic Battle. And this one is in the climax of the series, by the way. Wade and Knuckles' chemistry is amazing. Speaking of such, despite the issue of Wade Whipple taking up too much screen time, it is nice to see him grow into character development throughout the series, even more so than the first two Sonic movies. This is especially noticeable in the second half of the series (episodes 4-6). The acting is still great, as to be expected from a live-action piece of Sonic the Hedgehog media by Paramount Pictures, including: Ben Schwartz still does greatly and entertainingly as Sonic the Hedgehog, thanks to him reprising his role in the Tika Sumpter still does a great job portraying Maddie Wachowski. Incredible performances by Adam Pally and Idris Elba. Idris Elba still continues to be excellent as Knuckles. In the second movie, Elba as Knuckles sounded like the late veteran James Earl Jones, so much so that he might as well be a good impressionist for Star Wars' Darth Vader alongside The Lion King's Mufasa, and he sounds no different here. Phenomenal CGI and visual effects to the point where much like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022), the visuals look like they came out of a Pixar film, which is impressive for a limited miniseries that is also a Paramount+ exclusive. The soundtrack, like the movies, is amazing, especially since the music here was composed by Tom Howe (who composed the music for Ted Lasso and the 2017 Wonder Woman movie), which is surprising, since the composer for any Sonic movie-related media usually is Tom Holkenborg (also known as Junkie XL). The show's theme, "The Warrior", which was written by Scandal, is an excellent song and is indeed a fitting choice for a theme song for this show. Even Knuckles said "This is my jam" when he and Wade Whipple were listening to this song in the post-credits scene of the 6th and final episode of the show. During the scene where Knuckles is grounded in the attic, Sonic mentions video games to him and says "They've come a long way since the '90s", referencing the first Sonic game's creation back in 1991, which is a nice touch. Like the first two movies, despite being comedic and zany, there are some genuinely heartfelt moments, like the scene where Sonic has a talk with Knuckles on the rooftop in episode 1, and even the scene where Wade Whipple finally confronts his father somewhere near the beginning of Episode 5. "I do not make jokes, Wade Whipple. I make warriors." While the jokes can be corny at times, they are at least funny, especially the one scene where Chief Pachacamac crashes into the window as he is saying goodbye to Knuckles. The characters from the movies are still likable, and most of the original characters are likable, including: Sonic the Hedgehog is still the loveable space alien and is a friend of Tails and Knuckles even though he only appears in one episode of the series. He convinces Knuckles to do stuff since Dr. Eggman is gone and even has not returned. He is mentioned in later episodes of the series. Miles "Tails" Prower is still the cute two-tailed fox that he has always been, and is still logical and intelligent. Maddie Wachowski is still the wife of Tom Wachowski, including her still being the adopted mother of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. She doesn't like that Knuckles stops the three people trying to fix the hole in the Wachowski house (seeing how Sonic and Knuckles destroyed half of the house during their fight when the two first met in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 during nighttime while Tom, Maddie, Rachel, Jojo, and Randall were in Hawaii) and Knuckles making a chair out of stuff. Dr. Eggman, even though he only appears in flashbacks and is mentioned several times in the show, is still the villain who wants to defeat Sonic and get his power. He still has an incredible performance by Jim Carrey, even though Jim Carrey only reprises his role as Dr. Robotnik during flashbacks. Jack Sinclair is a motorcyclist who was originally Wade's bowling partner and friend until they got into an argument. He's also intimidating, and can even be seen as the best villain of the show. Gwendolyn "Wendy" Whipple is the mother of Wade Whipple and Wendy Whipple, as well as the former wife of Peter "Pete" Whipple. She's also a kind-hearted mother and cares about her children. Schmuck Qualities While it is awesome to see Wade get some character development, he does admittedly take up way too much screen time, causing Knuckles to not have enough of it, which is highly ironic, considering that "Knuckles" is the name of this show in the first place. Some unlikable characters (which is shocking, considering there were no unlikable characters that have ever been present in any Sonic movie-related media before this one) such as Wanda Whipple, Pistol Pete Whipple, The Buyer (the latter 2 of which are shockingly lame and uninteresting villains compared to Dr. Robotnik and Agent Stone, especially in The Buyer's case, since he is a Doctor Robotnik carbon copy). Many Sonic the Hedgehog fans did not like Pachacamac's portrayal here, especially since his video game counterpart is an evil villain who lead the Echidnas, while his movie counterpart went from a bad guy who killed Longclaw's mother to a friendly Echidna who makes jokes. It doesn't help that Knuckles is technically getting advice from someone who is implied to have murdered Sonic's mother. While Gwendolyn "Wendy" Whipple is still a likable character, some anti-Zionists may dislike her character somewhat because she can be treated as a propaganda mouthpiece for Israel (like some other Paramount media nowadays), as it is mentioned that she is trained in krav maga and it is implied that she was in the Israel Defense Forces. Due to being a TV show, the special effects are a bit of a downgrade. That one infamous moment in the third episode where Wanda Whipple stabs her brother, Wade Whipple, with a fork during the Shabbat Dinner. To make matters worse, she never gets any form of comeuppance for it, making her a Karma Houdini. Speaking of such, the third episode, The Shabbat Dinner, is not only the only truly bad episode of the whole show but also the worst thing to ever come out of the Sonic Cinematic Universe overall. While still indeed likable, Knuckles can also be somewhat unlikable in some scenes, like when he turns the living room of Sonic's house into some fighting pit (which causes him to be grounded for it) in the first episode and in the fourth episode, where he lets some crazy man named Jack Sinclair kidnap Wade Whipple, mostly because he said that he must learn to rescue himself to become a true warrior (to be fair, Wade Whipple did rescue himself at the end of the "Flames of Disaster" scene in said episode). Though he is nowhere as unlikable as his Sonic Boom counterpart. Despite this, though, none of this manages to negatively affect Knuckles' likability or character development in the show to the point of flanderization. Similar to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, while the post-credits scene is great to watch, it could come off as underwhelming for some people, especially if you wanted a teaser for Sonic the Hedgehog 3.]

[Plot In 1974, a meteorite containing an unknown being was discovered. Fifty years later, the being, known as Shadow, escapes from his containment facility. Team Sonic is called in to stop him, but they soon realize they must forge an unlikely alliance with Dr. Robotnik and Agent Stone if they ever want to stop Shadow from destroying Earth.

Why It's Running It and Makes You Live and Learn Like the previous two films, it stays faithful to its franchise in many ways and manages to be even more faithful than Sonic 2, which is impressive considering how faithful Sonic 2 was. Ivo Robotnik finally gets to wear his more iconic costume from the modern games (the costumes were first introduced in the first Sonic Adventure) Shadow is properly introduced, and he also maintains his backstory. Adding onto Shadow, he gets to be Super Shadow, in which this transformation isn't seen very often aside from Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic X. The Chao makes an appearance in a restaurant. Dr. Gerald Robotnik, who was dead in the source material of Sonic Adventure 2, makes an appearance again by Jim Carrey. The film's logo takes inspiration from Sonic Adventure 2, and the logo looks fantastic because of this. Shadow drives a motorcycle and wields a gun like in Shadow in the Hedgehog. "Live and Learn" from Sonic Adventure 2 debits here. Incredible visual effects that are a big improvement over the previous films (which already had great visual effects), and manage to be even more colorful and detailed. Like the previous two films, the opening logo once again has its Paramount stars replaced with rings from the Sonic franchise. The CGI for the three Sonic characters remains top-notch as usual and looks like they come from a Pixar movie, it's even managed to be slightly better than in Sonic 2, which also improved the CGI greatly. Shadow looks as epic as ever, and his design translates very well to the CGI/Live Action hybrid style of the movie designs. The end credits use an old-style 3D animation that looks perfect for a Sonic game transitioning to a 3D perspective that reminds us of Sonic the Fighters. The final battle with Super Sonic and Super Shadow had the best visual effects of the entire movie, being very epic to look at and they also fit the dark tone of the fight. Excellent soundtrack, especially Live and Learn from Sonic Adventure 2 which makes its debut in a Sonic cinematographic product, which fits this movie considering that Shadow appears and that this movie takes a lot of inspiration from said game. The leaked storyboards about two of the deleted scenes are incredible, especially these were Eggman and Gerald fight, which is much better than what we got in the final movie as it would had been much more epic, even if their fight was funny. And then we had one where Sonic and Shadow run together like in Sonic Adventure 2 while fighting, this was unfortunately cut because they though that would not fit Shadow character in this movie due to him being different than how he is in the movie. The returning characters are still just as well-written as they are in the past films, and the new characters are interesting, also the film had excellent character development. Sonic is the leader of Team Sonic, a team that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles formed. You can tell that Sonic has gotten more mature this time, complete with him wanting to kill Shadow because of his meltdown. Tails is the intelligent kid of Team Sonic, and as usual, he has his gadgets. Also, he still helps Sonic in his adventures as usual. Knuckles is still a likable and funny character, and thankfully, was not flanderized into a dumb muscle like he was in his show (even though he was not always a muscle) and the newer games, also he still s very helpful to Sonic in the adventure and he is very wise, such as for when Sonic got into his meltdown, as instead of fighting Sonic, he does stay calm but say that if he wants it, he must fight the warrior before. Shadow is an excellent character, combined with his dark and troubled backstory of connecting with Maria and being locked away for fifty years, despite being evil in the first half, he actually isn't really evil and just got into horrible pains because of losing Maria, he does redeem himself at the end though. Maria Robotnik is a sweet child with a somewhat mischievous side, as seen when she had fun with Shadow, however, this was all the made more horrifying and tragic because of her death. Surprisingly, Ivo Robotnik and Agent Stone get great character development as well. While Sonic fans and some moviegoers unfamiliar with Sonic may expect the two to betray the Sonic characters like in the last two films, here Robotnik and Stone genuinely have a change of heart and redeem themselves by preventing the Eclipse Cannon from destroying Earth. Excellent acting, with Keanu Reeves being the perfect choice for Shadow, with the other characters also having incredible acting. Ben Schwartz reprises his role as the voice of Sonic, and he still does a great job providing the voice of Sonic, also he is hilarious and endearing as Sonic, still capturing the charm of the original voice actors for Sonic, Ryan Drummond, and Jason Griffith, as well as Roger Craig Smith, with the character's still heroic and optimistic attitude. Colleen O'Shaughneesey also still reprises her role as Tails and still once again does a great job at her role. Idris Elba is still a really excellent choice for Knuckles in this movie and he still arguably gives a better performance than the voice actors of alternative from the video games and even television series. He also still continues to be excellent as Knuckles. In the second movie and the Knuckles TV series, Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna still sounds like the late veteran James Earl Jones, so much so that he still might as well be a good impressionist for Star Wars' Darth Vader alongside The Lion Kings Mufasa., and he still sounds no different here. Incredible action scenes such as Shadow's escape, the fight with Shadow in the beginning, and the fight between Super Sonic and Super Shadow. The tone is much darker than the previous two films, with themes such as loss, pain, vengeance, and suffering. All perfect for a character like Shadow. Even the settings are mostly darker than the first two films for the most part, such as in Tokyo or especially when Super Sonic and Super Shadow fight. Even with its dark tone, the humor is still great like a group of children referring to Tails as Detective Pikachu, Tom making a creepy puppet of himself, and Ivo Robotnik and Gerald Robotnik dancing in the lasers, as well as Ivo making a very funny reference to the flop of the 2011 Green Lantern, where he said that he loved to hate that movie, which was likely done to mock it, especially since it was poorly received. The scenes where Ivo Robotnik and Gerald fight each other, while they interrupt the fight with Sonic and Shadow, are quite hilarious. Ivo Robotnik's sacrifice is surprisingly heart-shattering, especially considering the amount of trouble he has pulled off in the previous films. He even treats Agent Stone like a genuine friend rather than a pawn for his gain. Like the previous two movies, the direction by Jeff Fowler is great. The Live and Learn song actually appears in the movie during the scene where Sonic and Shadow become super versions of themselves while trying to stop Gerald. It also played during the introduction at one point albeit in a soft guitar version. This is used as some sort of recurring theme for Shadow in the movie. Sonic's meltdown is shocking for a family film after he witnesses Tom getting brutally beaten by Shadow. From attempting to use the Master Emerald despite Knuckles' warning (even the heated argument between Sonic and Knuckles was shocking enough) to Sonic even attempting to kill Shadow, this is where the movie goes to the point of no return. Eventually, however, Sonic calms down and realizes his faults. The fight between Super Sonic and Super Shadow is easily the best part of the film, as not only does it is extremely satisfying to see them fight but also it is very epic and is also very entertaining to watch, even if it's interrupted by cutaway scenes involving Ivo and Gerald. Also, it is made much more epic when you realize that this fight mostly happened because of Sonic's meltdown, and in the end, Sonic even tries to kill Shadow until he realizes that it was wrong to kill him. Like the first and second movies, there is not one, but two post-credits scenes for the fourth movie. The first mid-credits scene involves Sonic unintentionally running to New York City he looks around for Tails and Knuckles but doesn't see the two, and he sees a billboard that says "WELCOME TO NEW YORK.", and Sonic sees a metallic robot version of him, of which he comments that he got his costume wrong, and Metal Sonic proceeds to aim at Sonic, and it generates a huge blast in the forest of New York City, which Sonic manages to survive. Metal Sonic then copies himself into multiple copies of Metal Sonic. Sonic then looks around at the Metal Sonics. As he thinks he's doomed, a mysterious pink light comes out of nowhere and defeats the Metal Sonic copies, and the mysterious creature appears on the Moon, it comes to the ground and takes down its cloth, and it's none other than Amy Rose. In the second post-credits scene, Shadow is revealed to have survived the Eclipse Cannon's destruction, possibly teasing his return for Sonic the Hedgehog 4. The Biolizard makes a cameo appearance in a movie that Maria and Shadow are watching in Maria's room, as it is seen in a fictional movie that they are watching that parodies Godzilla. Speaking about that parody, it is rather hilarious and could make a great idea for a video about a Godzilla parody. For a long time, the famous quote "Gotta Go Fast" appears here when Sonic and Shadow finally team up, this likely was done to reference Sonic X, which was the media where this quote first came. Although it's a complete joke, Gerald's death could be seen as hilarous due to the way he's defeated. The cinematography is awesome. Although Gerald was just playing with his grandson so he could help him with the Eclipse Cannon, it is still nice and good to see him bonding with his grandson, especially in the VR scene. The lighting is gorgeous, awesome, and incredible, as it's a massive improvement over the first two films, and even the Knuckles TV series, as it is less blurry and has more colors, to the point, where the lighting in certain areas looks beautiful. The writing is a lot better than the first two films. The pacing is good, despite it being a bit flawed. Overall, this film ultimately proved that video game movies are becoming great, even after the disaster that was Borderlands. Evil, Sinister, Malcontent Qualities This film pretty much requires you to watch the previous films and the Knuckles series to understand what is going on. Not to mention, it also somewhat requires playing both Sonic Adventure 2 and Shadow the Hedgehog to understand what is going on because this film heavily takes inspiration from them in some scenes, this is especially true with Sonic Adventure 2 because this film had so many references to that game. In a bit of a poor grasp of the source material: Maria doesn't get shot. Yes, a GUN soldier shoots at her, but the shot misses and Maria dies in an explosion instead. This is probably done because a little girl getting shot was too inappropriate and violent for a family-friendly franchise like Sonic. Shadow arrives on Earth on a meteorite, when in the games he was a creation from Gerald Robotnik. Despite the film taking elements from Sonic Adventure 2, the Biolizard doesn't appear and the Soap Shoes are absent. Maria never says ""Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog." to Shadow, which could make some fans disappointed, this is also the case with Sonic. Gerald’s death is shown as him being zapped by Ivo with one of Super Sonic’s quills which launches him into the Eclipse Cannon’s reactor, vaporizing him. While this scene is undoubtedly hilarious and feels great for Gerald being defeated, it is a stark contrast to the games where it is implied that faced execution by firing squad. Like Maria’s death, this was probably changed as Gerald’s original way of dying likely would have been too dark to include in a family-friendly movie. The pacing while good, is a little too fast, even more than in the first two films. Sonic is one of the most unlikable characters in the film, despite being good. One example is the second act where he out of nowhere, lashes out at Knuckles and Tails, although it is somewhat justified as Shadow made him mad and injured Tom; the problem with that is that it doesn't excuse him stealing the Master Emerald from Wade Whipple and ditching his friends to battle Shadow, which is out-of-character for him. Him beating up Shadow just for hurting Tom, despite the context, was still unjustified since Shadow mostly did it since he mistook Tom for Commander Walters, although this does get resolved by the end. And on top of that, Shadow calling Sonic out for abandoning his friends and family is entirely justified and understandable since he could see that he thought Sonic cared for them. Like the first two movies, a few of the humor can be somewhat forced due to relying on pointless cutaway gags, such as the one infamous part where Super Sonic and Super Shadow are fighting and it's abruptly switches to a cutaway scene of Ivo and Gerald fighting, which could ruin the emotional moments. A bunch of people and Sonic the Hedgehog fans said that a few of Sonic's quips and one-liners were horrendous and unfunny, especially for people who think Sonic shouldn't say pop-culture quips. The worst offender is the joke about John Lennon, which hasn't aged well in any way since his death; this scene was even cut later on. For some reason, the film seems to have forgotten that Sonic called Tom his "Dad" in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, as Sonic does not once call Tom his Dad at all in the film, which is unfortunate, especially since it would have been nice for Sonic to call Tom Dad more in the film. It doesn't help that Tails and Knuckles don't bond that much at all in this film, since most of their screen time is sharing it with Sonic. Shadow never gets a resolution with Gerald, especially since Gerald manipulated his pain and used him and he doesn't even ask Eggman what happened to Gerald when he came back. The infamous scene where Tom has issues switching between different disguises during the heist, which drags on for too long, and while it is supposed to be a comedy scene, it feels more like a forced comedy than a funny one, and also it could somewhat serve as fillers, you could remove the scene and it would change nothing, although the brief change into Little Tom is seen as humorous. It's never revealed and explained how Robotnik survived the fall from the Giant Eggman Robot after Super Sonic destroyed the Giant Eggman Robot to bits in their battle in the in the second movie film installment, especially since it looks like he just survived without any explanation, especially when you consider and think that he fell down more than ten miles to the ground, and it is not even explained once in this movie, though a deleted scene explained how he survived, as Stone found Robotnik in the rubble of the Giant Eggman Robot, he broke all of his bones, and he got help in Mexico. It's never revealed how Gerald is alive, though writer Jeff Fowler said he licked Shadow's quills and that's how it kept him alive for so many years. Anachronism: The song End of the Line by the Traveling Wilburys plays in one of Maria and Shadow's flashbacks, but the song wasn't released until 1988, while the flashback scenes take place in 1974, a whopping fourteen years before 1988, despite a great soundtrack as mentioned above. Though granted, with Sonic CD being apparently canon to this film's universe via its sequel hook, it is possible a character alive in 1974 was able to get the song via time travel. False advertising: Rachel and Randall Handall are used in several pieces of marketing, even to the point where like the second film, they got their posters, especially with the fact that their actor and actress, Natasha Rothwell and Shamar Moore are big name actresses, their names are on the posters even to the point where they like the second film, once again have their names on the starring list, but they don't physically appear in the movie at all, especially since Maddie Wachowski disguises herself as her sister Rachel, and Tom Wachowski disguises himself as Randall Handall, and it means that Maddie is "Rachel", and Tom is "Randall". It may come off as a missed opportunity that Randall doesn't physically appear at all, especially since he's a part of G.U.N. and you'd think that since he is still a part of it, he would be in G.U.N. Headquarters and play a big role. Speaking of which, it doesn't help that with the fact that Rachel's daughter, Jojo, doesn't appear at all nor is she mentioned, which may come across as surprising, especially since Rachel's and Randall's likenesses are used in the movie, so it can be seen as surprising that they didn't even use Jojo, mention her once, it could give off the unfortunate implication that the writers forgot about Jojo and/or that Rachel gave away Jojo. While it can be excused that Melody Nosipho Niemann, her actress, is much older than Jojo herself (and when she played Jojo in the first movie and the second movie), and Jojo is supposed to be eight years old, it still may be seen as sad, especially since this is the only film not to feature Jojo and Melody Nosipho Niemann. Wade Whipple also has a small role, as he was demoted from a supporting character to a character who appears for very little and only has a few seconds, this can be excused since he had way too much screen time in Knuckles, and the criticism surrounding that. Like the second film, Crazy Carl, Major Bennington, and even Unit are absent. Continuity error: Shadow seems to know that its G.U.N.'s fault that caused Maria's death, yet the previous film states that G.U.N. didn't officially exist prior to the events of the first film. The Knuckles series has it and expands upon this, with the Buyer explaining that the organization used to be a shadow ops program headed by Dr. Robotnik before being reorganized into the G.U.N. organization. However, Shadow Base does has G.U.N.'s sigil on the door, as did the soldiers in it, and Shadow seems to know G.U.N. was behind Maria's death prior to him reuniting with Gerald. This actually possibly implies that to balance the retcon, G.U.N. may have dissolved for a short time to keep the Project Shadow incident hidden from the public, before re-emerging in the present after the events of Sonic 1. This would also explain why The Buyer probably had no knowledge of the existence of Project Shadow. Although Dr. Robotnik's last scene is surprisingly great and well-written where he seemingly perishes in the explosion and "fire", of which he seemingly dies and met his match (as well as and lost his life), it can be seen as a bit stale for some people, mainly and all because also of the fact that in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, he fell seemingly to his death and his end (as they did a "death" for him and it's the second time it happened), especially when you realize that you have to wait a whopping two years and a half until Sonic the Hedgehog 4 comes out to see if he survived, though it's not too bad.]