Sonic 2 (Movie) Spoiler/Discussion Topic (Stay away if you don't want to be spoiled)

Because they were established on the first movie as main cast. If these were new humans, no one would have cared, and there's a particular human no one needed (Wade, of course), but even that managed to be accidentally useful for the plot at a certain point (he should be deleted everywhere else, though).

EDIT:
I just posted in the Sonic Mania thread something related to my impressions on the 2nd movie, so I decided to quote myself here since it's more fitting:

That's more or less the reason why I haven't made an extensive review of the film here. Also that I felt midway between being a fan and being a critic because I enjoyed the human part even if it wasn't very good (Lady Pretzel's obnoxious sister got my respect that day).

 

Like I said, there's always going to be a disconnect between fans who don't give a shit about humans in Sonic, and non-fans who wonder where the fuck they went after the first movie.


If this move makes enough money however, I can see them just pushing the humans out entirely, for better or worse. Though I'd imagine most of the fanbase wouldn't really care either way and would consider that an improvement.

 

I watched it yesterday and I must agree with Xiao about the human characters. And actually they´re really likeable, I liked how they give most of characters some important scene or some useful moment like Wade unexpectedly had.

Well, let me talk about the movie. I watched it yesterday by "accident", some days before the release in Brazil. I learned that Sonic´s VA, Manolo Rey, was coming to São Paulo when woke up and sent a message to him (just for context, I know him for over 15 years). Originally was going just to see him, because have been years we met in real life (was around 2016), but he got tickets for me and my wife, so let´s goooo! 8D

About the movie, I really loved it. I liked the first one too, but it was like "Ok, that´s a good introduction, but I hope to see more Sonicy stuff next time"... And well, we got that. I really liked how they mixed elements and made a load of references from games. Probably the movie made the best incarnation of Knuckles for me, I really liked how imponent he tries to sound saying silly stuff (Note: I watched the Brazillian Dub, not the original acting from Idris Elba, will do that on next Sunday probably.) Tails was really good also, I only think the friendship with Sonic developed too quick? I felt they become BFF too fast. But that´s the only thing that really hitted me, everything else was great.

I can´t wait for the 3rd Movie and Knuckles series

 

Finally I can venture into spoilerland. I had purposefully spoiled two big moments before seeing the movie, you can probably guess what the were (I couldn't help myself, dammit), but I still had a great time with this. The movie takes a bit to get going and there's some typical kids humor that might make you roll your eyes at times, but by the end of it it's going fucking ham and it's glorious. Hell, I even liked the wedding part (as did the crowd), and I thought it was a neat way to introduce GUN (they actually said the whole thing holy shit) while making good use of the characters inherited from the first movie.

Just keep thinking about all the things that were done right. Tails? Adorable. Knuckles? Excellent. Eggman? Perfection. Adapting the games lore into the framework of the first movie? A big success. Man, you can tell that some real love for the Sonic franchise went into this one, and this time the filmmakers were unafraid to let it all loose.

I have a mighty, mighty need for more Jim Carrey Eggman in whatever form the pseudo-adaption of Sonic Adventure 2 takes for the next movie. He's so freaking good in this already, but there is so much more potential there to make further amazing use of him.

Also, I got a real kick out of Literal Labyrinth Zone and the classic Eggman costume on Stone's interface. My eyebrows also hit the ceiling at the Sonic 2 Hidden Palace reference in the animated credits. Definitely was not expecting that, lmao.

 

I'm sure everyone here has their own ideal version of what a Sonic movie would be, just as everyone has their own opinion of what a good Sonic game is. In the end, this version will never exist in practice, but we can definitely be happy when an adaptation is made with enough care.

The second film for me was exactly what I want from a sequel: more characters that I like, more time focused on these characters, more scenes with beautiful and interesting visuals, more exploration of the lore of the setting. Taking into consideration that the film's target audience is children 1/5 (or less) of my age, I'd say it's a monumental triumph that the film entertained me as much as it did. If you told me 2-3 years ago that a Sonic movie would be one of the most entertaining game adaptations in cinema, and that the sequel would be even better, I wouldn't even laugh in your face - I would say you are insane. But here we are.

It is not everything I wanted it to be, but it is much more than what I hoped it could ever be.

 

I saw it for a second time today (saw it first on Saturday through an advance screening) and here are my thoughts:

Pros:
-More Sonic elements are welcomed
-Definitely liked that there's more action
-Tails & Knuckles were spot on
-Surprisingly I liked Tom and Maddie more in this one
-never in a million years did I think we were going to get something like the final act on the big screen

Cons:
-I do agree that the movie is longer than it needed to be and suffers because of that. The whole Siberia sequence and the G.U.N. wedding/breaking out part bring the movie to a screeching halt. It's not that it needed to be taken out, it just needed to be way shorter than it was.
-The CGI still feels off in certain scenes that are really noticeable. For example, there's a shot with the Death Egg Robot looming over the characters, a couple of scenes when the boys interact with people etc etc.

(The first movie also had some issues here and there with the compositing, but this is a small nitpick considering it was a done during the pandemic and so far other movies like Spider-Man and Batman had the same issues.)

-Eggman didn't land with me this time for some reason. I didn't dislike Carrey's performance but he did feel like he was tired when making the movie, so no surprise when it came out that he's considering retirement.

-Before I say this, I do want to say that I loved Knuckles in this. And apparently his journey/arc is going to continue on his show. And while a couple of his scenes made me laugh, that last baseball scene was getting dangerously close to Boom Knuckles territory.

And I don't hate Boom Knuckles, but I do feel that when it comes to naive characters a lot of times it doesn't take long to just making them just dumb/unfunny. And now that Shadow is on the horizon I'm a little bit concerned that they might make Knuckles fall more on that loveable idiot role.

-No music from the games. What a letdown on that, especially when Super Sonic shows up.

Overall I liked the movie a lot.

Question on Easter eggs:
Did anyone see the way the characters move in some scenes are taken from past animated projects. From the games there are some, but I'm talking about specifically the cartoons.

There are two scenes where Sonic is getting chased (one when a spiked Boulder suddenly appears in Labyrinth Zone) that I swear are taken from the Sonic X pilot/opening and the Sonic OVA Metal Robotnik fight in the last act. Especially when Sonic rides the missile and when they have to work together.

 

Even if I hated the first 2/3s of the movie (which I certainly don't), I would still want to rewatch it for that last third. Knocked it out of the park there.

 

Did anyone notice the floating bat behind Knuckles in the end scene? It's not leaning on anything, right?!

Watched a camrip to confirm and it's because he spikes the bat in the dirt hard right before.

 

So after having the big two reveals spoiled for me, I finally caved and watched the film. I think I generally agree with the sentiments posted thus far: Siberia's dance scene was a bit too on the nose and overstayed itself slightly, but I guess the intention was to give the dynamic duo a bonding moment and foreshadow the hologram clones used at the climax. The wedding scene was likewise also too on the nose and overstayed it's welcome, but I think that was played more for parody than anything else (got an eyeroll out of me).

I was genuinely surprised by how well utilized the human characters were in the movie. When the synopsis stated that the Wachowski couple would be away in Hawaii, I thought for sure they were going to be pushing them out to make room for both Tails and Knuckles, but I'm kinda glad I was wrong since that would feel like a cheap cop-out. They actually took the time to balance both the new characters (and introducing both in the same movie is awfully risky already) and the established human characters without it feeling like anyone was being ignored. That takes a surprising amount of skill and I'm impressed that the writing team nailed it.

I know the lore of the movies is drastically different from the games, but the implications for game lore are fascinating. So the Owls and Echidnas fought over the Master Emerald that literally unified the Chaos Emeralds. Making the connection between the bird statues and architecture seen in Sonic 1 & 2 and the Echidnas fleshed out in 3 and Adventure is kinda fascinating and I wouldn't mind some form of this making its way into game canon somehow.

I am curious though, we do see Knuckles reforging the Master Emerald, but didn't the Chaos Emeralds disappear after Sonic finished using them? Could be possible I missed something there...

 

Posting my thoughts from elsewhere.

Alright, I'm up and refreshed and I have some free time at work at the moment.

Without going into spoilers and overall; The movie is a solid B- to me (for comparison, the first is a flat C). The highs are higher than the first movie, but the lows are much lower as well. The first one was passable, and this one is good*

The main characters are all on point; Sonic builds on what he went through in the first movie and makes very small strides towards his more independent video game incarnation. Tails is pretty much exactly how you'd expect, to the point where he doesn't really stand out much sadly as a result, and Knuckles is great; finally manged to balance that simple-minded yet tough guy approach that the games have failed to accomplish in recent years, although I did notice a very slight shift in his character towards the end that I hope isn't a precursor to how he is written in the third movie.

Robotnik is Robotnik, but Jim Carrey going even more unhinged than last time. Dude just...chews every bit of scenery he is in. You can definitely see Jim's age though playing the character at times, but he's definitely more recognizably Eggman here than in the first movie and that's not just aesthetics.

Everyone else...are passable I guess. I suppose this was inevitably going to happen once Tails and Knuckles were established as Sonic's new companions. Tom and Maddie really don't get anywhere near as much to do as in the first movie, and it shows later in the second act. There's a very haphazard attempt at trying their subplot to the main plot, but they're transparently disconnected, you'll feel like you're watching another movie. That said, some parts of it were so over the top and ridiculous that I couldn't really help but smile lmao.

The plot is structured similarly to the first movie; First act establishes the plot with an opening scene on another world before reintroducing our cast and act ends after a fight at Sonic's house which ends in a roadtrip. Second act is said roadtrip with a brief detour before it intersects with the other subplots, and the third act is the big finale tying it all together.

The climax is definitely the highlight of the movie though and probably what a lot of fans are going to appreciate more when they look back on this movie. It's definitely where they go all out with the budget.

Post-Credits: So yea, it's Shadow. I'm really curious on how his story is going to be adapted, or who even released him. Robotnik's fake is left ambiguous in the end so it brings the question of who will Shadow team up with. Lot's a questions.

Thoughts: I liked it, probably nowhere near as much as others claiming its a cinematic masterpiece, but I had a good time. There's two scenes in the second act that really drag the pacing down; the first comes right the fuck out of nowhere and doesn't really serve the plot in any way, and the second...well, you gotta see it to believe it. It's very over the top, but I can see why it's a noted criticism in many reviews.

The biggest thing that drags this film down is the fact that the humans feel even more out of place now that they have brought in more traditionally Sonic elements. That second scene I mentioned in the second act is a very transparent attempt at justifying their presence and your YMMV how well it does it. Tom and Maddie show up for the first ten minutes and aside from a few scenes, they're basically supporting characters. In the first
ten minutes and aside from a few scenes, they're basically supporting characters. In the first movie, they were the emotional backbone of it, but those roles have gone to Tails and Knuckles here. Most Sonic fans aren't going to find a problem with that, but as a general film criticism, I have to talk about it. The Wedding reveal was genuinely funny tho, that shit was great

Pros:

+ Robotnik
+ This new interpretation of Knuckles is great
+ Definitely feels like a Sonic the Hedgehog movie compared to the first.
+ While its nothing new, Sonic & Tails' dynamic is genuinely cute here.

Cons:

- Pacing in the Second act
- Tom and Maddie's severely reduced roles
- A little too many pop-culture references for my tastes.
- Agent Stone and Robotnik lacking a kissing scene

 

Yes, one does have to wonder how OWLS could build that labyrinth and all those traps (on a planet completely different from their own one, too), but since the Master Emerald can do things (such as assembling a giant robot) in this continuity, I guess we can leave it at that.

Still, the fact that that island happened to be that close to the place where they were because of the wedding is way too coincidental.

 

My girlfriend thought I was joking when I mentioned how the credits are my favorite parts of these films. Everyone was getting up to leave but I was like, “Wait, this is the best part!” We also had to watch the mid-credits tease, but still lol.

 

Man, I got a little misty-eyed. This was the movie I'd always dreamed of seeing as a kid and I was grinning like an idiot the entire time.

 

Like what many others have said on here, I enjoyed the 2nd half more than the first (there were a lot of cringe-worthy parts to it, particularly with what Sonic was doing). Just a few points...

*When Knuckles jumped off the 'Tornado', I expected him to glide; but I guess this Knux is too heavy with muscle mass to be able to glide.
*Considering the size of the Master Emerald, and having Shadow in the 3rd film, I'll assume they wouldn't be able to have a Chaos arc; plus I guess most people born in the 2000s onwards wouldn't know who Chaos even is.
*One thing I was a little disappointed in is the absence of Angel Island, though I'm not sure how they would fit that into the story.

 

I think that's to tell you why Knux makes shorter jumps in classic games.

They said they're not intending to do games in order, so it can happen in a later movie or the mini-series for Knuckles. I also think they made the Chaos Emeralds so they could fint in a furry's hand and made the size of the Master Emerald proportional to them.

 

If this movie is anything to go by, I'm going to assume we'll get two new major characters in the next one, as we did with Tails and Knuckles here. My best guess would be Amy, considering she's probably the most popular character after Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow. I'm excited for anything - this movie really has me hyped for what's next.

 

I honestly loved how chummy Knuckles was with Tails in the ending, possibly because we rarely get any interaction from them in the games, it's cute.

I do feel like Amy will be coming too, if only to serve as a contrast to Shadow's brooding edge in the same vein Tails' smart skills contrasts Knuckles' brute force.