Professor Popinjay's Compendium of Perspicacity

A Non-review by Professor Popinjay

Well they (gnomes) have certainly found a winning formula, haven’t they?

How long before there are more cgi characters in these than actual live action characters? At what point are we just watching the Sonic cartoons again? Not that any of this is a complaint. I love the Sonic cartoons.

And I love these movies. I’ve loved Ben Schwartz since his Latkes song in the HOME series. Sometimes I would just crank that song when picking up the kids. Nothing says “School is over and it’s party time” like a klezmer rap.

His visits to the Game Grumps have been thoroughly enjoyable as well.

Jim Carrey has been a joy. I respect him even more after his disenfranchisement with Hollywood. He’s quoted as saying he took the part of Robotnik because he needed money but he certainly didn’t phone this performance in.

James Marsden seemed fairly able to keep the human aspect interesting despite being Sonic’s version of Darren from Bewitched.

I couldn’t stand James’ sister-in-law in the first one. She was just so mean to him and for what reason? There was no backstory to that conflict and I wouldn’t want them to spend much time on it anyway unless it was 1) funny, 2) involved Sonic at some point, and 3) was pertinent to the main storyline.

In Sonic 2 we get two new characters in Tails and Knuckles. Robotnik looks more like his video game self. All in all a fun movie. But again we have this strange interlude with James’ sister-in-law where she’s trying to prevent her wedding from being ruined? It had nothing to do with Sonic or anything, went on way too long, but I’ll admit, I did find it humorous. If I didn’t find the sister-in-law’s character so obnoxious and mean, I think her wedding situation probably would have worked as part of its own movie. I think the lady has good comedic presence. The character she was playing just annoyed me.

The climax of Sonic 2 was pretty exciting. Way to up the stakes from the first film.

The Knuckles Mini Series was interesting. Adam Pally as Wade Wipple was a bit more entertaining than Marsden in my opinion. I’ll be honest though. I don’t think I finished watching this. Life finds a way I guess. Maybe we’ll come back to this if it impresses me. I remember being a bit disappointed with the villain but maybe he’ll get better.

For Sonic 3 they incorporated a lot of Shadow’s backstory from comics and other games. The comics go hard with the drama and I’ve never been enticed to read them. It’s a big soap opera in my opinion. But I know there are fans of it. You do your thing. I won’t judge. It’s just not for me. The movie shored Shadow’s story up nicely though. It was easier to follow. Way easier than this paragraph.

Keanu Reeves was very interesting as a sympathetic bad guy. I went into this having no clue he was in this. Man, Keanu is an amazing person. You know he is never pictured with his hands on girls? Look at this:

This film’s side montage focused on Robotnik and that was a VERY good decision. No stupid bride-zilla scene here. So funny. Plus we get double the Jim Carrey. What’s not to like about that?

We do get a brief glimpse of sister-in-law again but it’s brief and honestly kind of amusing this time. It’s a bit toungue-in-cheek as to how they got her into this film but if her character absolutely HAD to be in this film I suppose this was the way to do it.

I really appreciated the evolution of Robotnik’s character and relationship with his sycophantic counterpart. Although the friend seems obsessed with Robotnik to an unhealthy degree, maybe they can help him be less codependent in the next film. Remember, Agent Stone, it’s not about Robotnik and Agent Stone. It’s about Robotnik and it’s about Agent Stone. Hey! Look at that! I actually care about a side character! Way to go Sonic 3! I knew you could get some good writing in there!

Is it just me or do these cgi characters’ eyes look like a really tasty custard?

PS- If you miss ugly Sonic (and, let’s be honest, who doesn’t?) did you know he makes a cameo in the Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers Movie?