‘Knuckles’ Review: ‘Sonic’ Spin-off Drops All of Its Rings

The Big Picture

• Paramount+
  Knuckles
  shines when the titular character is pushed out of his comfort zone, and actor Idris Elba excels when given more to do.


• The villains' thin motivations, as well as an increasing focus on human characters, make Knuckles feel like a guest star in his own show.


• 
  Knuckles
  ' action sequences and comedy moments shine, but the series may have been served better as a movie.

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of the biggest video game mascots in the world. After two successful movies and a third on the way, a spin-off was always bound to happen. After all, when you have a talent like Idris Elba, giving him his own project only makes sense, and that’s where Knuckles comes in. The Paramount+ exclusive follows our favorite red Echidna after the events of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and sees him go on an adventure with the Sheriff's Deputy, Wade Whipple (Adam Pally), who becomes Knuckles' student. The series promised an action-packed six-episode event where Knuckles must fight off new threats hellbent on stealing his power. However, we’re left with a series that feels like it wants very little to do with its furry protagonist and instead opts to focus on Wade and a new group of human characters that we are forced to care about.

Knuckles

Knuckles the Echidna teaches deputy Wade Whipple the techniques of the Echidna warrior.

Release Date

April 26, 2024

Cast

Idris Elba , Adam Pally , Jaimi Barbakoff , Alice Wren Tregonning , Tony Coughlan , Colleen O'Shaughnessey , Daniel Singh , Alfredo Tavares

Seasons

1

What is ‘Knuckles’ About?

Doctor Robotnik has been defeated, and now Knuckles, Tails, and Sonic live together with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). Knuckles, of course, is a fierce warrior, so suburban life means very little after saving the world. His duty is to be vigilant and so, after guidance from Pachacamac (Christopher Lloyd), he offers to train Wade Whipple, who desperately needs a confidence boost ahead of a major bowling tournament.

The first episode kicks off with a bang. The dynamic between Sonic and Knuckles is as entertaining as ever, and the clashes between Knuckles and Maddie are a riot as he struggles to let go of his warrior instincts. Even when we’re reintroduced to Wade, he and Knuckles form a genuinely funny duo. Elba's portrayal of Knuckles as a stoic hero who takes life a bit too seriously pairs perfectly with Pally's Wade who is constantly trying to prove himself. The series shines when the rest of the cast pushes Knuckles out of his comfort zone, and he begins to embrace human culture, while Wade must find his inner warrior. Unfortunately, as the series continues, the focus shifts entirely from Knuckles to Wade. It gets to a point where it becomes a glaring problem, and ultimately, the series suffers from not having enough of the titular character.

‘Knuckles’ Forgets Who We Are Here to See

Without diving too deep into spoiler territory, we learn much more about Wade’s family and the childhood trauma he’s forced to confront throughout the story. This should work, theoretically, because Knuckles would be the audience’s stand-in as he learns about Wade’s past. However, Knuckles rarely even plays the role of spectator and is often left behind altogether. Instead, we see Wade attempt to foil a villain’s evil scheme, star in a musical number, and a family reunion gone wrong. These moments can be fun, and Pally is a strong enough actor to make it work. Yet you can feel Knuckles' presence missing throughout.

The series mostly splits time between Wade’s journey and our main villains, Agent Mason (Scott Mescudi, a.k.a. Kid Cudi) and Agent Willoughby (Ellie Taylor). The two need to capture Knuckles so their buyer can harvest his power and create powerful weapons. If this sounds similar to the plot of the previous Sonic films, that’s because it is. Much like Pally —Mescudi and Taylor do well with what they have to work with, but their motivations are so thin that they never really feel like a threat, and you can quickly lose interest.

With that said, the series does manage to be a funny buddy comedy when Knuckles is given something to do. Knuckles’ action sequences rival those from Sonic the Hedgehog in scale. There are moments when the CGI can be a bit strange, but it’s rarely noticeable. The series also does okay with family drama between Wade, his sister Wanda (Edi Patterson), his mother Wendy (Stockard Channing), and his father Pete (Cary Elwes), but overstays its welcome towards the end of the series. There are makings of a solid sitcom here, but it just never comes together enough to leave you satisfied.

‘Knuckles’ Might’ve Been Best Served as a Movie

Image via Paramount

Looking at what works best in the series — the buddy road trip between Wade and Knuckles, the action sequences, and the family drama — a slimmed-down version of this series might have saved this story. Instead of massive lapses without Knuckles and various side quests with Wade, cutting this down to a solid two-hour film likely could’ve retained the best parts of the show and cut down on all the unnecessary downtime.

Knuckles is very much a mixed bag. Sometimes, it feels like the Sonic films, with its use of larger-than-life characters in a real-world setting, but it loses focus to the point where Knuckles feels like a guest star in his own series. The cost of making an entirely CGI character for six episodes is expensive so that likely affected when and where Knuckles was used, but that means the episode count should've been scaled down or the project should have been changed from a series format. Instead, we get a series that fails to understand why we're here, leaving us wanting and becoming a pretty forgettable experience overall. Yes, there are some great moments — like the final fight or the witty banter — but the rest of Knuckles is lacking, and the show could’ve been so much more.

Knuckles

Knuckles, the new Sonic the Hedgehog series spin-off from Paramount+, may have been better served as a movie.

Pros

• The series is at its best when Idris Elba's Knuckles is pushed out of his comfort zone.
• The show manages to be a funny buddy comedy when Knuckles is given more to do.
• Knuckles does boast some impressive action sequences.

Cons

• The show suffers most by putting the focus on its human characters over Knuckles.
• The villains' motivations are so thin that their presence rarely feels threatening.
• Great moments are overshadowed by a series that ultimately feels like it could've been more.

Knuckles premieres exclusively on Paramount+ on April 26.

Watch on Paramount+