Rent Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

Should I be impressed by Sonic? I mean, I grew up during the character’s genesis (I know the pun, shut up) and when his popularity was quite high as the flagship video game of Sega. I got the references in this sequel as well as the characters, iconography, and music. But what good is all that when I’m presented with such a lukewarm adventure? Maybe if I had this film when I was a kid I would’ve loved it. I’m sure plenty of kids will dig this kind of movie as well.

At the very least, this sequel is more bearable than the previous Sonic movie. It helps that the alien Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) has more of a compelling arc about learning to take responsibility. The previous film showcased him running around a city while the evil Doctor Robotnik fired missiles at cars and buildings. That type of collateral damage doesn’t fly this time around. Sonic is scolded by his human roommate Tom (James Marsden) that Sonic has some growing up to do. That’s a great message for kids even if it’s delivered without much subtlety. Which is fair; it’s for kids and the last thing you want is a misinterpreted message all the adverts for Oreos and the Four Seasons polluting this picture.

Doctor Robotnik, once more played by Jim Carrey in all his hammed-up glory, returns from his banishment to a mushroom planet. He attracts the attention of the evil echidna Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and they form an alliance to both defeat Sonic and find the mysterious Chaos Emerald with all its powers. While Robotnik only wants total domination for his major ego, Knuckles is bound by revenge that could easily turn him into an ally. Knuckles is also far more fun to watch as the most fish-out-of-water character in this entire adventure of ring portals and magical emeralds.

I say that only because Sonic’s first ally of the newly-added Tails, a fox who can fly with his two tails, is such a bore. He’s present as that eager Sonic fan who does little more than show up to throw out some treasure-hunting exposition and gush about how cool Sonic is. Yep, nothing makes your central character more fun than telling the audience how fun he is supposed to be, remarking at Sonic’s many zingers with “classic Sonic.” But, wait, hold up, didn’t Tails just meet Sonic in this movie before he made this joke? How long has he known Sonic like this? Has he been spying on him this whole time? Whatever, he’s an audience surrogate anyway.

The adventure proceeds pretty much by the book, complete with witty one-liners that are at least updated by more than a decade compared to the last movie. There’s a temple here, a death-trap maze there, and a grand showdown with Robotnik’s giant robot. In one of the weirdest asides, Sonic crashes a wedding that reveals a baffling ambush by the American military and then leads into a much different action picture of a pissed-off bride on her wedding day. I dunno what made the filmmakers want to go this route aside from Natasha Rothwell absolutely taking over this portion of this picture. Thank goodness she does as she’s a lot more fun to watch than Sonic snowboarding down a mountain while fleeing robots. Give me Natasha slamming an electric cart into speakers while guzzling a bottle of champagne over that CGI blandness!

Sonic 2 is an okay film for the family at least. There’s a better character dynamic, the gags have improved a bit, and the acting still has plenty of energy. Sonic fans will gravitate towards this movie regardless, if for nothing else than the big cheer they can let out in the mid-credit scene when another character from the franchise is revealed for the inevitable sequel. I wasn’t exactly bored with such a picture but I kept waiting for it veers out of the passable territory and into something more genuinely thrilling than bog-standard. Maybe I’m seeking too much out of a film with a blue hedgehog finding an emerald but I grew up with this guy and he kinda just stayed the same, creating the effect of catching up with that one guy you knew from high school, still working at the gas station. One would hope there were more than just chili dogs and simplistic quips since those days.