Miss Flicks

Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Film Review

I had such low expectations for the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie that I didn’t even bother seeing it at the cinema in 2020 and instead caught up with it at home in the early months of the pandemic. I was pleasantly surprised by it and it set a bar that the sequel has not been able to meet.

Set after the events of the first film, our speedy blue hedgehog Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) now sees himself as a superhero who can fight crime like Batman but he just leaves destruction in his wake. He assures his (human) parents Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) that he’ll be able to hold down the fort in Green Hills while they attend a wedding in Hawaii – but little does he know Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has returned from the Mushroom Planet. He wants revenge on Sonic so he teams up with Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Idris Elba) to defeat him and find the Master Emerald, which can give its owner unlimited power.

This follow-up falls into the classic sequel trap of going bigger – but bigger doesn’t always equal better. The world expands outside of Green Hills and has scenes set in Seattle, Siberia and Hawaii; there are more video game characters (Tails is in here too!), and the finale is a big explosive showdown. There is also a bizarre sequence that doesn’t revolve around Sonic and focuses on Maddie’s sister Rachel (Natasha Rothwell)’s wedding going to s**t. Rothwell was hilarious and really sold the scene but the film definitely went off on a tangent there.

I really liked the first hour of this sequel – it was funny and entertaining and I enjoyed Sonic’s sarcastic Deadpool-style quips, the soundtrack, the pop culture references and the nods to Risky Business and Raiders of the Lost Ark. But at some point, the fun started to wear off. The zany zingers got annoying, the thin plot became more obvious and the momentum lagged. I really started to feel the lengthy runtime – 122 minutes for this movie is so unnecessary. Also, the script isn’t the strongest, Marsden and Sumpter have barely anything to do, and there were a few shots where Sonic looked slightly fuzzy as if his animation wasn’t fully complete.

Carrey is well-known for playing larger-than-life characters like The Grinch, The Riddler and The Mask so he’s in his element with Robotnik. He throws his all into the role and goes above and beyond with his facial expressions, line delivery and physical comedy. Schwartz is once again well cast as the wise-cracking lead, Colleen O’Shaughnessey brought a sweet touch to Tails (who she previously voiced in the games) and Elba offered a suitably angry and fed up Knuckles with his signature deep vocals.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 feels like a bit of a rush job and it’s not as fun as the first but there’s still enough in it to keep children entertained.

In cinemas from Friday 1st April