The colorful SEGA spiny mammals are back and fully charged!
If there’s one thing the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog films have shown, it’s that Jim Carrey is sorely missed as a regular on-screen presence. His performance in 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog was, not so arguably, the best part of the film and without it the film would’ve been easily dismissed. The sequel, coming out only two years after the first, is a rare instance of more-is-better working for a franchise. Carrey remains the main draw, and he once again delivers the manic goods. Two new colorful iconic characters from the SEGA game’s universe, Tails and Knuckles, are fun additions. Unsurprisingly, the addition of extended plotlines surrounding minor side characters isn’t as fun. Like a broken record, I’ll once again say that movies are too long these days. Sonic 2 is twenty minutes too long (23 minutes longer than the first movie). Despite some extraneous tangents, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 doubles down on the jokes, the action, and the energy.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is directed by Jeff Fowler, who also helmed the first Sonic movie. The sequel’s story continues a short time after the events of the first film, with Sonic (Ben Schwartz) living secretly in the small town of Green Hills, Montana, with local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his wife Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). The quaintness doesn’t suit Sonic, however, as he ventures off secretly into the world to prevent crime in big cities, mostly making bad situations worse. Thus the theme of this film is presented to us: with great power comes great responsibility. Wait, that’s not it, but it’s super close to that. Meanwhile, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) is marooned in the Mushroom World (that’s only confusing if you didn’t see the end of the previous film) and manages to escape back to Earth by partnering up with another interdimensional worlds-traveler, a muscular red echidna named Knuckles (Idris Elba). The villainous duo aims to find a legendary emerald that contains ultimate power. Lastly, there’s Tails, an adorable two-tailed gadget-inventing fox (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), who pops onto Earth, also via interdimensional ring portal, to pass important information about the emerald to Sonic. It sounds like a mess of characters and motivations, but it’s easy enough to follow as it unfolds.
The teamup of Robotnik and Knuckles is the highlight, with Carrey’s manic elasticity humorously playing against Elba’s stoic quips. A few Knuckles moments are genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. Lee Majdoub and Adam Pally also return as Dr. Robotnik’s assistant, Agent Stone, and Green Hills cop, Wade, respectively. Both characters get a reasonable amount of cut-to sight gags and help the audience take a break from large action set pieces. Natasha Rothwell also returns as Rachel, Maddie’s disapproving sister. She’s hysterical in small bits, but then the movie decides to return to her for a few extended scenes to put a bow on a couple loose plot threads that would’ve otherwise been easily forgotten. The original sin of the filmmakers was taking too much focus off of the main draw…
… the battle of Sonic and Tails versus Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles. The action set pieces are dynamically choreographed and the visual effects are marvelous (even an abundance of explosions can be family-friendly!). Sure, Sonic’s motormouth can get annoying, and the film’s message is a bit twee, but hey, we can’t expect all kids’ films to cater heavily towards adults. I, for one, am excited that the adventures of Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles will continue… and welcome any project in which Carrey gets to perform.
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Sonic the Hedgehog 2 opens today in Bay Area theaters.
