Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Year: 2022
Director: Jeff Fowler
Starring: Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Ben Schwartz & Colleen O'Shaughnessey
Runtime: 122 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 07/04/22
Director: Jeff Fowler
Starring: Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Ben Schwartz & Colleen O'Shaughnessey
Runtime: 122 mins
BBFC: PG
Published: 07/04/22
In the 1990’s Sonic the Hedgehog was one of the most recognisable characters in all of gaming. Everyone knew who he was and could square up against the likes of Mario in terms of sheer popularity, a claim that no other gaming character could claim at the time. The 1992 game, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Sega MegaDrive (Genesis for Stateside readers), was the first game I ever played at the tender age of three. The blue blur was all I cared about as a small child and despite never actually finishing the game, I would spend countless hours playing it.
Sonic went through a significant dip in popularity once his infamous ‘3D Era’ began in the late 90’s and the brand has never truly recovered. All hope seemed lost when the 2020 film adaptation was announced with some nightmare inducing character design for Sonic, as well as the generally poor reputation film adaptations of video games have. But surprisingly Sonic the Hedgehog was actually quite fun. It certainly wasn’t incredible by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a half decent family comedy with some good performances and funny jokes. So now that the pressure is actually on and there are expectations to be met, how does Sonic the Hedgehog 2 fare?
Having banished Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and saved the world, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is keen to continue his heroism however he can. Advising him to lay low until his powers are truly needed, Sonic’s human friend Tom (James Marsden) entrusts Sonic to be left alone for a couple of days whilst he and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) attend Maddie’s sister’s wedding.
But when Robotnik joins forces with Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) who seeks the Master Emerald, Sonic, with the help of a double tailed fox named Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), must find the location of the Master Emerald first so that it doesn’t fall into the hands of Robotnik.
Sonic went through a significant dip in popularity once his infamous ‘3D Era’ began in the late 90’s and the brand has never truly recovered. All hope seemed lost when the 2020 film adaptation was announced with some nightmare inducing character design for Sonic, as well as the generally poor reputation film adaptations of video games have. But surprisingly Sonic the Hedgehog was actually quite fun. It certainly wasn’t incredible by any stretch of the imagination, but it was a half decent family comedy with some good performances and funny jokes. So now that the pressure is actually on and there are expectations to be met, how does Sonic the Hedgehog 2 fare?
Having banished Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and saved the world, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is keen to continue his heroism however he can. Advising him to lay low until his powers are truly needed, Sonic’s human friend Tom (James Marsden) entrusts Sonic to be left alone for a couple of days whilst he and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) attend Maddie’s sister’s wedding.
But when Robotnik joins forces with Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba) who seeks the Master Emerald, Sonic, with the help of a double tailed fox named Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), must find the location of the Master Emerald first so that it doesn’t fall into the hands of Robotnik.
The best way I can sum up Sonic 2 is that it was fine. It didn't do anything criminally bad, but it also didn't particularly excel in many areas either. Jim Carrey's performance as Robotnik was once again a highlight, but his jokes were pretty ham fisted and fell flat unlike in the first film. I did like how the story was expanded to accommodate not only Knuckles and Tails, but also the inclusion of the Chaos Emeralds and I feel like the ending puts the series in an interesting place to follow up on, with the post-credits scene in particular introducing my favourite Sonic character who will likely appear proper in Sonic 3.
I do feel like the film had a little bit of Michael Bay's Transformer's syndrome in that it spent so much time on the human characters doing stuff that was really boring or irrelevant that I did sometimes find myself checking out. But this was then helped by having some great action sequences starring Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. For everything the film does right, there's also something it does wrong.
Something I did notice was that the facial animation on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles was a little off, particularly the lip sync. It was a blink, and you’ll miss it kind of moment, but there were a few times where I noticed that lips weren’t moving in time with the speech, or simply weren’t moving at all. I also found that the sound mix was a little too generous with the treble. This could have been a problem isolated to the screening I was in, but I did often find that some of the sound effects were piercingly loud and explosions lacked any significant bass.
Another small gripe I had was that Idis Elba sounded like he was trying to deliver the least-Idris Elba-like performance he possibly could. At times Knuckles sounded like he had a speech impediment because of the voice that Elba was putting on and it didn’t make any sense. I also couldn’t tell if he was trying to do an American accent at times, but then other not…not a bad performance but just very confusing.
I walked out of the first Sonic film thoroughly impressed, but that’s likely because I walked in expecting to hate it. With Sonic 2 however, I walked in expecting to get something of a half decent quality, which is why when I left, I felt kind of indifferent to the film. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time, but the problem is that I remember leaving Sonic 1 feeling elated, but Sonic 2 didn’t give me that and it’s likely because of the expectations I held going in.
Sonic 2 is no better, nor any worse than its predecessor. It’s a typical case of ‘If you like the first one then you’ll like this one’. There’s plenty of fun jokes for the kids, and if you’re a fan of the games like I am then there’s loads of small nods and references to things that’ll be sure to bring a smile to your face.
I do feel like the film had a little bit of Michael Bay's Transformer's syndrome in that it spent so much time on the human characters doing stuff that was really boring or irrelevant that I did sometimes find myself checking out. But this was then helped by having some great action sequences starring Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles. For everything the film does right, there's also something it does wrong.
Something I did notice was that the facial animation on Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles was a little off, particularly the lip sync. It was a blink, and you’ll miss it kind of moment, but there were a few times where I noticed that lips weren’t moving in time with the speech, or simply weren’t moving at all. I also found that the sound mix was a little too generous with the treble. This could have been a problem isolated to the screening I was in, but I did often find that some of the sound effects were piercingly loud and explosions lacked any significant bass.
Another small gripe I had was that Idis Elba sounded like he was trying to deliver the least-Idris Elba-like performance he possibly could. At times Knuckles sounded like he had a speech impediment because of the voice that Elba was putting on and it didn’t make any sense. I also couldn’t tell if he was trying to do an American accent at times, but then other not…not a bad performance but just very confusing.
I walked out of the first Sonic film thoroughly impressed, but that’s likely because I walked in expecting to hate it. With Sonic 2 however, I walked in expecting to get something of a half decent quality, which is why when I left, I felt kind of indifferent to the film. Don’t get me wrong, I had a good time, but the problem is that I remember leaving Sonic 1 feeling elated, but Sonic 2 didn’t give me that and it’s likely because of the expectations I held going in.
Sonic 2 is no better, nor any worse than its predecessor. It’s a typical case of ‘If you like the first one then you’ll like this one’. There’s plenty of fun jokes for the kids, and if you’re a fan of the games like I am then there’s loads of small nods and references to things that’ll be sure to bring a smile to your face.