Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the sequel to the surprisingly fun 2020 film based off of the long running and hit and miss video game series and this time Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is keen to prove his worth to his new home world of Earth much to the disappointment of his sheriff father (James Marsden) but his old foe Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has found his way back to Earth and this time with a new ally Knuckles (Idris Elba) but Sonic may soon have a new ally of his own in the form of Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) as both parties seek to find the lost Master Emerald which can wield great power but also be a deadly weapon in the wrong hands.
I was very keen for this Sonic sequel as I was very surprisingly taken by the 2020 film (one of the last to be released before the dark times, before the Coronavirus pandemic) it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and in large part that was due to Schwartz and Carrey performing their roles to great effect and this time Idris Elba was in the cast as Knuckles and it gave me hope that this sequel could deliver the goods and we would have a new quality family film franchise after the Paddington and Despicable Me films.
And boy does this sequel deliver the goods but while I don’t think its better than the first film I do think it is as good and this time the filmmakers know what it is they have, a likeable hero in Sonic and a great fun villain in Robotnik and both Schwartz and Carrey again step up to the plate and deliver good performances in their roles though Carrey I felt took a little bit more of a backseat this time and I think the film suffers a little bit because of that.
But instead we get Tails and Knuckles as the new main characters and they do not disappoint, Tails and Sonic have a very good chemistry together and make for a likeable pair of heroes as they hunt down the Master Emerald but like all good heroes they need great villains to lift them up and both Carrey and Elba make for a great pair of those and while their storyline feels a little predictable Elba makes for a great Knuckles and his fight scenes with Sonic are a delight and it made me hopeful somewhat for a proper live action Dragon Ball movie one day.
As for the fight scenes well this has to be the best third act I’ve seen in a movie like this in a long time as the film wisely saves a big chunk of its action beats for this part of the film and it really delivers the goods and makes great use of the characters good and bad plus there are a couple of big references that long time fans will love.
But aside from the back seating of Robotnik the film is also a little too long, it runs only a minute or two over 2 hours and that length is felt especially during a middle section of the film in Hawaii that for me really ground the film to a halt for a comedy segment that felt very out of place and made some kids in my session a little restless but the rest of the film more than makes up for this I feel.
And so that was Sonic 2 and this is one sequel that does not disappointment and establishes this franchise as a quality one for family audiences as well as big kid hearted adults I sincerely hope Paramount keeps this same team around for one last run that brings in Shadow and Metal Sonic as that would make a fantastic trilogy of films, 4 out of 5.
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