Review: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a much better movie than the first
As family-friendly video game movie adaptations go, 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog was better than most, but there was certainly plenty of room for improvement.
Despite its mostly forgettable plot, Ben Schwartz’s performance as the energetic hedgehog, coupled with Jim Carrey’s most enjoyable on-screen slapstick in years, made for mostly entertaining viewing for both fans and newcomers.
It’s when Sonic and Robotnik weren’t on screen that the movie fell flat, as the rest of the human cast ultimately failed to carry the humour and excitement generated by the hero and villain. The movie’s premise, which saw Sonic transported to the planet Earth, also felt disappointingly disconnected from the beloved Sega video games, and relied too much on the family movie tropes of an alien protagonist discovering mankind’s mundane world.
Thankfully, it’s these issues that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 solves best. Sonic’s surrogate father, played by James Marsden, still occupies a mostly filler role in the sequel, but strong additions to the CGI cast mean the movie is far less reliant on Sonic and his nemesis to keep viewers entertained, and feels more in tune with the video games on which it’s based.
Knuckles and Tails not only feel totally faithful to what fans would expect from their game appearances – the latter is even voiced by the same actor – but the characters inject a surprising amount of humour and heart into the storytelling. Combined with another pleasingly unhinged performance from Carrey, and bigger and more visually pleasing action set pieces exhibiting Sonic’s speed, Sonic 2 is elevated clearly above its predecessor, even if it’s not perfect.
Following the events of the first movie, Carrey’s Robotnik manages to return to Earth after a
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