Sonic 2 is a family-friendly speedrun through the franchise’s awkward phase

theverge.com:

Short of simply never even trying to make sequels, studios have no guaranteed way of keeping their cinematic franchises from sinking into sophomore slumps like director Jeff Fowler’s Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Taking ambitious chances on fresh ideas the way Sonic 2 does is an important part of how these kinds of ongoing narratives are able to evolve, though. And while the new movie is far from perfect, its flaws all play like the growing pains of a project that’s well on its way to becoming genuinely interesting.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 presumes that you remember most of the beats of its 2020 predecessor. But the movie more or less works as a standalone as it reintroduces a now-bald and markedly more chaotic Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who’s become obsessed with destroying Sonic (Ben Schwartz) after their last battle. Unlike Sonic — an alien who ended up finding his chosen family in Green Hills sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his veterinarian wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) — Robotnik was ripped away from his only real friend, Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub). He was then marooned on a distant planet inhabited by nothing but mushrooms. Though Robotnik tells himself that his desire for revenge is what pushes him to survive and keep building things in his solitary kingdom of mushrooms, Sonic 2 makes clear that his loneliness is also a key factor — not just in this situation but also as part of who the mad scientist is.

Sonic 2 does make a go at peppering its plot and characterizations with a bit more substance than the first film. Because it’s squarely aimed at a much younger audience than the diehard adult Sonic fans who are also going to see it, its attention to fine details is quickly put aside to make room for an excess of