RECENT WATCHES: Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

As a kid, I always hoped a “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie would get made. It’s a franchise I’ve been obsessed with since I was tiny. I’ve spent more hours than I could count reading the comics, watching the cartoons, and playing the video games. Naturally, the “Sonic” movies I’ve imagined in my head over the years were steeped in the obscure lore of the franchise’s further reaches. When a “Sonic” was actually made, it was instead a fairly grounded and basic kids movie. But I still liked it, as it exceeded my low expectations. Now, two years later, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” has been made. The sequel brought Tails and Knuckles, Sonic’s most popular companions, to the big screen. With them, it seemed the movie series was digging more into the parts of the “Sonic” series that I really love. 

Since the end of the first film, Sonic has continued to live in Green Hills, Montana. At night, he sneaks out and uses his super speed to fight crime, to mixed results. After being left alone at home, while Tom and Maddie are on vacation, Sonic gets a real chance to test his mettle. Dr. Robotnik has returned, escaping the mushroom world he was stranded on last time. And he has a partner. Knuckles the Echidna is a proud warrior with the same sort of powers as Sonic, determined to settle a centuries old rivalry between tribes. When Tails — a young fox also from Sonic’s world — arrives, a race is soon on. Robotnik is after the Master Emerald, a legendary relic that can grant incredible powers to whoever wields it. Sonic and Tails want to make sure he doesn’t succeed, soon pulling the gullible Knuckles along with them. 

As I said before, a movie with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles in it is something I’ve been dreaming about almost literally my entire life. The first movie managed to surprise me because I expected it to be an atrocity. A lot more was riding on this sequel, for me personally. Too much, I think. Throughout this motion picture, I had to repeatedly remind myself that this movie isn’t for me. This isn’t the “Sonic” I would write. This is a breezy flick for kids to enjoy and their parents not to be too annoyed by. There are fart jokes. There are easily understood pop culture references, via Ben Schwartz’ constantly quipping Sonic. There is an extended dance number set to a top twenty pop hit, a sequence that felt especially gratuitous to me. These are not things I, personally, want to see in a “Sonic” movie. I don’t necessarily hate their inclusion. Schwartz is funny and the dance scene has a couple laughs. But moments such as these definitely had me second-guessing whether I was having a really good time or not, 

Then again, “Sonic 2” shouldn’t be measured against the half-mad imaginings of a life-long “Sonic” nerd. This is both a video game adaptation and a kids’ flick about a cuddly, sarcastic CGI animal. By those metrics, “Sonic 2” succeeds by just being fairly narratively coherent and having actual character arcs for its protagonist. In the first movie, Sonic was just trying to find his place in this mixed-up, crazy world, learning along the way that his friends are who he fights for. In the sequel, the hedgehog is learning to be a superhero responsibility. The opening, mad cap chase scene, where Sonic foils a high speed pursuit, wrecks as much chaos as it mends. All throughout the film, Sonic is waiting for the moment to prove himself. Considering the cinematic Sonic is more of an impulsive kid than any other version, this is a strong arc to graft to him. 

The first film mined a lot of cuteness, and even something like pathos, out of Movie Sonic’s status as a lonely kid. The sequel expands on that some. Sonic’s not so lonely now, as he’s got a home, substitute dad and mom, and even a suitably cute dog. Yet he’s still in search of some peers his own age, other cartoon animals he can relate to. Naturally, Tails and Knuckles provide just that. The sequel provides the inevitable cheer moment, when the Sega-created trio stand together as heroes. And, yeah, I internally cheered for that too. Yet the scenes of Sonic acting as a mentor to Tails or a friend to Knuckles are almost more satisfying. Our little blue son is growing up and watching that happen is pretty sweet.

And what of those beloved “Sonic” cast members that are now movie stars? How does the film handle Miles “Tails” Prower? Pretty well, I’m happy to say. His backstory is different, owing to the changes the movies have made to established “Sonic” lore. His personality is intact though. Tails is still the flying, boy genius able to invent almost anything the ridiculous plot requires. Despite his superhuman skills, he still doesn’t believe in himself much and looks up to Sonic as a big brother figure. The two CGI critters have an amusing chemistry together and it leads to more than one simply adorable moment. With regular Tails voiceover actress Colleen O'Shaughnessey returning to the role, it really does feel like Tails stepped right out of the cartoon or games. 

Knuckles, meanwhile, got the celebrity voiceover upgrade, with Idris Elba playing the echidna. Elba mostly does a decent job, though he sounds a little bored or out-of-his-element sometimes. He's still a physical rival to Sonic, imbued with similar (and still unexplained) powers to the movie-verse's hedgehog. He's also pretty gullible, which the screenwriters have turned into an overly literal mindset that reminded me a lot of Dave Bautista's Drax the Destroyer. Like that Marvel superhero, Knuckles is a proud warrior guy hyper-focused on his goal that eventually is accepted into the hero's improvised family. It's a transition that happens perhaps a little too quickly, over the course of about two scenes, but I was mostly pretty satisfied with how Knuckles was handled. 

Different as their backstories may be, I think "Sonic 2" mostly does right by its characters. The biggest issue facing the "Sonic" sequel, and maybe the entire film series going forward, is one of tonal identity. The first movie fit comfortably into the "live-action kids comedy starring a CGI cartoon character" genre, albeit with bigger action set-pieces and more callbacks to the source material. The second film is torn between this tone, heavy on the comedy and superfluous subplots starring fleshy humans, and something more akin to the aforementioned Marvel movies. "Sonic 2" devising its own mythology, separate from the games and comics. (And quite different, in a way that didn't entirely sit well with the pedantic nerd side of me.) The film's backstory is full of eons-old rivalries between warring factions, trying to control a massive source of power that change the nature of reality. We even get a fairly epic exposition dump, brought to life through stunning traditional animation. As "Sonic 2" goes on, the stakes get higher... Yet the film still seems reluctant to leave its small town setting behind, making sure the world-endangering theatrics never feel too severe. At some point, the people who make these movies are going to have to decide if "Sonic" is a goofy comedy, akin to "Alvin and the Chipmunks" or "The Smurfs," or if they're Paramount's attempt to forge their own universe of epic superhero movies. 

This uncomfortable divide is most apparent in the role the film's live action cast plays. James Marsden's Tom is ported off to Hawaii for most of the movie, which you would think would be an excuse to remove this largely superfluous character from a story that doesn't need him. But you don't pay a sort-of movie star like Marsden the big bucks and not use him. So Tom and his wife Maddie weave their way back into the story eventually. Okay, I guess it's possible someone out there was invested in the trials and tribulations of Doughnut Lord and Pretzel Lady. This doesn't explain why a lengthy chunk of the movie, halfway into its two hour run time, is devoted to Maddie's sister being angry at her fiancée and going on a BrideZilla rampage. It's agonizing, as if “Sonic 2” randomly switched reels with “Diary of a Mad Black Woman” for several minutes. Why is precious screen time in a Sonic movie devoted to the comic relief antics of a boisterous bride? 

This is not the only unnecessary, and frankly annoying, digression involving the live action cast. Tom's dim-witted deputy Wade gets far too much screen time, another symptom of the sequel's refusal to expand pass Green Hills for long stretches of the story. But one cast member at least does the extra leg-work. Jim Carrey, sporting Robotnik's traditional bald head and giant mustache this time, hams it up to his usually extreme levels. While you can debate how accurate a Robotnik that makes him, it's absolutely entertaining to watch. Carrey makes sure there's never much of a wait between funny moments, gratuitously stretching and contorting his face and body in a gloriously ridiculous fashion. My favorite moments is when he mimes playing his leg as a guitar or his liberal application of the phrase “hater.” The movie also smartly brings Lee Majdoub back as Agent Stone, Robotnik's loyal henchman. He has several cute scenes with Carrey that will make the shippers loose their minds. 

A lot of the complaints I've had here won't matter to most people. For the most part, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is an entertaining mixture of humor and action sequences. I still don't know if Jeff Fowler has much of a visual eye as a director, as most of the movie is pretty pedestrian looking. However, he is good at engineering a decent action scene. A snowboarding sequence down a mountain side escalates nicely. When Sonic and Knuckles finally fight it out, it's a well done confrontation. One of my favorite scenes in the film has Sonic overcoming his fear of water. The last act definitely sets out to top the original's finale, in terms of special effects and collateral damage, and I would say it succeeds. Ultimately, “Sonic 2” is at its best when skillfully integrating elements from the original games into its silly plot. An extended set piece in the second half directly references the most difficult stage from the original game, with explicit shout-outs to many of the level's elements. I really enjoyed that.

By the way, the theater I saw the movie in was packed. There were many children present, all of whom were very into the film. While exiting the theater afterwards, I saw at least one little boy in “Sonic” shirt with matching red and white shoes. There is a part of me that's definitely pleased, and maybe even touched, to see that this dumb-ass franchise I love for some reason has already endeared itself to the next generation. And that almost makes the fact that “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” left me slightly disappointed, if still mostly entertained, all besides the point. This series is set to continue and I think it's entirely possible that, someday, it will mutate into a version of “Sonic” I'm really fond of. For now, I'll just admit that I hoped part two would be a little more impressive than it proved to be, while also mostly enjoying it. [7/10]