Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Movie Review

Sonic The Hedgehog 2: Film Review

Cast: Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Idris Elba, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Tika Sumpter

Director: Jeff Fowler

The little blue blur is back again with the sequel to the 2020 video game adaptation, that seemingly levels up enough in parts to make a third outing appear more than likely.

This time, when Sonic's carers Tom and Maddie (Marsden and Sumpter) head to Hawai'i for a family wedding, Sonic thinks it's time to kick back and cause a bit of mayhem.

However, before he knows it, Jim Carrey's Dr Robotnik manages to find his way back from the planet he was marooned on and teams up with Idris Elba's Knuckles, a furry warrior hellbent on finding the Master Emerald that's on Earth - and defeating Sonic, his sworn enemy.

A case of simply doing exactly what it says on the tin, Sonic 2's penchant for pop culture moments and anarchy is obvious from the get go. Once again Carrey rules the roost with a performance that lapses into terrible puns and OTT gurning that you'd almost think Ace Ventura had returned to the cinema - but there's a manic menace here that makes a returning villain less of a chore than perhaps you'd expect.

Adding to the mix is Idris Elba's Knuckles, a dead-straight arrow whose oneliners are amusing because of their mangling of language and quotability. He's a strong addition to the cast (which is probably a good thing given he's likely to be getting his own spinoff) but not a distraction from proceedings.

Clocking in at a somewhat cumbersome two hours, Sonic 2 struggles in its final act, as it becomes a rote blur of showdowns, CGI destruction and loud gun mayhem - perfect for its target audience of youngsters, already hyped on the sugary elements of the CGI on show, but feeling awfully familiar to the older end of the audience, whose blockbuster experiences all seem to blur into one when it comes to conclusions.

Thankfully, moments like Sonic referring to Knuckles as "Winter soldier" and odd quips here and there, the film's just in the ledger of enjoyable enough, without seeming like it's trying too hard with its Lord of the Rings' style quest for a missing emerald, and the Samwise-Frodo style relationship of Tails and Sonic.

What Fowler manages to do here is deepen the Sonic mythology without feeling like the whole thing has become a desperate cash bolt-on following the success of the first movie. If you're into the Sonic lore, this hits every moment it should and does so without any sense of shame.

Ultimately, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a sequel that builds on the first, and which offers perfectly adequate and amusing family fare for the upcoming holidays. It may not be the superlative sequel you were looking for, and it may revel a little too much in its superhero trappings, but it's worth taking a spin on.