Sonic the Hedgehog 2 – Film Review

After settling in Green Hills, Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz) is eager to prove that he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) returns with a new partner, Knuckles (voice of Idris Elba), in search of a mystical emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails (voice of Colleen O’Shaugnessy), and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.

Video game movies have a universal reputation for being almost entirely terrible. It’s seriously next to impossible to find one that’s not a complete heaping dumpster fire. Of course, there are some exceptions to the rule such as 2018’s Tomb Raider and the most recent Uncharted movie, but the vast majority of these adaptations leave a less than savoury taste in the mouth of whose who hold the source material near and dear to their heart.

But when Jeff Fowler‘s Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 2020, many viewers were impressed to see that the filmmaking team genuinely put quite a bit of care and passion into the project, wanting to make a movie that would satisfy both the most hardcore Sonic fans and casual moviegoers alike. Of course, the film was certainly not without its problems, but it was nevertheless an entertaining and funny family film with some valuable lessons for the youngsters to learn.

Fast forward two years later and now we have Sonic the Hedgehog 2 from the same creative team behind the first film. I mention that because it genuinely feels like this movie has a whole new team of writers and not in a good way. This sequel is firstly painfully long, quite boring at times, and way too overstuffed with content to the point where I legitimately felt like my head was going to explode by the time I walked out of the theatre.

It’s honestly great to see just how much of a love the filmmakers have for the character and his lore (seriously, if you’re a hardcore Sonic fan, this will probably be your Avengers: Endgame), but I just couldn’t help but feel as if there were way too many things crammed into this already extremely long movie. This movie had no reason to be two hours and two minutes long. Before going to the theatre, I was hoping that the runtime would breeze by me and the film’s pacing would feel smooth and fluent, but that sadly was not the case.

There was one scene, in particular, that seemed like it could’ve served as the ending, but the film continues for about another thirty minutes, culminating in one of the goofiest, over-the-top final acts I have ever seen in my life. But despite how silly it all was, I do have to show some respect to the creative team for not holding anything back. They seriously went for it. Did everything land? Absolutely not. A lot of it fell right on its head, but it’s still highly admirable.

Once again, just like the first film that came before it, the best aspect in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Carrey is having the time of his life in this role and it’s extremely evident. Just watching him dance around and embody the mustache-stroking villain is a huge delight to see.

But also great here is Ben Schwartz as the voice of the titular character. He injects so much charisma and energy into the role to the point where it’s nearly impossible not to appreciate it, even if you don’t end up liking the movie as a whole. Idris Elba also joins the voice cast this time around as Knuckles, and he is… okay.

At times, he sounds like the perfect choice for this character, but other times, he sounds like he’s really trying way too hard. Meanwhile, Colleen O’Shaughnessy as the voice of Tails is fantastic, reprising her voice role from the video game series.

All in all, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 massively disappointed me. If your youngster is interested, they’ll probably have an absolute blast, but anybody over the age of ten is more than likely going to find this film insufferable.