Quick Review on “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (2022)
Written by Victor DeBonis
To my great surprise, “Sonic 2” succeeds rather well as a fun video game-based movie. Much of that comes from the great talent voicing the very likable, new animated characters that are introduced into the movie. Ben Schwartz is terrific as before as the titular character, and he delivers both his comedic and heartfelt lines with an enthusiasm that is hard not to enjoy. Between his great voicework as Dewey Duck in the “DuckTales” reboot and his performance here, Schwartz is one of those comedic actors that is not discussed a bunch, but I always enjoy hearing or seeing when he performs in a show or film. Idris Elba is wonderfully cast as Knuckles, and his dark, determined voice and out-of-place outlook on others welcomes several funny moments that greatly come from his reactions. And, Colleen O’Shaughnessey works fantastically as Tails. I’ve heard her voicework elsewhere, such as the character of Sora from the English-dubbed version of “Digimon” and I was just as happy to hear the heart that came from her voice performance here as I did on that show. An innocence and sharpness comes from the voice that she provides for Tails, and I was impressed with the strong bond that came from her character and Sonic’s. The two share a friendship that is not explored in great detail, but I found myself smiling at what made them connect as well as how there was a brotherly bond that made their adventures together all the more enjoyable, especially after seeing some brief yet genuinely emotional moments involving them early on. Honestly, their brotherly bond is one of the things that I’ve enjoyed the most from seeing in a movie this year so far.
While not every comedic line always gets a laugh from me (And, a few can make my eyes roll.), there are a solid number of humorous lines and moments that know how to play with expectations or make you chuckle with how well they devote themselves to that reaction or moment. Jim Carrey, as usual, is a blast to watch in every scene that he’s in. While Dr. Robotnik isn’t a particularly unique villain, Carrey’s physical performance and hilarious vocal reactions to others reminds me why I still smile when I look back at when I was a kid and enjoyed pretty much every movie that he was in at that time partly because he, similar to Robin Williams, was like a cartoon character brought to life. It’s terrific to know that he still has his movement and energy in spades.
The other element that makes this movie good comes from how vast parts of this movie feel similar to what one would experience in a video game in a positive way. Intense fights against “bosses” or enemies and exploration to ancient areas to collect items feel so similar to the types of fun exploration games that one would play on consoles back then and even now to some degree. This movie gives me the impression that the filmmakers wanted to use this sequel as a way of honoring those who like or love the Sonic franchise, whether it was the games or the cartoon or such. It’s not a mind-blowing movie by any means. Again, some of the humorous lines don’t always get a chuckle. The movie can rely on popular culture references a bit too often at some points, and, when a subplot occurs that focuses greatly on the human characters and a wedding, it’s not as interesting and, honestly, not as funny.
However, I was fairly impressed with how much I enjoyed from the rest of the movie. And, this is coming from someone who couldn’t get into the original movie. While I didn’t despise the original film by any means, I couldn’t find myself getting that invested in the predictable narrative regarding James Marsden’s friendship with Sonic and how the movie focused greatly on that (despite Marsden doing well in both movies). In this sequel, the humor landed much better. The action was more fun and strange and closer to what one would find from a game. The animated characters and their connections with each other and reactions brought a strong spirit and heart to the movie.
I honestly haven’t found myself having such a good time viewing a video game-based movie since the 2001 “Tomb Raider” movie. It’s not a family movie that’s on “Pixar Gold-Tier Level” and not everybody will be on board with the live-action cartoon that this movie is. In my eyes, though, it’s a solid live-action cartoon, however, and it had way more effective humor than other movies that I’d seen that attempt such a premise and fail.
I had a pretty good time with this movie. And, above all, it brought me a bunch of joy and made me reflect back to when I was a kid and how I loved watching cartoons, such as the dark “Sonic SatAM” cartoon and some of the media that came from the time as well (I was heavily reminded of “The Mask” when I saw Carrey’s performance in this, for instance. I lost track of how many times that movie was rented and seen as a kid. But, I digress…)
This film may not always maintain its speed, but it runs fairly strong for the track that it has in front of it. This was a good time. I give it a mild B+.
Unrelated side note: The 2018 “Tomb Raider” movie with Alicia Vikander is another solid video-game movie, and I recommend checking that out, too.