I didn’t think it was that long ago, but it turns out to be over two years since I went to the cinema with Dani to watch Sonic The Hedgehog. February 2020 in fact – click here for that film review. Now that is a bit scary. Anyway the sequel – cleverly called Sonic The Hedgehog 2 – is out in the cinemas here in Australia and naturally we went to see it. Here is our review…
The Plot (etc…)
It helps ( a bit) if you saw the first Sonic movie but probably helps even more if you are familiar with the characters in the Sonic video games. Both Dani and myself ticked both boxes. Myself just (on the video game stuff).
It basically picks up where the first movie left off.
Dr. Robotnic (aka Eggman) – again manically played to perfection by the one and only, kooky Jim Carrey – is marooned on some distant mushroom planet living a miserable existence. Meanwhile Sonic the lovable blue-spined hedgehog is loving his new found home in Green Hills on planet Earth.
Suddenly one of those golden ring portals opens up and several alien baddies enter Robotnic’s otherwise lonely place. He manages to beat them off with some of his clever traps and realises he can jump back through the portal. Until that is, a large shadow appears. Enter Knuckles the echidna. Yes, an echidna. For anyone not familiar with Australian wildlife that’s basically an Aussie version of a hedgehog. Possibly bigger but typically (or oddly) Australian as in it is an egg laying mammal (the only other such creature being the platypus). Anyway the natural history guide is not too important as Knuckles is a similar creature to Sonic. As in, he possesses great video-game-like powers. Most notably huge fists that he uses to batter any opposition. Knuckles is a bit like Thor in the Marvel movie when he first comes to Earth. A combination of simplistic opinions and naivety. Perfect for Dr. Robotnic to manipulate and take advantage of eh? Well, yes. That is a big part of the story.
Initially Knuckles is fooled by the Dr. into helping him escape from the mushroom planet and back to Earth. In return Robotnic agrees to help Knuckles capture Sonic and use him to find ‘The Master Emerald’. This is an ancient powerful emerald that the echidna tribe had long searched for and the one who holds it is able to create things merely by thought. But the emerald was considered too powerful to be allowed into the hands of any tribe. It had therefore been hidden from all alien creatures by the Owl that was Sonic’s old friend and mentor (in the first Sonic movie). Something like that anyway. I kind of zoned out a bit at that point in the movie…
Dani was quick to point out that in the video games Sonic and Knuckles are mates. Probably common knowledge eh? In that case it’s no spoiler alert to say that by the end of the movie they join forces to beat the villainous Robotnic.
Other Things…
A third alien animal enters the script in the form of a two tailed fox called Tails (yeah I know). He has a host of useful gadgets & inventions and has been using one of these inventions to watch Sonic from across the galaxy, for some time and with great admiration. He has come to Earth to help his hero, Sonic. What a coincidence eh? Oh, and by the way, Tails can fly by rotating his twin tails, a bit like a helicopter.
The rest of the movie is basically Sonic and Tails trying their best to find the Master Emerald before Robotnic and Knuckles. It roles along at a decent pace and there are some interesting video game style moments. (Or ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ moments if you haven’t seen the video games.)
The finale sees the three video game creatures using their combined powers and skills to outfox and defeat the evil Dr. That much you can see coming from at least half-way through the film. It wouldn’t be fair to say much more than that. Watch the movie…
Then instead of one alien creature, the Green Hills town sheriff and his wife (played by the same actors as in Sonic 1) now have three in their “family”. And they all live happily ever after. Or do they?…
Right at the end the FBI officer is told that before Robotnic was defeated he managed to open up some 50 year old FBI file called “Project Shadow” and (perhaps even more fortuitously) released the character that had been created. One known – to all Sega video gamers – as Shadow Sonic. The last thing we see is a capsule containing a black-and-red hedgehog opening up…
So basically, it looks like Sonic 3 will be in cinemas in a year or two. We shall see…
Critique
It’s simple really. It is exactly what you would expect it to be. Just like the first Sonic movie this is an easy and enjoyable watch to anyone who likes the video game and/or Jim Carrey. A good fun action packed family movie. The only negative point (for me, although Dani mentioned it too) was there were far too much reliance on CGI graphics etc… But then a movie about alien video game animals that can talk and do lots of powerful stuff? What do you expect?
Worth 3 (maybe even 4) stars out of 5. Make it 3.5 out of 5.