by Cain Noble-Davies

Year:  2022

Director:  Jeff Fowler

Rated:  PG

Release:  2022

Distributor: Paramount

Running time: 122 minutes

Worth: $16.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessy, James Marsden, Nathasha Rothwell, Tika Sumpter

Intro:
… a hell of a lot of fun!

2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog was a feature-length proof-of-concept rather than a feature in its own right. It made minimal use of the IP beyond the title character and Dr. Robotnik, creating something that did less justice to Sega’s beloved mascot than the average Sonic Movie Maker production. It did prove that the character could work on the big screen, but only by excising all the other aspects of his universe that would make it worthwhile to make a film about him in the first place.

To the credit of everyone who worked on the first film, they learn quickly from their mishaps. One need only look at MPC Vancouver’s work on the character re-design for proof positive that these people listen to what their audience wants. With this second go-around, they’ve thankfully taken off the training wheels and delivered a proper, authentic, Sonic the Hedgehog movie. And it’s a hell of a lot of fun!

Admittedly, there’s still a relative fixation on the ancillary human characters that, once again, is the weakest aspect of this whole production. But not only has it officially been designated as B-plot material, the scenes with James Marsden’s Tom, Tika Sumpter as his wife Maddie, and even Natasha Rothwell as the sister-in-law have just enough nutty (and, more importantly, IP-reliant) energy to at least justify their presence.

For the most part, though, this is pure Sonic: The universe’s fastest hedgehog has to stop Robotnik (Jim Carrey in old-school scene-stealing form once again) from gaining the supreme power of the Chaos Emeralds, seeing him and his new partner Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey reprising the role from the more recent video game sources) run and fly and punch their way through a panoramic treasure hunt.

With recognisable faces to work with, Sonic’s voice Ben Schwartz feels more at-home, fleshing out his more heroic side while maintaining that childish rambunctiousness. To say nothing of Idris Elba as Knuckles, who brings much-needed dignity back to the character as this dark knight counterpart to Sonic himself. He handles the pathos and the comedy well, without them cancelling each other out; for a character that’s been the buffoon for so many years, that’s a remarkable feat.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 delivers on what a video game adaptation should be: An actual adaptation of what makes the game series worth remembering after all these years. It is an indisputable upgrade from the first film in practically every respect, from the action to the character dynamics to the comedy to even what (arguably) shouldn’t still be here like the human supporting cast. It takes a light-speed sprint from the back of the pack for modern video game movies, and surges right into genuine competition for one of the best yet.

8.3Supersonic
score
8.3
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