On a budget of $85 million, Sonic the Hedgehog grossed over $300 million worldwide, becoming the sixth-highest-grossing movie of 2020. While it received mixed reviews from critics, hardcore fans and general audiences embraced the blue blur hero’s live-action debut. Following its success, Paramount announced a sequel in May 2020, with many of the original cast and crew returning. Jeff Fowler would be directing alongside returning writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller, with newcomer John Whittington added as co-writer. To expand the Sonic universe further, long-time characters Miles “Tails” Prower and Knuckles the Echidna would be introduced. Jason Momoa was initially in talks to voice Knuckles before the studio announced Idris Elba in August 2021. With a $90 million budget, filming began in Vancouver in March 2021 and concluded in Hawaii in June that year. On April 8, 2022, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 spin dashed its way into theaters.
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Synopsis
After the last movie, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) is stranded on the mushroom planet, searching for a way back home. Sonic (Ben Schwartz) has become a vigilante back on Earth, but he accidentally does more harm than good. His friend Tom (James Marsden) tells him that he will have his day, but he’s still too young. While Tom and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) go to Hawaii for her sister’s wedding, Sonic is left to watch the house. Suddenly, Robotnik arrives with his new ally, Knuckles the Echidna (Idris Elba), who’s searching for the Master Emerald. Before long, Sonic meets Miles “Tails” Prower (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), a two-tailed fox who becomes his new sidekick. Together, they journey to find the Master Emerald before Knuckles and Robotnik, who plans to steal the emerald for himself. It’s a race against time as Sonic and Tails venture forth to prevent Robotnik from obtaining ultimate power.
Review
The first film was a pleasant surprise when it came out, especially considering what could have been. Going into this, I was excited to see how the filmmakers could expand the story established in the last movie. On the one hand, this movie successfully provides a fun and exciting globe-trotting adventure with Sonic characters. On the other, this film falls into the trap many sequels do: doubling what worked before but making it worse. The Sonic lore is expanded upon further, but it comes at the cost of the human characters being pushed aside. The first film balanced the action sequences with the character development, whereas this film emphasizes the set pieces more. While there are moments of bonding between Sonic and Tom like before, they’re few and far between. Sonic and Tails spend enough time together to justify their friendship in defense of the filmmakers.
Like the previous film, Ben Schwartz is spot-on as the voice of Sonic and has excellent chemistry with James Marsden. Colleen O’Shaughnessey, who voiced Tails since 2014, does a good job here and works well off Schwartz. Idris Elba is perfect chemistry as the voice of Knuckles, playing the character seriously with no humor. Jim Carrey is entertaining as Dr. Robotnik, though he somehow manages to be more over-the-top than in the previous movie. As mentioned before, this movie emphasizes the action, and the set pieces are thrilling to watch. In particular, the fights between Sonic and Knuckles and the ending fight with Robotnik are the highlight of the movie. Unfortunately, most human scenes go for low-brow comedy, though it’s not as bad as the Michael Bay Transformers movies. Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will not show up on anyone’s Top 10 list, but it’s a decent watch.
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