Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)
Directed by Jeff Fowler
After settling in Green Hills, Sonic is eager to prove he has what it takes to be a true hero. His test comes when Dr. Robotnik returns, this time with a new partner, Knuckles, in search for an emerald that has the power to destroy civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own sidekick, Tails, and together they embark on a globe-trotting journey to find the emerald before it falls into the wrong hands.
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10 films that influenced Sonic the Hedgehog 2
What critics say influenced Sonic the Hedgehog 2
The characters mostly work, the jokes come fast and they mostly land – there's a gag about chilli which includes multiple uses of the word “fart” that even had me laughing out loud – and enough movie references – Avengers , Transformers , Pacific Rim and the Indiana Jones series are only the most obvious ones – to keep the grownups chuckling and appreciating just how hard Fowler and Co. are working.
Aggressively referencing everything from Ghostbusters to Transformers , Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is a mishmash of other event pictures, with Fowler trying to make a joke of the story’s obvious cinematic benchmarks.
These high jinks more closely resemble Michael Bay’s Transformers, the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks, or live-action Scooby-Doo films.
(During one action sequence that heavily borrows from Raiders Of The Lost Ark , Sonic coyly declares that he does not want to die in such a derivate way.)
There’s a lovely moment during the enjoyably dizzying swirl of Sonic 2 where one has pause to wonder whether Steven Spielberg and George Lucas had any idea when they were making Raiders of the Lost Ark just how iconic an image that giant ball chasing after Indiana Jones would turn out to be.
(“I don’t want to die like this,” Carrey exclaims, while outrunning a boulder straight out of “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” “It’s derivative!”)
Director Jeff Fowler and company take a page from the stuffed, fan-service heavy vibes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows .
In my review of the first film, I hoped that a Sonic sequel needed to meet the “apologetically dumb fun” levels of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows and the 2017 Power Rangers movie; two other retro franchise adaptations that knew what they were and revelled in their goofiness.
From a technical standpoint, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 is fairly impressive in its merging of live-action and animation, a reminder of the technological advancements since the days of Who Framed Roger Rabbit .
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Elba truly throws himself into the role of Knuckles, playing the Echidna as a powerful warrior with a mindset similar to Dave Bautista’s take on Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy films.
Tails hops into the cockpit of a biplane, the Chaos Emeralds shine bright as power-ups and camaraderie between Sonic’s chums quickly binds with a Guardians of the Galaxy-esque charm.
It’s a joy hearing Elba flaunt his underused comedy chops by playing Knuckles as a simple-minded warrior, lacking in wit and self-awareness, even if the shtick is a shade too close to Drax from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies.
He’s basically a more kid-friendly version of Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy : a hulking brute driven by revenge but who doesn’t understand sarcasm and empathy.
And although the final product was essentially just a riff on the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks , it appealed enough to audiences (or, more likely, children in the audience) that it made more than $300m (£228m) at the global box office.
These high jinks more closely resemble Michael Bay’s Transformers, the live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks, or live-action Scooby-Doo films.
This being a "Sonic" movie, there is plenty of screentime set aside for "Home Alone"-like shenanigans that have an empowering appeal to younger members of the viewing audience.
Home Alone and real-life political speeches are tapped into but fall short.
However, since most live-action films based on video game properties tend to be execrable dumpster fires, Sonic the Hedgehog looked like the Citizen Kane of video game movies in comparison.
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Robotnik’s opening Cast Away gag on the Mushroom Planet does a magnificent job ensuring that Carrey feels at home amongst fungi overgrowth and lightning zaps, smoothing his trudges across a green-screen landscape.
Sonic’s short-lived stint as a vigilante is part pop-culture riff and part ’90s-era action-movie homage, and in both respects, it shows how much fun Fowler and writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller (joined by “The Lego Batman Movie” jokester John Whittington this time around) can have with the character, who’s once again voiced by smart-alecky “Parks and Recreation” comic Ben Schwartz.
But you'll know long before, that director Jeff Fowler and his writers – one of whom wrote The Lego Batman Movie – know the rules of the genre, that they are going to have fun playing by them, and that the audience are along for the ride and in on the joke.