Travel back to the early 90s, an era where Sega proudly claimed that they did what Nintendon’t, and engage with this action-packed sequel ripped straight from classic Sonic the Hedgehog games.
If the first Sonic movie was designed to get you invested in Sonic as a character, this movie was designed to bring you a solid glimpse of the depth of Sonic’s world. Bringing in two more iconic Sonic characters that old fans will love and new fans will come to love in the genius fox Tails and the powerful echidna Knuckles. With more video game lore, this movie makes it clear that Sonic is the main character instead of sharing the spotlight with a human road trip buddy like he did in the first film.
That isn’t to say that the humans Tom and Maddie from the first movie are completely absent. Just sidelined a bit to make room for Sonic to take center stage himself. The scenes with them at the wedding of Maddie’s sister Rachel can seem like you’re watching a wedding-themed romantic comedy instead of a Sonic the Hedgehog movie, but they don’t detract from the film. Instead, they are used to reflect a growing relationship between Tom, Maddie, and Sonic: with Tom and Maddie as the parents to a still teenage Sonic the Hedgehog—a teenager who needs to be given space in order to grow and mature.
That space opens up the plot so that Tails can come in and take Tom’s role from the first film as the secondary protagonist and sidekick to Sonic. Colleen O’Shaughnessy takes her voicing of Tails from animation to the big screen in this film and portrays Tails as a Sonic fanboy excited to meet his hero. Though Tails can easily seem overshadowed by other scenery chewing characters, the fanboy fox’s quiet nature allows him to play perfectly off Sonic without stealing the show from the title character.
Of course, Tails doesn’t steal the show for one big reason: that job belongs to Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna. Idris Elba does a fantastic job as Knuckles, bringing a level of seriousness to the role of the honourable echidna warrior—when he’s not being used for comedic effect. Similar to Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy, Knuckles is the classic fish-out-of-water character who makes you laugh specifically because he takes everything seriously and does not understand social conventions. Especially handshakes. Do not offer Knuckles a handshake.
But Knuckles sense of humour does nothing to detract from him being a genuine and terrifying threat to Sonic. After the first movie made Dr. Robotnik obsessed with Sonic’s power—even powering his own machines with just one quill from Sonic—this movie very quickly throws that idea out the window with Knuckles beating Sonic with ease in their first fight, all with the infamous line from the trailer: “Do I look like I need your power?” As future fights continue to result in Sonic running from Knuckles, or holding Knuckles to a stand-still at best, the movie ups the tension from the previous film with a threat the audience isn’t sure Sonic can defeat. With the power Knuckles displays in early encounters with Sonic, there is tension in every scene they share.
And all of this says absolutely nothing about the return of Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Much like in the first Sonic movie, Carrey gets to have himself a blast bringing his over-the-top acting from his 90s comedies back into the movies one more time. Whenever Jim Carrey is on screen you’re getting a nice slice of hammy, cheesy, villainy to chow down on.
As the movie reaches its climax, fans of the classic video games will recognize how much this movie feels like a merging of the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie with the plot elements of the Genesis video games Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. Bringing in a level of action that feels exactly like the final boss fights against Dr. Robotnik in the classic games. The action feels right out of the climax of a marvel movie.
Through all the action, video game references, and comedic moments, the one thing that this movie comes back to is found family and friends. Finding your squad, the people who have your back no matter what.
That said, with a movie that ups the stakes while keeping what made the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie great, if you enjoyed the first one there is no reason why you would dislike this comedic and action-packed sequel.