The first Sonic movie was another of so many mediocre attempts to bring a video game to the film. Despite that, the excellent design of its protagonist, the charisma of the exaggerated villain played by Jim Carrey, and the promise of including Tails and Knuckles made us have faith in the sequel.
Surprisingly, it is both at the same time.
The story takes place several months after the end of the first movie. Sonic wants to use his power to become a hero but always ends up causing a disaster. Meanwhile, Doctor Robotnik manages to escape from the dimension he was trapped in with the help of Knuckles. This echidna has dedicated his life to trying to recover the ‘Master Emerald’ and believes it is in the hands of the blue hedgehog. Meanwhile, another creature known as Tails seeks out Sonic to warn him of the threat that looms over him.
It should be evident that like the previous film, Sonic 2: The Movie is a film for children. Its humor, structure, and most action scenes are designed for a child audience. That doesn’t necessarily make it wrong, but we know plenty of adult Sonic fans want to see a “more serious” interpretation of the “multisonicverse” mythology without fart jokes and dance competitions.
The clash of those elements causes very odd variations in the film’s tone. The plot insists that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are just kids, and much of the humor is based on that. But the way they play against each other and against Robotnik is more representative of modern superhero movies, with a small dose of violence suitable for all audiences.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Actors
The human characters are the weakest point of Sonic 2: The Movie. Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) is an absolute simpleton, and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) doesn’t have a hint of personality. We have to endure a bizarre subplot about Maddie’s sister’s wedding that never quite clicks. These scenes go on for so long that we considered this an elaborate way to “troll” fans for a moment. They seem written for a bad romantic comedy from 20 years ago. Also back, for some reason, is Wade, Tom’s cop friend, with the film’s baddest jokes. That’s saying a lot considering the script is full of lousy jokes.
The only human characters that are funny are Dr. Robotnik and his assistant Stone (Lee Majdoub). Jim Carrey continues with the exaggerated style that made him famous in the 1990s, which was well-liked in the previous film. In addition, his character is visually more similar to that of the video games. He just needs to be a little more spherical.
His voice in the Spanish dub is again that of Mario Castañeda, who has historically been in charge of this actor’s roles. The problem is that the humor in many of his jokes was lost in translation. For example, the reference singer Ricardo Arjona is entirely out of place.
Voices and Sounds
They maintain the former’s shy and excitable personality and the latter’s dramatic intensity, which combine very well with the blue hedgehog’s attitude. Although their backgrounds could be more fleshed out, they have great character that will please fans. The problem with the leading trio is Sonic, not because he is a flawed character or because many of his jokes don’t work.
Another negative element of this movie is its special effects. Most of the time, especially when there are no humans on screen, they work very well. But there are times when the humans clash with the backgrounds. Their interactions with Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails look terribly fake – sometimes, they don’t even look like they’re looking at them when talking to them! Speaking of the CGI characters, their animations are usually very expressive, but there are times when they look like lifeless stuffed animals, especially when they’re in the background.
At nearly an hour and a half, Sonic 2: The Movie is slightly better than its predecessor. Its mediocre plot full of bad jokes is only propelled by the charisma of a few characters. We didn’t expect its third act to become the perfect video game adaptation possible.
We’re not exaggerating. Its last 30-40 minutes are what every blue hedgehog fan always dreamed of seeing on the big screen. We’re not just referring to the fanservice, but to adapting some of the best moments from the classic games. We won’t say more so as not to make ‘spoilers,’ but we want to clarify that the spectacularity of its final moments makes it worth enduring the mediocrity of the rest of the movie.
Sonic’s cinematic universe is going to go on. The third installment is already confirmed, and Knuckles, who turned out to be an entertaining character, will star in his own series on Paramount+. What worries us is that Jim Carrey is considering retiring from acting, and we can’t imagine how he can continue this project without his Doctor Robotnik.
