Review by Jon Donnis
Everyone's favourite blue hedgehog is back, in the sequel to the surprise 2020 hit Sonic the Hedgehog.
After the first film had to have all the CGI of Sonic remade after he looked terrible on the first release, Sonic 1 become a huge hit. No one expected it to be anywhere near as good as it was, including me. So I have been looking forward to the sequel, to see if they could do it again, and I have to say, they have pulled it off.
The film is set 8 months after the previous film, Doctor Robotnik was defeated, assumed dead. Sonic (Ben Schwartz) has been "adopted" by Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) and is doing his best to be a super hero, unfortunately his success as a hero to the public isn't going perfectly. Tom and Maddie are off to a wedding in Hawaii, so Sonic is left home alone, whereby he decides to relax and have fun.
Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) is still alive and on another planet, he manages to attract aliens to the planet as a way to escape, in doing so he makes a partnership with Knuckles (Idris Elba) , Knuckles is the sole survivor of the echidna warrior tribe after they were wiped out by the owl tribe. Knuckle is trying to honour his fallen tribe by searching for the Master Emerald, which will give him unlimited power. Robotnik agrees to help him, as long as he helps destroy Sonic.
Miles "Tails" Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) an alien fox like creature with two tails, appears and warns Sonic about Knuckles, and they make their own alliance to find the Master Emerald before Robotnik and Knuckles can.
What follows is a really well written story, that is really entertaining, Idris Elba as Knuckles really steals the show here, he has the best one liners, and in many ways reminds me of Dave Bautista as Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy.
The human cast are all decent and play their parts well, but this really is a story about Sonic vs Robotnik and Knuckles.
The Good
For a kid's movie, I found myself laughing out loud more than a few times. The animation is excellent, and exactly what it needs to be to honour the video game character, but also entertain you as a viewer of a film without insulting your intelligent or knowledge of the history of the character. There is also a post credits scene that firmly sets up the trilogy.
The Bad
Tails is annoying. Sorry I just didn't like the character.
Overall
A thoroughly good film that you can watch with the whole family, regardless of your age.
Very very good. I score Sonic the Hedgehog 2 a solid 8.5/10
Out now in Cinemas, and you can pre-order on home release at https://amzn.to/3schGw6
