SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (2022)
Tagline: Welcome to the next level.
(Action, Adventure, Video Game Premise) [PG]
I've been called many names. Vengeance. The Spiky Supernova. But you may call me... Blue Justice!
In this one Sonic is now under the guardianship of Tom and Maddie from the first film, but they are leaving for vacation to attend Maddie’s sister’s wedding. It doesn’t take long before Dr. Robotnik is able to send a signal into space using things he’s found on Mushroom Planet attracting the attention of Knuckles who believes Sonic is the key to the location of an all-powerful relic (an emerald). Meanwhile, Tails (a two-tailed Fox) arrives from yet another plant to warn Sonic that Knuckles is after him. Can Sonic and Tails recover the relic before Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles, thereby saving the world from Dr. Robotnik’s total control?
First off, even though I played Sonic the game on SEGA Genesis back in the day, I am really unfamiliar with all the characters in the storyline, but Tails and Knuckles are both pretty great introductions in this series. Returning Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik was also a stroke of genius (Carrey’s personal issues aside).
Where this movie succeeded for me was in the soundtrack, because they successfully had both RUN D.M.C. and PANTERA on the docket. We also get a decent amount of humor and the wedding scene with Maddie’s sister was a fall down and roll around on the floor laughing series of events. The action sequences and CGI were also fantastic and both were a vast improvement over the first film. From what I read the movie also did an amazing job at staying “video game-centric” which I guess was a huge crowd pleaser given that so many video game adaptations stray from their video game source material. We also got a great cast. Bringing Idris Elba into your project (he voices Knuckles in this) is NEVER a bad idea. I am also glad they brought back Tika Sumpter who plays Maddie. She was basically absent from any of the previews I saw which kind of bummed me out regarding the continuity here. Fortunately, everything is intact and this movie picks up where the last one left off. We also have the return of James Marsden, Natasha Rothwell, and Ben Schwartz voicing Sonic as well as a few other cast members from the first movie. To top all that off, we also get Colleen O'Shaughnessey back voicing Tails.
This movie for me fell flat in a few areas as well. The dance number in Antarctica feels a bit off as do some of the early scenes with Sonic just goofing off at his house. The humor in some cases is also beneath the awesomeness of the rest of the movie. Having said this, I am not a 13-year-old kid watching this so I can only guess all this stuff cracks kids up. We also get a “Sonic” scene where I can feel that Ben Schwartz is channeling his character Jean-Ralphio from the TV show “Parks And Recreation” in a bit of a “sing-songy” moment. I can’t stand that character from “Parks And Recreation”, so in the back of my head I was like “for the love of all that is Holy, do not act like Jean-Ralphio”. I also felt that Dr. Robotnik was given more serious lines in this movie which actually reduced the “humor” level of the movie's funny man. You never want to do that I don’t think. This movie does have some heart, but a lot of that surprisingly isn’t even really about Sonic.
I thought the scale of the film was off the charts awesome, and we get something “giant” which I always love in any movie, but it did feel like this thing somehow missed the level of awesome the first movie set. Overall, however, I think this movie is still outstanding and I have to give it the same score I did the last one. I think this was geared more for small kids and hardcore gamers but if that is you, you will likely think this one beats out the first installment in the series. This one gets a 5 out of 7, but if I have to pick which movie is better, I would have to say the 1st one.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
Please check out the link below by clicking on the picture. Because no one should die buttonless.
Comments
Post a Comment