Jim Carrey helps Sonic The Hedgehog 2 speed past its predecessor
Ben Schwartz tones down his performance as the motormouthed gaming icon while his co-stars rush to fill the spaces between CGI set pieces
Film Reviews Jim Carrey
The first two Sonic The Hedgehog movies may not be the loose bookends that we need to the COVID-19 pandemic, but they do feel like the ones that we deserve. Where the first film was an obnoxious mess that didn’t define the rules of its own world(s) well enough to obey them, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 has quite possibly mapped out too much mythology too quickly, aggressively moving forward, whether audiences are ready to do so or not.
And yet director Jeff Fowler’s follow-up is an improvement by virtually every measure. Restoring noted maximalist Jim Carrey to the epicenter of the franchise’s comedic universe while introducing two new animated characters and beefing up several of the supporting human roles, Sonic 2 rightfully tones down Ben Schwartz’ Parks & Rec-lite performance to make Sonic semi-likable.
Working with what feels like a larger budget and fewer origin-story obligations, returning screenwriters Pat Casey, Josh Miller, along with franchise newcomer John Whittington, create a globe-trotting adventure that touches on fun ideas for viewers of all ages, even if the film is too long and jarring to stick the landing.
Following the events of the first film, Sonic has settled comfortably into his new Green Hills, Montana, home with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). From there he occasionally moonlights, usually to disastrous effect, as a crime-stopping vigilante in metropolitan cities within sprinting distance. Shortly after being entrusted to stay home alone for the first time while Tom and Maddie travel to Hawaii for the wedding of her sister Rachel (Natasha Rothwell), Sonic discovers that Dr. Robotnik (Carrey) has escaped the mushroom planet and teamed up with Knuckles (Idris Elba).
While pugilistic echidna Knuckles declares the blue hedgehog to be his sworn enemy, he believes Sonic will lead him to an all-powerful mystical object known as the Master Emerald. In the meantime, a yellow fox nicknamed Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) arrives from Sonic’s planet and helps him escape capture by Robotnick and Knuckles.
Using technology recovered from his devoted flunky Stone (Lee Majdoub), Robotnik and Knuckles follow Sonic and Tails from a mountaintop in Siberia to an underwater kingdom off the coast of Hawaii, inadvertently ruining Rachel’s wedding in the process. When Robotnik steals the Master Emerald for himself, Knuckles is forced to decide whether to pursue a vendetta against Sonic that seemingly began before either of them were born, or band together to stop a new foe whose fiendish designs could mean death for Earth and their homeworld alike.
If it were, say, 100 minutes long, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 could have been the perfect movie for video game-obsessed children and their reluctant driving-age escorts, racing through action set pieces and goofy punch lines with the same urgency as Sonic as he slips back into bed at Tim and Maddie’s after a long, disastrous night of crime-fighting. At 122 minutes, it’s way too long for viewers of any age, although cutting superfluous elements would mean excising the exact stuff that adults might find interesting—if only because they’ve been so bafflingly injected into the film. For example, it seems as if the entire subplot involving Rachel’s Hawaiian wedding to the hunky Randall (Shemar Moore) was created in order to give the rest of the onscreen actors something to do while Jim Carrey chases Ben Schwartz’ voice from one location to the next, with Elba’s voice by his side.
As Sonic, Schwartz gets to quote his famous Jean-Ralphio “the wooooo-orst” line/meme in the film, but otherwise delivers a less grating, more subdued and daresay mature performance than in the previous film. Conversely, Knuckles challenges Elba to provide the same kind of stilted, oblivious gruffness that makes Dave Bautista’s Drax The Destroyer a fan favorite in the Guardians Of The Galaxy films. He remarkably does not phone in his effort, but it’s hard to ignore the “I paid for my guest house” undertone that lingers in his voice.
As for Carrey, whether he’s just leaning into the video-game source material or has decided the best way to do his job is to keep himself entertained at all costs, he seems to have abandoned the pretense of nuance altogether. If Robotnick inevitably becomes an overbearing presence opposite Sonic and company, Carrey is giving the role everything he has and more in a performance that even overshadows the character’s unable-to-ignore, larger-than-life facial hair.
Among the remainder of the cast, Marsden and Sumpter earn their paychecks for convincing viewers they have any patience (much less an ounce of sincere emotional investment) with enfant terrible Sonic. Rothwell makes the most of the plot detours prompted by Rachel’s nuptials, and Adam Pally (The Mindy Project) supplies an appreciably dopey comic alternative to Carrey’s megalomania. But while one of the ideas in this second Sonic chapter is that the title character is growing up a little bit, the franchise bearing his name remains engineered for children—a conveyance of color and energy and sophomoric humor, and not much else.
That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and again, Sonic The Hedgehog 2 accomplishes that task better than its predecessor. But with more characters on the way in an already-announced sequel and a spinoff in the works for Knuckles, the Sonic series feels like it’s in too much of a hurry for its own good—especially when the chaperones and ticket buyers for its target audience can barely wait until the end credits to make a fast exit.
75 Comments
The COVID-19 pandemic is very much ongoing.
Well thank God you slipped that into the comments section of a sonic sequel review. We survive COVID that little bit longer thanks to your valiant efforts!
The article started with some rubbish about bookending the pandemic, so at least mattdomville is on topic.
Since this website is based in the United States, and the United States is seeing a decrease in Covid cases, Covid deaths, and Covid hospitalizations, and the mask mandates are being rescinded, and it’s very, very unlikely that anyone will be willing to reinstate them, I think it’s reasonable to say that the pandemic as a social and political event is winding down. It was a failure of public-health messaging at the beginning of the pandemic to make people believe Covid would be completely eradicated – that is, by and large, beyond human capacity, and the idea that we are engaged in “war” with infection (let alone a war we can win) is toxic nonsense. Anyway, yeah, Sonic the Hedgehog.
Great job missing the point entirely and contributing nothing of value!
Pandemics are sociopolitical events triggered by a biological occurrences. The 1918 flu pandemic didn’t end because people stopped getting the flu, it ended because the mortality rates from the flu returned to their pre-pandemic levels. There’s evidence that those rises and falls in mortality reflected the appearance of a particular H1N1 variant, but that’s incidental, retrospective knowledge.We will collectively decide in a few years when the Covid pandemic actually ended, but the least likely endpoint is when people stop getting Covid. More likely, the mortality rates from coronavirus will return to pre-pandemic levels, and in the United States, at least, we may be approaching that point. Anyway, Sonic the Hedgehog – he sure can run fast.
So it’s about to be kicked up again to the highest infection and death rates we’ve seen yet, is what you’re saying?
you’re nothing of value
In the sense of public restrictions and more specifically “films being open” verses, remember that looong stretch where we weren’t allowed in movie theatres. I think the article is talking about the pandemic in THAT sense and not the sense that COVID will probably exist for the rest of our lives.
Lol imagine actually believing this.
You can either keep saying this for the rest of your life to people or you can move on and live with it. Living in fear doesn’t sound like a lot of fun though.
Yeah, hopefully “Sonic 3 and Amy” will close it out at least.
So do these new writers they hired just not understand how letter grades work, or what?
Right? The review was 90% positive, just saying “it’s a bit long, and a bit too kid-oriented, but otherwise great”….ehhhh C-
Yeah, there have been a few baffling choices recently, this one especially. This review does not remotely read like a “C-”
It’s 2022 and “Robotnik” is consistently mispelled in the review.Have we gotten to the point where the film critics are more used to the “Dr Eggman” name due to being too young to have consumed the 90s Sonic media?
(Incidentally, myself, I loved the film. Honestly I think if you’re a Sonic fan, there’s a lot for you in it. Tails and Knuckles are FANTASTIC.)
I thought it was “Robuttnick”, since he’s a cross between Saint Nicholas, a robot, and a butt.
The ‘Robotnick’ spelling was constant enough that I (who haven’t watched either movie) actually kinda thought that it might’ve been an intentional alteration by the movie to make his name feel more like an actual person’s name. Which would sound about right to me for a video game movie that’s kinda trying to be relatively grounded and real-world.
Though granted, this is a franchise where “Robotnik” IS the name he was given so he’d be more grounded for western audiences. (And then you have the “Kintobor” inversion of the name from the Sega of America one-shot/Fleetway comics, which attempted to make it even less silly but kinda made it a bit sillier)What I still think was a stroke of genius in movie 1 was setting up the idea that Sonic gives everyone nicknames, and Robotnik getting the “Eggman” nickname not due to his physical shape but rather his egg-shaped robots. It’s a simple solution to Carrey not sharing the physique of his game counterpart.
(And the nicknames are not forgotten in movie 2, including “Donut Lord”!)
Fun facts for you:- The suffix ‘-nik’ is basically the Slavic equivalent of ‘-er/-or’, denoting the person who performs a certain action. e.g. in Polish, farm -> farmer = rola -> rolnik.
– The word ‘robot’ also comes from Slavic. In Czech – the language the term actually originates from – robota refers to a type of slave/indentured labour, toil, drudgery etc., while in other Slavic languages it refers more generally to just work and/or labor.- ‘Robotnik’ itself literally means worker in Polish and Slovak.- ‘Ivo’ comes from the Dutch, German and Celtic/Irish, and means ‘yew wood’ and is related to the names Yves and Ivor. I’ve also read people say it can also mean ‘archer.’- In Slavic languages, however, it’s a form of ‘Ivan,’ which is the Slavic equivalent of ‘John.’- Therefore, Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s = Dr. John Worker.
You mentioned “fun”?
That was the clickbait. Did you fall for it? Sucker.
So he’s a plumber, custodian or STD specialist?
What does 2022 have to do with it?
Is it weird that this review was simultaneously published on Yahoo Sports: https://sports.yahoo.com/jim-carrey-helps-sonic-hedgehog-000300196.html
You opening your complaint with “It’s 2022″ is one of the funnier things I’ve read in awhile, and I’m delighted by the redundant confirmation in the end that you are, indeed, a Sonic fan.That said, I hope somebody gets fired for this blunder!
The whole genre of youtube comments where someone says “Who’s here in 2022 listening to Pearl Jam’s Jeremy???” or some variation on that totally baffling. Like, “yes, all comments are time stamped, so we know when you commented.” And what kind of discussion around Jeremy did you expect to generate with that comment? You do not need to comment on a video to prove you watched it.
It’s because we’re all so lonely in the modern age that we’re looking for any connections we can find. It’s the equivalent of happening upon a stranger in the park and commenting on what nice weather we’re having. You could also invert those, and stand in park screaming out “Who here is enjoying this beautiful day in 2022?”
“You could also invert those, and stand in park screaming out “Who here is enjoying this beautiful day in 2022?”
And that would be fucking weird. That’s my point.
I don’t know, I think all communication between people is pretty fucking weird. Us having this conversation here is really fucking weird. This article is about Sonic.Don’t reply to this, it would be weird.
What a nudnick!
Have we gotten to the point where the film critics are more used to the “Dr Eggman” name due to being too young to have consumed the 90s Sonic media?Too young?
Only old farts like myself would remember that Dr Eggman was the actual name from the original Japanese Sonic games and media, before they localized the name for American kids for absolutely no reason at all?
Does Knuckles chuckle though?
Seems to me he’d rather flex his muscles
From what I remember, he does not.
Knuckles is basically “how Knuckles has been written the last while in various media”, but with Idris Elba’s voice. Which is kinda exactly what I was wanting in a movie Knuckles.
I’m super hyped for the Paramount+ streaming series now on account of how much I loved Knuckles in the film.
Only when he buckles
Knuckles buckles under chuckles despite his muscles.
“Specifically, it seems as if the entire subplot involving Rachel’s Hawaiian wedding to the hunky Randall (Shemar Moore) was created in order to give the rest of the onscreen actors something to do”Obviously I’ve not seen the movie but I really kinda hope they eliminate the other humans. I mean I guess I understand the logic of wanting at least some excuse of where the hell Robotnik came from instead of having one human man on an animal planet, but I feel like a Sonic movie doesn’t really require a human side plot/supporting cast?I mean I’m sure they’ll stick around somehow because I feel like there’s a real trend in Hollywood that really distrust animated films* to stand on their own without at least one live-action person standing around so everybody can go “oh wow that CGI sure is realistic”*Obviously Disney (and/or Pixar) is an exception.
Funnily enough, it sounds like the general audience critic (as in: people not in geek/Sonic fandom circles) mindset has been “too many CGI animals, not enough humans”.
The humans are kinda in there because otherwise there are Certain Elements that will not treat this movie seriously. I mean, Hollywood is a place that derides all animated films as beneath them come awards show season, after banking on them to keep things afloat during a pandemic.Myself I was kinda suprised how MUCH the humans were in it. Not in a bad way, mind you, because I didn’t dislike them from the first one, and figured that aside from Carrey they’d be shuffled out of the film five minutes in.
When they left for Hawaii, I thought they were gone until the end and they were just getting rid of them for the movie.
Look, I played Sonic on Sega Genesis in the early 90s, but I had no idea the other characters had names or that people cared about it. The whole idea that there is a franchise around Sonic seems insane to me. I just assumed it was a running game (and definitely not as big as Mario). I mean, I am not comic book guy, so I totally get that there are fandoms out there I don’t know about or care about, but the sonic obsessiveness is a little disorienting.
Why did you feel the need to say this? There have been Sonic games consistently released for more than 25 years…you don’t need to tell people you don’t know much about them.Plus did you never read an instruction manual? The names are, like, right there.
First, I have 100% never read an instruction manual for a video game. I don’t think I even realized they existed. Second, I was bored? But you are right – no real reason to post it other than a general exhaustion with modern fandom insanity.
Also, I was 14 or 15 when the original Sonic game came out, so I was definitely pretty much done with video games by then. I acknowledge younger kids came up into a universe where a bunch of sonic shit already existed as they came of age. I also never had the attention span to sit down to play video games for more than an hour, as I got as bored easily then as I do now.
“the sonic obsessiveness is a little disorienting.”I think any Sonic fan will agree that the Sonic fandom is the worst part of the franchise. I’ve heard a lot of theories about why Sonic became such A Thing and the two that make the most sense is that for the time he was created he had way more of an actual personality than most other game protagonists of the time (didn’t hurt that he got not one but two cartoons very soon after the game got big to flesh out the character and of course to give Lore for people to latch on to) and the other reason is that Sonic characters have relatively simple designs, which is what allows so many people to put together fan art and creepy OCs. It’s not Kirby simple but it’s pretty darn up there as far as mascots go.
This reads like you’re bragging for being ignorant.
Like if I went into an NBA article and talked about how I didn’t know there were other good players in the league afterwards aside from Michael Jordan.
Also, LOL. You SAY you played Sonic yet you thought it was just a running game. That tells me you only ever played the first level because that’s the only one where that applies. The second world is all about pushing blocks and waiting for spikes to go away. It’s not until the sequels where running and speed are emphasized.
And the fact that you think it’s insane that Sonic has a big fandom. Sonic holds the title of Best Selling Game for both the Genesis and Dreamcast, and the top 3rd party game for the GameCube. Dude had three extremely popular cartoons in the 90’s and early 00’s. Sonic 06 is possibly the Most Infamous Bad Game Ever. Like, it baffles me that you’d be so naive to think that the mascot for Sega itself wouldn’t have a fandom.
Bookend to the pandemic? Excuse me? In what world is this pandemic over?We are not even living with COVID, we’ve just surrendered to it.
“In what world is this pandemic over?”
There are states in America where teachers have been fully in-person for teaching since the fall of 2020. Mask compliance has plummeted even in my area, which had a 95% mask compliance ratio.
The pandemic is over as far as society making room for it beyond the minimum. Some restrictions may flash back into existence if waves occur, but that’s it.
People are done with coronavirus whether coronavirus is done with us or not. I know the various answers you could make to that as far as long-term outcomes and how this attitude reflects short-term thinking, but whether I agree with something or not doesn’t change whether or not it’s happening. The pandemic is over because people are tired of dealing with it. Absent a truly massive surge in deaths that puts us up to the 10K+ level per day, I don’t see that changing.
lol
I really enjoyed the first one for what it was, partially because Carrey just steamrollered everything (I like that the top brass who bring him in all basically go “He’s fucking mental but he’s the only one who can deal with this situation.”).Seems that most Sonic 2 reviews follow the tone of this review, in that it’s a lot of fun but maaaan is it too long. I’ll still give it a go, though.
THis does not read like a C- review.
“speed past its predecessor”From a D+ to a C-
As identified elsewhere, please consider giving a shit.If you can’t be bothered to spell a character name that has been a character name for 20+ years correctly – even once, so it’s obviously not a typo – then don’t bother writing.BLUE GUY FAST HE FAKE REAL MAN FAKE MUSTACHE HE BAD MAN LOOK OUT BETRAYAL.I think I’ve just about come to where you won’t need proper nouns and still vaguely provided a synopsis of the two primary characters. This way you can’t be wrong.
How can you make one of the cutest animals a hedgehog so nightmare inducing by using CGI.
Are you going to stay indoors the rest of your lives too? I’ve seen 11 films since theatres reopened: The Suicide Squad, Shang-Chi, No Time to Die, Venom 2, Dune, Eternals, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Jackass Forever, Uncharted, The Batman, and most recently the film called “X”.
I was wearing my facemask probably half the time I was sitting in those theatres (between popcorn and recently just straightup no wearing one at all during X)…. I have never had COVID. But if you wanna keep your life on pause for the rest of your life for something that didn’t even happen to me one in 11 times…. Have fun bud.
What the hell are you babbling about?
WTF are you talking about? Sonic’s design is cute and is a great transition from his game design to the big screen. I mean, it was even designed by Tyson Hesse, who did the throwback designs for Sonic Mania’s opening cutscene and Sonic Mania Adventures.
The C- grade means nothing to me. Sonic 3 locked on with Knuckles was my absolute favourite video game as a child. This movie looks like it was made specifically for me. I didn’t even see the first film but THIS one… this one looks just right.
(younger brother constantly cast as Tails when older siblings were playing through as Sonic).
The last movie I saw in theaters was Sonic the Hedgehog with my kids and their cousins. It was actually super fun. Not sure we are going to repeat it with this one though.
Where the first film was an obnoxious mess…I’ve heard and have read bad takes, but wow, if this ain’t one of the boldest.
The most important question— Does Jim Carrey dance?
He actually…does not. But what he does do is better.
Oh man… now I am assuming he does some ass-talking like in Ace Ventura. I guess I have to take my 6 year old to this.
Plenty of adults grew up with Sonic and aren’t bored by it…. This review is so biased.
I don’t get the need to have every older critic of this series explain on reviews how so much should be cut out to make it faster cause kids somehow all relate to never being able to pay attention to anything cause like 1% of the world has kids like that…I’m exaggerating but my point is tons of said scenes that could be cut were used later on or gave the movie breathing room. We’ve seen pure action films like transformers that yall all hated too. Also why does everything need to be cut to a clean 1 hour 30. Movies have been pushing longer and we just need to get used to it or by the dvd so we can skip around. If people cant pay attention to a long film they wont if the plot moves a mile a minute. PS i get the sentiment that the editing could make everything more succit. Very true. Just giving the other argument for it being fine even if things could be cut down 15 minutes or so. Also i think the movie did a great job actually making a fan film without all the pitfalls and entertaining kids. It feels like a 90s movie or 00s but ehh still one of the best game adaptations since castlevania netflix. That said I can’t confuse that for good. On paper its not a good movie, and general audiences won’t like it. I know it doesn’t have the filming or plotting of a “good movie” But if you let yourself be ok with this being a cartoony world like the actors are…its not bad. We’ve seen weirder things in our real life in 2016-2022 almost
The first one was a remarkably solid entry in the category of “lightweight adventure-comedy films for all the family”, making it trivially the best video game movie so far (largely due to lack of any meaningful competition) and more worth a casual watch than many staples of the field like the unbearable Goonies (aka “two hours of aimless yelling”).Critics seem split on whether the second one’s better or worse, but I’m guessing it’s about the same so we’re probably going to go catch it with some popcorn and out for pasta after. This sort of thing isn’t high art but it has some utility to it.
Shemar Moore, no? not Shermar as noted in the synopsis rectangle.
Honest question, is it at all weird for Colleen O’Shaughnessey to still be voicing Tails? I know that she did the role in the games and other media and for that she’s done a great job, but when you have Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba as your other VO costars, you’d think they would have gone with someone bigger for Tails too. I’m not saying she did a bad job (I haven’t seen it), I’m just more surprised than anything.
The first film was actually a lot of fun. A C- grade for a sequel that is supposedly better has me hyped.
I kind of wish I could see what Knuckles and Tails would look like with the original Sonic design applied to them.
I won’t be interested in this franchise until they introduce Grounder and Scratch.
Is this Jim Carrey’s final film? If so, I’m glad he’s going out firing on all cylinders and giving one of his classic comedic performances, but I don’t see how this franchise continues without him. I’m a huge fan of the early Sonic games on Genesis, and as a kid I loved the cartoons and comics, but more recent Sonic stuff hasn’t really interested me (except Mania). I gave the first film a chance because of Carrey and he was the best thing about it and really elevated it for me, but yeah even if this movie turns out great I don’t see myself showing up for 3 without Carrey.
No pregnant Knuckles with six lactating teets, no thanks.
Why would I want Ben Schwartz to tone down his performance? That was what made the first movie enjoyable.