Directed By:
Jeff Fowler
Written By:
Pat Casey, Josh Miller, John Whittington
Starring:
Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, Collen O’Shanussy
Genre:
Animation, Action, Adventure
Rated: PG for action, some violence, rude humor, and mild language
All media used courtesy of Paramount Pictures
Sonic (Ben Platt) is back and so is Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) but this time being helped by a new foe of Sonics- Knuckles. Knuckles (Idris Elba) has a historical tie with Sonic and his past, and the two pit against each other in search for a mysterious ancient entity of power that if one controls, will be unstoppable. With the world on the brink of disaster, Sonic, along with a new friend Tails, will have to convince Knuckles to join them before Dr. Robotbnik finds the power, in this sequel that improves on the original, but goes on a little too long.
First the voice acting is great. Ben Platt is a terrific voice actor and has made this Sonic very relatable and fun. Idris Elba is now in the mix as Knuckles, who is almost like a Drax for the Sonic Universe that has a mean swing but a simple mind. Jim Carrey returning for his villainous character is more of the same that you’ve come to expect. Over the top, silly, but works within the scope Sonic 2 gives him.
The story is a little familiar for fans of MCU films and the superhero genre in itself. Sonic is grappling between his normal life and wanting to be a hero, there’s a mcguffin to chase after and a big boss fight at the end much like the video games. But I had hopes the story would have been more unique to the Sonic universe as opposed to trying to fit Sonic in a superhero film. There are still some moments that make no sense, anytime Sonic is in a car, or making movement from one far stretch to another NOT using his speed abilities is silly to me. I wanna see much more of that speedster action incorporated in everything Sonic does rather than he inexplicably not using it when he really should be.
I also enjoyed that we had a more Sonic-centric story that moved James Marsden’s story to a side plot. Sadly there wasn’t much to the side story aside from a few scenes that don’t really work for me. The relationship with Marsden’s character and Sonic evolves and is very heartfelt but not properly built. Hoping to see a way to keep Marsden in play for the third film rather than sequestering him as much as they did.
There is an after credits scene that had my kid-filled audience VERY excited for what was to come, and hearing the excitement from them after the film in the movie halls really tells me that the creators were able to improve in almost every way for this newest addition. I would recommend to anyone with kids or who played the games, It’s a fun time.
