Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Jeff Fowler is back at the helm as the world’s most famous blue hedgehog returns for a new adventure. Ben Schwartz again voices Sonic, who since we last saw him has spent time trying to find his place in the world, using his talents to be a hero, a hedgehog Batman if you like. Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) banished to a mushroom planet, has not wasted time either and has at last found a way to get back to Earth. This includes an alliance with Knuckles (Idris Elba) who shares Robotnik’s desire to find Sonic, who he thinks is the route to finding an all powerful emerald that was taken from his civilization. When Robotnik and Knuckles reach Earth it becomes a race between them and Sonic, ably supported by Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessy) to find the emerald.

While I played the Sonic ganesy when I was younger and I did enjoy the first film, I do appreciate I’m not the target audience for this. That said, this was still enjoyable enough. It’s more Sonic action focused than the first film, with only a side plot for the human characters, although Natasha Rothwell as Rachel is one of the comedic highlights.

The Sonic action focus isn’t a problem though as it allows us to enjoy the fun that Carrey and Elba are having as Robotnik and Knuckles. Elba in particularly finds a nice balance between Knuckles naivety and driven fierce warrior.

Action set pieces are big and impressive, although perhaps a little bit overblown at times. This is probably a symptom of the films biggest critisicm, in that at just over 2 hours, it is a too long and at times it feels like there’s some “and here’s another thing” thrown at the screen.

Overall, Sonic 2 is a decent enough sequel, a bit of long, but there’s plenty of fun and the story zips along at a rapid enough pace. Not an animation classic, but in the video games to screen genre it’s a more than solid effort.