Sonic the Hedgehog 2 review – bloated reunion with the iconic blue speedster

Given that Birds of Prey underperformed and Onward came out too close to the first round of lockdowns to make any real impact, it’s easy to make a case for Sonic the Hedgehog as the last “big” film before COVID turned the industry upside down. Of course, with that financial legacy come sequel obligations and so, two-ish years later, cinemas welcome back the spiky blue speedster for a bloated follow-up, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, that might just about keep the kids quiet as the Easter Holidays begin.

We reunite with Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) as he, inspired by his defeat of the dastardly Robotnik (Jim Carrey), attempts to make good as a superhero in Seattle, naming himself “Blue Justice” but causing just about as much damage as he prevents. It’s not long, though, before Sonic has to get back to just protecting himself, as a vengeful Robotnik returns, this time with an iconic red ally at his back – Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Idris Elba), who is hunting for the MacGuffin to end all MacGuffins, the Master Emerald.

So far, so video game adaptation, right down to the fetch quest that forms the heart of the film’s plot, but it’s entertaining enough as Sonic and flying pal Tails (voiced by Collen O'Shanussy, reprising her role from the games) bounce around the world looking for the Emerald. The set-pieces are slick, if floaty, and Elba is a hoot as the voice of Knuckles, combining a solemn rage with bumbling idiocy to very fun effect. As with the last film, Carrey simply plays Carrey, so your mileage with his scenes will entirely depend on your tolerance for his schtick, which I found did get old pretty fast.

If Sonic 2 had been able to stay in this mode for 90-or-so minutes, then we’d have been looking at a solid slice of family entertainment. Unfortunately, though, it runs at a full two hours, slowed down by the most burdensome sub-plot I can remember in any recent blockbuster. Far too frequently, director Jeff Fowler cuts away from the Sonic action to a bizarre and awful story of Sonic’s surrogate human dad Tom (James Marsden) as a guest at a destination wedding in Hawaii. With no animated critters in sight, it’s absolutely not what any potential Sonic movie audience is paying for, packed with irritating gags that kids won’t get and adults won’t laugh at.

It’s a genuinely baffling waste of time, sapping the life from the film as Fowler – in just one example – abandons Sonic snowboarding down a Siberian mountain dodging laser fire from robots in favour of some instantly forgettable wedding vows. The two stories do eventually intersect, but not in a way that actually benefits either of them and I can’t imagine why the Hawaii stuff wasn’t simply cut entirely.

There’s just about enough going fast to keep younger audiences invested up to a big final battle that is simply loaded with fan service and a soppy but effective coda. Up against other recent video game movies like Uncharted and Mortal Kombat, Sonic 2 compares favourably, but that’s a very low bar to clear. With a strange lack of trust in the simple appeal of its core characters, Sonic 2 is a film utterly insistent on tripping itself up.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is now in UK cinemas.