Rating: PG
Runtime: 2 hours, 2 minutes
Director: Jeff Fowler
Quick Impressions:
This was a magical weekend for my family. Saturday, after a two-year hiatus, we resumed our tradition of going to the zoo for my birthday. Afterwards, we casually ate inside a restaurant (sans masks). My actual birthday was Sunday, but there wasn’t much left to do except go to a movie. That seemed unlikely because my six-year-old son just will not sit through movies in the theater. Though he’s happy to eat popcorn and candy in a fun reclining chair, at the end of the trailers, he’s done. Watching the rest of the movie quickly turns into a torturous experience for him (and for the rest of us!).
Practically every other day, he tells us, “I only like one movie, Sonic the Hedgehog.”
Well, imagine our luck! Guess what movie came out this weekend?
Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
My son has been dying to see this sequel, and the rest of us have been reasonably excited, too. (I mean, Jim Carrey gave a surprisingly not-phoned-in performance as Dr. Eggman the last time, and who can resist the casting choice of Idris Elba as Knuckles?) Plus, Tails is in this movie! He’s my son’s favorite. (His older brother and sister usually cast themselves as the protagonists when we’d pretend, but this one likes to play the cutest character. When he and I played Sonic in the park, he was always Tails.)
Honestly, it was worth the price of admission just to watch my son watch this movie. At moments, his sister and I would be mildly bored or gently amused, and then I’d glance over and see “Tails” shoving popcorn into his mouth with a look of transfixed wonder on his face as he stared longingly (way) up at the screen. (We bought tickets at the last minute, so we ended up in the front row.)
I’ll admit that I didn’t expect much from a sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog, but I’m happy to report that Sonic 2 far surpassed my expectations. In fact, we found the movie so charming that we almost went to Olive Garden for dinner afterwards but ended up choosing another restaurant after checking the wait time. (Those Olive Garden jokes are funny, but not 45-minute wait funny.)
(“I like this!” my daughter exclaimed in glee as we ditched Olive Garden for Outback. “We’re driving around, casually choosing restaurants, no masks, like everything’s normal.” This is the first time we’ve done anything without a mask since I can’t remember when. We brought masks, but nobody was wearing them.)
The Good:
I was fully in “appreciate this movie for the pleasant, child-friendly diversion that it is” mode when it surprised me by getting actually funny. One thing Sonic 2 does particularly well is parcel out small, regular doses of humor for adults. Sometimes, “adult” jokes in PG-rated kids’ movies end up being (largely unfunny) sex jokes that fly over kids’ heads. Sonic 2 instead gives us gently goofy (often referential) humor for young nerds who grew up. If you were a kid in the 80s or 90s who played Sonic on a Sega Genesis, and now you have kids, you’re the target audience for these ridiculously silly jokes. (You don’t need kids to find the jokes funny. I just have a hard time imagining that you’d be there to hear them without a child or two in tow unless you’re really into Sonic.) These are like Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes jokes. You hear one or two and vaguely smile. Then you hear a few more and think, “Hmm. This is getting old.” And then suddenly, you’re surprised to be laughing hysterically. There’s a weird, cumulative effect to the humor in this movie.)
Since I wasn’t expecting much from Sonic 2, I would have been fully satisfied with the sporadic smiles I got from these scattered, mild jokes. But I must admit the movie surprised me by becoming so funny that I couldn’t resist laughing just when I least expected it. The best part is, this extremely humorous material is also surprising, all the more so because the movie has conditioned us with its belabored predictability to expect that there will not be a plot twist. And then—surprise!—a plot twist.
I have to admit that I did not expect the plot twist in this movie. I didn’t see it coming at all. Of course, to be fair, I wasn’t expecting the movie to do anything genuinely clever or unpredictable. But this movie made a move that never fails to win me over. If you were to ask with great scrutiny, “Why did the movie make this choice?” the answer would be incredibly obvious. There is only one reason this movie makes this choice—to be funny. Part of the reason this plot twist is so unexpected is that it’s completely unrealistic and makes no sense. It did make me laugh, though. (In fact, I always appreciate ludicrous silliness out of left field. I find that extremely hard to resist in any movie, book, or life event.)
I like Idris Elba, so I was excited to hear him play Knuckles, and he has a huge, significant part in the film, so it’s not like some glorified cameo. For my son, though, Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) absolutely stole the show.
I was won over entirely by the human cast. James Marsden made me laugh several times before the movie even became funny in earnest. (It’s sort of hard to explain the humor that pervades this movie. It’s so gentle and mild, but it’s still funny.) For one thing, he kept reminding me of someone I know. Also, some of the stuff that happens just doesn’t actually make sense. (My husband pointed out that when he compares his muscles to Randall’s muscles (Shemar Moore), his are actually basically just as impressive, which is true, and makes the whole thing very funny in a strange, low-key way.) Adam Palley has some funny moments, too. I never felt I should be laughing at his jokes, yet somehow I did.
What first truly delighted me in this film were its repeated references to the Four Seasons. (In the first movie, we could never decide if all the Olive Garden jokes were clumsy product placement, jokes about clumsy product placement, or a little from column A, a little from column B. This time around, we get the same thing, but with the Four Seasons instead of Olive Garden (at first).) Doing this serves as a pointed call back to the first movie’s Olive Garden references and somehow makes them funnier.
Sonic 2 also has wonderful (if very, very pointed) lessons for children about growing up, being ready to take on responsibility, friendship. It’s a wholesome movie, and it makes kids want to play Sonic games. (I know because when we got back to the car, my son immediately began intently playing a Sonic game on his tablet. I glanced back, and Tails was flying around everywhere.)
Best Scene:
The wedding scene is an absolute scream. My daughter and I suddenly became so engaged in the movie. We were laughing in delight. Part of me was wondering, “Is this fanservice for the moms in the audience?” (I’m not implying a sexual connotation. I just mean it’s a little something for the moms.) In a movie with mostly male characters centered on a video game quest, this bizarre interlude does come across as a bit of unexpected adventure designed to appeal to women in the audience, probably little girls, too. My daughter and I were so delighted. Of course, we also love silly, absurd humor when it comes crashing in randomly.
You know, it’s not really the wedding scene itself that I’m talking about. (One thing happens there that’s incredibly predictable, as my husband kept pointing out at dinner.) It’s the part that comes right after it. Tika Sumpter and Natasha Rothwell suddenly steal the spotlight. This reminds me of a scenario I would have made up with my Barbies. (When I was in fifth grade, a friend and I used to play Barbies at her house and create the strangest adventures for them, or pretend they were voodoo dolls and we could use them to control people we knew, making them live through bizarre and baffling stories.)
What I’m thinking of is actually a sequence of scenes, but it’s without a doubt the best and most surprising part of the movie.
Best Action Sequence:
That dance fight in Siberia is really something else. My daughter and I had the same reaction to that scene. At first we were suspicious, then intrigued against our will. But finally it becomes too amusing to resist. Watching, I whispered to her, “This is just like my life. I look up and suddenly realize in terror, ‘How did I get into this situation?’”
If you’re six, though, you’ll probably love the big showdown between Sonic and friends and Dr. Eggman at the end. (If you’re like my son, you’ll notice foreshadowing during the dance fight that leads to the best thing ever during the real fight.)
Best Scene Visually:
I love the moment when we’re first reintroduced to Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub) at the coffee shop. (There are so many visual jokes during that fight scene, too, the woman’s knitting, the man’s tattoo. They’re so dumb, but they win you over.)
The Negatives:
In the first Sonic the Hedgehog, Jim Carrey’s performance really took me off guard. I remember thinking, “I didn’t even realize I was a fan of Jim Carrey!” But when I saw him the first time as Dr. Robotnik, I wanted to yell, “Why have you been absent from our screens so long? I’ve missed your comedic genius!” And, truthfully, in the 90s, I didn’t even like most of Jim Carrey’s movies. He grew on me over time, but I wouldn’t have predicted my enthusiasm for his big return to my awareness. (This is the most backhanded compliment ever!) Carrey’s performance as Robotnik really elevates the first film. He’s better than the rest of the movie. Sonic is good, but he’s great. And does someone playing the bad guy in a kids’ video game adaptation really have to be great? He plays that part with immense enthusiasm, definitely not phoning it in. I remember being surprised by how much I enjoyed the odd precision of his physical comedy. I don’t think I appreciated Carrey’s comedic artistry in my ill-spent youth.
But his part is slightly less good this time around. There’s nothing wrong with his performance. It’s more that his screentime is broken up. He’s in the whole movie, but he has lines here and there. He’s sharing the screen with more characters this time around. He just doesn’t feel as showcased. He’s still good, and I hope he returns in the third movie (which appears to be in the works), but I think he had a slightly better part the first time.
And then of course, the problem I always have with these Sonic movies is that the plot doesn’t always entirely make sense. Well, it makes sense, but you can tell you’re watching a video game adaptation. (“Now you must find the green emerald!” The green emerald?!) Plot elements seem strung together for the sake of convenience, and some of the very best material in the movie is highly illogical and makes no sense if you ask any questions whatsoever. But that’s not really a problem. (I mean, we also watched David Lynch’s version of Dune this weekend, and that film’s far more guilty of garbling plot elements, speeding through the story, throwing in random objects of power and not explaining them in a way that gives the audience any sense of emotional heft.) (I kind of like the David Lynch Dune, but I hadn’t watched it since I was a child. I always assumed it made more sense than it does since when I was a kid, I was often guilty of not fully paying attention.) (I kind of like Lynch’s Dune, though. My daughter very vocally could not stand it, but I love its weird vibe, memorable visuals, and catchy score. Probably that film’s biggest problem is that it really only works if you’ve already read the book, yet if you’ve read the book, you’ll be so aware of the inadequacies of that adaptation. She wants me to write a review of that film. Maybe I will, but she’ll probably be disappointed by what I say.)
My only other complaint about Sonic 2 has to do with timing and the animated characters. Both Knuckles and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) have some very funny lines, but sometimes (especially with Knuckles) something seems off with their timing, and so some of the humor is lost. This is especially true with Idris Elba’s lines. I don’t see a problem with his delivery, necessarily. Something is happening with the animated characters’ dialogue that is not happening (as consistently) with the live action characters. The lines themselves are funny, and the line reading is not the issue. It’s that the character doesn’t seem fully present in the scene with the other characters. I’m having trouble describing the problem, and I don’t know how to correct it. The dialogue itself should be funnier than it comes across because it doesn’t receive the proper emphasis. I don’t mean the actor doesn’t emphasize the proper words. I mean that the rhythm of the scene feels off. It’s like the lines are getting lost, the pauses between the lines don’t feel right. This is a minor complaint. (Do you know how rarely my son enjoys watching a movie?)
Overall:
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 gets funnier and more engaging as it progresses, and it’s an absolutely stellar film if you have a little boy who refuses to sit quietly and watch a movie at the theater unless they’re showing Sonic the Hedgehog. I would watch a hundred more of these (not in a row, though. But as long as they make them one every couple of years, our family will be back).