Sonic the Hedgehog 2 review: Mediocre sequel overstays its welcome

Jim Carrey’s wild antics elevated the first movie but is it enough to save the sequel?

Remember the brouhaha over the very first Sonic the Hedgehog trailer?

The backlash was so fierce to Sonic’s “humanised” look, the studio actually went back and reanimated the character. What seemed calamitous at the time turned into a blessing.

Because when the film was released months later with a made-over Sonic, expectations weren’t exactly lofty, and that worked in Sonic’s favour because it was inoffensive fun, buoyed by a bonkers, 90s-era over-the-top Jim Carrey performance.

Sonic races back onto screens. Picture: Paramount

But expectations can also sink you because now that Sonic has set a bar, even if not an enormously high one, the sequel has to meet it. And Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is, at best, mediocre. Inoffensive mediocrity, but mediocrity.

With an influx of new characters, the film picks up roughly a year after Dr Robotnik (Carrey) was banished to a mushroom world. He’s been busy planning his escape and crosses paths with someone very interested in Sonic’s powered quill in Robotnik’s possession – Knuckles the Echidna (voice of Idris Elba).

Knuckles and Sonic face off in the sequel. Picture: Paramount

Knuckles is the last of a warrior tribe, the enemy of Sonic’s now-dead surrogate mother Longclaw. Knuckles is looking for the Master Emerald, a MacGuffin that bestows its owner with untold power to defeat any oppositional force. And Knuckles thinks Sonic knows where it is.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz) has found his family in Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), although Tom wishes Sonic could find a buddy. That friend shows up in the form of Tails (voice of Colleen O’Shaughnessey, reprising the role from the video games), an earnest double-tailed fox with the ability to fly, warning of Robotnik’s return and Knuckle’s imminent arrival.

Jim Carrey in his hammiest form as Dr Robotnik. Picture: Paramount

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is ultimately a family movie so it’s no surprise that it’s vibing at a wackier frequency, and that “more is more”.

A line of dialogue forecasts a “100 per cent chance of adventure” and you can’t deny that’s true.

The story whips from set-piece to set-piece, from location to location, and jams in a bunch of pop cultural references for the adults in the room, including a gibe about the feud between Vin Diesel and the Rock, and self-slap about a derivative nod to Indiana Jones.

And Carrey is fully committed to doing 200 per cent, which, of course, has its charms.

But it is exhausting, especially when you consider the sequel is 23 minutes longer than its predecessor – and you really feel that extra time.

Sonic may be an amiable franchise with likeable characters and whiz-bang action sequences, but without the discipline of a tighter script and edit, you really feel the drag.

Rating: 2.5/5

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is in cinemas from March 31

Originally published as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 review: Mediocre sequel overstays its welcome