Sonic 2 is speeding into cinemas

April 1st marks the day that the very unlikely movie franchise, Sonic 2, hits cinemas. Since the financial success of the first movie in 2020, the sequel was only a hop, skip and a jump away.

From just the trailers alone we got sneak peaks of Knuckles the Echidna, as played by Idris Elba, and Tails the Fox played by Colleen O'Shaughnessey.

As this review is spoiler free, I won’t be going into too much detail about the movie. But I will say it is definitely a step up from the previous film.

This movie is much more Sonic, what I mean by that is the last movie, although decent, didn’t carry nearly as much Sonic iconography that most people would recognise.

But the sequel blows it out of the water, with all the references to different generations of Sonic, characters, hints of game plotlines; it is insane.

The portrayal of Knuckles and Tails is outstanding, way better than how they’ve recently been portrayed in the games. It’s a breath of fresh air and makes you fall in love with the characters again.

I have very few complaints about them, a little nitpick would be how Idris says some lines, but it’s only a tiny criticism that doesn’t affect the movie as a whole.

Tails is of course adorable, the moment you get to see him and Sonic interact makes you feel nostalgic for the games; especially whenever Tails carries Sonic through the air.

I love Colleen as Tails ever since her introduction to the character with Sonic Colours. She does an amazing job as Tails and it feels nice hearing the same voice from the games, Paramount took a big risk with having a voice actor who isn’t really known by the main public, but it totally pays off.

Speaking of which, Ben Schwartz has done an amazing job as Sonic. The actual character model feels very expressive compared to the last movie and it works really well. The line delivery is great just like the first, and the colour blue suits Schwartz quite nicely.

During an interview with Polygon, Ben said that Sonic’s main problem in this movie is that he thinks he can do everything by himself. The point is brought up at the beginning and is a driving force for the final act.

Jim Carrey’s Robotnik is fantastic, he’s definitely more unhinged than in the previous movie and is filled to the brim with pop culture references. If I had to be totally honest, compared to the last movie, he wasn’t my favourite character, but the performance is still pretty solid.

I also wasn’t a fan of the wedding featuring Rachel, the whole love angle pulls the movie apart and slows down the action.

There is also an entire sequence in this movie which felt like it came right of the SpongeBob: Sponge Out of Water movie, and not in a good way. It was still a fun scene, and the lighting and shots were great, especially the animation; but it just felt weird given the context.

One thing this movie ups on is the action, fighting scenes with Knuckles and Sonic teased in the trailer is only just the beginning. The two have great chemistry together and all the action scenes throughout the movie are insane and are the highlights of the movie.

Some of my favourite parts are Knuckles and Sonic fighting, with my favourite shot being in the trailer when the two collide right before they start throwing fists. I ended up liking Knuckles a lot more than I thought I would, especially during the end.

Cinematography has also improved since the last feature, with shots experimenting with lighting and different angles. We also get a few more locations like Siberia and Hawaii which really add to the movie, but of course, the end fight still takes place in Green Hill.

We do also get some explanations of the Chaos Emeralds and how they were created, we also see their full power and what they’re capable of.

Other references to Sonic games are littered throughout the movie, SA-2 being written on the G.U.N helicopters is my personal favourite. Sonic Adventure 2 is the first introduction we have to G.U.N and the introduction of my favourite character in the franchise, Shadow the Hedgehog.

I do hope we get to see him in the movies one day, I think his storyline from the games would work great; wouldn’t know how to explain the Bio-Lizard though.

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 brings hightail action, laugh out loud comedy and the quickest hedgehog around.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 gets 5 out of 7 chaos emeralds from me.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is exclusively available in cinemas.