Let's talk some more about Sonic! (Sonic the Hedgehog 2 in review)

     Hey friends, if you're anything like me, you're pretty excited for the third Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Therefore today, I want to talk a little bit about the second movie now that it's been a little while since it first came out. I'm not going to worry too much about covering up spoilers, because really I think anyone interested in it has probably already seen it by now, and if not, please get on it! It's a fun time and I liked it a lot. I could have done without the part where Sonic and Tails have a dance off in the mountains, but overall, the movie was pretty good, though definitely aimed at a younger audience. Without further ado, let's get into it and start going fast!

Two Tails Are Better Than One!

    If you saw the first Sonic movie, they ended things off on a bit of a cliffhanger. Sonic was able to banish Dr. Robotnik AKA Eggman (Jim Carey) to a mushroom planet (presumed to be Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic & Knuckles), and finally found a home with Tom and Maddie (James Marsden and Tika Sumpter). Eggman was last seen trying to devise a way to get home, and then in the final post credit scene, we see Tails arrive through a portal to get Sonic's help. In the beginning of this movie, Eggman finally gets some response from his distress beacon that he made, but unfortunately for him, it's answered by Knuckles, the last of the Echidnas (voiced by Idris Elba). Knuckles is very easily tricked, however, and Eggman convinces him to take the pair of them back to earth so he can get his revenge on Sonic, who may also have been responsible for the demise of the Echidna tribe, or at least so Eggman claims. For fans of the games, this is not really new territory, but it is cool how they fit the mythos of the first movie (that was just made up for the movie) into the plot, where Knuckles was first introduced as a rival and enemy of Sonic in Sonic 3, just because Eggman was able to trick him.

    Cutting over to Sonic's storyline, Sonic is being trusted to watch the house for the first time while Tom and Maddie go to a wedding for Maddie's sister. Things don't go over so well as Eggman returns while they're gone, with Knuckles in tow, and he does a pretty good job of messing up the house. Tails appears to bail Sonic out of this situation, and the two of them begin a race to find the Chaos Emeralds, and potentially the Master Emerald. I won't lay out the whole plot of this movie, but I will talk a bit about some of the cool nods and tributes that they put into the movie.

    First of all, one of my favorite parts of the original movie was when they played a piano version of "Green Hill Zone" toward the end when the damage was being fixed from Eggman's attack. I bring this up to say that I was extremely disappointed when the second movie had no music from the original games, even though there was a cool version of "Emerald Hill Zone" in the trailers for the movie. I really could have used some of that in this movie. I liked the Agent Stone character here again, they really let him play up his character a bit more. I especially liked his creation of the Mean Bean Coffee House, which was a reference to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine, a puzzle game in the same vein as Puyo Puyo. The wedding subplot at first was just funny filler I thought, but then it ended up being a pretty massive undercover operation, showing the first of G.U.N. which was a government agency first introduced in Sonic Adventure 2. I liked the introduction of Sonic's inability to swim, and even the visual cue of him swallowing an air bubble while he's underwater at one point was really nice. The audio there sounds like it could potentially be a tribute to the terrifying "Sonic is about to drown" music that the series is known so well for, which is a fun little touch.

    The performances in this movie were really good. Jim Carey was great again as Eggman, able to lean much more into the evil side of this now deranged character out to rule the world, instead of just wanting to kill Sonic. With his eye on the Master Emerald, he's a much bigger and scarier threat than he was in the first movie, while still somehow being hilarious. Idris Elba does a great performance as Knuckles, elevating his comedic side of not being the brightest bulb on the tree, while still being a very threatening presence throughout the movie. Colleen O'Shaughnessey, who has voiced Tails and a few other characters in the games for a while, returns to voice Tails here, and she's just perfect. I've always loved Tails, and I thought the development and portrayal was great. Sonic, of course, once again is being voiced by Ben Schwartz and is fantastic as always, really leaning into the character building upon the family that he found, now having enough people to play Baseball without having to play against himself, like he did in the first movie. James Marsden and Tika Sumpter, our human leads, are as fun and likable as always, though Tom has less to do in this one, while Maddie and her sister actually have a bigger role in the third act of this movie, which is very fun. Love to see the two of them beating up the G.U.N. soldiers with some of Tails' inventions. 

    I know this is more of a list of things that I liked about this movie and less a review, but I just think it's a really fun movie, and one that shouldn't be missed, especially if you're a fan of the games. I hope you liked it too, and I hope you're as excited as I am for the third movie, coming out on December 20!

    Thanks for reading this somewhat scatterbrained post, friends. I've been pretty busy this week, but I love the first two movies in this series, and though I haven't seen Knuckles (because I don't have Paramount Plus), I think it would probably be fun if I were to sit down and watch it. I'm really hoping that the third one will live up to the hype, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing it sometime soon. Thanks so much for all of your support, friends, and I hope you're doing well! I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Sonic Fan, and I'll talk to you again very soon!