3 out of 5

Directed by: Jeff Fowler

I think there’s something already clear from the unadorned, subtitleless title of this Sonic the Hedgehog sequel: as with the first movie, this is really about getting the job done. Returning director Jeff Fowler and returning writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller are joined by co-writer John Whittington, and… essentially retell the first movie, just moving Sonic (voiced again by Ben Schwartz) into the position James Marsden had in the first film, with Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) somewhat playing different parts of the fish-out-of-water identity Sonic took on in film one. This mostly shunt Marsden to a nearly useless subplot – which unfortunately buffs the movie to a what-the-hell-were-they-thinking 122 minutes – and the general rules of upping the stakes in sequels requires Jim Carrey to shed some of the restraint he managed as Doctor Robotnik as, once more, the villain, buuuttt… all of the things that were somewhat backhanded compliments regarding the first movie work a lot better here. Forefronting all the anthropomorphs as the odd couple frienemies is tonally smoother, and the pairing of Sonic’s growing confidence with Tails’ naivety and Knuckles’ amusing very serious dunderheadedness is a more natural ping-pong of dialogue, much better serving Schwartz’s abilities and not requiring Sonic to mug and overemote through the whole thing. The plot is full on ridiculous, and drops pretty massive holes on its way to a giant robot showdown, but it also doesn’t rely on a diminishing returns “Sonic lost his powers!” gambit to justify things; that is, the holes are a bit easier to ignore, especially with a generally heightened tone of constant dimension warping, crystal-infused superpowers, and, I dunno, Robotnik just jumping right to world domination as his logical goal.

The crux of things: Robotnik returns, and pairs with Knuckles the Echidna, who’s tracking Sonic, as he believes the latter to be in possession of the dreams-granting “master emerald,” which had caused some yadda yadda war back in the day. Tails coincidentally shows up, as something of a hero-worshipper of Sonic’s, and the duo pair to find this emerald before the baddies. Some pretty fantastical CG-glitzy set pieces provide for video gamey chases, and we get some inevitable needle drops and slo-mo scenes, but, again, the anthropomorphic pairing is better fodder for this stuff: Knuckles is a fun antagonist, pitting brawn against speed, and although Carey gets lost in the scenery as the robotics he employs get bigger and bigger, there’s nonetheless a relative practicality to how this stuff is presented – shared with the first film – that shows an understanding of needing to keep the whole thing moving along, and not act like it has much gravitas. This leads to some amusing edits, completely zeroing out the impact of some moments, but we’re already at 2+ hours, so I get it.

…Regarding which: it at first seems like the movie is casually moving Marsden out of the way, sending his character and wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) off to her sister’s wedding – kind of an obvious but slick method of letting the new animal trio shine – but then the movie swerves and attempts to make the wedding integral to the storyline, and it is not unamusing, but never clicks as relevant. Natasha Rothwell and Shemar Moore are pretty hilarious; still, when you realize we’re spending time here, you’ll be scratching your head as to why, and it’s a question never answered. (Or rather, it becomes even more puzzling with the answer employed.)

All in all, though, I described Sonic 1 as acceptable, but not a good movie. Sonic 2 is harmless as well, but also edges into some good chuckles and inventive action; having the same core creative and acting team in play helped maintain a consistent tone, and also meant they could take what worked before and iterate on it, while also not having to deal with origin story tip-toeing.

Still, you can keep these things at 90 minutes.