My expectations were thoroughly exceeded by this sequel, which is not only better than the original, but was probably the most fun I’ve had in a theater in a while.
The plot continues Sonic’s (voiced by Ben Schwartz) journey from the first film, as he has to contend with the return of Dr. Eggman (Jim Carrey), as well as the arrival of a new foe in Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and the help of a new friend, Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessy).
The introduction of Knuckles and his battles with Sonic are insanely fun and represent the closest thing I’ve seen (at least so far) to a video game coming to life on the big screen. Seriously, it was like someone took the popular battles from the Sonic games, enhanced them, and put them into a movie. That’s definitely not a bad thing for fellow game lovers… Far from it, in fact! It was absolutely fun to see not only Sonic and Knuckles duke it out on the big screen, but to also see things such as Sonic and Tails’ friendship, which I found to be very sweet and heartfelt.
Dr. Eggman, who almost stole the show in the first film, is even funnier again here, but not in a way that takes away from any of the main trio, as they deliver on nearly every one of their scenes together and have great chemistry.
One person I didn’t expect to steal the show, however, was actress Natasha Rothwell, who played Rachel (the sister-in-law of Tom, Sonic’s human guardian) in the first movie, and returned in a BIG way in this film. Almost every line delivery she gave was hilarious, and there was one CRAZY scene with her in particular that had me laughing the whole time.
That is really a PERFECT way to describe this film: it’s silly, but it’s also loyal, a CRAZY amount of fun to be had, and it exceeds expectations and shocks you with how fun it is, all at the same time. The only gripe I have against the film is that it felt like it went on a little too long, especially in the third act, but I was having so much fun that it was really hard to complain about it.
Fans of the video games will certainly be satisfied here, and the fan service definitely shines through, but it’s rarely ever in a bad way. I can’t wait to seek out this film again as soon as possible when it comes to digital and streaming.
