It's good to have you back, Mr. Carrey. After more than a decade of unsuccessfully chasing an Oscar nomination that should've been his back in 1998 when he made The Truman Show, Jim Carrey went back to his over-the-top slapstick style in 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog. The choice to cast him as the rotund Doctor Robotnik from the beloved series of Sega games seemed like an odd fit since Carrey looks nothing like the character, but once he walked on screen and the jokes started flying, all doubts vanished. As a film freak who grew up on comedies like Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, and the Ace Ventura movies, seeing Carrey embracing his rubber-face roots gives me a nice nostalgic buzz, and it's immensely gratifying to see him channel these gifts to create a highly entertaining and memorable screen villain.
When we last left off with Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and the Donut Lord (James Marsden), Robotnik was marooned on a mushroom planet in some dank corner of the universe, spewing rock puns and growing an epic mustache. I'm not going to lie: When Sonic first mentions the mushroom planet in the first film, part of me half-expected a Mario cameo. There was once a time when it would've been sacrilege to even think of such a thing, but that was before Shadow the Hedgehog was released on the Nintendo GameCube in 2005 after nearly two decades of console wars. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!
 |
It's not spoiling anything to say that Robotnik, looking decisively more like his classic game visage, makes it back to Earth with the assistance of Knuckles the echidna (the epic voice of Idris Elba), in hot pursuit of the ultimate power in the universe. People who know the games will know exactly what I'm talking about. Meanwhile, Sonic has taken it upon himself to become the west coast's most overambitious superhero. Screen chases with armored trucks haven't been this funny, or cost this much collateral damage, since... every time Michael Bay shoots a car chase, I guess.
The heart and soul of the movie is gift-wrapped early on when Sonic and Tom the Donut Lord go for a quick fishing trip. They discuss the ethics of vigilantism in light of Sonic's nightly activities, and it becomes apparent very quickly what Sonic's arc over the course of the film will be. A hero's journey toward his destiny is a never-ending buffet of humble pie with a single cherry on top, but Sonic the Hedgehog 2 never gets so bogged down by this story that it forgets to be a comedy. This flick has more laugh-out-loud moments than many full blown farces, many of which come from Idris Elba going full Drax with a dry, fish-out-of-water wit that makes Knuckles a lot of fun. The casting here is dead on, across the board.
Computers can create a lot of things that look real, but the performance behind them is what makes them feel real. Special effects and imagination in this film come in three sizes: Big, Bigger, and This Might Hurt. The search for the Chaos Emerald takes Carrey and his three computer generated co-stars to locations that could only exist in a video game or an Indiana Jones acid trip. But despite the studio throwing about $30 million more of those gold rings at the screen this time, the screenplay by Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington places characters we actually care about in the middle of all those expensive effects. The same irreverent spirit of the 2020 film is here, and it's gone full peacock mode. There's an extended scene in a Siberian road house featuring Sonic and Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessy) that would be completely pointless if it wasn't so funny. One subplot involving Tom's sister-in-law (Natasha Rothwell) getting married to the dude from Criminal Minds sets up many of the film's biggest laughs, gives the women in the film a chance to shine with some inspired slow motion, and ties together with the main plot beautifully. All the while, you're either laughing or smiling at the sheer energy of it all. Much like Joss Whedon's first Avengers movie, this feels like a $100 million independent film.
It's no masterpiece, and it's far from perfect. Most notably, Yoga Lady (Tika Sumpter) and Donut Lord's relationship with Sonic has somehow evolved from an established friendship of equals to a parent-adopted son arrangement. Even though this fits better with Sonic's obvious tween or teenage mentality, it comes off as odd after the 2020 film literally spends its entire runtime building and defining that relationship. It culminates during that epic moment in the final battle when Sonic says, "This is my power, and I'm not using it to run away anymore. I'm using it to protect my friends." To have their entire dynamic change between movies throws a bit of shade on the writing, but that's a tiny blemish on an otherwise sleek and well-oiled vehicle. Anything else I could bring up would just be nitpicking, and honestly, this movie is too much fun to rag on. Plus this is The Movie Sleuth: Any movie shot by Brandon Trost and scored by Junkie XL gets an extra star just because I said so.
I know it sounds like shallow praise, given the quality of the field, but Sonic the Hedgehog and its sequel represent the best game-to-film adaptations yet made. They're funny, engaging, entertaining, and faithful to the spirit of the games and the fans who love them. Director Jeff Fowler and his screenwriters clearly have the tools and the talent to take this series the distance, as long as they continue to focus on what matters: Character, spirit, and story. With performers like Carrey, Elba, Schwartz, and Marsden carrying that torch on screen so far, it's been a great ride. I'm very much looking forward to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and so is my son, who thinks this is -- in his not so humble opinion -- "like, the best movie, and so funny." Who am I to argue?
-- Blake O. Kleiner
