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| Sonic and Knuckles |
A Review of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 by Nick Olszyk
Distribution Service: Theatrical
Year: 2022
MPAA Rating, PG
USCCB Rating, A-II
Reel Rating, Four Reels
When the original trailer to the first
Sonic film dropped on Valentine’s Day in 2019, fans were horrified by the weird
redesign of their beloved blue hedgehog. Facing intense backlash, the animators
– to their great credit – went back to the drawing board for several months and
released the film with a model that more closely resembled the video game. This
not only saved the movie, which was quite good, but represented an important
lesson in literature: don’t needlessly change what works just for the sake of
progress. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 did not forget that lesson. Though a bit weightier
in narrative, it retains the silly fun of the original without being overly annoying
or awkwardly topical.
The
story opens with Sonic (Ben Schwartz) attempting to foil a bank heist in Seattle,
leaving only destroyed police cars, traumatized civilians, and a broken sewer
line that leaves the Emerald City smelling even worse than before.
“You are a terrible hero,” a man yells from his burned out car. “Don’t worry,” Sonic’s
father figure advises. “Your time will come, but it will pick you.” His “time”
comes sooner than he thinks. Dr. Robonik (Jim Carrey) conveniently escapes from
exile, seeking vengeance. This time, he is joined by Knuckles (Iris Elba), an
alien echidna, bent on finding the Green MacGuffin Emerald, which allows
the user to control reality. Sonic, joined by the flying fox-like extraterrestrial
Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), sets out to stop them and save the world. Along
the way, some enemies will become friends, the heroes will inevitably win, and
the next film will be set up. The plot writes itself.
This
isn’t always a bad decision. Quite the opposite, doing something genuinely novel
in cinema is rare and most attempts at pushing the envelope fall flat. Sonic excels
as an optimistic and sarcastic tween, the same as he has always been. Think Deadpool
for kids. Iris Elba also gives an amazing performance, bringing the Shakespearean
gravitas to a ridiculous scenario. There is also a hilarious subplot involving a
wedding where the bride goes on a lawn mower rampage and a dance off between
Sonic and Russian gangsters.
The
positive messages of Sonic 2 are standard for the franchise: love of
family, value of friendship, hope over cynicism, and good always conquers evil
in the coolest way possible. It brought me right back to my childhood of Saturday
mornings spent with Ninja Turtles, Power Rangers, and cereal that turned milk
green. These virtues were standard, even lame, in the early 90s but compared with
modern animation feels revolutionary. In late March, a video
leaked of a board meeting where several top Disney executives openly admitted artificially
injecting gay content into children’s programming while simultaneously suppressing
any acknowledgement of humans as “boys” or “girls.” Karey Burke, President of
General Entertainment, stated she believed “30-40% of Generation Z is queer”
and praised her two of her own children for being “transgender and pansexual.”
Like so many clueless adults, they think this is what “the kids want,” but the
box office says otherwise. The first Sonic film had the biggest opening
weekend of any video game adaptation, and this film doubled that record.
The
ultimate litmus test for Sonic came not from me, but my two oldest boys –
ages 8 and 6. This was only the 2nd film we had seen in the theaters
since the government deemed ordinary life acceptable, and I was pleasantly
surprised to see the auditorium sold out, many of the audience in costumes or
holding stuffed toys. My munchkins were glued to screen from the first scene to
the last. Once home, they were running around as fast as they could, bouncing
off walls and asking if they could immediately see the next one (streaming has
spoiled them). That’s the best review a film could want, and it fully deserves the
recommendation.
This article first appeared in Catholic World Report on April 18th, 2022
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