Consensus on the first Sonic movie was that it was surprisingly good, considering its troubled production. It fell into the same traps as other family films starring CGI characters, but it was otherwise a promising first step into a franchise. We knew it would become a franchise, judging by the surprise appearance of Miles “Tails” Prower in the stinger. And indeed, there have been plans as early as between the first two films to expand into a potential Cinematic Universe. Which I thought that was an early call to make. Guess it makes sense to think that big though, since the Sonic universe is pretty large. Thus, so far, every Sonic movie’s stinger has showcased a character from the games joining in the next film.
I reviewed the first film; we're on to Sonic 2. The film was released in North American theaters on Apil 8th, 2022. There’s a LOT to say yet again, so let’s jump in.
Portobello Purgatory
…AKA the Mushroom Planet. Doctor Robotnik has been trapped in this world for eight months. The “home by Christmas” deadline? Looks like that failed. At least, he has used his super-genius intellect to adapt to this environment, even finding subsistence from the surrounding mushrooms. His attempts at making a drinkable coffee with the stuff, however? Not great. Love his Rube Goldberg machine, though. He may claim he doesn’t want company, but the vaguely face-shaped rock he named Stone says otherwise. Hey, in isolation, everybody needs a Wilson.
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In short, Robotnik is trying to recreate the EMP blast that
led him to Sonic, hoping it will bring others to him. Smart.
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The doctor has scavenged his flying ship for parts and has set up camp. The blue quill he has kept still has plenty of energy. He has been hard at work, building a beacon atop a giant mushroom. Because I’m thorough, I looked up the film’s deleted scenes, and found out that in the original script, Robotnik tripped out on the shroom juice and hallucinated the Stone head talking to him. (You can see Agent Stone’s actor Lee Madjoub, in the bloopers, with his head all done up like the rock, so that scene got far into production before getting scrapped.) Even better, this bizarre moment leads to the scientist getting the idea to build a beacon. Sure, it sounds like something he could have thought of without drugs, but it would have been even funnier if drugs were the reason. Maybe they figured this would push the boundaries too much for a family film.
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Man, shame that scene did get deleted, 'cause I can't
imagine how much time Madjoub must've spent in the
makeup chair just for this one gag. (Taken from: Bloopers.) |
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| Hey, the shockwave brought people. The plan worked. |
The doc connects the blue quill to the beacon… and the shockwave sends him flying. The energy blasts out of the beacon and into space. Hours pass, with Robotnik lying there, seemingly dead; but then, a portal ring opens on the Mushroom Planet. Scavengers come out with weapons, investigating that strange happenstance from the normally uninhabited world.
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Fun fact: The Mushroom Planet was always meant as a dig
to the Mario series. As if to further push the point, these
monster mushrooms in Robotnik's chapter in the Pre-Quill
look a Hell of a lot like Goombas. |
There’s going to be two recurring themes to this review: The first is the number of details that were cut, that would have helped explain plot elements in greater depth. Many of those are in the deleted scenes; the film is 122 minutes long, already pushing it for a family film, so cuts had to be made, I agree. But those included information that would have been beneficial to keep or stick elsewhere in the runtime. The second involves supplementary material known as
Sonic the Hedgehog 2: The Official Movie Pre-Quill, a series of five comic book issues, with each telling a story taking place between the films. Each entry follows a different character (In order: Sonic, Agent Stone, Knuckles, Tails and Robotnik), and sheds light on things left unexplained during this feature’s runtime. It’s like patching up plot holes through another medium. Ugh, this is only the second film, and we already have homework to do!
Why do I mention that? Simple. The scavengers who walk onto the mushroom planet? They are never explained in the film, but they ARE explained in Knuckles’ issue in the Pre-Quill series. The echidna warrior starts that story already on a search for Sonic, but gets trapped in gladiator cage matches on a casino world. Knuckles wins his battle easily, and hires these three scavengers to aid in his quest.
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| Careful, doctor. This guy packs a mean punch. |
The visitors approach the doc’s body, spotting the blue quill in the human’s hand. However, Robotnik awakens and triggers traps that quickly defeat the scavengers. Seeing the portal ring about to close, the mad scientist runs towards it, but another figure appears: A red, angry-looking echidna. Knuckles (Idris Elba) steps through and asks Robotnik where he got the blue quill. To which the human replies, Earth, and says he can show Knuckles… the way.
Okay, that reference to the Ugandan Knuckles meme HAD to be on purpose. To be fair, maybe Carrey didn’t know about the meme's controversial history. Whatever, let's not get too preachy, he likely didn't know, I'll let that one slide. Title card, moving on to Earth.
Blue Justice Fails Again
But not Green Hils, Montana; nah, we’re in Seattle, Washington.
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Hedgehog really thinks he's superhero material.
He's read too many The Flash comics. |
Nighttime. Cop cars are chasing an armored truck taken by robbers. The bad guys have a bag full of bombs and they aren’t afraid of using them. Who watches from the rooftops? A certain blue hedgehog who should lay low, but can’t. Thinking himself to be a hero, the alien zooms through the streets, reahes the truck, and defeats the robbers. He gets rid of the bombs into a garbage truck, and tosses the last one, lit, in the sewers. Then, under the eyes of the panicked, tied-up original driver, he takes apart the vehicle piece by piece so that it hits the asphalt and stops just short of ramming into a busy plaza. Geez! And to top it off, the sewer bomb explodes, causing geysers of water to erupt.
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| Being a hero isn't about looking cool, buddy. |
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Sonic's grief is a running theme across all three films.
I didn't even know he had one of Longclaw's feathers. |
Cops arrest the thieves, while Sonic, still playing hero, claims his victory. However, nobody is impressed. Especially not the truck's driver. Sonic runs home to Green Hills, Montana, saying hello to Wade on his way. He gets home and sneaks into his room in the attic through the window. Before getting to bed, he stashes three dollar bills he accidentally brought home, and takes a moment to look at the map Longclaw had left him. Even with his new family around, he misses her terribly. He stashes the map, a feather of Longclaw included with it, and his bag of rings into his drawer, and gets some shut-eye. …only to be awoken by the family dog, Ozzy. And Maddie reminding him that he was supposed to go out fishing with Tom that day.
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Sonic should have known to wear a life jacket on a boat;
he already does it at the olympics. |
An exhausted Sonic ends up on a boat with his legal tutor, barely able to keep awake. Audibly snoring, he loses balance falls off the boat and into the water, going into panic mode until Tom rescues him. Okay, that does it! I said it before and I’ll say it now, Sonic, you friggin’ need to learn to swim. I’m shipping you that damn kiddie pool I promised
back in the Sonic Unleashed review last year! Okay, so… sending to Thomas Michael Wachowski, 55… er, Main Street?, Green Hills, Montana… uh… I can figure out the postal code later.
Covering the shivering hedgehog with a blanket, Tom reveals that he knows what Sonic has been up to. Well, it’s not like the hedgehog’s ploy of a Sanic puppet (yep, that thing again) and a recorded message about farting had any chance of working. And, oh yeah, news travels fast, and his exploits in Seattle have already made the front page. Sonic’s about to become the worst-kept alien secret in America. The teen admonishes Tom for acting more like a dad than a friend, but Tom needs to give the responsible father figure speech. Sonic’s recklessness endangered people, and heroes don’t do that. The sheriff finally gets through to his adoptive furry son (heh, I love that descriptor), stating that he won’t get to choose when the time to be a hero comes; the moment will choose him. Wisdom passed from Wachowski dad to son. Sonic promises to try and be more responsible for now.
Hey, does that mean his full name is Sonic Wachowski in this continuity? I feel weird saying that. It feels less weird than "Olgilvie Maurice Hedgehog", I'll give them that.
Home Alone: Hedgehog Edition
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I love the implication that Tom and Maddie do Sonic's
laundry, but it's just his massive socks and nothing else. |
A deleted scene shows Tom and Maddie preparing to go to a wedding in Oahu, Hawaii; Maddie’s sister Rachel is marrying a man named Randall Handel. They discuss how it will be their first time leaving Sonic alone at home for an extended period. The scene plays out exactly as it would if Sonic was a normal, human teenager; same dialogue. Normal parental worries that either nothing will happen, or they’ll find the home half-destroyed when they’re back, even though they’ve only left for two days.
Besides, if anything happens, Sonic can count on Wade! The lovable goof will stand in as sheriff for the weekend. Or at least, so says Tom, trying to be reassuring; Maddie doesn’t like the idea, and I can’t blame her. It’s also during that deleted scene that Tom settles on wearing a red Hawaiian shirt so tacky it would make "Weird Al" blush.
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| "Sonic Ring: We're way better than actual air travel!" |
They move on to the living room, where Sonic has set up a portal ring to the Four Seasons hotel and a mock-TSA. He even put a tie and sunglasses on Ozzy, the lil’ rascal. Sonic pretends to operate a metal detector, tossing a dig at Tom’s shirt by the wayside, and assures them that everything’s going to be fine. Sonic’s adoptive parents leave through the ring after Sonic has given them a power bump and a second ring to get home two days later.
One fun tidbit of trivia about the film; Sonic’s model has changed a bit. It’s hard to notice since Sonic is rarely seen standing close to Tom, but the blue guy has had a growth spurt between films. Someone on Reddit put screenshots of both entries next to each other for comparison. Those little details are always fun! Must've helped him to get real meals instead of feeding himself with whatever he could find in the wild. Script-wise, I think having some guidance and support in his life has helped Sonic’s implied ADHD; at least when compared to the previous film, he’s a lot less aimlessly hyperactive, and though he still has bouts, he comes across as having it somewhat under control. The kid just needed a family and friends.
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I wasn't kidding about the mower. And you know it's
intentional, he's put Ozzy in a cart behind it. |
Gotta love how seriously Sonic is taking the housekeeping role, at least while the legal tutors are around. Of course, as soon as they’re gone, Sonic makes a freaking mess of the whole place. Why wouldn’t he. One of the perks of super-speed is that, if needs be (read: If Tom calls by surprise to check up on his teenage “son”), Sonic can clean everything up in three seconds and then act like he wasn’t just running the mower indoors over hundreds of bags of chips, then turning the living room into a giant bubble bath. The threat of regular calls does work, though, and Sonic acts wiser afterwards, settling for a movie night with Ozzy.
A hedgehog and his golden retriever. I like that too.
Meanwhile, we get a repeat of the mid-credits scene from Sonic 1, with Tails (Collen O’Shaughnessy) showing up on Earth through a portal. He was a way off, seeing as he arrives when the sun is up, yet only reaches Green Hills at night. As for transportation, he steals a cop car parked by a coffee shop, the Mean Bean.
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| Did you hear a squee? Wasn't me. I promise. |
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| They do make a cute couple. |
In Hawaii, Tom meets with Rachel’s fiancé, Randall (Shemar Moore). “Hunk” doesn’t even begin to describe him. It takes a lot of work to make James Marsden, a good-looking actor and former Versace model, look average, but damn does Moore, also a former fashion model, manage it with zero effort. Randall, however, doesn’t seem to like Tom all that much, being all accusatory over what happened to Rachel during the event in San Francisco. The whole “stealing her car” stuff, all that. No worries though, turns out this anger was a prank on Rachel’s part! Randall is a super-sweet guy, who admits to Tom that he would like to see the sheriff and his sister-in-law get along better. Even Rachel looks happy for once! She gives her sister’s husband a hug and says she wishes to bury the hatchet – only to threaten his life if he somehow crashes the wedding. I like this sweet-and-sour tone much better than the all-sour of the first film, she’s already coming across as a lot more fun. There’s much better mileage to be had here, comedy-wise.
Sonic was about to pick another film to watch with Ozzy when the place goes dark. He hasn’t seen the portal ring that had opened outside, just seconds before the blackout. Hearing footsteps, Sonic moves towards the front door, only for something outside cutting the handle off. The door opens, revealing Robotnik.
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| "Surprise!" |
Ooh, looks like a good cliffhanger to stop on. See you in Part 2! (I know, I’m devious.)
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