Review of ‘Sonic 2: The Movie’

Before a work like “Sonic 2: The Movie”, the critic must adopt the pose of the Pale Man from “Pan’s Labyrinth” (Guillermo del Toro, 2006), covering his eyes with his hands, palms out, and in them the eyes of the child he once was. With the eyes of childhood and the long experience in the dark rooms of the adult, it is possible to be fair in the appreciation, to verify that “Sonic 2” is a reasonably worthy show for the minor parish and, important fact, a show, to unlike so many others oriented to children, not at all idiotic, although it is not, far from it, “Babe, the brave little pig” (Chris Noonan, 1995) or “A tough little mouse to crack” (Gore Verbinski, 1997), for give two examples of intelligent, creative, masterful children’s cinema. It does, however, have an annoying and mellifluous message in favor of the family, apparently the fashion of this season: “CODA”, “The Williams method”, etc. Saving this stumbling block, “Sonic 2” is fresher and less vulgar than “Sonic” (2020), from the same director. Its main virtue is of a narrative nature: the adventure never stops, it advances at lightning speed, it chains situations with solvency (no matter how silly they are almost always) and, in happy balance between action and comedy, jumps from scenarios with remarkable dynamism: from one planet to another, from a frantic chase in the high snowy mountains to a beach with a botched wedding and from there to a desert island and an Indiana-Jonsian temple with hundreds of deadly traps. Jim Carrey, whose mustache makes Hercule Poirot look beardless, is a pure “cartoon”, who in the denouement rises to the skies like a character from “X-Men” and fights his battle inside an iron giant, like Kenneth Branagh in “Wild Wild West” (Barry Sonnenfeld, 1999) or the soldiers in “Pacific Rim” (Guillermo del Toro, 2013). It’s a typical surprisingly effective blockbuster climax.

For the little ones to enjoy a lively adventure as simple as it is worthy.

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DATA SHEET

Direction: jeff flower Distribution: Ben Schwartz (voice), Idris Elba (voice), Colleen O’Shanussy (voice), Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter Original title: sonic the hedgehog 2 Country: United States Year: 2022 Release date: 01–04-2022 Gender: Adventure Script: Patrick Casey, Worm Miller, John Whittington Duration: 122 minutes

Synopsis: After settling in Green Hills, Sonic wants to prove he’s the stuff of a true hero. The acid test comes with the return of the evil Robotnik, this time with a new ally, Knuckles, in search of an emerald that has the power to destroy entire civilizations. Sonic teams up with his own fellow sufferer, Tails, and together they embark on an adventure that will take them around the world in search of the precious stone to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands.