If the transition from 2D to 3D has never really benefited Sonic in video games, Sega’s little blue hedgehog finds a second youth full of success thanks to 3D CGI in the cinema. This Wednesday, March 30, the second part of his adventures is released on the big screen, with the ambition of beating the unexpected success of the first opus.
Because when it arrived in theaters in February 2020 (just before the pandemic and the closing of theaters), Sonic the film had garnered a nice success, collecting at lightning speed some 320 million dollars in revenue worldwide. And if the critics had been mixed, this adaptation had been able to offer a show suitable for seducing families thanks to its humor and a “buddy movie” side boosted by a staging at 100 an hour.
The post-credits scene of this first try left no doubt as to the ambition to quickly create a new episode. Two years later, Paramount and Sega logically deliver a sequel that arrives faster than its shadow. On the program of this 2nd part, we obviously find Sonic who spends peaceful days in the village of Green Hill. But this enchanted parenthesis ends quickly when Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) manages to escape from the mushroom planet on which he had been sent. This “folding” doctor owes his escape to the appearance of Knuckles, a being with superpowers, Sonic’s alter ego, that video game fans know well. Joined by Tails, the little double-tailed fox, Sonic will quickly understand the dark designs that drive this duo of bad guys.
An omnipresent humor
If the scenario remains faithful to the famous video games published on Mega Drive in the 1990s, it only provides a pretext to stage an amusing comedy, carried out drumming to stick to the frantic rhythm of its source material. If the first component had been singled out for an imperfect integration of Sonic’s 3D animation with live action, the larger budget ($110 million) allocated to this second component ensures the show. Above all, the film is carried by an omnipresent humor. And if Jim Carrey’s “The Mask” side may make some parents cringe, the actor’s “toonesque” acting as Robotnik still works with the youngest.
We can deplore a film that lengthens unnecessarily in its last half hour, but the bubbly atmosphere of Sonic and his new friends is enough to make it a purely family film that achieves its objective. It remains to wait for a third part, the start of which seems to have already been launched. Evidenced by the post-generic scene not to be missed.