Double Feature Review: Sonic the Hedgehogs 1 and 2

Double Feature Review: Sonic the Hedgehogs 1 and 2                                                                 6-20-23

This movie is about a blue alien hedgehog named Sonic (Ben Schwartz). Sonic is super-fast, and because of that, everyone is after him, so Sonic uses his teleporting rings to travel from planet to planet. For the past ten years, Sonic has been living on Earth in Green Hills, Montana, but living in hiding can be lonely. One day, however, Sonic accidentally causes a power outage and gets caught by local police officer Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). When Sonic teleports his ring sack to San Francisco, he has to team up with Tom to travel to San Francisco while avoiding mad scientist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), while also slowly becoming friends.

While The Super Mario Bros Movie is meant to appeal to fans of the franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog is, for the most part, meant to appeal to casual moviegoers. This movie excels in that with a simple story, decent visual effects considering its smaller budget compared to other CG-heavy live-action movies, tons of Easter Eggs for hardcore fans of not just the video games, but also the TV shows and the comic books, and a great villain with Dr. Robotnik, or as fans of the video games call him, Dr. Egg-Man.

As most people who saw the movie know, Sonic the Hedgehog was going to be released November 2019, but when the first trailer came out, fans hated it because of how ugly Sonic looked.

Because of this, the film was delayed to February 2020 so the filmmakers could re-animate and redesign all the scenes that featured Sonic. This paid off, with Sonic the Hedgehog earning 319 million dollars at the box-office, being one of the few successful movies of 2020. Besides, if the film was released November 2019, it would end up like Spies in Disguise and have to compete against Frozen 2, Jumanji: The Next Level, and Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker.

In conclusion, while not a perfect film, Sonic the Hedgehog is still a lot of fun for families to enjoy. You could take away the Sonic element, and I’d still enjoy the film. In fact, Sonic’s creators Yuji Naka and Naoto Ohshima claimed that they really liked the movie.

In Sonic the Hedgehog 2, it has been six months since Sonic defeated Dr. Robotnik and banished him to the stinky Mushroom Planet. Sonic no longer has to hide from the public, but he doesn’t exactly know what it means to be a true hero. While Tom and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) go on vacation in Hawaii, Sonic has to watch ‘Doughnut Lord’s (a nickname for Tom) house. However, things get complicated when Robotnik returns with a new ally: A red burly echidna named Knuckles (Idris Elba). Luckily, Sonic finds a new ally, too: A yellow two-tailed fox named Miles ‘Tails’ Prower (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), who is not only a big Sonic fan, but is also a genius. Now, with Talis’s help, Sonic has to go on an adventure to find the Master Emerald before Robotnik and Knuckles do.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 manages to live up to its predecessor while also incorporating story elements from the video games. Not only are Tails and Knuckles incorporated from the games into the movie, but also the Chaos Emeralds and Sonic’s fear of swimming.

Knuckles' ancestors fusing the Chaos Emeralds into one.

Once again, Jim Carrey kills it as Dr. Robotnik. As the filmmakers put it, not only has he delivered his performance on a dramatic level, but also on a physical level.

If I were to complain about one thing, I personally feel that the movie could’ve been a bit shorter. For example, I feel that the subplot about Maddie’s sister Rachel getting married could’ve either got cut out or shortened.

In conclusion, while it may not be as fun as the video games, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is still very enjoyable. No wonder this movie managed to earn back over 400 million dollars at the box-office!

And to finally answer everyone’s questions, I’d have to say that the Sonic movies are slightly better than The Super Mario Bros Movie, since they don’t require you to be familiar with the source material.

Sonic 1 rating: 3.5 stars out of 5.

Sonic 2 rating: 3.45 stars out of 5