Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (PG, 122 minutes)
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2 stars
When I was waiting for the Dendy cinema to open, I struck up a conversation with a pleasant lady and her young son.
They, too, were going to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and no surprise, that was his choice, from the trailer. He, like me, had neither seen the first film nor played the game.
We were going to different sessions. I saw The Bad Guys first and if I'd talked to her after that and before they bought their tickets, I'd have recommended they see that film instead.
It's not that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is bad, exactly: it just feels, as so many sequels do, unnecessary and forgettable.
It's also more than two hours long, which for a film based on a video game is excessive. Sonic the character moves at very fast speed: this movie does not, and there are lulls. The special effects are good, so at least they didn't skimp on that, just on script editing.
No doubt there are references and callbacks to the Sonic universe that eluded me but, thanks to my keen powers of observation and the internet, I think I got the general idea.
Alien anthropomorphic Sonic (voiced, appealingly, by Ben Schwartz) has decided he wants to be a Batman-style nocturnal vigilante and goes to Seattle where, unsurprisingly, he wreaks havoc.
Back in the small town of Green Hills with his "parents", sheriff Tom (James Marsden) and vet Maggie (Tika Sumpter), he's given a lecture about responsibility before the couple head off to Hawaii for the wedding of Maddie's sister, Rachel, courtesy of a portal opened by Sonic (he might be a brat, but he has his uses).
Left at home, Sonic has fun behaving like a teenager - indulging in junk food, making a mess (which he can quickly clean up given his speed: I wish I had him to help out at home) - but, predictably, this doesn't last.
An alien antagonist, this one a superstrong echidna (though he looks more like a dog) named Knuckles, drops by: he is collaborating with evil Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey in full scenery-chewing mode), whom he's freed from offworld exile on a Mushroom Planet, to recover the Master Emerald so they can conquer the world (Robotnik) and defeat Sonic (Knuckles).
Idris Elba is luxury casting as the voice of Knuckles: his smooth, menacing tones are amusingly juxtaposed with his character's cure appearance.
Helping Sonic is the two-tailed fox Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey, voicing a male character she voiced in the game). And from the look of things, they've got their work cut out for them. Robotnik might be a ham, but he's a formidable foe, and even Knuckles' handshake causes severe pain.
The Hawaiian wedding subplot goes on a bit but does, eventually, tie in to the main Sonic story. However, there's a lot of extraneous content involving Wade (Adam Pally), the town deputy, among other stuff.
The story should whizz along but there's lots of talk as well as lots of action. And, of course, there are lessons, about responsibility and family and making friends with the wrong people. But it feels a bit pat.
Marsden and Sumpter are likeable in their rather thankless roles: does anyone watch these kinds of movies for the human stooges?
If you want to take kids to it, they might well enjoy the action and slapstick and Jim Carrey's villainous histrionics, and you might have fun if you're a fan of the game, but it's far from essential viewing.
There's a mid-credits teaser for the next sequel, indicating another character will be introduced.
If you or your kids like Sonic, you can look forward to savouring another story sooner rather than later.