kata 🌊 aqua!

reposting this from letterboxd

It’s hard to write a review of this movie that isn’t rooted entirely in my Sonicness and quite frankly I’m not going to try. So, let’s get this part out of the way first.

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Welcome to another installment of Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog, an action adventure CGI/live action hybrid film and streaming television franchise aimed at kids and families. We’ve got it all, folks—puns, Fortnite dances, Sonic having weird human parents, Jim Carey’s The Grinch, pop culture references, an abnormally high budget for top 40 hits from three or more years ago, Sonic and his friends being aliens for some reason. You saw the first movie, expect more of everything that brought to the table, turned up to 11 and entirely self-referential.

Okay, with that stuff out of the way, good evening fellow Sonic children let’s talk about the best movie ever made. Like, what do you want me to say? A movie where all of that happens, you want me to pretend I didn’t lose my mind? A Sonic the Hedgehog movie where Sonic and Knuckles have a fucking snowboard chase and Knuckles is driven to honor the memory of his people? Where Sonic explores a gorgeously rendered Labyrinth Zone that has been built into actual physical sets? A movie where Sonic and Tails swoop into battle with the Death Egg Robot on the literal actual Tornado and the power of friendship saves the day? You want me to see that and say bad shit about it? C’mon bro. C’mon!!

I’m not even talking about the spoiler stuff! Like, the thing is, if you’re a Sonic kid like me you know what happens in this movie, because you’ve been dreaming about it for years! Yes, the Emerald does what it’s supposed to do! Yes, the post credits alludes to some shit happening, and yes they are going all the way with that storyline, they even said the words “50 years ago” like they are going all the god damn way.

What the fuck. What the fuck! How did we get here?! How did we come to a point where Sonic is this cool again? This movie is just incredibly fun to watch. It’s well paced, it’s got great action, it exudes respect for its characters and cast and lore, and it’s just frickin cute! It’s a movie about friendship and family and responsibility and heroes!! I love it! It’s corny and hokey and the power of friendship and love saves the day and I don’t even care, it is Sonic the Hedgehog!! All the way! Not a little, not almost, not inspired by. It is Sonic, down to its very core.

There is definitely stuff this movie brings to the table that’s new and unique, and it all works. Carey’s Robotnik, if a little much, continues to be a delight, and he absolutely revels in the maniacal evil he gets to inflict in this second outing. Agent Stone is a phenomenal minion for Eggman, if you look at the games and cartoons Eggman having weird sycophants who are implied to be gay for him is just sort of a tradition but oh my goodness if Lee Madjoub isn’t a treasure.

Sonic has parents. I’m dealing with it! More than dealing, I actually kinda like Tom and Maddie! I like this Sonic being Sonic Wachowski, a kid who’s still got a lot of growing up to do. It’s weird, and it’s hokey, but I like it! It’s cute! Shut up!! James Marsden and Tika Sumpter are great in this and have a lot more to do on screen, Marsden settling into the 80s kids movie dad role here and Sumpter jumping in for a surprisingly cool stealth action bit where she supermoms her way into knocking out some federal agents. I like them! I think they’re cute!!

Speaking of federal agents, let’s talk about the wedding. So the thing the trailers haven’t given on is that this movie really leans into the GUN thing from game lore, which is great because they need to if they’re gonna do that character any justice. But as it turns out, GUN is… meddling, in the wedding, we’ll say that. And as a result, the scorned bride that is Natasha Rothwell’s Rachel also gets a lot more screen time in this, and I genuinely think her scenes are the funniest in the movie. Jim Carey eat your heart out, Rothwell’s over the top bridezilla work is funnier than your Robotnik, sorry not sorry. Rothwell joins Sumpter in the “wow it’s cool that you gave this character an action beat!” club which really helps build out that feeling of respect for the movie’s side characters I mentioned earlier. Even Wade gets to have some fun! Though, it’s not as noteworthy as the other side characters here.

And of course if we’re talking about characters, we’ve gotta wind it back to the CGI animal ones. Ben Schwartz just eats this role up. I think he’s really come into his own as a VA. Yes, Sonic sounds like Leonardo who sounds like Dewey Duck, but his work in 2 is the most distinct work I’ve heard him do thus far, and the movie gives Sonic plenty of room to stretch his legs. Sonic’s still very Peter Parker in Paramount’s take, so expect quips and puns at every corner, but there’s a heart to Sonic’s character that really shines at several key moments and Schwartz totally nails it.

A lot of that heart for Sonic is driven by Tails’s role here. I loved Colleen O’Shaughnessey’s take on his voice already, and my affinity for her work has only grown thanks to a script that does this much for Tails as a character. We’ve never gotten to actually see Sonic and Tails develop their bond. Sure we’ve read about it, we have an idea of how they met, but this movie has its own take on it that I really, really liked. I won’t go into the weeds on this, but Sonic and Tails have always meant a lot to me, and setting Tails up as the weird kid who embraces being weird because his hero is too is just… I really love it. I love it a lot. The fireplace scene made me cry, okay, so sue me.

And then there’s Knuckles and holy shit if I could pitch this movie in an elevator it would be “Knuckles the Echidna is a very good boy the end”. Idris Elba. That’s it that’s the whole tweet like. He likes ICE CREAM and GRAPES and he has STEELY FOCUS and he’s COMPLEX and that’s A LOT FOR SOME PEOPLE. He’s funny and driven and is like, exactly the way I’ve always imagined Knuckles to be. He’s a gullible naive guy who lost everything when he was very small and just wants to live up to his destiny. And he’s lonely. And he’s just. Every single scene with Knuckles in it is a highlight, I cannot wait for the TV show, every single moment where the three animal boys were together on screen I just had the dopiest smile on my face, Sonic calls him Knucklehead. Like.

It’s them, man! It’s Team Sonic! It’s them, they have cute banter, they have nicknames for each other, they have combos, it’s them!!! I have been wanting to see a movie like this since I was fucking 7 years old!! It’s their relationship in the OVA except done even better somehow, probably because the voice acting is just so high level.

Also the fucking Death Egg Robot is there! And Eggman has the little wasp Badniks from the games! Like man what else do you want from me?! And if you’ve made it this far you may not care very much about spoilers so I’m gonna say the thing and the thing is MOTHER FUCKING SUPER SONIC?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! THAT BITCH GOT ALL GLOWY WITH RED EYES AND TORE THE HEAD OFF THE ROBOT LIKE A GOD DAMN CHAINSAW??? JEFF FOWLER YOU FUCKING MADMAN.

So yeah of course I’m giving this movie a 5. If the next movie drops the name Maria literally anywhere it’s getting an instant 5 too. I don’t even feel bad. Sonic the Hedgehog is back, awoo, he’s good again, go watch this. Thanks.