The first ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ reviews are in

The Sonic the Hedgehog movie grabbed the golden rings of success before the pandemic derailed much of life in 2020, and now critics have had the chance to initially weigh in on Sonic the Hedgehog 2, set to debut in April.

The first reviews for the second outing featuring the blue, speedy, and spiny mammal popped up on Twitter earlier today. Tim Grierson of Screen Daily said the piece evolves the Ben Schwartz-voiced character, but still hews to the things children enjoyed in the first film, while marking a comedown for Jim Carrey’s amusing antagonist, Dr. Robotnik.

“Meanwhile, Carrey relies on shtick here. One can feel the veteran comic’s strain as he tries to generate laughs from a mediocre screenplay, contorting his rubbery face to little effect. Slightly more successful is [Idris] Elba as Knuckles, a humourless echidna with personal reasons for destroying Sonic – even though he doesn’t realise his overly dour demeanour often makes his stern proclamations unintentionally funny.”

Over on The People’s Movies, writer Scott Davis was kinder to the latest installment of the nascent franchise. He noted that sequels are hard to accomplish, and even more difficult to realize when based on a game, but here, the filmmakers embrace the absurdity of the premise to a positive degree, and remind viewers of what it is like to play.

“Sure, the story wobbles through its middle act and it isn’t exactly subtle, but that’s not the point. This is all about fun and, for any flaws it does have, you can’t deny just how much of a blast it is. Maybe for the first time ever, it feels like you’re playing the game whilst watching it in the best possible way: everything feels measured and assured with everyone now familiar with the footing they find themselves in, allowing for the excitement and energy that flows through it to be even more rewarding.”

The piece currently has an 80 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes ahead of its release on April 8. Peter Debruge of Variety said it wears out its welcome before it becomes a phoned-in franchise entry, Ian Sandwell of Digital Spy said it is more confident than its predecessor, and there are eight reviews listed as of this story being filed. If things stay roughly where they are, and the box office is good, fans may get a look at the other movies that we reported insider Daniel Richtman said Paramount was looking at putting into production in the near-future.