REVIEW / FILM REVIEW – After a first opus released in 2020, Paramount produced “Sonic 2”, still directed by Jeff Fowler. A second episode is much less convincing than the first film.
Sonic: an iconic character
For readers truly unfamiliar with the world of video games, Sonic is a small blue hedgehog capable of running at breakneck speed. Created by Naoto Oshima, Yuji Naka, and Hirokazu Yasuhara, he became the mascot of the Sega console in the early 1990s. The goal is to compete with Mario, Nintendo’s big star, and more widely in the video game market of the time.
If the first game sonic receives a very warm welcome, the character finds it difficult to hold on to the length compared to his colleague in overalls. So here he is forced to make unwelcome crossovers as in Mario and Sonic at the Olympics.
However, at present, the little hedgehog is gaining ground on his lifelong enemy. He indeed adds a few strings to his bow by having his film adaptation. Mario had his movie in 1993corn Super Mario Bros. should be left hidden at the bottom of a drawer. In 2020, Paramount is producing the first film adaptation of sonic. Directed by Jeff Fowler and worn by Jim Carrey and James Marsden the feature film met with notable success at the box office with more than $319 million in revenue (for a budget of 85 million). It even ranks as one of the best-performing films at the box office of 2020 (a somewhat special year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the closure of cinemas).
A less successful sequel
Even if the first episode had notable flaws, and was located in all coming from American blockbusters, it managed to win the sympathy of some of the spectators. I have to say that in the appearance buddy movie feature film the speed processing and the character design worked quite well, and allowed to make sonic uneven entertainment but cute and endearing. But for sonic 2Paramount has eager to produce unfinished work done in a hurry, only for an economic question.
Nothing works in this sequel, which only retains the faults of the first opus. From its opening sequence, where Sonic plays the superheroes of the poor, we feel that it’s going to be complicated… Jeff Fowler offers an over-cut and uninteresting montage, symptomatic of an era where entertainment for young people must look like an epileptic clip. A lot of cuts noises, bright colors, and images, for little overall vision.
questionable choices.
the buddy movie effective element of the first opus is therefore left aside when the scenario decides to put James Marsden on the bench. Instead, Jeff Fowler prefers to introduce new characters in CGI with Knuckles and Tails. Quite boring new characters, who are just stereotypical, slick figures of the villain victimized by his past and the naive, fearful geek. The opportunity, therefore, to highlight a lazy staging, punctuated with dastardly CGI which sometimes does not seem not finished.
The textures are ugly and coarse, whether those of the characters or the scenery. The interactions between the characters in CGI and the real actors ring false, and some inlays are completely missing. Moreover, the fact of putting the real actors in the background loses sonic 2 its physical substance compared to the first film.
Even the speed processing does not have the impact of the first component. Yes, sonic first of the name proposed some sequences which skilfully played with the notion of speed, but also slow motion, here there is absolutely nothing notable in this area. Jeff Fowler replaces the speed of the little hedgehog with clashes filmed with the back of the spoon. It, therefore, emerges from sonic 2 constant laziness. The feature film never seems finished, a sort of disguised draft of a film produced with bad intentions, contrary to the spontaneity of the first part.
Thanks, Jim Carey
sonic 2 is therefore a less adult film than its predecessor. Even more childish than the first. And this is not necessarily a good thing as the feature film never offers anything to develop the gray matter of its young spectators. It’s often silly like heartbreaking dialogues, a vulgarized staging, and a crying lack of humor… Finally, the only good reason to see Sonic 2, it’s Jim Carrey.
