Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Story

Marooned on a distant, fungi-filled planet, Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has been biding his time while he hatches plans for revenge on Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz). When he finally frees himself, Dr Robotnik heads back to Earth with a new partner named Knuckles (voice of Idris Elba). Knuckles has spent his life looking for a lost emerald, and he believes Sonic holds the key to finding it.

Meanwhile, Sonic is living it up in Green Hills, Montana with the town’s sheriff, Tom (James Marsden), and his wife, Maddie (Tika Sumpter). Sonic is also trying to make it as a self-described superhero called Blue Justice. Sonic’s plans of being a superhero repeatedly backfire, often resulting in unhappy but safe people and a lot of property damage.

When Tom and Maddie head to Hawaii for their friend Rachel’s (Natasha Rothwell) wedding, Sonic promises to look after the place and stay out of trouble. When Dr Robotnik and Knuckles appear, Sonic’s furry friend Tails (voice of Colleen O’Shaughnessey) arrives to help.

Together Sonic and Tails learn of the lost emerald, the power it holds and the way to find it. They set off on a mission to keep it safe, with Dr Robotnik and Knuckles hot on their trail. When Sonic desperately crashes Rachel and Randall’s (Shemar Moore) wedding, he and Tails are captured. It looks like Dr Robotnik and Knuckles will win, until Sonic becomes the hero he has always hoped to be.

Themes

Revenge; greed; good versus evil; deceit; betrayal

Violence

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has some violence. For example:

A small creature is impaled and crushed while Dr Robotnik makes a mushroom-based drink.
Dr Robotnik is blasted backwards in an explosion.
Aggressive soldiers are flung into outer space. One is knocked out with a large flying stone.
Two thieves throw explosives at police cars during a high-speed chase. There are numerous crashes as the cars careen through a city.
Sonic throws the thieves out of the speeding van. He throws their bombs into a garbage truck.
Sonic dismantles the van moments just as it’s about to hit a child holding an ice-cream.
Sonic accidentally explodes a water pipe under the city, resulting in numerous fountains blasting up into streets.
Rachel threatens Tom, telling him that if he screws up her wedding she will ‘end him’.
Sonic is blasted through the walls of his house. He’s later blasted into the ground and onto a tree.
A speeding car hits Knuckles and blasts him into a shed.
Knuckles threatens to kill Sonic.
Knuckles blasts trough a truck and crashes a car over the side of a rail.
A severed fish head tells Tails to run.
Sonic and Tails are grabbed and nearly thrown into a fire.
Sonic grabs a missile and throws it towards Dr Robotnik while lasers shoot at them.
Tails is blasted unconscious. Sonic saves her from an avalanche at the last minute.
Tom punches Randall in the face.
People shoot tasers in the aftermath of the wedding.
A man is blasted into the air after he threatens Maddie and Rachel.
People aim guns at Maddie, and Rachel accidentally kicks them all out with a blast of light.
A man crashes down from the sky, and Rachel threatens to kill Randall for deceiving her. She shoots a cake to prove that her gun works.
A booby-trapped temple tries to impale, burn, shoot and crush anyone who enters it.
Sonic and Knuckles fight, hitting and blasting each other with power punches.
Knuckles is about to kill Sonic when the temple begins to crumble around them. Knuckles is crushed and about to drown, but Sonic comes to his rescue. Knuckles then saves Sonic, who’s also about to drown.
Vehicles and all kinds of metal are drawn up to the sky as Dr Robotnik activates a destructive giant metal robot.
Missiles are fired at Sonic and Tails.
A snot rocket knocks Sonic off a bridge, and he falls to the ground.
A giant metal robot nearly crushes Sonic. He later decapitates the giant robot.

Sexual references

There are no sexual references in Sonic the Hedgehog 2.

Alcohol, drugs and other substances

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 shows some use of substances. For example:

Randal and his volleyball buddies spray champagne at the end of their game.
Characters encourage each other to go and get cocktails.
Characters drink in a pub.
Rachel drinks straight out of a wine bottle before throwing it away.

Nudity and sexual activity

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has some nudity and sexual activity. For example:

Randall and his groomsmen play volleyball shirtless.
Randall and Rachel kiss.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in Sonic the Hedgehog 2:

The Four Seasons Resort in Oahu is mentioned by name. A wedding is held there, and parts of the movie seem to be filmed on its grounds.
Oreo cookies are shown on a shop shelf.

Coarse language

There’s some coarse language in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, including ‘shit-ake planet’, holy crap’, ‘screwed’ and ‘hell’. There’s also crude butt humour.

Ideas to discuss with your children

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a sequel to the first Sonic movie, both are based on the Sega video game. There are numerous special effects. The plot is fast paced, but it’s also very predictable. This is a movie for families with slightly older children, especially children who are Sonic fans.

The main message from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is that anyone can be a hero, but we don’t choose our hero moment – the moment chooses us.

Values in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 that you could reinforce with your children include loyalty, compassion, teamwork, courage and friendship.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 could also give you the chance to talk with your children about the real-life consequences of behaviour like:

trying to get revenge
lying to others
betraying people who trust you
using violence to solve conflict.