The highly anticipated sequel Sonic the Hedgehog 2 arrives in theaters next month, marking a very special occasion for video game movies. The live-action and computer-animation hybrid sees the return of everyone's favorite super-speedy, blue-quilled alien hedgehog, Sonic (again voiced by Ben Schwartz). It's a follow-up to the hit 2020 family film Sonic the Hedgehog, based on the Sega game franchise of the same name, and again stars James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, and Jim Carrey as the human characters who interact with the titular CGI creature. Joining them are Idris Elba and Colleen O'Shaughnessey as the voices of fan favorites Knuckles and Tails, respectively.
In the first movie, Sonic arrives on Earth by way of a magic portal and befriends a small-town sheriff (Marsden). They take a road trip to San Francisco in order to recover the talking hedgehog's bag of portal-producing rings. But hot on their trail is an evil mad scientist named Dr. Robotnik (Carrey), who seeks the power generated by Sonic for his own dastardly use. The plot of Sonic the Hedgehog is relatively contained, with Dr. Robotnik defeated and banished to another world and Sonic and his new human family living happily ever after. But the movie also teased the possibility of a part two, with post-credits scenes spotlighting the arrival of the flying fox Tails and also hinting that Dr. Robotnik, a.k.a. "Doctor Eggman," would be back - despite the first film closing with the villain being sent to another dimension.
Eggman did indeed return for the plot of Sonic the Hedgehog 2, this time teamed up with none other than Knuckles, a super-strong echidna. The pair of villains seek a MacGuffin called the Master Emerald, and the superhero-wannabe Sonic has to stop their plan. Fortunately, he also has a new companion in Tails, and together they travel the world in pursuit of the gem before it falls into the wrong hands. Sonic also definitely gets into a lot of trouble along the way, even interfering with the Hawaii-set wedding of the already grumpy Rachel (Rothwell). None of this is exactly a necessary continuation from the plot of the first Sonic the Hedgehog, but those who love the original movie will enjoy the additional installment. Notably, there's already a Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in the works, which is likely going to be set up at the end of the new release. What makes Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (and that planned third movie) so special is that video game movie sequels are pretty rare - in no small part because, historically, the majority of video game movies have been unsuccessful both with critics and at the box office.
For decades, thanks to such flops as Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter in the 1990s through recent big-budget disappointments like Warcraft and Assassin's Creed, video game movies have had a reputation for just not working. Only occasionally have they just barely done well enough to warrant follow-ups, as with the Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, Silent Hill, and Resident Evil franchises. Most of those series have also since been rebooted, though, and with relatively little fanfare. While Mortal Kombat 2 is officially on the way, a sequel to the Tomb Raider redo remains an uncertainty.
The main problem for a lot of video game movies is they fail to pinpoint what they ought to be for both those who love the games and the general audience. Sadly, a lot of those that try too hard to set up franchises (see Warcraft and Monster Hunter) without finding that proper balance of adaptation and originality, wind up bombing and then looking even worse for having prompted sequels that will never ever happen. The few recent successful video game movies that have proved the exception to the rule found their footing particularly in their humor, and a majority of them are more family-friendly projects. Sonic the Hedgehog was a box office success because it drew in a young audience, much of which wasn't familiar with the source material but could enjoy a wisecracking cartoon character - and this proved equally true for Sonic The Hedgehog 2. Even if Sonic the Hedgehog didn't need a sequel, it earned one.
