Jim Carrey had some unrealized ideas about Dr. Robotnik's look in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but the adjustments made were perfect for his performance. After redesigning its title character, Sonic the Hedgehog arrived in theaters in February 2020. The film became a sizeable success, earning $319.7 million worldwide and seeing a mostly positive reception. Much of that was thanks to Carrey.
The zany performance of Jim Carrey as the villainous Dr. Robotnik in particular was a standout element of Sonic the Hedgehog. As Robotnik, Carrey's performance was a throwback to the slapstick comedies of his early '90s roles that made him one of the biggest stars in the world. Carrey's look as Robotnik would also evolve over the course of the movie, with Carrey adopting the complete Eggman appearance in the very last scene of Sonic. Going this route was very much to Sonic's benefit.
In an interview with Screen Rant, Jim Carrey stated that he'd hoped to don Robotnik's round suit for Sonic the Hedgehog 2, but this ultimately never got off the ground. For Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Carrey's look adopted Robotnik's red suit, shaved head, and oversized mustache. This is a nice middle ground between modern villains and turning Carrey's Robotnik into an overt caricature. With Carrey's performance in the Sonic movies and their generally silly tone, his Robotnik look for Sonic 2 hits just the right mark between the cartoon character of the games and the living cartoon Carrey is. With Carrey speaking of retiring in the near future, his Dr. Robotnik performance and costume design in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are likely to be a great final act befitting his legacy.
Robotnik's look in the Sonic movies began relatively simply, with Carry having a black suit and full head of hair with a twirling villain mustache. While saving Robotnik's proper look to the very end might seem counterintuitive, holding off like this benefited the first movie, and now Sonic the Hedgehog 2, by allowing Carrey to go full Carry throughout. Carrey's zany performance in the Sonic the Hedgehog movies has been likened to those in his comedies like Dumb and Dumber, Liar Liar, and the Ace Ventura movies. With Carrey having tackled more dramatic roles and less cartoonish comedies in recent years, Carrey's Riddler-esque performance was a side of him the world hadn't seen in a very long time. This helped Sonic by essentially allowing the movie to be marketed as a classic Jim Carrey comedy, and that continued with Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
With video game movies already not having the best reputation, the original Sonic itself also faced its aforementioned backlash on the heroic hedgehog's design. Sonic wisely led with Carrey's throwback comedic performance in a way that didn't present him as Dr. Robotnik to the naked eye. To general audiences and people less familiar with the Sonic video games, Sonic the Hedgehog simply looked like a funny Jim Carrey vehicle, and this helped push the film to success. Equally wisely, the team behind Sonic the Hedgehog 2 chose not to acquiesce to Carrey's desire to fully embrace the absurd round suit, because his look for the sequel was perfect. In not going all-in with an already over-the-top look, it allowed Carrey's performance to shine once again.
