Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (PG; live-action/CGI)
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This is the first sequel to Sonic the Hedgehog. It came out in 2022, but I didn't see it until 2024, while the third movie was in theaters.
It starts with Dr. Robotnik living on a mushroom planet, to which he had been banished at the end of the first movie. He invents a device that sends out a signal into space, and is soon visited by some warriors from another planet, including a CGI echidna with super strength named Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba). Knuckles is searching for Sonic, so he helps Robotnik return to Earth in exchange for leading him to Sonic. Meanwhile, Tom and Maddie go to Hawaii for Rachel's wedding to a guy named Randall, leaving Sonic home alone. Robotnik and Knuckles show up and fight Sonic, who is outmatched. But he escapes from them with the help of a two-tailed fox named Miles "Tails" Prower (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey), who had been seen briefly in a mid-credits scene at the end of the first movie.
Knuckles believes Sonic has something called the Master Emerald, which grants its holder power over reality, and he wants to obtain it. Sonic actually knows nothing about it, but eventually finds a holographic message from Longclaw that explains what it is. So he and Tails go searching for it, as do Knuckles and Robotnik. I don't want to reveal too much more of the plot, but it's hardly surprising that Robotnik eventually betrays Knuckles to use the Emerald for himself, and Knuckles then teams up with Sonic and Tails. And they eventually get help from Tom, Maddie, and Rachel. Oh, and I suppose I should mention a guy named Stone, who works for Robotnik. By the time I watched this movie, I didn't remember him from the first movie, and I don't feel like he's super important in either movie, which is why I guess I didn't mention him in my review of the first movie. But anyway, he's in here. And he helps Robotnik, whom he idolizes. There's also a mid-credits scene that hints at the plot of the next movie.
Anyway, I thought it was a pretty fun movie. I'm not really sure if I liked it a bit less, a bit more, or about the same as the first movie. But I've given it the same rating as that movie, anyway.
Followed by a web series called "Knuckles" and another movie, "Sonic the Hedgehog 3".