Review: In 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2,' the blue hero and Jim Carrey's crazed villain return for sporadic laughs

In the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, they fixed the problem of how to animate a fast-moving blue video game character — but in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” they’re still having problems delivering a story that is as fleet-footed as its young hero.

Before we’re reunited with Sonic, the movie checks in on the villain, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, aka Dr. Eggman, played by Jim Carrey, who applies his comic gifts to this absurdly cartoonish bad guy with the massive mustache. Robotnik is trapped on the Mushroom Planet, until he sees a portal, through which emerges a fierce red fighter, who is later identified as Knuckles the Echidna (and is voiced by Idris Elba). 

Eventually, both Robotnik and Knucles make it to Earth — where Sonic (voiced again by Ben Schwartz) is working hard to live a normal life in Green Hills, Montana, with his adopted human parents, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), the town’s sheriff, and his veterinarian wife, Maddie (Taika Sumpter). On this particular weekend, Tom and Maddie are off in Hawaii for the wedding of Maddie’s sister, Rachel (Natasha Rothwell), and super hunky Randall (Shemar Moore). Rachel has warned Tom that if he messes up the wedding with any hedgehog-related hijinks, she will end him.

Cue the hedgehog-related hijinks, as Sonic learns that Robotnik has joined forces with Knuckles to find something called the Master Emerald — a source of ultimate power that definitely should not be in the hands of somebody like Robotnik. Sonic has someone on his side: Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey, a veteran voice actor), a two-tailed fox with a backpack of gadgets, flying capability, and a devotion to Sonic that knows no bounds.

So the chase lurches from Montana to Siberia to, inevitably, Hawaii — where Tom, Maddie and Rachel get drawn into the craziness.

A trio of writers — Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who wrote the first one, and John Whittington (who contributed to “The Lego Batman Movie” and “The Lego Ninjago Movie”) — keep the gags coming fast and frenzied. Director Jeff Fowler, back from the first movie, understands his two missions: Keep the CG effects humming along, and stay out of Jim Carrey’s way whenever he’s mugging and augmenting his dialogue, which is frequently.

As with the first “Sonic,” “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is watchable only because of Carrey, as he applies offbeat shadings to an already ridiculous character and makes them fascinating. Not even Carrey has enough spice to justify the two-hour running time that will leave kids as bored as their grownup chaperones. 

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‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’

★★1/2

Opens Friday, April 8, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor, and mild language. Running time: 122 minutes.