Thanks to the devastation COVID wrought, 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog wound up as the year’s second highest-grossing movie in the US. Of course, its $148 million wouldn’t have placed it in the year-end top 10 without the pandemic, but still, Sonic did pretty well, especially given how many armchair pundits predicted it would bomb.

Two years later, the inevitable sequel arrived. Though not a smash hit either, Sonic the Hedgehog 2’s $190 million US - $401 total worldwide - gross ensures we’ll get a third film before too long, I suspect.

Banished to an alien world at the end of the first movie, the evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) plots a return to the Earth. This endeavor gets a boost when he meets a physically strong red echidna named Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba).

Knuckles holds a grudge against super-fast blue hedgehog Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and also desires to locate a powerful “Master Emerald”, now located on Earth. As Robotnik and Knuckles wreak havoc, Sonic and his new flying fox pal Tails (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey) to stop their destructive plans.

Like most, I went into the 2020 Sonic with apprehension and low expectations. It looked like such “cinematic product” that it seemed unlikely to deliver anything of merit.

While the movie didn’t exactly dazzle, it did easily surpass what I thought I’d get. Sonic offered a breezy little mix of action and comedy that became a pretty likable 98 minutes of light fun.

Keep that running time in mind, for its acts as one of the reasons the first film worked a whole lot better than Sonic 2 does. The sequel spans 122 minutes, which doesn’t seem like a long movie, but for fare such as this, that seems like too much.

Make no mistake: whereas the 2020 flick blew by easily, the sequel plods. The viewer will feel each and every one of those 122 minutes, as “when will this movie end?” appears likely to pop into the average mind.

Sonic 2 attempts to recreate the frothy mix of action and comedy from the first movie, but it flops. The entire plot seems contrived, and the narrative rarely makes a lick of sense.

At its core, Sonic 2 tells a simple story: bad guys seek object and good guys try to stop them. However, the movie can’t deliver this in a coherent manner, as it goes down too many side paths to succeed.

This means little detours like a “dance battle” that features Sonic and Tails. The story lands them in Siberia at one point, and they need to beat some tough guys who boast awesome skills on the floor to escape.

On its own, this seems like a potentially silly and likable segment, but it integrates poorly with the rest of the film and also runs far too long. Many movies use the motif where the heroes wind up among surly locals, and even with the “dance-off” side of things, Sonic 2 doesn’t use this theme in an engaging manner.

The sequence also grinds the film to a halt and offers little real narrative value. That becomes a major issue here, as too much of Sonic 2 devolves into scenes that sound fun on their own but that don’t connect especially well with the overall tale.

Major characters in the first plot, Sonic’s adoptive parents Tom and Maddie (James Marsden and Tika Sumpter) spend much of Sonic 2 on the sidelines – until the movie finds a ridiculous method to involve them. Then they play an important part for a few minutes in another sequence that comes out of left field before the movie largely ignores them again.

Even without the erratic plot, Sonic 2 would suffer because it lacks the joy and verve of the first movie. Everything here feels forced, so little of it connects.

Jim Carrey’s Robotnik offers a prime example of this trend. Whereas he offered a delightful recreation of his 1990s style in the prior flick, here Carrey devolves into ineffective self-parody.

Because I didn’t love the first movie, I can’t call Sonic 2 a major disappointment. Still, it comes as a considerable decline in quality and lacks any of its predecessor’s charm.

Footnote: a tag scene pops up partway into the end credits.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.35:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. Expect a solid Dolby Vision presentation for a native 4K film.

Sharpness excelled. At all times, the movie remained crisp and distinctive, without a hint of softness on display.

No signs of jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to appear.

Inevitably, colors oriented toward orange and teal, though some other hues cropped up along the way. These looked bright and vivid, and HDR added range and impact to the tones.

Blacks felt deep and dense, while low-light shots appeared smooth and concise. HDR brought vivacity and power to whites and contrast. This became a consistently excellent image.

Though not quite as good, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack also satisfied. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the mix used its many action scenes to good advantage.

All the channels boasted vivid usage during those sequences, and elements felt well-placed and immersive. Music featured appealing spread as well, and the whole package combined to add punch to the proceedings.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that seemed natural and concise. Music seemed vivid and full.

Effects came across as accurate and precise, without distortion or other concerns, and low-end appeared deep and firm. The movie came with a top-notch soundtrack.

A mix of extras fill out the disc, and we start with an audio commentary from director Jeff Fowler and actor Ben Schwartz. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story and characters, deleted scenes, cast and performances, sets and locations, various visual effects, music, Easter eggs and related domains. Tails voice actor Colleen O'Shaughnessey pops up briefly during the end credits as well.

If you listened to the Fowler/Schwartz track for the first movie, you'll find a clear sibling here, as the Sonic 2 track works in a very similar way. That means we get another breezy, reasonably informative and engaging chat here.

A new animated short called Sonic Drone Home lasts five minutes, 19 seconds and shows Sonic, Knuckles and Tails as they battle one of Robotnik’s machines.

“Home” offers more entertainment than anticipated, though it loses some points because only Schwartz reprises his role. Alicyn Packard offers a credible sub for O'Shaughnessey, but Fred Tatasciore sounds nothing like Idris Elba, and that disconnect becomes a distraction.

Seven Deleted and Extended Scenes occupy a total of 17 minutes, 17 seconds. These tend to add a bit to existing concepts. They come with some value but don’t offer anything truly substantial.

A collection of Bloopers runs three minutes, 18 seconds and displays some of the usual goofs and giggles. However, Jim Carrey’s improv moments add value.

Next comes a music video for Kid Cudi’s “Stars In the Sky”. KC interacts with Sonic in this fairly likable video.

Five featurettes follow, and Finding Your Team runs six minutes, 31 seconds. It includes comments from Fowler, producers Neil H. Moritz and Toby Ascher, and actors Jim Carrey, Lee Majdoub, James Marsden, Natasha Rothwell, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally and Shemar Moore.

“Team” looks at acting with Sonic, Fowler’s impact on the set, cast and performances, and general thoughts. A handful of decent notes emerge, but “Team” mostly offers praise for those involved.

The Powerful Puncher lasts five minutes, 43 seconds and features Schwartz, Fowler, Carrey, Ascher, Moritz, and actor Idris Elba.

With “Puncher”, we look at the Knuckles character and Elba’s performance. Expect another superficial reel.

After this we get Rapid Fire Responses, a three-minute, 20-second chat with Schwartz. He goes through a mix of simple questions connected to the movie. This becomes superficial but fun.

Robotnik Reimagined goes for five minutes, 37 seconds and involves Carrey, Fowler, Moritz, and Ascher.

As expected, we get notes about this movie’s version of Robotnik as well as connected domains. The featurette seems mediocre at best.

Finally, A Sibling for Sonic spans four minutes, 46 seconds and conveys remarks from Schwartz, O'Shaughnessey, Fowler, Ascher, Moritz, and Schwartz.

We find a few notes related to the Tails character as well as O'Shaughnessey’s performance. It becomes another spotty show.

Although the first film managed to offer a fairly fun and charming affair, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 falters. The sequel feels like the contrived piece of soulless cinematic product we expected in 2020. The 4K UHD offers excellent picture and audio as well as an erratic mix of bonus materials. Don’t expect much from this forgettable adventure.