The New Review - Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Copyright by Paramount and SEGA

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Starring Ben Schwarz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden

Concept: Sequel to the Amazing Sonic the Hedgehog movie. Add some Tails and Knuckles, and you get the next step in the story.

Execution

Here we go...

Cast: Once again, Jim Carrey slays as Dr. Robotnik. Ben Schwarz made a great Sonic, and he does it again. The addition of Idris Elba as Knuckles and the original voice actress for Tails just makes the package complete. There is less of James Marsden and Tika Sumpter this time around, but that is okay. But... we got more Carrey being Carrey, so that makes his casting still feel so good. Score: 19/20

Presentation: Soundtrack is solid, with remixes of game themes and sound effects ripped from the game too. Visually, you KNOW it will be heavy CG, and there are some moments where the CG doesn't mix well with the physical locations. But nothing that takes you completely out of it, given that we have THREE completely CG Characters this time around. That does the heavy lifting. Score: 17/20

Chronicle: Typical sequel. New family settling in. Typical Dad telling son "you are too young, your time will come" and then the time comes. Solid sequel writing. Motivations for Robotnik are solid revenge notes. Same for Knuckles, but evolution of his motivations was a nice touch. But let's talk about that wedding scene. So... slight spoiler, I'm sorry. Sonic Earth "parents" are going to Hawaii for a wedding. A Sonic Ring gets mixed up with a wedding ring. And Tom needs to swap rings to save Sonic. And it leads to [redacted spoiler]. I can appreciate an unnecessary subplot leading to a way to tie into the main story... and this one included Shemar Moore of Criminal Minds/Soap Opera fame. It just felt off. Didn't hurt the story. But it didn't help the story. But... conflicted because it strengthens the family part... Score: 26/30

Impact: This will be fairly simple. As noted many times on this blog... and nearly anywhere nerd/movie related... we KNOW how bad Video Game Movies suck. But with Detective Pikachu and the first Sonic movie, that is starting to change. But not only do we have a video game movie, we have a sequel. And the general rule is that sequels usually aren't as good as the previous entry/entries. That is NOT the case this time. We has an enjoyable and entertaining sequel. Jeff Fowler has made a GREAT Video Game Movie SEQUEL. And I never though it was possible. Now... let's see if others can get it. Score: 20/20

Extra Oomph: There are so many sweet references to the game series. The Water references were cool, like Sonic eating an air bubble underwater to keep breathing. Losing his rings when he got in trouble(including Sonic yelling "Oh no. My rings!"). The Robotnik logo looking like game Robotnik logo was cool. But the [Redacted Spoiler] looking like the game character himself... that was a nice touch. But my FAVORITE Easter Egg comes from the Coffee Shop. The name of the Coffee shop is... "Mean Bean". As in "Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine", a puzzle game for the Sega Genesis, a westernized version of Puyo Puyo with the Sonic Animated series characters. Score: 10/10

Final Score: 92/100

Final Grade: A-

Conclusion: Entertaining movie for the whole family... and the ONLY example that a Video Game Movie Sequel can be great. This is an amazing movie. And if it really is Jim Carrey's final movie, it was a wonderful way to go out.

It's all a matter of opinion: I cannot stress enough that THIS is MY opinion, you can either agree with me or not. I don't have to justify my opinion, because *clears throat* that's what this blog is about. Whether I like it or not doesn't mean you have to or not...... I'ts just my justification behind MY recommendation... Which leads me to my FINAL JUDGMENT...

FINAL JUDGMENT: Definitely go see this movie. Look at the journey for the first movie: horrible reaction to the designs in the first trailer, so they went back and redid Sonic's design... so much support for the first movie, and it was a great movie. Now... we are looking at this sequel being AWESOME. Go see it. This team deserves our support and the movie is worth it. Go see it. They deserve the support. Besides... Idris Elba was fuuuunnnnnnny as Knuckles!

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There it is, folks! Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has gotten...... a 92!!!!!!!

Pretty damn good!

Have you seen it? What did you think? If you haven't, do you plan on it? If not... you should!

Comment and share! Help a dude out!

Until next time...

Don't forget...

Game Of Functions - Nintendo 2021 Edition

We are starting something new on here! We are going to start including gaming! And up above are the new logos for the segments(at least the ones starting up). Game Of Functions will be the Musings for Gamings. And New Review Gaming will be... reviews.

And we are startint with a hybrid. I want to highlight a product and service, give some opinions/reviews on them... but there will be no scoring on this post.

Let's begin...

The product in question is the Nintendo Switch OLED. After searching for one, I was finally able to get one. And this is my FOURTH Switch. I got one when it released... and sold it. I fell off it. Then I got a second one when Diablo 3 came out for it... and stuck with it. Earlier this year, I got the Mario Anniversary Red one, with the upgraded battery. And now... here we are on the OLED. I knew going into the OLED, I was primarily a docked user. Just the way I did it. But I had been playing handheld due to routine changes. And that is where the OLED shines. So many rumors about a Switch Pro, those people who bought into that were disappointed. And I get it. But they did it to themselves. Nintendo never promised that. Never even brought it up. What they released was a Switch with an OLED screen...

So... let's talk about WHAT Nintendo upgraded on this model. First, the screen. It is in the name. OLED. What is OLED? Organic LED. Individual pixel lit up with organic material. OLED gives you a better chance at clear brightness, color contrast(with OLED, 2 pixels next to each other can be ANY color), and OLED tends to draw less power meaning better battery life. The screen is bigger than previous models. It is brighter than previous models. The color contrast is wonderful. And Nintendo released the red box models with double the battery life, but I never got the full 5-6 hours on the Mario Red model, close... but never got it. The OLED, on the other hand, I definitely get the battery life out of it. They boasted better sound quality. And out of the Switch OLED's speakers, it is a drastic improvement. Tabletop mode boasted a better kickstand, and that is very clear, but I don't use it in Tabletop. And then... double internal storage, but if you aren't using an SD Card already, then the extra storage doesn't matter. And this...... is all in Handheld/Tabletop modes. The ONLY improvement for docked more is a LAN port. This was ALL Handheld. And......

It made me a primary Handheld user! It may still only be 720p in Handheld, but it looks so much better. And if you say you don't see it... you do, you are just whiny. I recommend the OLED for ANYONE that is primarily a Handheld user. Just... good luck finding one.

Now... the service in question... Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pass. This caused so much controversy. Why? Entitled whiny ass bitches who don't understand that Nintendo makes money... off their stuff. So I will tell you how my pricing changed. I was doing a family membership(still am). Went from $35/year to $80/year. A $55 increase. That is quite a bit, considering what the cost was. But a family plan can have 8 users, that is $10/year/user. So... if you have an issue with cost, get 7 of your friends together and split the cost. Individual membership went from $20/year to $50/year. A $30 increase. For those that still have a Wii U, an N64 game on Virtual Console costs $10/each. And the N64 Switch Online service launched with 9 games. That is $90. So to play those games on VC, it would cost you $90. That is 3 years worth of the $30 increase to your Individual Membership cost...... and there are MORE N64 games coming, plus the other perks...... speaking of which...

The perks of the Expansion Pass are small, for now. It launched with the Nintendo 64 and Sega Genesis Switch Online services. 9 N64 games(including heavy hitter Ocarina of Time) and 14 Genesis games. With a promise to grow those services(with the N64 highlighting Majora's Mask, Paper Mario, and Banjo-Koozie), it'll have more games to play with. And that isn't even including the long list of Genesis games coming too. And then the DLC. Currently, those with the Expansion Pass can get the Paid Animal Crossing DLC for FREE. $25 DLC. Free. On my account, I'm sure of 2 users, possible a 3rd, on my account that play Animal Crossing. That is $75(3 users) that no one had to pay for it. If that ends up being the standard, can you imagine a game like Breath of the Wild 2 getting DLC included on the Expansion Pass? This a great idea for the loyalists! I'm down. We will see how it develops. As for the value... it is a great value considering how much it would be get the equipment and games to play these classics legally. And if you don't see value in it...... that it YOUR opinion. Also... if you use emulation and ROMs as your reasoning, shut your damn mouth.

Last piece... we are going to touch on Anniversaries. Specifically, the Zelda 35th. So far... a Game & Watch, Skyward Sword HD, and Ocarina of Time on the N64 service... oh and a set of Joy-Cons. And that is it so far. What the hell is up with that?(of course I bought all of those)

There you go, everyone. The first edition of Game Of Functions. No need for reciew scores, because I haven't figured out what I need for a scoring system for gaming. But I will figure it out.

Until then... Game On Until It Is Game Over!!!