Sonic the Hedgehog 2 4K review

Aug 04, 2022- Permalink

2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog did very well and its 2022 follow-up, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, adds twice the villainy. Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) opens up a portal to another dimension and out comes Knuckles (Idris Elba), who’s not only the last of his species but a former friend of Sonic (Ben Schwartz). Sonic’s human buddy, Tom (James Marsden), is heading off to a wedding, so Sonic enlists the aid of Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) to stop Robotnik and Knuckles’ nefarious plans. Paramount gave me an early look at the 4K home release.

The 2160p HEVC / H.265 encoded upscaled 4K digital transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is presented in a 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The video presentation is very sharp, whether it’s human faces and textiles, the scenery, or the CGI hairs on Sonic, Knuckles and Tails. The colour palette is the real star, from bright reds and blues to lush greens and earthy browns. The HDR allows the greater colour depth and the deep black levels and darker scenes maintain detail.

On the audio side, your ears have the choice of an English Dolby Atmos track that folds back to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, as well as Latin American and Castilian Spanish and French and French Canadian Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Subtitles are available for English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish. The audio is fantastic. The Atmos track makes excellent use of effects in the height channels, and the soundscape has action and ambient effects moving throughout your surrounds. Low frequency effects in your subwoofer give a real deep floor to the action. The score is dynamic and also makes use of the low end, while dialogue is clear, centred and well prioritized in the mix.

The 4K disc comes with a digital code and a slipcover. Extras include audio commentary from director Jeff Fowler and Ben Schwartz, an animated short, about 17 minutes of deleted and extended scenes, bloopers, a Kid Cudi music video, an exploration of the cast dynamic, a character study of Knuckles, a rapid-fire Q&A with Schwartz, a look at Robotnik and Carrey, and a piece on Tails.

The Sonic the Hedgehog 2 4K is a fun film with excellent audio and video and a nice selection of extras. Recommended.