Fun Time At Sonic Speed: SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Movie Review

For me, there has always been hope for movies based on video games. Sure, there are the…well, let’s face it, straight up AWFUL attempts at adapting classic games to the big screen like Street Fighter, Max Payne, or Bloodrayne but for every five of those stinkers, I usually find myself surprised with a random gem like WarCraft or Mortal Kombat…the first one, we ignore the second like the plague. With Sonic The Hedgehog, I had my doubts this could work as a movie, especially after the first design that came along with the first trailer?

Yikes. But after the announcement of the redesign and the more advertisements I saw for the film, my curiosity and intrigue became piqued. I saw the movie and now I can add Sonic The Hedgehog to the list of surprising gems.

An Origin Story Done Right

One common mistake video game movies tend to make is try to shove so many characters and established lore from the games into one movie. This movie, however, focuses mostly on Sonic and his story throughout: it perfectly establishes Sonic, played absolutely perfectly by Ben Schwartz, builds his lore and worlds up, then never bites off more than it can chew. It’s a great introduction to the character that even people who have never played a Sonic game in their life could enjoy it.

It’s NOT The Smurfs

While it does fit in that same vein of a cartoon character from another world comes to Earth to team up with a human character, Sonic The Hedgehog makes the right choice by having a good 95% of the movie be focused on Sonic himself. James Marsden’s character Tom is important but the movie never tries to pull away from the more interesting super fast hedgehog story to make it more about his dilemmas as a cop. Most of the movie is spent on being a fun, action packed, comedic road trip with Sonic and Tom. What also separates this from movies like Alvin and the Chipmunks or The Smurfs is that this movie has several genuine heartfelt moments to get you to feel invested in both Sonic and Tom as a duo. It’s not just the yucks and antics, Sonic is a three dimensional character….in more ways than one!

Guess Who’s Back….Back Again. Jim Is Back! Tell A Friend!

James Marsden’s not the only human character as we are introduced to the evil Dr. Robotnik played by the man, the myth, the legend himself: Jim Carrey. Those who grew up watching his films like The Mask, Ace Ventura, and Liar Liar will be happy because this delightfully wicked character is on par with those performances and every time Jim Carrey in on-screen, he steals the show in the best ways possible providing the perfectly balanced amount of comedy and villainous antics. There were tons of moments that had me laughing out loud. And the way they leave his character off was just icing on the cake: Carrey was perfect as Robotnik.

EASTER EGGS GALORE!

While I hold by my words that general audiences will still enjoy this movie without playing the games, I will also say that fans of the many years and generations of Sonic will have an equally fun time as there are tons of references and Easter Eggs sprinkled throughout. I watched this movie with my old brother who grew up with the Sega Genesis and I watched him turn into a little kid again, spotting all the different Easter Eggs. Especially with the way the movie ends and the mid-credits scene that appears. Without spoiling, all I can say is that it will get fans excited for a sequel.

Action Packed

This is a family movie with a lot of great chuckles but surprisingly, it gets a lot of great action in there. Whenever Robotnik shows up with with his army of robotic minions, it’s fast, it’s action packed, and even has a climax that would definitely be fit for a comic book movie. There are even a couple scenes that without spoiling definitely take inspiration from another super fast character in a comic book movie…if you’ve seen the movie, you know what I’m talking about.

Final Thoughts

Overall, Sonic The Hedgehog is a movie that I very much hope brings life to the video game movie. I had a ton of fun watching it, Sonic is a great lead, Carrey’s Robotnik was perfect, the movie is gorgeous to look at, it provides a lot of laughs, smiles, and feels to keep a whole family entertained, and gives fans the Sonic they deserve. They spent all that extra time and money to make people happy with that redesign so I can only ask that you take your family to see it and have fun at the speed of light. I’m giving the movie a 9/10.

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