“Sonic the Hedgehog”
Rated PG
3 stars
The movie adaptation of Sega’s iconic video game series delivers plenty of laughs and heartwarming moments for the whole family, despite its flaws and disappointments.
The story follows Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), a talking blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with the ability to run (really fast). He finds himself transported from his dimension to Earth, where no one else is like him. In order to survive, he befriends a small town sheriff (James Marsden) and seeks his help. Unfortunately, his existence is discovered by the U.S. military and they hire Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to find and capture him for research purposes. Sonic and his newfound friend bond with each other while evading the authorities and this malicious and vile scientist.
The dynamic between Marsden and Schwartz is the highlight of the film. Their banter is constantly enjoyable, even during the low points of the film. You can tell the actors weren’t taking themselves too seriously and were just having fun with the subject matter.
There are some decent action sequences, with a few being surprisingly funny and creative. Sadly, only a handful of the jokes really hit the mark. Most of the jokes are mediocre, but are thrown at the viewers at such a constant rate that the failed ones are quickly forgotten. Besides the comedy, the plot actually has a surprising amount of emotion and valuable life lessons than one might not expect from this type of movie.
Sonic himself has beautiful animations and his looks are accurate to the video games. Here is where a huge round of applause must be given to Paramount Pictures. When the first trailer was released for the film back in 2019, Sonic looked nothing like he was supposed to, and fans were outraged. To fix this, they delayed the film to give his look a redesign and make it more accurate to his design from the video games. This alone warrants the purchase of a ticket, as studios rarely listen to fans in terms of adaptations.
Having Jim Carrey in the film is quite fitting, as Carrey’s movies were very popular in the ‘90s, just as Sonic’s video games were. Unfortunately, while he attempts to provide his signature comedy style, it falls flat for the most part. However, his performance is certainly silly enough to entertain as he does have a few golden moments, but these are too few and far between.
Despite the flaws, it certainly is one of the best video game adaptations ever made. Certain creative liberties are taken here, but that is to be expected and these creative differences do justice to the original subject matter. In terms of fan service, there are plenty of hidden references to the video games that fans will greatly appreciate, but this is not overdone so newcomers won’t be confused or lost.
While it may not be the best film of the year, it is far from a disastrous mess. It’s simply a fun experience for the whole family, packed with some laughs and good life lessons.
“Sonic the Hedgehog” is playing at AMC Edwardsville 12, Granite City Cinema, AMC Classic Eastgate 6, and Jerseyville Stadium Theater.
