Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

Sega’s most famous character gets the cinematic treatment in a highly-anticipated film that was held back for several months due to an overwhelmingly negative response to the character’s original design…

The film starts with Sonic (Benjamin L Valic) as a child, happily embracing his super-speed powers, but warned by his guardian to keep them a secret. Of course, he just shrugs and then the two of them are immediately attacked by echidnas. In the panic, he’s given a bag of golden rings that are one of his franchise’s staples and ends up in the fictional town of Green Hills Montana.

Ten years go by and Sonic (now played by Ben Schwartz) is enjoying a carefree life in a cave. He keeps an eye on the locals and makes nicknames up for them, but longs for a friend in his life. By a lucky accident he causes a power surge that attracts the interest of the US Military, and they send the brilliant but narcissistic scientist Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who stands out here by using his very familiar over-the-top acting style to bring this iconic video game character to life.

Sonic goes on the run intending to live on a ‘mushroom planet’, but in the process of running he ends up getting tranquilized by an aspiring street cop (James Marsden), who along with Sonic goes on a road trip to evade Robotnik and keep themselves safe.

If what I just described sounds basic that’s because it is. There’s a big lack of originality here and we’ve seen this kind of film before, only this one has the characters of a much-loved franchise that It can use as a selling point to get people to see it. To its credit, it’s very well paced and doesn’t drag; there are comedy and action in equal measure. The human characters feel very bland, especially Marsden’s, but he saves himself somewhat due to the believable chemistry he has with Schwartz. Robotnik is clichéd as well, but Carrey’s performance saves it.

Moving on to the visual effects, I can honestly say the redesign of Sonic was a success. He looks more like he does in the games, yet is surprisingly expressive and less like an off-putting human/hedgehog hybrid. More instances of where the film manages to remain faithful to the games can be seen in the look of a forest that Sonic runs around in at the start. And for another example, watch Carrey right at the end.

Even if it does feel like nothing more than the set-up for a sequel, we even get a post-credits scene where a certain fox with two tails shows up in Green Hills. He too looks very much like his video game self.

I didn’t enjoy the film much myself, but as far as films based on video games go this could serve as proof that they can be good if done right. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Director: Jeff Fowler
Writers: Patrick Casey, Josh Miller
Stars: Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Jim Carrey

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Andrew Moodie

Film reviewer at reviewsphere

Born on 19 November 1999, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the first film Andrew saw on the big screen at the age of five and he has been a keen admirer of films ever since. He expanded his film taste and knowledge through the years before deciding to become a film critic at seventeen. He started reviewing films through a blog called The Truth About Movies, now upgraded into a professional website called Andrew Moodie Film Review. When not reviewing he enjoys listening to old music and film scores, exercising regularly and is rather an obsessive reader.