Gotta Go Fast: Sonic The Hedgehog Outruns the Video Game Film Curse
Film adaptations of video games is a genre I’ve been keeping my eyes on recently. After the success of Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, which I covered in a previous review, I’ve been keeping my eyes on Hollywood to see if things may finally be turning around. With the release of Sonic the Hedgehog, I’m happy to say that these adaptations continue to be on the rise with regards to quality.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a film based on the character of the same name. The film finds Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) coming to earth after being pursued by villains who want to capture him for his speed. After living in solitude for years in the small town of Green Hills. Sonic accidentally causes a mass blackout that draws the attention of the United States government, who sends the eccentric Doctor Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey) to hunt, capture or kill the creature by any means necessary. After losing the rings that Sonic needs to escape Robotnik and our world, he begs local police officer Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden) for help to get them back and to get him off-planet. What follows is a standard but thoroughly enjoyable road movie that had me laughing and enjoying myself the whole way through!
Ben Scwartz
By far the greatest strength of Sonic the Hedgehog as a film is its characters. Ben Schwartz plays Sonic with equal parts smarm and genuine heart that makes him a joy to follow throughout the movie. Sonic plays to its titular character’s strengths with great gags and some really standout slow-motion set pieces, reminiscent of the Quicksilver scenes from X-Men: Days of Future Past. However, unlike that film, Sonic carries the fun, lighthearted tone of that scene throughout its runtime, which makes it far more enjoyable to watch.
Jim Carrey
Jim Carrey lives up to his name by carrying the majority of this film on his shoulders alone. His portrayal of Doctor Robotnik is absolutely fantastic: equal parts scene-chewing and hilarious. This is his best comedic performance Carrey has provided since The Mask and Liar Liar, and I can’t tell you what a joy it is to see him on-screen again. His evolution from trenchcoat-wearing scientist to full-on supervillain is gradual but doesn’t feel too in your face or out of nowhere. Robotnik alone made me want a sequel film almost immediately after watching it, if only to see more of this kind of performance from Jim Carrey.
James Marsden
James Marsden’s Tom Wachowski is a bit of a lesser point in the film’s favor, as his character fills the same role as Jason Lee did in the Alvin and the Chipmunks films – he really only exists to react to Sonic and his shenanigans. Still, he plays the part well and felt very natural on-screen, sharing good chemistry with Ben Schwartz’s Sonic, and getting some laughs as well.
In addition to just being enjoyable to watch, Sonic The Hedgehog may go down as an important moment in cinematic history. Now that may sound grandiose and overblown, but consider what this film looked like last year. Sonic’s first trailer had the blue blur’s design much more in-line with the aforementioned Chipmunks films, using a weird mesh of realism and the original character design to create a disturbing looking thing that audiences would have had to subject themselves to for ninety minutes if they chose to go see this film. Due to the nature of the internet, this design was mocked and parodied endlessly by the internet, and even publicly frowned upon by Sonic’s creator Yuji Naka.
The backlash was so bad that a new team was brought in to redesign Sonic and pushed back the film from release until just now. This sort of reception to fan outcry has never happened before. In the past, there have been test screenings that end up getting scenes cut, rearranged or re-filmed, but never in the history of film has public outcry affected the visuals of a film to this drastic of a degree. And with how well the movie performed at the box office, studios may be more inclined to listen to audiences and alter more things in film before their premiere. However, only time will tell if this receptive ear is a good or bad thing for the industry.
Overall there’s not too much to say regarding Sonic the Hedgehog. It’s a genuinely fun movie that made me laugh the whole way through, but at the same time it’s nothing remarkable. There have been films with this premise before and more than likely there will be films like this in the future, especially with the success that this film is enjoying now. Still, there’s something to be said for the movies that don’t try to teach you something, to better the medium of film and just set out to entertain. And in that regard, Sonic the Hedgehog excels. It’s great to be able to just sit down and enjoy myself for 90 minutes. I give Sonic the Hedgehog an 4 out of 5. I look forward to seeing where this blue blur runs next.
