Sonic the Hedgehog Review

February 14, 2020 at 3:59am
By Jason Stettner

One of the most iconic characters in gaming hits the big times with a theatrical release. It’s not necessarily something that leans on the games at all, while still giving just a dab of nostalgia to fans. I’ve always enjoyed Sonic, and while recent decades have been rough it’s nice to see a fresh start for this beloved character. Here we have a younger Sonic (Ben Schwartz) that’s been cast to Earth and lives on the edge of society. He doesn’t want to be found out, and eventually the seclusion gets to him.

A certain high octane event sends the terrifying and peak 90’s style Jim Carrey as Dr Robotnik after him. Sonic is then joined by someone he admires, the charming donut guy Tom (James Marsden) and they go on a road trip. It’s a fairly simple family based venture, and it’s a mixed of weird situations yet still largely a fun time. It has some nice subtle jokes that deliver, and they have fun with things. This is the most unhinged I’ve seen Carrey since I’d say The Grinch and it’s glorious. On the other side of things, they dynamic between Sonic and Tom is excellent.

There’s a lot of heart here, and they definitely have a good time with it. Now, some of the narrative elements weren’t the best and it’s quite straight forward. This makes some aspects feel generic, and while still fun the slow motion parts have gotten somewhat old due to other films doing them. Sonic of course has his own style within them, but that’s still something we’ve seen a number of times at this point. That being said, this was a thrilling journey and hopefully a good starting point to take things forward.

This definitely was the right choice when it comes to changing up the visuals. If you’re reading this down the road the initial visual style for Sonic was entirely different than what we received in the final iteration. They nailed the look, the fun and the charm this character has.

At the same time, some of the CGI was somewhat rough where Sonic didn’t necessarily feel like he was in the scene. Not a huge thing, but in a couple scenes I was drawn out from what was going on. Still, this was well shot and the fast movement was really well done. Whenever things were zipping by was when the character was at his best.

Again, Jim Carrey was incredible here and so much fun going all out. There’s an amazing dance scene with him too. I also found Marsden’s character to work really well in here, a lot of charm from that guy. I did find his wife’s, I believe sister, to be somewhat awkward in how much she hated him. That was really weird. The pacing goes quick here, the movie run time flies by.

The Conclusion

Sonic the Hedgehog was a lot of fun, and a perfect family film delivering this character in just the way I had hoped for. We have one of the most exciting Jim Carrey roles that I’ve seen in ages and in every scene it seemed like no one could keep up with him. That being said, the strangely charming Tom got some nice whips in against Robotnik.

Sonic was really great in this film, Schwartz delivers a really good voice for the character. There was lots of joy, and just fast paced insanity which is exactly what Sonic should be. It was just a lot of fun, and I feel they had some good little jokes in there for any type of audience. The product placement was slightly awkward in the movie, but it’s somewhat for a laugh so I’ll give it a bit of a pass. I think they have something great here and I really hope we get to see more of the universe they’ve crafted.

It’s respectful of the source material, while grounded it in the real world and updates the character for a new generation. It was really nice to hear a mix on the iconic music towards the end and honestly I was ecstatic during the after credits. A quick spoiler on those post credits, it featured Tails and it was so perfect to see in action. I was honestly cheering, perhaps embarrassing but it was just the tease I had hoped for.

Sonic the Hedgehog Review at Theater with Standard Viewing

Rating Overall: 6.2