Review of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) by Player2-Water — 23 Feb 2020

E-Value: 8.

Acting: 8.

Plot: 6.

After many years of development hell and jumping from one studio to another, Sonic the Hedgehog is finally coming to the big screen and it is also the latest live-action video game movie after 2019’s Pokémon Detective Pikachu.

Sonic (Schwartz) is an extra-terrestrial blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds. He has been living in Earth for 10 years after he escaped from his home world using a bag of rings that allowed him to travel to another world. During his time on Earth, he has been living alone in the forest of Green Hills, Montana and no one knows of his existence due to using his speed power to avoid being seen when he goes to town to grab supplies, doing some sightseeing and other activities.

Having spent all his life in isolation, Sonic become sad while playing baseball by himself. In the process, he accidently triggers an EMP which cause a huge blackout in Pacific Northwest. The US government reluctantly enlist Doctor Robotnik (Carrey) to handle the situation. While being after by Doctor Robotnik and his high-tech drones, Sonic hides in a garage which belongs to Tom Wachowski (Marsden), a local sheriff. Both of them scare out each when they first meet which leads Tom to shoot Sonic with a tranquilizer, causing him to lose the bag of rings in San Francisco when Sonic attempts to escape.

Once Sonic regain consciousness, Tom reluctantly agrees to protect Sonic from Doctor Robotnik. Both of them escapes immediately when he tracks down Sonic in Tom’s house. Together, they go on a wacky and crazy road trip to San Francisco to regain Sonic’s rings while being pursue by Doctor Robotnik, who has become obsess with hunting down Sonic and wanting to use his power for his own purposes.

Just like Pokémon Detective Pikachu, the movie is great and so much fun. There are many funny moments especially when it comes to Sonic fooling around and the movie does not use any cheap and lame jokes. The movie also stays very faithful to its source materials and made only minor changes in the movie. After an overwhelming negative reaction from fans on Sonic’s design in the first trailer, the studio chose to give Sonic a redesign which is much closer to his video game counterpart. This is a good and wise decision made by the studio because Sonic’s original design would have ruined the movie.

Everyone in the cast are amazing with their performances especially Jim Carrey. Speaking of him, Jim Carrey stole the show in the movie and his acting is very funny and outstanding. His performance is just like in his old days when he played The Mask, Riddler and Ace Ventura. He played the role of Doctor Robotnik perfectly and I could not think of anyone else besides him that can play the character. None of his scenes are boring and in fact, I could tell that his acting will bring some laughter from everyone. Ben Schwartz did a very great job in voicing Sonic perfectly. I am sure that Sonic’s voice actors from TV shows and video games are very proud of him. James Marsden also did a great job too and the chemistry between his character and Sonic worked really well and have great character development. This is also same for Sonic and Doctor Robotnik. Their rivalry is fun to watch on big screen just like in the TV shows.

While the movie is great and fun, there are also minor flaws. I felt the story could have been much better if they explore more of Sonic’s past which would make him more interesting character. His backstory is only shown in the beginning of the movie and then it was forgotten later on. Neal McDonough, who played Major Bennington, was seriously underused. He has only one scene in the movie where he spoke with Doctor Robotnik as seen in the trailer which I thought he was going to have a role in the movie. He is then never seen again after that. It was a waste of his talent for just one scene.

Regardless, it was totally a great live-action video game movie and Sonic fans will definitely love it. I am hoping to see more live-action video game movies in the future. Please do stay back for a mid-credits scene because this is something you cannot afford to miss it.