Sonic the Hedgehog exceeds all expectations. The opening scene is a glimpse of a battle between Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and an unknown villain (Jim Carrey). Then Sonic does a common, “wait, let me tell you how we get here” line. The story backs up into the past when Sonic is living on his island with an owl/bird (?) named Longclaw. It’s clear that Longclaw is a maternal figure to him. Sonic compares her to his Obi-Wan Kenobi, which is the beginning of Sonic’s plethora of references and hilarious narration.
Sonic explains that on his island he “never had to catch a bus to school ’cause [he] could run so fast! And there’s no school.” Quick Disclaimer: For those who do not know who/what Sonic is, he is a hedgehog who can run insanely fast, sometimes rolls into a ball and speeds around that way, and has electric power. Sonic inevitably draws attention to himself. He shares with the audience that, “bad guys will always want your power.”
Longclaw helps Sonic escape to a new world. The new world we see him in is Earth. Here, Sonic befriends police officer Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) that he fondly refers to as Donut Lord since the officer often talks to donuts. Not having any friends, Sonic often spies on Wachowski and his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter), who Sonic calls “the pretzel lady” due to her yoga practices. About the spying, Sonic explains that it “wasn’t stalking. Only, I wasn’t invited. And no one knew I was there.”
One night, Sonic is playing baseball by himself (it’s easy to play all positions when you move in hyper speed) and he begins to feel lonely (understandable). In a fit of self pity, Sonic runs as fast as he can around the bases too many times to count, starts building electricity and creates a lightening surge, causing a blackout. Sonic realizes his mistake, now attracting attention to himself again, “you play some baseball, get a little upset, and lightening shoots out of your butt” (insert girl with her hands up emoji here). After this we meet Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and the adventure takes off.
The film is ridiculous, hilarious, and entertaining. Not only is it endless laughs, but clapping was heard from the few rows of teenagers in the theater no less than five times during their favorite scenes. There are a couple slow motion scenes, where Sonic does his best work, that are laugh until you cry funny. There is great character development with Sonic, Officer Tom, and evil Dr. Robotnik.
Moviegoer Greg shares, “I am going to tell all my friends to see this movie. It has a lot of fan service too. In the video game when Sonic is waiting for you to make a move he starts tapping his foot and looking at you annoyed which he did in the movie as well. It also includes a lot of Sonic backstory, even the little details- like him loving chili dogs and blowing bubble gum.” Greg also pointed out that the film used several of the video game scores which he appreciated.
The film is great for all ages and a ball of fun.
Movie times: click here
Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy
Run Time: 1 hours and 39 minutes
Directors: Jeff Fowler
Actors: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden
Rating: Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language.
Fun Fact: When the first teaser poster was released, Naoto Ohshima, the character’s original designer, and Yuji Naka, former head of Sonic Team, said they disliked Sonic’s appearance. The first trailer caused a massive fan backlash. On May 2, 2019, director Jeff Fowler announced on Twitter that Sonic’s design was going to be altered to make the character “the best he can be.” The movie’s scheduled release moved from Thanksgiving weekend 2019 to Valentine’s Day 2020. When a new trailer and poster were released on November 12, 2019, fans and viewers alike praised Sonic’s new look.
