By Evan Lucken
Sonic the Hedgehog has been a fairly contentious movie since it was announced years ago. Video game movies have always been hit or miss, and for Sonic, even the games were never a guarantee of quality. When the first trailer came out almost a year ago, it all but confirmed the fears of any Sonic fan. The design was nightmare-inducing. The tone was all wrong, whoever chose Gangsters Paradise… *shudders* The overwhelmingly negative response was so fast and vocal that the studio issued a statement promising to make changes to Sonic’s appearance. When the second trailer released all was well with the world. While the fans with the keenest eyes could still pick a few nits, Sonic looked like Sonic and the tone followed suit. But for all this controversy and fan discourse, does the movie now stand on its own? For the average moviegoer, your mileage may vary, but, for the long time fans of the blue blur, this film should leave you smiling and maybe even wanting more.
This film at its core is aimed at kids. Kids, and those who have grown up playing the games, watching the cartoons, and chose chili dogs over pasta every time. The story is pretty light and the humor is fast and loose. We get hints of a backstory about how Sonic is from another planet in the universe. A young Sonic is transported to Earth for his protection with the use of golden rings. Sonic spends a decade living in a cave outside the small town of Green Hills, living and learning vicariously and creating one-sided bonds with a few could be friends. Things start to move when Sonic inadvertently creates a shockwave while running and knocks out the power of the surrounding region. The military gets involved and assigns Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey), a highly intelligent egomaniac with a specialty for drone technology, to find the cause. Sonic, while trying to escape, loses his sack of golden rings and joins with Green Hill’s Sheriff, Tom (James Marsden) on a road trip to San Francisco so that Sonic can retrieve the rings and escape to another world.
I like what they did with Sonic’s character. He has had some different vibes across the cartoons and games, and this film’s iteration strikes a good balance of lighthearted carefree with just a little bit of edge when the danger becomes more real. I enjoyed how much fun Sonic appeared to have with his amazing powers, from testing his speed on an unsuspecting police radar gun to playing Ping Pong against himself, Sonic loves living in the fast lane. The interactions with Sheriff Tom were usually pretty fun as well, allowing for some light dialog while also grounding into nice little messages about feeling truly home and having a real friend. These story beats are nothing new but allow the two to bond.
Jim Carrey’s Doctor Robotnik is more of a mixed bag. While his brand of hyper erratic humor can bring the laughs, the question always lingers, whom is the joke serving? When we first meet Robotnik he is an overconfident megalomaniac, certain that anyone he is talking to is intellectually beneath him by an order of magnitude. On his quest to catch Sonic he quickly becomes unhinged. I’d say that the banter Carrey delivers packs the most punch and it’s impressive to see his slapstick dancing for a guy that’s now 57 years old (?!)
Now, while this film is riddled with cliches and could easily be called derivative of films that came before it, I want to give some credit from a Sonic fan’s point of view. Through all the years of games, shows, and comics, Sonic the Hedgehog has built itself a fair bit of lore to build upon. I’d argue that the makers of this film showed a good amount of restraint not expositing everywhere with the likes of the Echidna tribe, Chaos Emeralds, the large roster of friends and enemies. They did enough to introduce a new audience to Sonic and his archnemesis and place him into our world. It was really cool to see a chase scene from the streets of San Francisco, the Great Wall of China and the Great Pyramids of Egypt all through the assistance of the golden rings. Those moments felt like the games come to life and only shows that there is some potential for a franchise if given the chance.
Sonic the Hedgehog’s first cinematic outing is not without its flaws but It does pack plenty of harmless fun with a character that doesn’t let things get boring. And while the story’s major plot points may paint by numbers now, they have laid out the foundation for subsequent films to dive deeper into the characters and places that make this a franchise worth rooting for.