Sonic the Hedgehog

 

His name is Sonic and he’s a Hedgehog with super speed and a fun loving attitude.  Sent to Earth for protection, the speed demon has lived in secret just outside the boundaries of Green Hills, Montana.  When his powers accidentally trigger an incident, Sonic finds himself hunted by the Government’s top scientific genius, Doctor Robotnik, who will stop at nothing to attain the secret of Sonic’s abilities.  When Green Hills gets caught in the crossfire, Sonic will have to step up to defend the town that has become his home in the feature film debut of one of the most legendary faces in Video Game history.

About midway through my watching Sonic the Hedgehog, I knew…this was going to be one of (if not the) biggest examples of irony in nerd culture.  From the start, we assumed the movie would be terrible because…well most Live Action Video Game films tend to be (Detective Pikachu being a very rare counter example).  Then there was the original design of Sonic for the film…the horror…the horror.  However, fan outrage was enough to sway the studio to push the movie back from it’s November 2019 release date to February 2020.  And yet we all worried and wondered just how bad it was all going to turn out.

Again…irony has been redefined and it’s name is Sonic the Hedgehog.  Not only is Sonic one of the better Live Action Video Game movies ever made, it might be one of the best things to happen to Sega’s mega mascot since his original heyday on the Sega Genesis.

One can always question why Paramount went with it’s initial Sonic design until the end of time.  What I can say for sure is that even though the movie around him is fine, if that original design was used, the movie would have been a total dud.  The newly minted Sonic looks much, much closer to his video game origins and it is the route that should have been taken from the get go.  Sonic is adorable, bad ass and cool all at once.  He’s the wise cracking speed demon we’ve always known but he’s also got a rather sad backstory that gives him depth and gives the movie some unexpectedly somber moments.  Sonic may be too cool for school, but he’s also an orphan without friends or a family and has been stranded on Earth on his own for over a decade.  That kind of situation has to take its toll and when Sonic has to let it all out, the movie does shine in his favor.  Sonic is the heart of his own movie and gets the respect and proper character development he deserves.

Fairing just as well as the titular Hedgehog is Jim Carry as Doctor Robotnik.  God, it is so good to see Jim Carry in a movie again.  Best yet, he’s channeling the best of the height of his powers from the 90’s, making Robotnik a more arrogant and intellectual Ace Ventura (or even a better Riddler).  His energy is infectious and whether its delivering an almost improvisational villain speech or dancing around his armored car laboratory, you can tell Carry is having a lot of fun here.  Credit too should also be shown to James Marsden (X-Men) as Tom, who has the task of acting alongside the CG Sonic and making us believe their friendship is growing throughout the film.  It is and Marsden has loveable charm and great comedic timing to spare, being both a surrogate father or big brother to Sonic while also being a bit of a goofball himself.  Short version: for once, the Humans don’t totally dominate a movie centered around a CG main character and aren’t the films biggest shortcomings a la the Transformers franchise.

It could’ve been seen as a bit of a head scratcher and kind of a mistake bringing Sonic to Earth for the movie.  After all, one might not remember but the Masters of the Universe movie tried this in the 80s and…well the results weren’t pretty.  This kind of scenario works well for Sonic as it turns out.  The wide stretches of highway he and Tom find themselves are perfect for Sonic to cut loose on and seeing Sonic turn the entire planet into his own personal warping track in the films climax is pretty cool too.  Also, because Sonic is a way less serious character than say He-Man, the fish out of water situations he finds himself in throughout the movie are a lot more entertaining.  Do I wish we could have seen more of Sonic’s homeworld or maybe some more nods to classic maps from the 16 bit era of Sonic, oh yes.  But what we got works well for the movie we have.

Speaking of nods, there are plenty of those to the Sonic legacy, from the central town being called Green Hills (after the infamous first stage from the very first Sega Genesis Game), to Sonic’s signature rings and his acquiring his legendary footwear.  It would have been cool to see maybe a mention of other places Sonic could venture to via his teleportation rings (he keeps going on and on about a Mushroom Planet that I could’ve sworn was a Mario reference).  I also wish they could have added a bit of classic Sonic tunes to the soundtrack, heck the trailer managed to work in a remixed version of the Green Hills track.  And while the action is fun, some of it is definitely been there, done that.  Sonic moving so fast that time slows down is something we’ve seen done before (and a little bit better) by Quicksilver in the X-Men movies).  One last nitpick, maybe I’m asking too much but could we have gotten a bit more diversity in Robotnik’s robot arsenal?  From flying drones to battle rovers to his final hoverjet, all of them looked really…bland.  This is a guy who, in the games at least, has created an army of different robots to menace Sonic across various worlds.  For a guy who touts himself as a genius, you’d think Robotnik would be more into customization with his color schemes and the abilities of his robotic creations.

Sonic the Hedgehog accomplished an impossible task and defies the odds to become one helluva surprise hit.  The humor works, the premise isn’t terrible (even if it is a little unoriginal), the human characters aren’t a pain and the three that are the main driving force of the film (Carry, Marsden plus Sonic) all carry the film from beginning to end in a satisfying manner.  Yes there are setups for future movies (cause why not).  But as a stand alone feature, Sonic floats in at just above Detective Pikachu as being the best Video Game movie ever made…did anybody ever see that coming?  I don’t think so.

8/10