Movie Review - Sonic the Hedgehog

Director: Jeff Fowler
Genre: Action/ Adventure/ Family/ Comedy
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2020
Starring: James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Neal McDonough, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub

Description: After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog (Ben Schwartz), a small-town police officer (James Marsden) must help him defeat an evil genius (Jim Carrey) who wants to do experiments on him.

Review: The lightning-fast game hero Sonic couldn’t escape Hollywood’s urge to make a film about everything. This is the first film about the blue hedgehog, released a bit later then planned. The reason was the reaction to the first trailer, where the audience complained about Sonic’s look. Was this a smart move? Very! Because that first trailer made this film look terrible and a possible flop, but “Sonic the Hedgehog” was surprisingly good.
In the prologue, Sonic explains to the viewers where he is from. It’s a quick telling about why he has been living on planet Earth for years now. He is a bit lonely, he fantasizes about having friends. When Sonic is playing baseball, again alone, he gets frustrated and causes a nation-wide power-out. And with this, he becomes the target of the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik, who wants nothing but to capture Sonic. Together with Sheriff Tom, Sonic tries to stop Robotnik and his deadly drones.
“Sonic the Hedgehog” is a family film. No heavy themes, straight-forward good guy/ bad guy story, simple entertainment, witty and fun. Jeff Fowler, making his directorial debut, ticks all the boxes when it comes to clichés and that’s okay here. The first film about Sonic is amusing and sometimes a movie doesn’t have to be more than that.
Fowler scores when he goes all-in during the action scenes. The director knows how to play with the supersonic powers of the titular character. Although often not the most original, it looks amazing.
Let’s talk about Jim Carrey, who plays Sonics rival Dr. Robotnik. It’s a cartoonish villain, so Carrey is the perfect choice. Over-the-top, weird, crazy, it has Carrey’s name written all over it. Ben Schwartz, voicing Sonic, is also a very good choice.
After so many bad video game to movie adaptations, I’m happy to say “Sonic the Hedgehog” isn’t one of them. I expected a silly, dumb cash-grab of a movie, that wasn’t good at all. Well, I was very surprised to get an actual good movie and a real fun time for the entire family. Stay after the credits, because there is a hint at a sequel (of course).

Rating: 3,5 / 5