Writer: Patrick Casey, Josh Miller (Screenplay) Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, Hirokazu Yasuhara (Characters)
Starring: Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Neal McDonough, Ben Schwartz, Adam Pally, Tika Sumpter, Leanne Lapp
Plot: After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog, a small-town police officer must help it defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on it.
Tagline – A whole new speed of hero
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Fast Fun Film
Story: Sonic the Hedgehog starts as a young Sonic must leave his home after being discovered by creatures that want his power, he moves to Earth and a small Montana city Green Hill, where he follows the residents believing he is part of the town, even though nobody knows he is even there.
After Sonic unleashes his power, the government turn to Dr Ivo Robotnik (Carrey) to learn about what caused it, which sees Sonic needing to turn to Tom (Marsden) for help, so he can escape the danger or learn to fight, finally exposing himself to the human race, as Robotnik looks to use the power Sonic holds.
Thoughts on Sonic the Hedgehog
Characters – Sonic is the alien blue hedgehog that has great speed, which sees him elude being seen for years, he must leave his home world after being discovered, where he makes a life for himself on Earth, watching a small town, where his loneliness is slowly starting to catch up on him. He is hyper excitable once he makes a friend and must decide whether to continue running or make a stand and fight to remain with his new friend. It is amazing that we do get some real feelings towards the blue fella as we feel the sympathy of loneliness he is feeling. Tom is a local cop that has been looking for a new challenge in a big city, a chance that has come his way, until Sonic turns to him for help, where Tom must do the right thing, save a person in need. Maddie is his wife that has always dealt with her sister being against their marriage, not as big of part of the film compared to Tom. Dr Ivo Robotnik is the machine genius who the government has turned to after the energy surge, he will do anything to put people down around him and is determined to capture sonic to use his power for his machines.
Performances – James Marsden is fun in the leading role working well with the voice work of Ben Schwartz as Sonic, while working well with Tika Sumpter when they get time together. Jim Carrey is entertaining through the whole film being wonderful to watch in the film.
Story – The story here follows an alien blue hedgehog that must turn to a human to help him find a new home to escape a mad man scientist who is looking to use his power for his own benefit. When it comes to video game movies, we know we need to take everything lighter than normal when it comes to storytelling, last year we got Detective Pikachu, which was a lot of fun, and Sonic the Hedgehog follows suit. Seeing how Sonic is becoming lonely in his life away from the rest of the world is something that people can relate too. The adventure to find an item which can solve the problem is an easy to watch story unfold, which is all we needed, with the performances helping the story become more entertaining. Everything we see in this story does give us a nice starting point for a potential franchise, with the rings being used in a way that could unlock any potential future.
Action/Adventure – The action in the film does work for the film with the fast paced Sonic, having scenes which work for the pace, even if some of those moments do feel like we are watching Quicksilver from X-Men. The adventure side of the film sees how Tom and Sonic must travel to San Francisco to get the rings back
Settings – The film uses the small town setting to show how Sonic has created his own perfect world, one where he knows everyone and wants to call him home, he isn’t interested in the big city home where he must go.
Special Effects – As the film was widely panned after the first look a Sonic, the effects we do see in the film are strong and bring the blue guy to life.
Scene of the Movie – The final showdown.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Olive Garden being an on running joke.
Final Thoughts – This is a fun action movie that brings the video game character to life with ease to make us understand his pain and desire to be important in somebody’s life.
Overall: Enjoyable.