Movie Review: 'Sonic the Hedgehog'

Opened: 14 February 2020
Cast: James Marsden, Ben Schwartz, Tika Sumpter, Jim Carrey
Director: Jeff Fowler
Producer: Neal H. Moritz
Rating: ★★★½

Translating a much-loved video game character on to the big screen is always a tricky proposition, especially one that’s been around for decades dating back to even my teenage years. Given that most adaptations (Tomb Raider is one that immediately comes to mind, or even the abysmal Mortal Kombat franchise and the god-awful Street Fighter movie featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme and wait for it, Kylie Minogue!) have been far from perfect, you have a tough mountain to climb. Botch up and you face the avid wrath of not just critics but gamers who’ve loved these characters for years.

I still remember being glued to the screen on my Megadrive in awe, watching a peculiar looking blue hedgehog blitzing around the screen collecting sparkling rings, smashing into animate and inanimate objects and battling a bald headed nemesis who got tougher and tougher as the levels progressed. The graphics for the time were path-breaking, even if the basic premise of the game was not. At the time, videogame giant Sega needed an iconic character to rival Nintendo’s goofy looking plumbers (The Mario Brothers, another hopeless video game to move adaptation) especially after their first attempt, an awfully titled Alex Kidd, failed to ignite kids’ imaginations from the time. Sonic The Hedgehog however, and the subsequent games that followed, did the trick and turned their fortunes around, and they eventually had a winner on their hands.

It’s a role he can do in his sleep but Carrey has fun with the part

As I sat down, to what I thought was essentially going to be a trite half term family film, I was pleasantly surprised as to how much they got right with the movie – it’s well shot, well-acted and paced, witty and most importantly, has a heart even if its basic coming of age plot is a little contrived.

Set in San Francisco and the fictitious town of Green Hills, Montana (a nudge to the opening Green Hill Zone in the game), Sonic The Hedgehog revolves around an extra-terrestrial hedgehog, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), who flees his intergalactic home through a portal to land on earth in order to escape the clutches of a group of echidnas who pursue him because of his powers (supersonic speed being the most prominent of them).

“I still remember being glued to the screen on my Megadrive in awe, watching a peculiar looking blue hedgehog blitzing around the screen collecting sparkling rings, ”

Here he lives in hiding in a cave yearning for friends and idolising a local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). One night he accidentally unleashes the true extent of his powers causing a state-wide power outage and subsequent blackout, invoking the suspicions of the Department of Defense, who enlists the help of a power-hungry, eccentric genius Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who has an arsenal of smart robots at his beck, and who will stop at nothing to capture the wise-cracking spiny mammal.

What initially starts off as an eye-roll inducing, childish caper, quickly transcends into an enjoyable ride with breathtaking animation, and one that’s ably aided by a quick-witted script and actors who have fun with the material.

Parks & Recreation’s Schwartz is engaging and likable as Sonic and fires off the one-liners comfortably, while Marsden, quite sportingly, lets his computer generated ally take centre stage. He isn’t required to do any heavy lifting but as always, has an affable screen presence; and even if the film is about Sonic, his arc about finding purpose in his work is given enough screen time to make you root for him. Unexpectedly, the scene-stealing turn here though comes from Jim Carrey, back after his self-imposed hiatus after Kick Ass 2. As the inhumane but brilliant egomaniac Robotnik, he goes back to the Carrey of yore we know from movies like Ace Ventura and The Mask – it’s a role that requires him to be animated and over the top and is one he can do in his sleep, but he’s clearly enjoying himself, and by the end of it you can’t think of anyone who could have given it the edge that he does.

James Marsden sportingly lets Sonic take centrestage

At a taut ninety minutes, Sonic The Hedgehog, thankfully, never overstays its welcome and director Jeff Fowler stays close to the source material, while adding a few of his own little neat touches here and there. The core message of never running away from your responsibilities or fears is a good one, and he brings it across imaginatively on screen. As is the back story of how Sonic gets his red trainers and how Robotnik ends ups with that unsightly tache. The kids in the cinema I was with appeared to be having a ball, clearly rooting for its central CGI hero blazing through various known landmarks, and there was a loud cheer and a round of applause during an end credit sequence too when another well known video game character makes a cameo.

It’s not just the kids though – even the kid in me felt nostalgic, and hugely relieved that they hadn’t butchered yet another of my favourite childhood characters. So even if there is always a sense of been there done that about it all, Sonic The Hedgehog is good fun and harmless – I left with a smile on my face. You more than likely will too.