Finally Watched…Sonic The Hedgehog

The Finally Watched marathon continues with a two-parter of sorts, as I go over the two currently out Sonic The Hedgehog movies.

Video game adaptations have not been that great, since they’re so often put into the hands of people who don’t care about video games in general and the game being adapted specifically. All they care about are their stories and will happily use the brand to trick people into seeing their vision, positive that they’ll come around and see what they created is superior to that crap that usually uses the name. These egoists are then surprised when that doesn’t happen because you ticked off the actual fans while the audience you really wanted saw the brand and went elsewhere. That is why they fail.

The question becomes whether or not Sonic The Hedgehog and it’s sequel fall into that trap. Note that I am unable to watch the Knuckles solo series and the third movie isn’t coming until later this year at last check.

RELEASE DATE: 2020

RELEASED BY: Paramount Pictures

RUNTIME: 1 hr, 39 min

RATING: PG

VIEWING SOURCE FOR THIS REVIEW: Pluto TV

STARRING: Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, and Jim Carrey

SCREENWRITERS: Pat Casey & Josh Miller; creator Yuji Naka also gets a credit

BOX OFFICE: $148,974,665 US & Canada and $319,715,683 worldwide gross, according to IMDB

ESTIMATED BUDGET:$85,000,000 (estimated) according to IMDB

The Plot: Forced to flee his world alone at a young age, Sonic (voice of Schwartz) has lived in secret on Earth, in the quiet community of Green Hills. Only the local crazy old man knows he’s there, while Sonic follows the lives of Tom (Marsden), a local cop, and his wife, Maddie (Tika Sumpter). When he accidentally explodes with energy during a burst of speed, it draws the attention of government agent Robotnik (Carrey), who is determined to take Sonic’s power for himself.

Why did I want to see it?: While not a huge Sonic fan, I do enjoy the series. The games I have played were fun (yes, even Sonic Heroes), though I’ve only played a handful. The Archie comics are not as interesting to me in the current readthrough I’m doing in Wednesday’s “Yesterday’s” Comic, but I got them because I was into the ABC Saturday morning series. The only other show I’ve enjoyed is Sonic X, but all of that was enough to be curious about this adaptation, especially after all the hoopla about the character model.

What did I think?: This was really cool. Not “way past cool”, which someone out there might have expected me to say for the reference. What references there are were done quite well. (Not counting the Olive Garden product placement, which was a bit too obvious. Product placement works best when it feels natural and this was forced.) The rings Sonic collects are also the rings he uses to go to secret zones, used here to travel to other worlds. Sonic’s connection to rings are different in each continuity since in the game they’re basically your lifebar. Some of the music gets into the movie, like the Green Hill Zone theme while in the town of Green Hills.

On the other hand, Robotnik’s gear couldn’t really match the games since this is set in the real world. What we get works, and they do eventually get him in his classic look in a way that makes sense for the world. This was why Sonic’s initial design was the way it was, an attempt to make Sonic look more “real”, only to be so creepy and vaguely Sonic they had to change it. (Glad we didn’t have to see my boy Tails in that style.) The game elements and references like Sonic having a chili dog for the first time, from other media is used properly, something for the fans without losing more casual audiences.

Schwartz is a good fit for Sonic, as much as I would have liked to see his regular voice actor take on the role. Ben isn’t exactly known outside of voice acting, but at least I could hear him and not hear Dewey from the Ducktales reboot despite not really changing his voice. He was Sonic and that was okay. Jim Carrey, however, often came off more as a typical Carrey character than any version of Robotnik/Eggman I’ve seen in the past. Not bad, mind you. Carrey is a master of his craft and used properly like he is here, versus when he played the Riddler, he’s fun to watch.

I also like the chemistry between Sonic and Tom. You can see their friendship develop, and it’s understandable why Sonic couldn’t understand Tom wanting to leave his home of his own free will when Sonic had to escape his and was never really at home here until the events of the movie. His wife, and points for not making waves of the interracial couple and just making them a couple–wouldn’t have missed her sister (Natasha Rothwell), though–we don’t get to see much of due to the needs of the story, but when Maddie is part of it she slots in nicely. She’s doesn’t feel like an unnecessary addition–again, like her sister, which is at least an excuse for the niece (Melody Nosipho Niemann) to make friends with Sonic.

The effects are rather good, the acting is solid, the story strong, and outside of the breast feeding and colonoscopy references it’s a solid kids movie that adults can enjoy as well.

Was it worth the wait?: I think so. Having to bank all these reviews I’m going to see the next one almost immediately, but I’m glad I finally got to see this one. Next time, the real star shows up. TAILS! Oh, and I guess Knuckles is supposed to be there. That’s okay, too.