Sonic tries to navigate the complexities of life on Earth with his newfound best friend -- a human named Tom Wachowski. They must soon join forces to prevent the evil Dr. Robotnik from capturing Sonic and using his powers for world domination.
There has been no shortage of controversy around this adaptation of Sonic The Hedgehog. With the initial trailer receiving a litany of backlash due to a more "realistic" choice in character design, Paramount announced a redesign and pushed back the release of the film by several months. The redesign came back and is much more faithful to the source material's character design, but is that enough to make this film a worthwhile watch?
This is based on the Sonic the Hedgehog SEGA videogame franchise and, for that reason, the film will obviously hold a greater appeal to fans of the franchise. The set-up for the film contains much of what you would expect to see; a series of ramps, jumps, & loop-de-loops, gold rings, a variety of environments, and our titular character, Sonic, running really fast. It is in these initial scenes of the film that it sets up an intriguing premise with some memorable characters. Unfortunately, once the set-up has been completed, this whole piece is largely disregarded to make way for a story that revolves around the human characters.
Human-based plots are a common go-to, relegating our titular characters to the comedic supporting sidekick role (not dissimilar to Pokémon Detective Pikachu and the 2019 Dumbo remake), in the vain hopes that nostalgia will make up for a weak script and "phoned-in" acting performances. In an interesting twist, this is not so much the case with Sonic. Yes, the script is still weak and full of clichés and tropes, but there is a definite sense of passion and care put into the performances from our human characters.
James Marsden and Tika Sumpter play our main protagonistic couple Tom and Maddie, and despite some cringe-worthy and predictable dialogue, the chemistry that they have between themselves and the supporting cast works amazingly well. The characters have limited backstories, but still feel like well-rounded characters; their known personality traits are not their only defining features. Sonic himself is voiced by Ben Schwartz, and balances the energy well, creating a mellow and enjoyable voice performance for the majority of the film while still being able to inject energy and pace when the blue devil needs it.
The standout human performance has to go to Jim Carrey as Dr Robotnik. In a call back to Carrey's earlier mid to late-90's works (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Batman Forever, The Cable Guy, Liar Liar, etc.) Robotnik has peak flamboyance impeccable comedic timing. Coming off like more self-aware and sadistic version of Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, condescending, self-righteous, and as in-your-face as you can get. His personality type contrasts well with Sonic and Tom, providing a great foil.
This is far from being critically acclaimed though. Outside of the opening scenes, there is very little about the remainder of the narrative is very much generic; there is nothing that would specifically require Sonic as a character to be involved, where his role could be replaced by anything or anyone else with little change to the story needed. The longer you think about the structure and the decisions made onscreen, the more holes and plot conveniences you discover.
It's important to realise that this isn't targeted at adults. While adults would certainly have the greatest nostalgic reaction to the film, the simplicity of the story and the level of humour lends itself to youths more. There is little to appeal explicitly to adults, with much of narrative being jam-packed with pop culture references, toilet humour, flossing (the Fortnite dance, not dental hygiene). While nothing spectacular, the story is still watchable for adults, and with competent acting performances to make up for the shortfalls of the script.
The action is well-executed with some well-directed special effects and some well-choreographed "speed" scenes. Comparisons would be given to the Quicksilver scenes from X-Men: Days of Future Past or X-Men: Apocalypse, but this style goes all the way back to Hammy the Squirrel in 2006's Over The Hedge.
This is as good as it's gonna get considering the source material. It sets itself up well and creates engaging characters on both sides of the antagonist/protagonist spectrum. It would have been nice to get more exploration of the other worlds, but there is room for this in a potential sequel. On that note, make sure you stay for the two mid-credit scenes, if you are after more references to the SEGA franchise, this should make up for the lack of said references in the bulk of the film.
This is surprisingly competent and enjoyable. Paramount made the right decision in pushing it back for the character redesign. Fingers crossed for a sequel.