Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) is better than anyone thought
A surprisingly average kids movie with some solid acting and delightful action.
Directed by Jeff Fowler (Gopher Broke)
Written by Patrick Casey (Gophers at Dawn), Josh Miller (Gopher Daze 2)
Starring Ben Schwartz (Gopher Movie 2: The Second Part), James Marsden (Gopherman Returns), Jim Carrey (The Gopher 24)
At 11-years-old, I was surprised on Christmas morning with a big package containing a Sega Genesis and not only Sonic the Hedgehog but Sonic 2 as well. Blew my damn little mind. For the next several years, I went back to those games over and over, hoarding chaos emeralds and being terrified of the increasing speed of the music in the water levels. None of that prepared me for the movie I walked into based on the franchise.
Let's get this out of the way: in no way, shape or form should audiences be allowed to dictate what a film, book, or pamphlet should contain. When the backlash came from Sonic's movie trailer and the filmmakers went back and changed the crime-against-humanity that was the film's original model, I kinda cringed. Sure, it looked like hot garbage, but it was a singular and interesting hot garbage. A work of art (let's use the term loosely) should stand on its own and only be subjected to the whims of the artist. Changing anything in art based on audience reaction, even offensive trash, goes against the freedom of expression most art should define itself by. If the finished product turns out to be trash, well, so be it. May the trash be glorious, as many 80s and Star Wars movies are.
The final product of the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is, surprisingly, not trash. For real. It's a good kids movie with some fun acting, solid script, and somewhat decent effects. Should it win any award? No, not outside of the Hedgehog Hall of Fame. Still, I enjoyed the hell out of it.
Jim Carrey looked like he was having fun, y'all. The guy was always kinda of a comedy technician meets daredevil, willing to do anything for a joke, but here he gives off a certain amount of menace with the silliness. Along with James Marsden (always a decent if overlooked actor) and the voice of Ben Schwartz (one of the funniest guys around), the cast is spot on.
Now I say the script is solid, and I stand by that. Solid for a movie called Sonic the Hedgehog. There's rings and drones and weird lightning shit that seem to act independent of the games I played almost thirty years ago, but it all makes sense. Sonic is from somewhere else, comes to earth, makes friends with a cop on a road trip, and is chased by a maniacal robot guy. Tie that together with jokes that can be a tad too much but right on point, and at no point was I wondering what was happening.
At some points, however, I was pulled out of the movie. All those points came when Sonic interacted with anyone or anything not cartoon. The movie owes much of itself to Who Framed Roger Rabbit and feels it. The initial shock of seeing a cartoon with people wears off, but then Marsden has to pick up Sonic's lifeless body and things just become looney tunes. The team seemed to work harder on the action than the smaller bits and loses some cohesion because of it.
So yeah, go watch this one. Take the kids to a matinee or put it on hold for when the DVD comes to the library.