‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ (Film)

‘SONIC THE HEDGEHOG’

Please feel free to comment on my review.

Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik with Sonic the Hedgehog and James Marsden’s Tom Wachowski

Is “Gotta go fast!” similar to “Gotta catch ’em all!”? 😀

In February 2020, I saw the movie ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ at the cinema! I’d been looking forward to seeing this film on the big screen since 2019. My best mate Stephen and I saw the film at the cinema just in time before things became chaotic in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic and everything else. 🙂

We ended up having a fun time watching the film on the big screen. I admit it’s not a super great film, but compared to other movies I’d seen at around that time, it was worth watching. ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ as a movie gets my full approval here and that is saying a lot on my part, I can tell you. 😀

Sonic the Hedgehog is a character I used to know about in the days of my childhood. Sonic is a video game character created in 1991 from the worlds of ♪SEGA!!!!!♫ I tried to sing there! I don’t know if you noticed. 😀 I can’t recall playing much ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ as a video game when I was a kid. 😐

I have vague memories of when I used to play ‘Sonic’ as a video game character somewhere but they aren’t reliable. I didn’t play many video games as a kid. The only video game I did play one time was the ‘Star Trek: Voyager – Elite Force’ video game on my computer and I didn’t even get to finish that.

I have heard that it can be pretty hard to play Sonic as a video game character with him being super-fast. 😀 At least that’s what my best mate from school Stephen told me. I vaguely recall finding Sonic hard to play when I did play him one time on a video game console, whether in somebody’s house or not. 😀

Mind you, I did used to watch ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ cartoons when I was a kid. Not sure which cartoon show it was I saw. There have been a few and my memories of them are hazy. I’m fairly sure I saw both ‘Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog’ and the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ TV series in the 1990s.

The point I’m trying to make here is that Sonic had an impact on me. It may have been a little impact to say the least, but it was still an impact. Hence why I went to see the latest 2020 live-action film with CGI on the big screen! It’s quite amazing considering my lack of ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ knowledge.

For those who don’t know, Sonic is a super-fast, blue-furry hedgehog that can talk. He’s battled the evil menaces of the mad scientist Dr. Robotnik and over the years, Sonic has had many video games under his name as well as TV cartoon shows and a few animated films. Most of them vary in quality.

The 2020 film has our Sonic the Hedgehog character live a life on our world of Earth for about 10 years after escaping his own world from people who were trying to capture him. Sonic is a fun-loving character, but he’s been lonely in all of the 10 years he’s spent on Earth with no-one else to talk to. 😦

Eventually, Sonic teams up with the local town sheriff of Green Hills, Montana – James Marsden as Tom Wachowski. Sonic needs to find and reclaim his lost rings that can open portals to other worlds. He needs them in order to escape Jim Carrey as the manic Dr. Robotnik who wants to capture him. 😐

Like I said, the movie isn’t that excellent. It’s a comedy adventure, but it isn’t laugh-out-loud comedy and it isn’t full of laugh-out-loud jokes as you would expect. The comedy is more character-based. I prefer this as I always like to see the progression of characters in a film or a TV production I watch. 🙂

The story is pretty straight-forward. It’s audience-friendly for those who don’t know much about the world of Sonic. I also prefer that. The rest of the Sonic world stuff can be introduced in future films. This seems to be the case when it comes to the film’s climax with it setting things up for the sequels. 🙂

The film also feels like it’s in tone with ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ in general. I know that sounds like a strange thing to say, but before this movie was released at cinemas, there was an outcry from ‘Sonic’ fans who disapproved of the original Sonic design as featured in the film’s first teaser trailer in 2019.

Oh the outcry the fans had when reacting to Sonic’s original design! I’m glad the filmmakers redesigned Sonic’s look. I’m not sure how comfortable I would’ve felt about the original design being throughout the film. I’m disappointed they didn’t include ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ by Cooli from the teaser trailer in the film.

That song was catchy and there are Sega Genesis renditions of the song on YouTube to enjoy! 😀 The film was also meant to come out in November 2019. That got changed when a Sonic redesign was demanded. Aww; and I had hoped to watch the film before Christmas time in 2019 came around. 😀

Nevertheless, the film got released in February 2020 instead and we had a Sonic who looked very much like the one from the video games and the cartoon shows. I’m also pleased that the film did well at the box office. At one time, it was the second-highest grossing film in two weeks. Amazing! 🙂

I expected ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ to be a bad film. I thought there would be things wrong with the film and that it would feature terrible jokes and dreadful writing. But surprisingly, it wasn’t like that, as the film was pretty engaging to watch and it had some very nice character-driven moments in it. 🙂

I enjoyed how Sonic was voiced by Ben Schwartz, who would later appear in ‘Flora & Ulysses’ for Disney+. The fast-paced energy and enthusiasm of Ben Schwartz’s performance shines throughout, making Sonic very endearing and loveable to watch. This is what I expect with the main character. 🙂

Sonic is very fast on his feet and easy to make friends with. I also enjoyed the camaraderie shared between Sonic and Tom Wachowski when they’re driving on the road to San Francisco. I like how Sonic’s appearance as a blue hedgehog is taken into question, as he’s not like an ordinary hedgehog.

James Marsden stars as Tom Wachowski, the police sheriff of Green Hills, Montana that befriends Sonic and helps him to get to San Francisco to find his lost rings. James Marsden is well-known for playing Cyclops in the ‘X-Men’ films. Who knew that I’d be seeing more James Marsden years later? 😀

As well as the ‘X-Men’ films, James Marsden has been in ‘Superman Returns’ and at the time of this review, I saw him recently in the Easter movie ‘Hop’. I enjoyed James Marsden in this movie. I found his friendship with Sonic the Hedgehog way better than the E. B. bunny character in the ‘Hop’ film. 😀

Of course the film features the ‘crowning achievement’ of stardom in my opinion. It has Jim “BATMAN? BATMAN, YOU SAY?! COMING FOR YOU?! HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!” Carrey as Dr. Robotnik! Once I knew Jim Carrey was going to be in this film, I knew that I was going to have a fun time. 😀

I know for the majority of the film that Jim Carrey didn’t match to Robotnik as in the video games (at least not until his last scene), but I enjoyed his interpretation of the character. It’s also interesting how he sort-of underplays Robotnik as a villain and he didn’t go for too many zany, wacky moments.

Don’t get me wrong, he had his moments of being over-the-top, which is what I come to expect with any Jim Carrey performance. But there were times where he can be subdued and quite menacing. It’s toned down compared to the Riddler in ‘Batman Forever’, but I still found him very entertaining.

There’s also Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, Tom’s veterinarian wife in the film. Maddie helps Tom and Sonic when they’re evading Dr. Robotnik pursuing them. It’s quite amusing when Tom and Maddie have Maddie’s sister tied up in a chair in her house, since she clearly doesn’t like Tom in this.

Why she doesn’t like Tom, I don’t know. Yet Maddie is clearly supportive of Tom and manages to keep her cool, even with all the strange things that are happening and with being introduced to Sonic. I’d like to think Tom and Maddie end up having a happily married life together in this universe.

The film also has Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone who works for Dr. Robotnik (how he put up with Robotnik’s superior bullying ways, I don’t know 😀 ); Natasha Rothwell as Rachel, Maddie’s sister who clearly dislikes Tom; and there’s Adam Pally playing Wade Whipple, Tom’s police officer friend.

There’s also Neal McDonough as Major Bennington (I think he should’ve had more screen time instead of being dismissed too quickly by Jim Carrey’s Robotnik), Tom Butler as Commander Walters, and Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl. There’s also Melody Nosipho Niemann as Jojo, Rachel’s daughter.

Jojo is also Maddie and Tom’s niece and is happy to let her mum be tied up when Sonic’s around. 😀 Jojo also gives Sonic his new red trainers to run around in. And of course, how we could we forget about Ben’s best doggie friend, Ozzie. That dog should have been given more screen-time in this film. 😀

At the film’s end, it does feel like things are being set up for a sequel. This is especially when Jim Carrey is looking more like Dr. Robotnik from the video games and the cartoon shows, with him shaving his head and having a bushy moustache. How will he escape from that mushroom planet? 😐

There’s also a mid-credits sequence where we have a cameo appearance of Tails, voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey, who is a character from the ‘Sonic’ video games and cartoon shows. I wonder what’s so urgent that Tails needs to search for Sonic. And how does he know about Sonic in the first place?

The DVD/Blu-ray special features are as follows. There’s ‘Around the World in 80 Seconds’, deleted scenes, bloopers, the ‘Speed Me Up’ music video, ‘For the Love of Sonic’, ‘Building Robotnik with Jim Carrey’, ‘The Blue Blur: Origins of Sonic’ and ‘Sonic on Set’. On the Blu-ray, there’s an audio commentary to enjoy, featuring director Jeff Fowler and Sonic’s voice artist Ben Schartwz. 😀

‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ is a lot of fun to watch! I’m glad I saw this movie at the cinema in February 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic happened. I’m also pleased that this film kept many people entertained and happy once it was released to digital during the Covid-19 pandemic to ease anxiety.

I highly recommend the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie, since it’s a good, action-packed children’s film based on the video game franchise. It does feel like it’s a film faithfully based on the source material. It also has amazing performances featuring the likes of James Marsden and Jim Carrey throughout. 🙂

I also like that the film didn’t bombard us with too many Sonic universe references to make things confusing. It’s an audience-friendly film that’s easy to get into. Judging by how successful the film is, I look forward to what’s coming next. I wonder if there’ll be a ‘Crash Bandicoot’ film sometime soon. 😀

So, I hope you enjoyed my review on ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’…

Wolfie zooms in.

Wolfie: “GOTTA GO…” (wheezes) “Stitch!”

(surprised) “Wolfie, what are you doing here? And what are those things you’ve got in your hands?”

Wolfie: (out of breath) “These are ‘Sonic’ comics. Good ones. Worth the read. Maybe review? Since you reviewed the movie.” (pauses for breath) “Need to sit down…”

Wolfie sits down somewhere.

“Well, that’s…generous of you, but I’m not planning on reviewing any more ‘Sonic’-related things in the near future. I just think the movie’s enough.”

Wolfie: “And that’s cool…” (gets breath back) “But you’re sure I can’t persuade you? It’s a good time… to jump aboard after the whole shift from Archie to IDW after almost 300 issues… They’ve got some top-notch writers.”

“Yes, I’m sure that’s interesting, but…”

Wolfie: “If you are interested, Cavan Scott, one of the ‘Doctor Who’ Big Finish writers, has written a ‘Sonic’ comic, and they’ve got some great fan talent aboard with Evan Stanley, who has a very decent fan comic online for free…”

“Look, it’s not that I don’t want to read any ‘Sonic’ comics, Wolfie. I just don’t have the time to check them out. Besides, I don’t know where to start looking for them or which one to start reading.”

Wolfie: “I’d recommend picking up a pre-order of Volume 9. ‘Chao Races & Badnik Bases’ of IDW’s run on Book Depository. As of Issue #33, Evan Stanley has succeeded longtime writer Ian Flynn in the role and her run starts with a soft reboot. If you’re really not sure, I recommend ‘Tangled and Whisper’ as an introduction to the whole status quo of Sonic in comics. That’s the one with Scott’s story. They’re all pretty neat. Great introductions to the main and side characters.”

Whiskeybrewer then enters, zooming in.

Whiskeybrewer: “Or perhaps you can check out the ‘Sonic’ TV shows instead, Tim!”

(sighs) “Oh Whiskeybrewer, what do you want?”

Whiskeybrewer: “There are quite a lot of them. There’s ‘Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog’ and the 1990s ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ TV show of course. But there are also shows like ‘Sonic Underground’, ‘Sonic X’ and ‘Sonic Boom’. There’s an upcoming one called ‘Sonic Prime’ to be shown on Netflix in 2022. Remember your fan Media Lover before he regenerated into Williams Fan92 gave you a Wikipedia link for all the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ features…”

(groans) “I haven’t got time to watch those shows, Whiskey! Besides, none of those shows are freely available!”

Whiskeybrewer: “Yes they are! Both ‘Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog’ and the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ 1990s TV show are available on Prime Video…”

“No! I haven’t got time to watch any of those shows. They’ll just to wait!”

Timelord007 then enters, zooming in.

Timelord007: “Now see here! The comics and TV shows aren’t authentic ‘Sonic’ material!”

(groans) “Oh, Timelord! Not you as well!”

Timelord007: “Now as you all know, I played ‘Sonic’ religiously in the 1990s on my Sega Mega Drive!”

“I’m sure a lot of people don’t know that fact.”

Timelord007: “Oh yes! I used to play those ‘Sonic’ games to death on the Mega Drive. I also played the ‘Sonic’ CD on the Mega CD, which was a Mega Drive add-on that never took off. There are plenty of games to check out, as Sonic is originally a video game character. So, it makes sense that you play the ‘Sonic’ video games, Tim!”

“I can’t! I’m not into playing video games! I’d rather just stick with the 2020 movie!”

Timelord007: “What?! You choose that film featuring that buffoon who ruined ‘Batman Forever’!”

“Jim Carrey wasn’t that bad in the ‘Sonic’ movie! He was actually good!”

Timelord007: “I find that hard to believe!”

“Well, how would you know if you haven’t seen the movie yet?”

Timelord007: “His presence and voice is too painful for me. I’ll just mute his scenes whenever I watch the movie on Sky.”

“How could you know what’s said between Sonic and Dr. Robotnik if you have Jim Carrey’s scenes on mute?”

Timelord007: “I’ll have the subtitles on. Or else fast-forward his scenes!”

“Oh for goodness sake!”

Timelord007: “My point still stands! You need to play the video games!”

“I’m not wasting money to play video games!”

Wolfie: “What? Not even a chilli dog can persuade you otherwise, Tim? I’ll have to order in, but…”

“I prefer regular hot dogs, thank you very much.”

Whiskeybrewer: “Did I forget to mention that there’s the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ 1999 OVA movie you can check out! It was originally a two-episode 1996 Japanese animation before it got released as a direct-to-video movie in the USA and the UK in 1999…“

“Stop it, all of you! Will you please stop bombarding me with all of these ‘Sonic’-related media items? I’ve got enough on my plate without you getting me interested in all of these ‘Sonic’-related things!”

Wolfie: “Does that mean you won’t be checking out the new ‘Sonic’ movie that’s coming out…”

“Stop right, there! I know how this works! You bring up a future movie I might be interested in that’s coming out and once it gets mentioned, I’ll have no choice but to check it out, whether I’m interested in the source material or not. Well, I’m not falling for it! There’s probably a chance I won’t check out a future ‘Sonic’ movie should it come out or not.”

Timelord007: “Are you sure you don’t want to change your words, Tim?”

Whiskeybrewer: “Yeah, you might find those words will come back to haunt you.”

Wolfie: “There’s a 90 per cent chance you’ll be checking out a second ‘Sonic’ movie whenever it comes out.”

“Oh yeah? We’ll see. I’m sure there’s a chance that I won’t check out a second ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ movie at all…”

“Drat! Now I have no choice but to watch it!” (Pause) “It must be pretty exciting though.” (Pause) “Drat, why did I say that?”

Timelord007: “And they’ve still got Jim Carrey in it! No!!! My arms, my legs, my everything!”

(mimics Jim Carrey’s Riddler) “SONIC? SONIC, YOU SAY?! COMING FOR YOU?! HOO-HOO-HOO-HOO!”

Timelord007: “Right! That’s it! I’m out of here!”

With the speed of Sonic, Timelord007 dashes out first.

Whiskeybrewer: “Yeah, me too.”

Whiskeybrewer dashes out second.

Wolfie: “Me three. See you, Tim.”

And Wolfie dashes out third. Tim sighs away.

(to audience) “See you all next time for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’!”

‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ rating – 8/10

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