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Movie Review: Sonic The Hedgehog (2020)
Posted on March 12, 2020
Sonic The Hedgehog (2020)
Movie Review
By Luke.R
Sonic The Hedgehog is an action, adventure, comedy film based on the popular game series of the same name. Sonic is rated PG, features minor crude humor and has a runtime of 99 mins.
The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog (played by Ben Schwartz) as he flees his home planet 鈥淢obius鈥� due to its inhabitants fearing the power he was born with, the power to run beyond the speed of light. After using his magical rings, Sonic is transported to Earth, more specifically the quiet town of 鈥淕reenhills鈥�. Years pass and Sonic is threatened once again this time by 鈥淒r. Ivo Robotnik鈥� (Jim Carrey), an evil mastermind sent by the government to capture our now teenage protagonist. But Sonic won鈥檛 be going at it alone, as he will grab some help from his new partner Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) the Greenhills sheriff.
Sonic The Hedgehog is a joyless ride through an unfunny, boring husk of what kind-of resembles the classic hero we鈥檝e come to love. Sonic鈥檚 story is a bland venture through over an hour of a story about characters with a lack of motivation and a lot of forced lines of offbeat, out of place humor.
Sonic鈥檚 character is the safest take on the hero to date with all of his 鈥渆dge鈥� being scrapped, turning him into a na茂ve youngster who only feels like he鈥檚 there to push the plot forward in any way possible. Robotnik is also a safe, yet much more forgettable, toned down character with an unclear goal, and because of this unclearness, most of his scenes feel like pointless filler. Tom is the blandest of the bunch, only being there to add a forced artificial relationship between him and Sonic to the plot.
But I couldn鈥檛 help but feel gleeful when I had noticed one of the sparse references to one of the Hedgehog鈥檚 many games. While these throwbacks create a charming sense to a few scenes, they were always brought down by the long, very obvious product placements.
Not all hope is lost though, Sonic The Hedgehog鈥�s visuals while mostly bland are made colorful and lively by the great animation. Sonic鈥檚 design and movement look and move beautifully, as well as Robotnik鈥檚 many robotic companions, making me wish the entire film could be as wonderfully crafted as its hero鈥檚 design. Acting was also decent, with most actors doing the best with the un-inspired script.
Sonic The Hedgehog is a movie with an unclear audience, not knowing if it鈥檚 catering to the long-time fans or a new much younger audience. Either way Sonic The Hedgehog is a film that fails to give an inspired exciting story, ultimately being even more mediocre then some of the 鈥渂lue blur鈥檚鈥� worst video game entries.
RATING: 5/10
Sonic The Hedgehog is a charmless slog through some of cinemas鈥� most cliched story elements and un-motivated characters. Not even the film鈥檚 sparse wonderful references to the hedgehog鈥檚 past and the smooth, vibrant and gorgeous animation can fix this hodge-podge of ideas, trying and failing to create some sort of nostalgia.