Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) review

In the ’90s, video gaming was primarily defined by the intense rivalry between the two biggest game developers in the industry at the time, Nintendo and Sega. For the longest time, Nintendo had been the most dominant force in the industry thanks in large part to their third-generation home video game console, the Nintendo Entertainment System, which almost single-handedly saved the industry from financial ruin after the video game crash of 1983. And ever since his debut in the 1981 arcade classic Donkey Kong, the red-hatted Italian plumber named Mario has been the company’s quintessential mascot. During this time, another company named Sega was also developing its own video game consoles, and in 1988, they released their first 16-bit system, the Sega Genesis. While the console wasn’t exactly a top-selling item in Sega and Nintendo’s native country of Japan, it fared far more successfully in the U.S., where it promptly challenged Nintendo’s own 16-bit system, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, thus paving the way for the concept known as ‘console wars’ that technically still persists to this day. And just like Nintendo, Sega’s success would become defined by its own mascot, a blue anthropomorphic hedgehog with super-speed known as Sonic. Developed primarily by programmer Yuji Naka and artist Naoto Ohshima, Sonic the Hedgehog would officially make his debut in the 1991 Genesis game of the same name. As you might have guessed, it was a massive hit upon its release and effectively made Sonic one of the most recognizable video game protagonists of all-time. Since then, the series has seen numerous follow-ups over the years, with some even making their way onto Nintendo consoles after Sega transitioned away from developing consoles in 2001.

Admittedly, though, the Sonic franchise has had a tumultuous run over the years when it comes to the overall reception of its games. In other words, amidst successful outings like the original quadrilogy of games for the Genesis and more recent titles like Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania, other installments like Sonic ’06 and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric have been some of the most critically savaged games in recent memory. Nevertheless, Sonic the Hedgehog continues to be a prominent figure in the world of gaming and has even left his mark on other forms of media. In the world of comics, Sonic was responsible for one of the longest-running series in the medium’s history thanks to his 24-year run with Archie Comics. He’s also headlined several successful TV series over the years, including the beloved 90’s series Sonic the Hedgehog (affectionately referred to by fans as SatAM) and the TV adaptation of the Sonic Boom games. And yet, it wasn’t until nearly three decades after his initial debut on the Genesis that the blue blur would finally get to make his feature film debut. That’s not to say that an attempt at a Sonic the Hedgehog film has never happened, however, as this film has technically been in the works since 1993. However, it wasn’t until 2016 when production would finally get underway on the film under the direction of VFX artist Jeff Fowler in his directorial debut, who developed it alongside his long-time collaborator, Deadpool director Tim Miller. And, of course, as I’m sure many of you reading this already know, this film attracted quite a bit of infamy online when the intensely negative reaction to Sonic’s initial design prompted a full-on redesign. But now the film has finally come out and the result is a decently entertaining popcorn flick that, largely thanks to that crucial redesign, does a nice job of adapting its popular source material.

On a far-off planet known as Green Hill, a young hedgehog named Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is constantly on the run from those who are after his ability to run at insanely high speeds. He eventually ends up traveling to Earth, where he spends the next ten years living a secret life in the town of Green Hills, Montana unbeknownst to its residents. However, when Sonic begins to lament the fact that his life of solitude has resulted in him not having any friends, he accidentally makes his presence known to the world when his powers cause a regional blackout. In response, the government enlists the services of an eccentric scientist/inventor named Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to track down the source of this anomaly. To make matters worse, Sonic’s attempts at escaping to another world are hindered when he’s confronted by Green Hills’ sheriff, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). In the process, Sonic loses the bag of special rings that he uses to travel to other worlds when it ends up stuck on top of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Thus, Sonic now finds himself having to join forces with Tom (and later Tom’s veterinarian wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter)) so that he can get to San Francisco, collect his rings, and escape before Robotnik can capture him with an army of robots that he powers with the supersonic energy that he collects from one of Sonic’s quills.

As that plot synopsis suggests, this is one of those cases of a film based on a popular property that takes the main characters of that series out of the worlds that they’re from and puts them on Earth to interact with humans. There have been quite a few films over the years that have done this including the recent live-action Smurfs films and even the first Thor, and to be perfectly blunt, this can often lead to mixed results since fans are most likely more interested in seeing these characters in their natural environments. As such, the first Sonic the Hedgehog film’s plot is admittedly very basic in its execution. Now granted, fans of the franchise know that the idea of Sonic interacting with humans has been done before in almost every other form of Sonic media, so it’s not like this is a completely illogical concept for a Sonic story. Still, what we get here is your basic ‘comedic road trip’ plot that goes exactly the way you think it does. But despite the generally predictable nature of its plot, Sonic the Hedgehog does handle it a lot better than some of the other films in this unique little ‘subgenre’. It mainly manages to achieve this by maintaining a breezy pace throughout and by also sporting an earnestly heartfelt character arc for Sonic in which he simply yearns for some friends after spending so much time alone. And when it comes to the action sequences, the film does a wonderful job of translating Sonic’s super-speed abilities into a live-action context. Plus, the film is also chock-full of fun nods to other facets of the franchise’s lore to make up for the fact that it doesn’t focus too much on Sonic’s universe.

While there was a lot of hubbub made over Sonic’s original design, the one aspect of his character that stayed consistent throughout this film’s development was his voice, and Ben Schwartz does a phenomenal job in the role. For starters, he certainly sounds like Sonic, with his rendition of the character sounding very reminiscent of voice actor Ryan Drummond, who played the character from 1998 to 2004 in games like the Sonic Adventure series and Sonic Heroes. But most importantly, Schwartz excellently maintains Sonic’s wisecracking but all-around likable persona from the games that is then matched nicely with the character’s cinematic arc of longing for a friend, which he ends up finding in James Marsden’s Tom ‘Donut Lord’ Wachowski (‘Donut Lord’ being the nickname Sonic gives him (it makes sense in context)). While Marsden’s role is your basic ‘best friend’ archetype that also requires him to interact with a CG character most of the time, he and Schwartz do manage to form a terrific camaraderie that helps make Tom and Sonic’s growing bond feel incredibly genuine. Marsden also has some nice romantic chemistry with Tika Sumpter as Tom’s wife Maddie, who admittedly doesn’t factor into the film too much (i.e. she’s absent for the whole second act until Sonic and Tom get to San Francisco) but still manages to be a solid supporting player. But, of course, the most talked-about member of the ensemble is Jim Carrey in the role of Dr. Robotnik. In fact, Carrey’s turn as Sonic’s notorious arch-nemesis was so anticipated that before Sonic’s big redesign, many figured that he’d be the best part of the film and partially make up for all the shortcomings surrounding Sonic’s controversial look. And while Sonic’s initial design is no longer an issue for this film, Carrey is still easily one of its biggest highlights as he’s clearly having a lot of fun playing an over-the-top mad scientist. All in all, it’s a great return to form for the man who practically defined the comedy genre in the 90s with hits such as The Mask and Ace Ventura.

At the end of the day, Sonic the Hedgehog’s first foray on the big screen will most likely be known primarily for the fact that it nearly ended up being a total disaster. When it came to bringing the title character to life in a live-action film, the initial intent was to give Sonic a realistic/humanlike design. However, when the film’s teaser trailer dropped and showcased Sonic’s new look (which I’ll be providing a visual link to here for reference), it was almost universally panned for quite arguably making him look nothing like he does in the games. But in an unprecedented move for a film of this nature, director Jeff Fowler announced that he and his team had recognized their mistake and would fully redo Sonic’s design to be far more game-accurate. And while there was some initial concern that the film’s VFX team would have to endure some major crunch time to get the film done in time for its initial November 2019 release date, those fears were assuaged when Fowler also announced that the film would be pushed back to February 2020. Thus, when the film’s second trailer debuted in November (AKA the month it was originally meant to come out) and showcased Sonic’s new design that had been spearheaded by franchise artist Tyson Hesse, the fandom rejoiced about having a much better-looking cinematic interpretation of their beloved hedgehog. And overall, this correlates nicely to the film itself being a good old-fashioned crowd-pleaser. It may not be perfect by any means (namely due to it having a rather basic plot), but thanks to an enthusiastic cast, fun action sequences that perfectly highlight Sonic’s abilities, and of course, that pivotal visual update, Sonic the Hedgehog is another one of those rare cases of a video game based film done right.

Rating: 4/5