Sonic The Hedgehog (2020)

You have to hand it to them. The best thing to happen to the Sonic The Hedgehog movie was a trailer with main character design so bad that a lot of people seemed about to rush off and pluck out their own eyeballs. It was atrocious. It was unthinkable that someone passed that as a final product. It was . . . the beginning of something positive for a film that people had previously been simply shrugging their shoulders at (in my experience).

Now here we are. Sonic looks far cuter, and less likely to cause nightmares, and the whole movie is an easy bit of entertainment for people who like the little blue speedster and can enjoy over the top antics from Jim Carrey.

The story is pretty simple. Sonic has ended up here on Earth. His bag of golden rings are his most valuable possession, because one ring can take you wherever you want to go. They become a portal to wherever you have been thinking of. He's going to need them to make a getaway when a power surge alerts authorities to his presence. Befriending a small-town cop (Tom, played by James Marsden), Sonic tries to mark a few items off his bucket list before leaving Earth, all while being pursued by the very smart and very dangerous Dr. Robotnik (Carrey).

Written by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller, who have been working together for many years, Sonic The Hedgehog is pretty much what you expect it to be. Marsden once again works well alongside a CG effect making his life difficult, there are lots of moments that show off Sonic being so fast that everything else around him barely moves (a barfight is the best example of this, and the best set-piece in the whole movie), and Carrey gets to cut loose and have fun. Purists may be unhappy with him not portraying Dr. Robotnik as they would prefer to see him, but I think it's the right choice.

Director Jeff Fowler is making his feature debut (impressive, considering his VERY short CV - his only other directing credit is the average animated short, Gopher Broke) and does a perfectly fine job with the material. It has the energy that it needs, you get a few little touches to please fans of the SEGA games, and the general look of everything (Sonic, Robotnik, the gadgetry being used to hunt Sonic, the special effects) is good enough to make you forget all about that massive initial mis-step.

Carrey may steal a number of scenes, and he has one solo physical dance/comedy sequence that shows he hasn't lost his knack for such shenanigans, but Marsden is a good, stoic lead, Tika Sumpter does fine as his girlfriend, and Ben Schwartz is a surprisingly great fit as the voice of our spiky sprinter.

It's simple, predictable, and probably great to settle down and watch with younger viewers, who will undoubtedly enjoy the cute, colourful hedgehog and laugh at the obvious jokes. Not really one I'll rush to revisit, despite being kept mildly amused for most of the runtime, but I'll be much more optimistic about the planned sequel than I ever was about this.

6/10

Here be a hedgehog disc.
Americans can get a digital version here.