Sonic the Hedgehog Review
Whenever you see an established video game title slapped across a film poster in all its colourful, stylised font, you can't help but wince. It is only one of the obstacles that Sonic the Hedgehog would need to overcome before his big screen debut. Last year's first trailer reveal that provoked ridicule, confusion and disgust over the CGI star’s unsettlingly appearance was probably the biggest one; potentially tripping before it had a chance to stretch its legs. But a visual overhaul later, Sonic the Hedgehog is here and it continues to jump through cleanly (near enough) through the rings of expectation. Jeff Fowler’s directorial debut, adapted by screenwriters Pat Casey and Josh Miller from the Sega video game franchise, gives you enough nostalgia for the die-hard fans, enough light-hearted fun for the kids, and minimal fart jokes for the adults.
In the tranquil town of Green Hills, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is the extra-terrestrial hedgehog with super-speed and has remained hidden from the inattentive eyes of the local populace. James Marsden plays unsatisfied town sheriff Tom Wachowski who is looking for more excitement from his line of work. When the titular hedgehog stumbles into his garage, he immediately shoot him with a tranquillizer dart, only to then help Sonic to retrieve his lost world-teleporting rings from San Francisco. Sonic's existence has already drawn the attention of nutcase scientist Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) after an energy blast from Sonic knocked out the power along the Pacific West Coast.
A lot of attention has been put into actually making you care about what happens to the prickly blue speedster. His isolation has made him incredibly lonely, resorting to playing games of ping-pong with himself, and having to play from pitcher, to batter, to fielder on an empty baseball field. When he does beginning to interact with people, that he is an overly talkative chap, that Tom continuously complains about. Its not all void of cringy lines, but the dialogue is snappy enough and witty hum or permeates from their conversations.
Then you have Carrey, who is a loose-cannon in every sense of the word. It happily reminded me of how good he can be when Carrey is allowed to riff. His performance sturdies the film's already accepted silliness, from his twirly moustache and flailing mannerisms. It is a gamely distraction from the film's shaky plot and inconsistent characters. And Fowler keeps the movie moving at a brisk pace and includes a few scenes that are enough excitement going for it, including its own Quicksilver slowed-time chaos from X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Sonic the Hedgehog lives up to its video game character roots; fun and fast that doesn't overstay its welcome.
3/5















