Blue Blur: "Sonic the Hedgehog" surprisingly fun and sweet, no kidding


Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
99 min.
Screened on February 8, 2020 at UA Riverview Plaza in Philadelphia, PA
Release Date: February 14, 2020 (Wide)

Good film adaptations of a video game can be counted on one hand missing two fingers, but “Sonic the Hedgehog” is a pleasant surprise that mostly exceeds expectations. For a movie based on the Sega video game from the 1990s about a blue, lightning-fast, anthropomorphic hedgehog that collects power-up rings, it really works, without feeling solely like a cynical money-maker to capitalize on an IP and pander to the nostalgic masses. Directed with eager-to-please high spirits by first-timer Jeff Fowler and written by Patrick Casey & Josh Miller (2009’s dreadfully lame “Transylmania”), “Sonic the Hedgehog” is zippily paced, quick-witted and actually quite sweet. There are no promises that this goofy entertainment will stay fresh in one’s memory for long, but it is much better than it has any right to be.

When Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz) finds his way to Earth and hides out in the town of Green Hills, Montana, he pretends to be part of the family with bored cop Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and his veterinarian wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter). Frustrated with being lonely, he causes a power outage that baffles even the U.S. government who, in turn, hires eccentric roboticist Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to find the creature. Meanwhile, as Tom is debating on taking a job in San Francisco, he ends up meeting Sonic and must help the little guy collect his bag of rings that get dropped into a portal above the Bay Area’s Transamerica Pyramid and stop Robotnik from using Sonic’s powers for standard world domination.

The human actors surprisingly get more personality and more to do than just stare around the space the computer-generated Sonic should be. This is still Sonic’s movie all the way, Ben Schwartz endearing and lively as the caffeinated voice of Sonic, but the unanimated actors all seem to be having a blast and aren’t just putting on game faces. Always a handsome, immensely likable leading man, James Marsden gets to yuk it up and make Tom’s rapport with the chatty hedgehog affable and genuinely tender. Tika Sumpter is warm and vivacious as Maddie, making more out of a potentially thankless wife role that could have misused the actress; Adam Pally has some amusing shtick as fellow Green Hills cop; and Natasha Rothwell (who had a hilarious supporting role as a teacher in 2018’s “Love, Simon”) steals laughs as Maddie’s negative sister Rachel. Best of all, though, is an unmuzzled Jim Carrey, harkening back to the days of the rubber-faced zaniness he made his name on in the 1990s. He has a field day being evil as Dr. Robotnik, hamming it up with a weird, manic, up-for-anything energy; Carrey’s solo dance after choosing his “tune of anarchy” (The Poppy Family’s “Where Evil Grows”) just needs to be seen to be believed. 

No one counts on “Sonic the Hedgehog” to have rapier wit, but the writing is knowing, sharper than expected and nearly absent of any easy bathroom humor (okay, there’s one flatulence-from-a-chili-dog joke). The throwaway details that make up Sonic’s personality are weird enough to be funny, like who knew Sonic was a Keanu Reeves fan, or that he wouldn’t mind seeing a ZZ Top cover band? There’s also an affectionate nudge at Vin Diesel’s character’s “family” mantra in the “Fast and the Furious” movies, and an unexpected line about an Olive Garden gift certificate hits. Action set-pieces are pretty exciting and inventively staged, like Sonic and Tom being chased on the road by Dr. Robotnik in a gadget-infused tank, and a giddy bit, clearly taking a page out of Quicksilver’s sequences in the last two “X-Men” movies, in which the supersonically speedy Sonic makes adjustments in a biker country bar. For 99 undemanding minutes of fun, one shouldn’t knock a crowd-pleaser like “Sonic the Hedgehog” without seeing it.

Grade: B

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