Starring: James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Neal McDonough, Ben Schwartz (voice of Sonic)
Director: Jeff Fowler
Release date: 14th February 2020
Sonic lives on a small island, with only a wise owl for company. Even though he is told to stay hidden, he rebels and runs round the island without care. One day a group of strangers come and attack them. The owl saves Sonic by putting him through a portal into another world… Ten years pass and in Greenhills, Montana, local sheriff, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) is on speed patrol, waiting for speeding cars on a long and deserted stretch of road. All of a sudden, a blue flash of light passes him at hundreds of miles an hour. Tom is shocked and decides to try and track it but fails… Sonic lives, hidden in an underground cave. He is safe but lonely… he knows he must stay hidden but he can’t help watching families through windows or watching baseball games from a hidden spot. He is so frustrated that one night he causes a huge nationwide power-cut. The government jump into action and draft in an unorthodox and weird technological specialist named Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to try and find out what’s going on. He will stop at nothing to track down the small blue hedgehog…
Sonic the Hedgehog is a Japanese video game series and franchise owned by Sega. In the game, Sonic is a blue hedgehog who must run through various courses and his nemesis is the evil Doctor Eggman. The very first game was launched back in 1991 and was created as a rival to Nintendo’s Mario. The games include lots of various slopes and loops, and Sonic must battle the mad scientist and gather gold rings. The game is one of the bestselling franchises in video game history and by 2014 it had grossed an incredible $5billion.
Even though the movie is called Sonic the Hedgehog, it feels very much like a vehicle for Jim Carrey. That being said, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Jim Carrey’s comedy performances can sometimes be kind of ‘marmite-y’, in the fact that people either seem to love him or hate him. Older viewers of ‘Sonic..’ will no doubt remember Jim’s past work fondly. Who doesn’t love the likes of ‘Ace Ventura – Pet Detective’, Stanley Ipkiss in ‘The Mask’ and Bruce Nolan in ‘Bruce Almighty’? It’s actually really great to see him doing what he does best and playing the evil villain seems to be second nature.
We might be in a time when a lot of kids don’t actually know who Sonic is as a character but don’t let this detract you from going to see this movie. The character of Sonic is done beautifully and he’s just like any regular teenager. It’s a really great story and both kids and adults will enjoy watching it. The CGI is pretty great too.
Re-connect with your inner child and go see ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ on the big screen!
Overall: 8.5/10
