Jeff Fowler successfully made a spectacular adaptation of a well-loved classic video game.
Based on the global blockbuster video game franchise from Sega, Sonic The Hedgehog tells the story of the world’s speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. The film follows the (mis)adventures of Sonic as he navigates the complexities of life on Earth with his newfound — human — best friend Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). Sonic and Tom join forces to try and stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) from capturing Sonic and using his immense powers for world domination.
The film is what fans is hoping for; it is a gift indeed. It’s the classic Sonic in a film we all want to see. Despite having lapses in the beginning of its production, with regards to the design of Sonic’s eyes, the film still made it in rushing for a better edit in order to deliver a fun-filled family adventure movie. The backlash from fans was great enough for the production team led by director Jeff Fowler to push back the film’s release date several months and go back to the drawing board, literally, to redesign a more game-accurate version of the character. The end result is amazing in every way: from visual effects to spectacular interactions of the characters. James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, and all the other actors put all their best performances to tie this whole film together.
The film is lighthearted and the plot itself is very basic: it will let you feel like you’re in Sonic’s world. You could feel empathy for the characters. Sonic can be considered a classic SEGA character, and if you are a Sonic fan, this is definitely for you. It is filled with nostalgic references, from its key visuals to its soundtrack, even to the poses Sonic makes. There is a lot of effort in creating this one and it looks great for general audiences. It knows exactly what type of genre it is and owns up to it.
While having occasional self-referential humor, it does not shy away from being genuine and taking itself a bit seriously. The best part of the movie, inevitably, is Sonic himself. Ben Schwartz did a pretty good job in voicing the blue hedgehog, managing to highlight the character’s boundless energy and enthusiasm without making him annoying at all.
The action is suitably fast-paced, and even when it slows down, the chemistry between James Marsden and Sonic is strong enough not to drag the story. As for the animation and the character design, let’s just say that this is truly a kid-friendly Sonic the Hedgehog adaptation. For the adult viewers, we hope to see more characters from the SEGA universe if it ever come to exist. If it comes to that, it’s one thing to put another hype on.
To summarize, Jeff Fowler creatively put effort to this one. Without any doubt this is a special love letter to Sonic fans. Take your kids, go with your friends, or see it alone—any way, you’re going to find yourself having a supersonic time. Jim Carrey’s performance as Dr. Robotnik was strikingly amazing. If you grew up with Jim Carrey films, you will totally dig his comeback here!
Sonic The Hedgehog is probably the fun, entertaining, and spectacular film you would ever see that has much love to its source material. You’d hope that they would make a sequel after that shocking mid-credit scene. Definitely worth seeing in IMAX with the whole family!
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