Sonic the Hedgehog

PLOT

Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is a super-powered blue hedgehog from an alternate dimension hiding out on earth to hide from those who want to harness his super speed. When he loses his magical golden rings, which allow him to travel between dimensions, he turns to a small-town cop (James Marsden) he secretly idolizes for help.

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This is a film that my son has been looking forward to for a while now. From when we first saw the trailer he has been making sure I would have the night off so he could use his own money to take me as a Valentine’s Day gift. And I will say, from a family friendly standpoint, this is a decent film and a definite franchise possibility for Paramount should it do well at the box office. And hopefully it does, otherwise the little mid credits scene will all be for nothing and Paramount will have one very disappointed 11 year old on their hands (no pressure guys).

While not without its flaws (it has a real Alvin and the Chipmunks feel to me, which I didn’t really like too much), the characters really help to bring the story to life. James Marsden has always been an actor I’ve liked, and while he doesn’t have that much to do here other than playing the small town sheriff who wants a real shot at making a difference by applying to be a San Francisco police officer, he still does a decent job of making the role interesting and fun to watch.

And, of course, there’s Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. This is just about the perfect role to make a big screen comeback, especially for a guy known for playing cartoonishly comic characters, and he definitely doesn’t disappoint here. While purposely playing the villain off as a bit cheesy, I actually feel he is a bit toned down from his Ace Ventura and The Mask days and personally would have likened to see that side of him play pit a bit more as this would have been the perfect character to do so. Now I’m not too familiar with Ben Schwartz, he does lend a great voice and great humor to the little blue fur ball.

While the CGI and action scenes are really fun, this film pulls a ton of inspiration from past Marvel Movies, and one DC movie. From the inside of Robotnik’s lab on wheels (a definite Tony Stark lab feel and look), to the Dr. Strange inspired teleport rings and Robotnik’s tank which looks like a kids copy of the Batmobile from The Dark Knight (just wait till after it crashes and you’ll know what I mean), the action would be totally different if all of the various comic book films weren’t so popular.

While I do have my complaints about this film, the nostalgia-loving kid in me can’t help but love seeing Sonic on the big screen. Hopefully next time around, we’ll get to see more of his home world as well as maybe some other alien worlds hinted at. There’s definite possibility there for this to be an epic fantasy action film, here’s hoping they decide to take the leap and run with it (yes, pun intended).

7/10

Rent or Buy the Movie on Amazon.

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