What to Watch: Sonic the Hedgehog

by Russ Brown “The Opaque Senator,” GGR Gaming Correspondent

Okay okay, as the resident game expert I've not reviewed a whole lot of games yet. To be frank I've had limited time to sit down and play some of my backlog. That should be changing soon; but, there was a little something video game related that I just HAD to throw my two cents in on.

Did you know they made a Sonic the Hedgehog movie? 

Yeah. I know. This cannot possibly be good. I've seen video game movies. They’re bad. Like, almost as a rule, they are all bad. It started with Super Mario Brothers, starring the late Bob Hoskins (goodness I miss him) and John Leguizamo as Mario and Luigi respectively. You could tell from the first 10 seconds of the film it was going to be bad...

Just TRY to suffer through the first minute of that (the Guile's theme only helps slightly).

Things didn't get much better with the release of Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter soon after. Things continued to be terrible when Uwe Boll found out that video games and their fans were a thing and he could exploit it with terrible movies. Alone in the Dark, BloodRayne, Rampage, and all their sequels, just made everything that much worse.

Then something magical happened. Wreck It Ralph and Wreck It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet. Finally, movies about video games (not necessarily video game movies, but I'm counting it, damn it) that were actually good!

But a Sonic movie? How would that work. Well, after the announcement of the news, and the fact that Jim Carrey would return to his comedy roots to play Dr. Robotnik, many a nerd and Sonic fans eyes lit up. Could it be? Is it possible? Something good? Then this happened...

Oh boy. What the heck? What IS that?!? The eyes! The TEETH!?!?!? What is this abomination. NO! *cries in a corner*

Okay, now I'm composed. What is this? Sonic looks awful. And “Gangster's Paradise?”  The long legs. James Marsden? Just, oh boy. Doomed. The Sonic fan-base was in revolt. Boycotting, rage, internet forums getting shut down. 40 years of darkness, cats and dogs, living together, mass hysteria.

Then we get word from Sega. “We're sorry. Mulligan?”

It cost $30 million additional dollars. They were going to redo Sonic's look. And they did! Okay, that...looks better. Actually, it looks really good! Alight, you won. I'm going. And I did. I saw it...

AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! The movie was funny! Ben Schwartz plays Sonic like a kid on a sugar rush. He makes him fast, hilarious, annoying but not to the audience, but he also makes him vulnerable and relatable. Jim Carrey was an absolute breath of fresh air. Not all of his comedy works in the movie for sure, but he's TRYING and a lot of what he's doing hits. I felt like I was watching parts of him in The Mask at times, and his quirks and body movements really sell it. He makes an excellent Dr. Robotnik.

Even the human characters, whom I thought would be awful regardless, were anywhere from passable to funny.

Marsden plays the good guy cop in a small town, and makes a great foil to Sonic. They even got me to care a bit about his small arc in the movie, too. This was a wonderful, fun little movie (and it was short, at exactly 100 minutes, it does not over stay its welcome). A family film to be sure, and a film made for fans of the Blue Blur.

There's a lot of hidden callbacks, and even remixed tracks from the original game layered throughout. Not 100% sold on the main theme of the movie, but it may grow on me. The town it takes place in is outside San Francisco and is called “Green Hills.” And at the end, even a double set up for more adventures to come.

Awesome.

I enjoyed it as much as Wreck It Ralph, and it may be the best video game movie ever made. You can tell the filmmakers liked the original content. There you go Sonic, you definitely got one in the movie department over your rival Mario (love the little “mushroom land” dead zone they keep alluding to as well, had to be a reference). If you're a fan of the franchise or got kids/family, go check out this movie. Great, short little film to see on the big screen.

It's certainly not perfect. Plot is generic, really basic. There are definitely jokes that don't land. But I recommend it wholeheartedly, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.