Hello everyone, Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. So yesterday me and a friend went to go check out the Sonic the Hedgehog movie and since I’m a big fan of the blue blur, I thought I give my review on the movie and to make things short, I liked it. It was a good movie overall. While nothing major, world shattering, or anything that makes me go ‘wow’ I still enjoyed this movie for what it was and the fact that it did a good job representing the Sonic franchise. It’s better than the Mario Bros. movie.
Story
Alright let’s start by talking about the story. The story is that Sonic at a young age was sent from his world to our world because people from his world were trying to catch him for his powers. Sonic’s caretaker sends him to our world where he lives his life in hiding in the pleasant town of Green Hills, Montana. One night, in a fit of rage of being alone for so long, Sonic accidently causes a power outage which gains the attention of the US government and they send in Robotnik to investigate. Sonic tries to leave our world only to get discovered by the town’s sheriff Tom and loses his rings which get teleported to San Francisco. Now Sonic and Tom have to travel to San Francisco to retrieve the rings all while avoiding Robotnik who wants to capture Sonic and use his powers to take over the world (https://youtu.be/1W7c8QghPxk). The story for this movie is pretty basic and easy to follow. It was mostly made for kids which there were a lot in my theatre, so it was nice to see how even after all these years Sonic still leaves an impact on a young generation just like he did my generation when he first debuted in the 90s. I was okay with this story. Going into this movie I knew we weren’t going to get an epic story and anyone who was expecting an epic story was setting themselves up for disappointment. You don’t need an epic story to make a good movie, all you need is good and relatable characters to get invested in. While the story is basic they do a good job at having Sonic and Tom build up a good friendship with each other through their journey.
Characters
Next up let’s talk about the characters. First up is Sonic who has a great design. He really does look like the character come to life and God bless everyone on the internet for voicing their complaints about Sonic’s original design and Paramount for acknowledging their mistake and fixing it. You have to understand, the design of Sonic was the thing that was going to make or break this movie. When I first saw the original design I was like, this movie is going to suck. But then they did a redesign that was more faithful to the games and I was like, this movie might not be so bad. Ben Schwartz voices Sonic in the movie and he does a good job. It sounds like he’s trying to mimic Jason Griffith who was always my favorite VA for Sonic and while he’s not quite there his voice does fit Sonic’s appearance and personality just fine. Now I have heard a few complains about Sonic’s personality from the movie saying that he’s too annoying and lacks that cocky but lovable personality from the games. I didn’t think he was annoying, I understood why he was the way he was. Think about it, he’s lived his whole life in solitude for 10 years. Imagine, living a life in secrecy for 10 whole years alone with nobody to talk to, no internet, and the constant fear that if anybody discovers you you’re doomed. That’s no way for a person live, so it’s understandable why Sonic was so hyperactive and happy to interact with Tom and the world around him. It may seem like nothing to us because we take advantage of this every day, but to Sonic this meant a lot to him. Also, he still does have that cocky and lovable personality from the games it’s just not flushed out here as much as the games. Two good examples is the bar scene where Sonic gets into a fight with some bikers and we get to see the world from his perspective when he runs fast. Instead of just using his speed to get out of harms way, he takes the time to get Tom to safety, embarrass everyone else in the bar, and eat some food all while wearing a confident smile and having a carefree attitude. That’s classic Sonic right there. He does the same thing later on when he fights against Robotnik later in the movie. Another scene I really did enjoy is when he pops out to save Tom from Robotnik showing how selfless he is and how he’s ready to sacrifice his life in order to save Tom knowing that by exposing himself he puts himself at greater risk.
The main villain Robotnik is played by Jim Carrey who steals the show and gives us the best laughs in the movie. When I first heard Jim Carrey was going to play Robotnik I had my doubts about this choice. When I saw the trailers and his performance, I thought wow, he’s good. Then I remembered that Robotnik for the most part has been a comedic villain. He’s evil and has his dangerous moments, but for the most part he’s always been seen as a comedic evil genius who’s borderline insane whether it’s in the games or the shows. The only time when Robotnik has ever been seen as a downright serious and cold-hearted villain has been in the Archie comics and the Sonic SatAM show. Other than that, he’s always been an egotistical maniac who wants to prove to everyone that he’s the smartest person in the room and because of that, everyone is beneath him and should do what he says. Jim Carrey manages to nail Robotnik perfectly in this movie by being both intimidating and threatening, but at the same time funny and egotistical. Always looking down on everyone around him and trusting nobody but himself and his machines. The only real downside to his character is that he has an assistant and they don’t name him Snively. I just went ughhh~, that would have been perfect because the assistant just fits Snively’s role perfectly. He follows Robotnik loyally, does whatever he says, but deep down you can just tell Robotnik’s poor treatment of him agitates him.
The rest of the characters really don’t play any major point outside of Sonic and Robotnik. Tom is good but he can be a little bland. He wants to get out of Green Hills and move to San Francisco to prove himself and his wife Maddie a veterinarian really doesn’t do that much throughout the movie. I will say I do like the relationship they have as a couple. Both are very supportive of each other and the short interactions between the them are cute. Plus, this might just be one of the few times I’ve seen a biracial couple on the big screen (I want to see this more).
Comedy, Easter Eggs, and Action
We got some good laughs here there mostly thanks to Jim Carrey. Like I said, he kills it. Out of everyone in this movie, Carrey seems like he’s having the most fun with his role. It’s been so long since I’ve seen him perform that I forgot just how funny he can be. Every scene he was in managed to get a chuckle out of someone in my theatre whether it be kid or an adult. However, there can be a few cringeworthy scenes such as Sonic doing the floss dance (again, for kids) and their obligatory endorsement of Olive Garden (have you heard about their endless pasta? It never ends. IT NEVER ENDS). They also give us a lot of Easter eggs to the games and other Sonic related shows and media. For example, the town of Green Hills is an obvious shoutout to the first game. In fact, they even a play piano rendition of Green Hills’ music near the end of the movie. Speaking of music, they actually played “Friends” from Sonic Mania when baby Sonic was running through Green Hills Zone at the start of the movie. Sonic’s hideout is a reference to the Freedom Fighters HQ from the Archie comics, Sonic has a cowboy hat which is a shoutout to Knuckles who wore a cowboy hat in the animated Sonic movie, the ping pong table in Sonic’s hideout reads Hill Top which is a reference to Sonic 2, the people that come after baby Sonic are the Echidnas, and in Sonic’s fight against Robotnik he runs through San Francisco (City Escape from Sonic Adventure 2), along the Wall of China (Sonic Unleash), and even in the desserts of Egypt (Sonic Adventure 2) where he creates a Sonic tornado (Sonic Heroes). He also gets his signature sneakers from Maddie’s niece and the next world Sonic was planning to go to was a world full of mushrooms which is a shout out to Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic and Knuckles. There is one more Easter egg in the movie, but since it’s in the credits and I don’t want to spoil it for people who haven’t seen the movie I’m going to shut up.
So the action-goddamn it it’s too good not to talk about it! In the mid-credits Tails comes to our world looking for Sonic and it got the biggest reaction in my theatre as well as everyone’s theatre from what I’ve heard. If you thought Sonic looked good than Tails looks great. They nailed him perfectly and even got Colleen Villard the current VA of Tails to reprise her role. While Sonic looked good you can tell there are a few scenes where the old design still leaks out, but here, this is pure and genuine. This was a Tails they started from scratch and made sure he looked like the Tails that we all know and love. Anyway, the action scenes were decent. Like I said before, I did like the scenes where they slowed down time to show Sonic do all these things to people and when Sonic does do a spin dash to destroy one of Robotnik’s robots. Other than that, the rest of the action scenes aren’t really all that great.
Is there room for a sequel
Yes, definitely! With the way the movie ended and that mid-credits scene with Tails there’s definitely room for a sequel to the franchise. I’m very curious as to how Tails knows about Sonic, will Knuckles make an appearance in the next movie, and what will Sonic and his interaction be like when they meet? Is Robotnik on Angel Island?
Final Score
I give the Sonic the Hedgehog movie a 7/10. It’s a good movie that actually does unite the fans instead of splitting them apart. It was great to see Sonic succeed where Mario failed and this is a huge victory for the video game industry. This movie managed to show us that when put in the right hands of people who care and understand the source material, video games can in fact make good movies and give you a profit. I really do think a sequel will be made and hope they see some of the things they can improve on and make things even better for the next movie. Let me know what you guys thought about the movie in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
*All videos, clips, and music are not owned by me and belong to their respective owners. All rights reserved*
Thanks for reading. As always feel free to leave a comment in the comment section or send your comments, feedback, or request to iamprojectnitsuj@gmail.com
And follow me on twitter for updates and other stuff: https://twitter.com/ProjectNitsuj