Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
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Sonic the Hedgehog Movie Review
Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 family live-action animated film starring James Marsden and Ben Schwartz. It’s a pretty solid flick.
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“Where am I? What year is it?
Is the Rock president?“
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Sonic ends up on Earth where he befriends a local sheriff of a small town, and both have to team up to beat the villainous Dr. Robotnik. Now, the problem obviously persists of moving Sonic into the real world whereas his own world was much more interesting. That opening sequence was very nostalgic and appealing even to me as a casual fan of the video game series. And I wanted more such scenes, but the movie opted for a more traditional family movie approach.
And that worked to a certain extent. Though unoriginal, the story is very well crafted undoubtedly, and the movie’s got a lot of heart with some scenes being quite heartwarming. I loved the central relationship between the main duo, and though the story’s simplistic to a fault, it’s still well executed, not overly fast-paced which I appreciated, and quite engaging.
Ben Schwartz did a terrific job voicing Sonic. I liked his voice and also his personality, though a lot of his edge was lost in this adaptation. But still, he is so endearing, a lot of fun and even witty at times. James Marsden is also excellent in a typical role for him. He was typecast, but he did a good job, and both share a terrific dynamic.
Tika Sumpter is also strong in a smaller role. As for Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, I have to say that I really liked him! Despite usually not caring for his style of comedy, I really enjoyed his riffing here as it was a whole lot of fun, and a couple of his lines were simply hilarious. His charisma and over-the-top cartoony villainy was a joy to behold.
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Sonic the Hedgehog also looks terrific, the changed design of the main character is very appealing and done right, the opening animated segment is gorgeous, and it’s a shame that most of the film is then reduced to this standard live-action small town setting. But it has its rustic charm in a way, and I liked most of the dialogue, though some of it was quite bad and annoying. The action is solid, but too loud and forgettable near the end. It’s overall a solid, needlessly trashed film by the critics.
Sonic the Hedgehog needed more of those intriguing animated segments, its plot is beyond simplistic and some of the dialogue is quite annoying. But the central character is very endearing and well voiced by Ben Schwartz, James Marsden is also good, and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik is frequently quite hilarious with many very funny lines. His over-the-top cartoony villain was a lot of fun throughout. It’s a perfectly solid flick meant mostly to appeal to Sonic fans and the younger audiences, so the critics were needlessly harsh toward it.
