Directed
by Jeff Fowler
Starring
Ben Schwartz, James Marsden & Jim Carrey
Oh,
Paramount Pictures; while Sonic may be super-fast, you are certainly slow for
putting a 90’s character in a late 2000’s plot. What do you get if you mix Hop,
The Smurfs (2011), washed up comedians and product placement? Surprisingly,
something that is as mediocre as its source material. I guess you can call that
staying true to your roots.
I am by no
means a Sonic fan. I appreciate the blue speedster on a truly surface level.
The best Sonic games do have merit in their soundtrack and aesthetics but
honestly why would I want to go fast in a platformer? What use is Sonic in
Smash outside of pissing off people with his homing attack? I genuinely was
only interested in this film because of the awful first trailer. The choice to
delay the film for a redesign of the character may have given faith to many but
for me it killed the potential hilarity of what would have been garbage.
If you have
seen any kids film since the dawn of time, especially with characters from
adapted material, you know how this goes. Sonic is a hedgehog who was born with
the ability to run fast for some reason. Fearing for his life, Sonic’s owl
mother sends him through a ring portal to Earth so he will be safe. Sonic grows
up stalking the town members of Green Hills, including a cop played by James
Marsden, until one day he causes a power outage by going too fast and is
revealed to the world. With the government on their ass, Sonic and Sheriff James
Marsden must flee to San Francisco to retrieve his ring supply that
accidentally fell through a portal. Jim Carrey provides both villain and
comic relief in the b-plot as Sonic’s pursuer Dr Robotnik.
Look, I get that
Hollywood relies on characters being lost on Earth for the sake of relatability.
I also understand that it is an easy plot setting that needs no extra thinking
and can provide a by-number barebone script. Despite the dumb exposition, the
first five minutes of the movie are set on an imaginative planet that really
seems like something cool. Instead, the audience is teased and left with boring
ass Earth. Had they reversed the setting and had James Marsden be the fish out
of water on Sonic’s planet, I could at least say there was some effort or
creativity.
Sonic himself
is surprisingly the saving grace of the movie. I expected the character to be unbelievably
annoying but his personality, while purposely irritating, never crosses the line
of making my brain hurt. He manages to have a number of solid jokes and drives
the movie with his fun-loving and curious demeanour. While Dr Robotnik’s zany
lines are hit and miss, I have to commend Jim Carrey for really trying. His
physical acting is on point and his presence helps to elevate the bad crazy
government man trope.
In all
honesty, this movie is perfectly fine. It never goes overboard with the things
that make similar kids movies unbearable, especially on the main character
front. While the earth setting is tediously dull, Sonic and Robotnik’s energy
saves the film from being a complete flatline. Even the product placement, except
for a few awful scenes about Olive Garden, is less obnoxious compared to
garbage like The Smurfs (2011). The ending teases a more interesting
sequel that I wish was just this movie, but I guess the studio had to play it
safe before being able to take even the slightest of risks.
5/10
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